Thread: Cast iron?

Can you share a link to the YouTube you saw? I'm hunting for it, but haven't found it yet.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Yep Pam or the CosCo equivalent is a well known method of seasoning,, basically for me the older more refined the pan, the easier and less critical the seasoning process I honestly like Pure Leaf Lard that I rendered..

But this process above was the easiest I have ever found success with on the new Lodge pans...

Harold I watched about 6 different ones out there and took the stuff from each that made sense to me

Cowboy Kent Rollins was one of them
Cooking with Cast Iron was another
Craig Arent
Culinary Fanatic had a good one
Sandstone


I just basically watched them all since I bought two new pans for Christmas and I wanted to see if anyone had come up with a good system for the New Lodge stuff

I listened and took what I thought made sense, seemed to work almost too easy

Thanks, I'll check them out!

Originally Posted by gssixgun

New Lodge Pans

I found a youtube vid that made some sense about why these are simply "Different" when seasoning then the older smoother Vintage CI

I bought a couple of new pans for Christmas one of which was a Grill Pan and I decided to try a variation of it

First time using Olive Oil for Seasoning a Lodge CI pan

Use High Quality EVOO the Smoke Point is at 405 F

I used a graduated temp also,,

Set oven to 350°

Warm the pan,

Thin coat of EVOO just pour some in the pan then wipe it out using a Rag (not Paper towel)
Place pan bottom up in oven as normal
Once the temp hits 350° set timer for 15 minutes
Raise temp to 375° 15 minutes
Raise temp to 400° 15 minutes
Raise temp to 425° 15 minutes
Raise temp to 450° 15 minutes

Turn off oven and walk away

Repeat 2 more times

I have never had that kind of success that easy with a New Lodge CI piece...
I am sold on it

I have a Vid of a French Omelet I will try and get loaded showing just how Non stick it was

Dangit, thought maybe I had some insight on newer Lodge pans and why they don't seem as 'non-stick' as old iron. Seems like I've been beaten to the punch.

Basically even though the box says they're 'pre-seasoned' it's just good enough to keep it black til it gets in your door. I seasoned mine by heating the oven to 450, coating the pan with cooking oil, then tossing it in there for an hour. That got them to a decent/usable state. And with each progressive use they've gotten better. Mine are used almost exclusively with bacon grease now, and just about as non-stick as Teflon.

Another thing to look at - most of the older antique/vintage pans were molded/worked/milled/machined smooth on the cooking surface at least. Or years of use with steel spatulas has worn the high spots off them, take your pick. Part of me wants to take my lodge pans out and give them a good sanding to smooth out the cooking surface, then re-season them and see what I get.

Originally Posted by Marshal

And with each progressive use they've gotten better. Mine are used almost exclusively with bacon grease now, and just about as non-stick as Teflon.

Another thing to look at - most of the older antique/vintage pans were molded/worked/milled/machined smooth on the cooking surface at least. Or years of use with steel spatulas has worn the high spots off them, take your pick. Part of me wants to take my lodge pans out and give them a good sanding to smooth out the cooking surface, then re-season them and see what I get.

Exactly same here,,, My old Lodge 12" has knocked around for over 30 years maybe 35 and is now smooth and well seasoned, the Griddle is getting close to the same. It took quite some time to get there...

There are a few Youtube Vids that describe polishing the New Lodge stuff out, and that was my plan if it was going to take forever again the get them right..

Most of the older cast iron were ground smooth. What we see as milling marks were made by grinders.

I had emailed Lodge asking to see if they were ever going to grind any skillets smooth like they used too, answer was no. Told them they could make a premium line and thought it would be a great seller. I would certainly buy them.

Yeah, probably too labor intensive to get that smooth polished surface. Right now it looks like they just pop em out of a sand mold, half season them, then ship 'em. Judging by the price tag and relative lack of competition I'd say they're probably making a killing off selling half-finished pig iron pieces for what a half decent set of Teflon pans would cost. No surprise they don't have any plans to polish any up.

Mine are still a little rough, even though I've cooked on almost nothing else since I got them a year ago. But they're much better than when I first got them. Enough scraping with a steel spatula's bound to wear it flush eventually. Or the next time they're due for a deep cleaning/seasoning I'll polish them up a bit myself.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Another thing to look at - most of the older antique/vintage pans were molded/worked/milled/machined smooth on the cooking surface at least. Or years of use with steel spatulas has worn the high spots off them, take your pick. Part of me wants to take my lodge pans out and give them a good sanding to smooth out the cooking surface, then re-season them and see what I get.

Well, I was thinking the same thing: this surface is pretty rough. So, I took
Cudarunner's advice and went over the bottom surface of the 12" skillet with
an axe stone. I didn't spend too much time on it...just enough to knock the
tops off of most of the "pebbles."

Now, we're at Step #1 of Glen's progressive temperature curing process:
in the oven at 350F.

More to follow....

After Glen's curing recipe, I had mixed results. I fried an egg, just to see how
it would go.

Wherever I had ground off most of the pebbles, nothing stuck to the pan.
However, on the rougher spots, the egg did stick. On the other hand,
what did stick came off easily with just some water and a nylon brush.

I used extra virgin olive oil, I followed Glen's recipe exactly, and I think
the pan needs more than just a quick going-over with an axe stone.
I have some stripping disks for an electric drill, so I'll give that a try.
And then re-season ala Glen.

PaulKidd--Freshly seasoned cast iron LOVES potatoes. Try this---> Fry up some greasy bacon on low to med heat and don't drain off all the grease. Next grate up some spuds and squeeze out the water. Then fry up some raw fried hash browns on med to high heat until crispy. Now let the pan cool a bit and add a little more grease to your pan. Now fry up some eggs on low heat with a lid on. The eggs should slip right out. Hope this helps.