Thread: cast iron pans

I didnt know they were numbered. Learn something new every day. Ive got 4 pans ranging from small to huge. Ive also got a griddle but its too short to use on my stove. My family has always used them as have I. When i moved out I was looking for some for my new place. My grandmother gave me all hers. Her hands got so bad she couldnt lift them. Love me some cast iron.

Originally Posted by simpleman

I didnt know they were numbered. Learn something new every day. Ive got 4 pans ranging from small to huge. Ive also got a griddle but its too short to use on my stove. My family has always used them as have I. When i moved out I was looking for some for my new place. My grandmother gave me all hers. Her hands got so bad she couldnt lift them. Love me some cast iron.

Super drool factor there I only got one famaly piece so far, mom says there is another piece burried somewhere...

This is cool stuff. Could someone please post some of the quality names to look out for with the cast iron. We have smaller stock/flea market every week. There is usually lots of ci but I have passed up on the thinner slick DO and frying pans because I just assumed the heavier thicker usually coarse looking ones were better. That doesnt seem so after reading these posts. Thanks.

My dad collects Griswolds as well, and I have a large all purpose frying pan from him.

Interesting thread.

Cast iron pans & skillets are still in production down here in Mexico.
A 'Pagoel' brand iron skillet with lid, about 3" deep and 10" diameter goes for around US$25. These are damn heavy things and the real deal, as far as I can tell.

We have lots of 'old' things still in production here: glass washboards; enamel steel chamberpots; coal-heated irons; fire-heated flat irons; black iron skillets...if only I could track down the straight razors and the tube radios!

I may be wrong but it seems to me that cast iron is cast iron unless its new. All of the new pans that I have seen have an orange peel surface. You want the stuff that has a slick surface.

It really doesn't matter what kind of condition its in either (unless its real, real bad). My wife's aunt picked out a couple of old no name cast iron skillets she had found at a flea market or something. One had been through a house fire and the other was rusted like an old car. The next morning, you would have thought they were new. I scrubbed those pans with steel wool until I had muscle failure in my shoulders.

I put a nice coat of fat on them and put them in a preheated oven for an hour. I cut the oven off and fried eggs and bacon in them the next morning. That one that was in the house fire I'm going to go over again with a steel brush and a drill. It has a lot of some kind of build up on the outside. I'm not sure what it is but I'm guessing its rust though it is black.

I think the longevity of the seasoning coating depends on its hardness. I have taken my Lodge 12", that I have previously sanded with 220, and stripped all seasoning using the oven's self clean cycle. This removed everything, now the pan is grey and uncoated at all. I will use the flax seed oil to re-season it. The pan surface is still much smoother than the sides from the sanding. Just enough sanding to make it smooth and cut the majority of the bumps. Too much sanding I have heard will cause the pan to crack. If this comes out well, I will do the same to my 10" and 15" pans.

I am not re-seasoning the lids. I don't cook on the lids, so the seasoning on them is not a problem....

AdrianJ3 ...curious. Is the stuff down in Mexico smooth or does it have the orange peel surface,and is it unseasoned ? I really want to get myself another nice dutch oven without having to fight to bid for one on e-bay.

Originally Posted by Nightblade

... Is the stuff down in Mexico smooth or does it have the orange peel surface,and is it unseasoned ?.

I've never looked that closely but, IIRC, it has an orange-peel type surface,

I use an 8" Lodge brand skillet for eggs, bacon & sausage. When I first started using the pan, I needed to add a little oil for frying eggs so they wouldn't stick so badly, but after a dozen uses or so I stopped using the oil and haven't had any sticking issues