Thread: cast iron pans

I am a cast iron skillet FIEND! Love em . I will get pics!
"seasoning" to me is wire-brushing off the crud and coating liberally with vegetable oil and sticking it on my gas grill with the lid down until the oil has glazed. Better than Teflon! Nothing better!
Back in the day, an old expression was "Throw it into the fire", whereupon all the stuff was burned off and one could season and start over!

I got a 12" Lodge pan, I recently got a stove top griddle pan and a griddle plate for the grill, love them all.
There is another option to cast iron, carbon steel pans. They also season great and become nonstick and weight a bit less.
I have 12" De Byer that is my go to fry pan.

Originally Posted by mainaman

I got a 12" Lodge pan, I recently got a stove top griddle pan and a griddle plate for the grill, love them all.
There is another option to cast iron, carbon steel pans. They also season great and become nonstick and weight a bit less.
I have 12" De Byer that is my go to fry pan.

Interesting... How thick are the steel pans? One of the truly great things about cast iron is the even heat distribution due in part to their thickness.

Cast Iron rules,little known fact.today iron defficiancy is rampant,why? because the use of cast iron and steel eating untensils is all but gone.
Is all packed for a move at this time (will post pics in a few weeks)
I have a 14 in. dutch oven with orig lid that was hauled by wagon train to the west coast during the gold rush,along with a 14 in. fry pan, The pans are prestine as they have never seen soap in the 30 yrs I have had them,hot water only, are like glass, far better than teflon, 100% non -stick

Originally Posted by Wintchase

What's "seasoning" a pan?

seasoning a pan for cast iron pan is putting a non-stick coating on it that has flavor locked into it a LODGE pan already has this done which is why LODGE should be your first pan you wont worry about this and their coating is very well done.

however to do this your self rub a table spoon of vegetable shorting to an unseasoned clean pan with a paper towel and cook in a 375 degree oven upside down for 1 hour then turn the oven off and leave in oven till cooled room temp this will cure the shortening making it nonstick flavors will develop with uses and time...stove top is not recommend for a pan that needs a coating on the outside of the pan also

then my own touch make pancakes put a dab of butter and a spray of pam after each pancake heat pan on high for 1 min to open the pores so the pan can take the butter let cool completely repeat for each pancake 4 to 5 times now everything tastes delicious and eggs will have a slight buttery nutty flavor,your welcome

Originally Posted by Cangooner

Interesting... How thick are the steel pans? One of the truly great things about cast iron is the even heat distribution due in part to their thickness.

The De Byer is 0.14" thick, I also have a simple black steel 9" which is very thin but works really well for quick stuff such as omelets etc.

Originally Posted by Wintchase

I doon't get the "cast iron" following? What is so great about them?

The simple answer is they cook well and last a long time.

----opinion follows, some facts too----
They are not Teflon coated but release food well when you have
the heat right and use a bit of cooking fat.

Teflon burns and gives off toxic fumes at or near the
higher temperatures that some food wants to be cooked
at. More importantly they hold enough heat that when
at medium heat they stay at medium heat long enough
to get cooking started.

They work well on cheap electric ranges as well as
expensive fancy Viking gas ranges. Not so well the
glass top ranges unless you have a rare one like my
Mom had and I wish I did.

You can take them camping.

They work well on and in a BBQ grill.

Modern multi layer aluminum and stainless pans
can be as good for a lot of things but they are more
expensive. Stainless+AL+stainless pands are light
and most women value that more than other qualities
which is why the copper core pans are not very popular
in the rich community. Heavy copper and stainless pans
are astounding but beyond my budget.

Cast iron last so long that cooking stores would go broke
selling your one pan for your lifetime instead of 20
POS pans....

A Teflon pan may be the best trick for eggs over easy.
A black iron griddle can make a fine heat spreader for
a cheep teflon egg pan on an apartment electric range.

Now my recent garage sale find was a cast iron grill/griddle
that I use in the gas BBQ a lot. I let it soak heat for
about 15+ min at 350F... then I brush a bit of oil and drop fish, turkey or chicken
burgers on it. The cast iron holds enough heat to nicely brown and
quickly set the PITB bits that SHMBO demands I cook and eat.
Now she likes trout!

A lot depends on what you know and what you have been taught
to use and what you cook for dinner.

A black iron pan seared good steak finished in a medium oven --- YUMMMMMM.
But you need a good vent fan which is why I use my BBQ grill so much.

Originally Posted by Wintchase

Alright, I am game... WHat kind of brands should I look for?

When I go out looking for black gold (cast iron cookware) I'm looking at 2 things, will it be useable and where was it made. If I see made in China I move right along, to many scary stories out there about their iron content in the pans. If the pan feels heavy for it's size I'm happy, Made in USA I'm happy, quality pieces feel like good pieces. Griswald and Wagner demand higher prices due to high collecter demand but that doesn't always equil great cooking ability. Seen some funky Griswalds out there and they could have been fakes, they are out there... Lodge are good finds as collecters just pass them up with out a glance, lodge has been producing cookware for over 100 years... just because there still producing doesn't mean an old and rare is not looking you in the face This also means second hand Lodge cookware can be dirt cheap Most of my lodge pans where gotten for under 10 bucks each.

One thing to consider is heft... modern lodge pieces are stout and heavy while Griswalds and other vintage pieces where polished, and sometimes over polished, making them lighter and smoother. So you will have a long seasoning time with new lodge pieces and less seasoning time with Griswalds... for the most part... That also means that the lodge piece will be less prone to loosing that seasoning due to the thickness of it vs the griswald that will loose it rather easy because the seasoning is thin and on a slick surface.

Originally Posted by DwarvenChef

One thing to consider is heft... modern lodge pieces are stout and heavy while Griswalds and other vintage pieces where polished, and sometimes over polished, making them lighter and smoother. So you will have a long seasoning time with new lodge pieces and less seasoning time with Griswalds... for the most part... That also means that the lodge piece will be less prone to loosing that seasoning due to the thickness of it vs the griswald that will loose it rather easy because the seasoning is thin and on a slick surface.

This to me has been my key point about CI for years now. People at lodge and others tried to tell me the way to get that smooth polish nonstick surface was to cook for a long time in the pan...I never bought that as many times I noticed how many of the old cast iron pieces were polished looking..thanks for posting that DC.

Let me clarify that statement...........my eggs always stuck in a lodge pan where as due to the polished surface on older pans,my eggs slid right out.Me,I prefer the older CI because of that. As far as dutch ovens go however,lodge works fine for me. I miss the old cast iron where you could season it yourself though...not super keen on this preseasoned stuff.