Author Topic: cast iron (Read 2395 times)

Elijah Gunn · « **on:** April 04, 2009, 07:11:08 AM »

I have some cast iron dutch ovens I bought back in 1999. I'm finally getting around to using them. They have a coating on them for rust prevention. The instruction tag says to wash it off in warm soapy water. Well I did that but , the coating is pretty stubborn. It is a waxy feeling greenish/gray colored coating. My question is, Is it ok to take a heavy duty scouring pad(like a chore boy) to it to get the coating off? Then I can season them in the oven,and be ready to use them. Any seasoning tips are also welcome. I've looked around some and it seems everybody has their own way of doing it a little bit different than everyone else.

jlchucker · « **Reply #1 on:** April 04, 2009, 12:28:26 PM »

I bought a few dutch ovens before they started seasoning them at the factory, and I've tried a few ways to do it. You're right about that preservative being tough to take off. Seems like you can never get it ALL off. The important part though, is the cooking surfaces. That handle will blacken up with use by itself eventually. One way that worked for me once (and I only tried it once) was to put a DO in the dishwasher, even though it says not to do it. It came out with a lot of surface rust that scrubbing with a brush and soap and water took care of. Preservative gone! Then I greased it up inside and out and seasoned it in my kitchen oven. It came out kind of brownish, but the directions say that's what the first pass on seasoning is supposed to look like. Eventually, after use, the pot blackened up fine and is now one of my best. One of my other successful tries was on a 12 incher, lid and all. After scrubbing the hell out of oven and lid inside and out with a brush and detergent, I then fired up a charcoal grille--a big one with a cover--and heated the thing for about an hour. After it cooled down, I swabbed it with melted crisco, inside and out, put the DO and lid back in the grille, with thecover down, and baked it for a couple of hours until the charcoal and some small hardwood chunks burned away. Success--and the house didn't stink like it does after you try seasoning in the oven of the kitchen stove. Eventually, after the first seasoning and some use, the pots get blacker and blacker. Your grand-daughter will have a properly seasoned pot to last a lifetime after your own lifetime passes. Factory seasoning has proved a real chore-saver for those new to the dutch oven game.

Sweetwater · « **Reply #2 on:** April 04, 2009, 01:09:23 PM »

I've done some brand new Dutch Ovens and some frypans as well as taken some throw-aways and refurbed them. The old ones, I cleaned to bare iron, some with oven cleaner and some with a wire brush on an electric drill. Swabbed with crisco and put in the oven at 400 degrees for one hour. Reswabbed and turned the oven down to 325 degrees for an hour. Reswabbed every hour and at the end of 5 hours, pots and frypans were shiny black. That was more than 12 years ago and all still wear that shiny black surface - and the food that comes out of them is out of this world. My DO's that do not have legs are used at home on the stove and in the oven. The DO's with legs are reserved for camping and picnics. The frypans are used everywhere.

Don't ever use soap after you have them seasoned - it will find a way into the pores of the cast iron and give everything a soapy taste. LODGE used to put that on a tag on their new pots and frypans. HTH

Regards,
Sweetwater

squirrellluck · « **Reply #3 on:** April 04, 2009, 04:53:40 PM »

Threw my last one in the camp fire with an old one I was going to reseason. Burns everything off right down to metal Clean and season as usual.

Elijah Gunn · « **Reply #4 on:** April 05, 2009, 10:20:08 AM »

squirrellluck, that is exactly how my mom said my grandmother would do it. It sounded a little extreme and maybe cause the DO to crack. I'll try it on one and see how it goes. I'd go the dishwasher route but I don't like the idea of that coating junk going into my septic.
Thanks to all!

Oldshooter · « **Reply #5 on:** April 05, 2009, 10:31:43 AM »

Ive got 4 or 5 black pots outside that drowned in the Bridge City , Ike flood. My mother asked me to put them in the fire to clean then she is going to reseason them. That's the way to clean them! For as long as I can remember back. To season we oil and bake and oil and bake.

squirrellluck · « **Reply #6 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:10:44 PM »

I season my skillets by frying bacon in them Seems to work well. Thats the way my grandmother taught my dad and he taught me. The only 1 I ever cracked was 1 I tried to burn off with a torch! So much for short cuts. Woodburner or fireplace work well.

Buck-Ridge · « **Reply #7 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:29:29 PM »

I use cast iron for most of my cooking and The more you use it the better it works. Burn it in a hot fire or a gas grill to start over. Wash it good and oil it and bake it in the oven. Wipe the rust and black off with paper towels until its clean. Oil it and heat it up on the stove before you store it.
If you fry fish in it a few times it will make a bombproof coating that will stay on through soap and water.

Elijah Gunn · « **Reply #8 on:** April 09, 2009, 05:01:53 PM »

I had a decent day weather wise so I built a fire and put the dutch ovens in it. I did one at a time for about a half hour each. The coating on them would melt and then start smoking till it was gone. After letting them cool I washed off the worst of the soot and ash in a washtub using a fine scotchbrite pad with some dish soap. Then it was off to the kitchen for a final wash and rinse in the sink. They were already starting to rust in a matter of minuets! So I had to put them in the oven and season them. I did them at 400 deg. for an hour, using shortening.
Of the two ovens one is a 4 quart,and the other is a 8 quart. The lid on the 8 qt. fits nice and flat on the DO. However. the lid on the 4 qt. rocks a little bit. Maybe about .015 of an inch. I know the lid needs to fit well on the DO, but if it has a little tippyness is that a bad thing? If it is important that the lid be perfectly flat on the DO is there a way to lap the lid and DO together?( Like how valves are lapped into the head of an engine.)
I wish I had double checked the fit of the lids before I burned them in the fire. I'm pretty sure thats how it fit before I did it. Nothing went into the water until it was cool enough to be picked up and handled barehanded. Thanks again to everyone.

jlchucker · « **Reply #9 on:** April 10, 2009, 03:27:27 AM »

Quote from: Elijah Gunn on April 09, 2009, 05:01:53 PM

I had a decent day weather wise so I built a fire and put the dutch ovens in it. I did one at a time for about a half hour each. The coating on them would melt and then start smoking till it was gone. After letting them cool I washed off the worst of the soot and ash in a washtub using a fine scotchbrite pad with some dish soap. Then it was off to the kitchen for a final wash and rinse in the sink. They were already starting to rust in a matter of minuets! So I had to put them in the oven and season them. I did them at 400 deg. for an hour, using shortening.
Of the two ovens one is a 4 quart,and the other is a 8 quart. The lid on the 8 qt. fits nice and flat on the DO. However. the lid on the 4 qt. rocks a little bit. Maybe about .015 of an inch. I know the lid needs to fit well on the DO, but if it has a little tippyness is that a bad thing? If it is important that the lid be perfectly flat on the DO is there a way to lap the lid and DO together?( Like how valves are lapped into the head of an engine.)
I wish I had double checked the fit of the lids before I burned them in the fire. I'm pretty sure thats how it fit before I did it. Nothing went into the water until it was cool enough to be picked up and handled barehanded. Thanks again to everyone.

Sounds like you did good, Elijah. Doing them outside to get the crap off of them is better than stinking up the house. They'll just get blacker and blacker with use. those scotchbrite pads (the soapless ones) work pretty well--I've used them for years now. An even handier thing is those nylon scrubbers with the little wooden handle. Use this kind of stuff with hot water only, though. As for the lid, I've never noticed any tippyness with my Lodge pots. I had some DO's made overseas once, though, that had a little movement. None of these lids these days are machined after being cast, but in my experience they generally fit pretty well--I've never thought of lapping them in or scraping them to a bearing. You may have a little rough spot or bump on the bearing surface of one you have. If you find the spot, a little filing should do the trick. Oil up the metal after you've smoothed it out, though. .015 isn't really much. A worse condition would be a warped lid. If that was the case the fix would be to find someone with a lathe big enough to turn that bearing surface back to true, or to just buy another lid. Lodge sells replacement lids--these days they are all pre-seasoned. and probably would fit your pot.

Elijah Gunn · « **Reply #10 on:** April 11, 2009, 02:49:14 AM »

My dutch ovens were made in china so the fit does not surprise me. I did find a couple little bumps on both the the pot and lid and filed them a little. It still tips. I also needed to adjust the carrying handle as it did not hold the lid down snug on the DO like it's supposed to. Great quality from china!
I'm gonna take the lid to the machine shop I was recently laid off from and turn the the lid nice and flat and square. It'll be a chance to see how the guys are doing , and find out if there is any chance of getting called back to work.

jlchucker · « **Reply #11 on:** April 11, 2009, 03:38:12 AM »

There you go, Elijah. Chuck that lid in a lathe and clean up that bearing surface and you should be OK. As for the carrying handles, my Lodge (US made) DO's don't hold the lid down. Some DO carrying handles (like some of the Lodge ones) only swing down all the way in one direction. I would guess that this is a design feature so that you can grab the handle without having to touch the sides of the pot. You may be OK there. Some of the books on DO cooking say to give the lid a quarter turn or so to seat it and to even out the heating (camp ovens) after opening them to check on the food. That would be hard to do if your carrying handle snapped tight on that lid.

Sweetwater · « **Reply #12 on:** April 11, 2009, 08:16:30 AM »

Looks like you're on a good track there, Elijah. Sorry to hear of your lay-off. We were laid off two weeks before Christmas. Last week was my first full week of work, so we are hopefull that it is over until next winter. You've got some real good scoop from the other posters here. I've picked up a couple things, also, so I thank you for starting this.

"Some DO carrying handles (like some of the Lodge ones) only swing down all the way in one direction."

Years ago, I forgot this bit of technology, and spent a whole afternoon trying to twist that handle to where it would lay flat on both sides!! LOL!! When I came to that, duh, it was suppossed to stay up on one side so you could either grasp it with a potholder or grab it with a pothook....I really felt like an idiot! However, it did keep me home that afternoon, so all was not lost........Ha, ha.

Happy Easter,
Sweetwater

pastorp · « **Reply #13 on:** April 11, 2009, 12:58:04 PM »

Made in China dutch ovens.

Whats this world comming too. I'm still using my grandmaws dutch oven. My mother died last year at the age of 95 and she said the oven was old whrn she was a kid. Guess I'll pass it on to one of my girls when I don't need it anymore.

Elijah, do as you wish, but if it was me I'd get rid of them China cast iron pots and go to a flea market and by a old one made in the USA.

Regards,

jlchucker · « **Reply #14 on:** April 12, 2009, 03:14:40 AM »

Quote from: pastorp on April 11, 2009, 12:58:04 PM

Made in China dutch ovens. Whats this world comming too. I'm still using my grandmaws dutch oven. My mother died last year at the age of 95 and she said the oven was old whrn she was a kid. Guess I'll pass it on to one of my girls when I don't need it anymore.

Elijah, do as you wish, but if it was me I'd get rid of them China cast iron pots and go to a flea market and by a old one made in the USA.

Regards,

I got to disagree about getting rid of the China ones. They are good for melting wheelweights and making quantities of lead ingots.

Sweetwater · « **Reply #15 on:** April 12, 2009, 04:00:00 PM »

Well, you don't need a tight lid fit for melting lead, that's for sure!

Regards,
Sweetwater

pastorp · « **Reply #16 on:** April 13, 2009, 04:45:02 AM »

OK he can keep them

but just for melting lead...............Regards,

JBlk · « **Reply #17 on:** August 03, 2009, 04:14:38 AM »

The best way that I ever saw to season cast iron is to clean in a convection oven or burn in a hot fire and clean with soap and water.Oil the pan inside and out with melted beef tallow.Place the cast iron items on the rack of one of the smoker type grills and fire it up. The type of grill that I am refering to looks like a barrel cut in half with a small barrel on the side where the fire is built.You will get the most beautiful seasoning job that you have ever seen without any smoke in the house and a minimum of trouble.We cook almost everything in cast iron and we do wash our cast in soapy water and sometimers even use a scouring pad when the cure gets a little thin, but its so simple to recure the items we continue to do so.

Drilling Man · « **Reply #18 on:** August 03, 2009, 07:23:48 AM »

Quote from: jlchucker on April 12, 2009, 03:14:40 AM

Quote from: pastorp on April 11, 2009, 12:58:04 PM
Made in China dutch ovens. Whats this world comming too. I'm still using my grandmaws dutch oven. My mother died last year at the age of 95 and she said the oven was old whrn she was a kid. Guess I'll pass it on to one of my girls when I don't need it anymore.

Elijah, do as you wish, but if it was me I'd get rid of them China cast iron pots and go to a flea market and by a old one made in the USA.

Regards,

I got to disagree about getting rid of the China ones. They are good for melting wheelweights and making quantities of lead ingots.

That's about all there good for too... If your going to buy NEW castiron today, then it better say "Lodge" on it... It's at least "decent" enough made CI to cook on. I've found the pre seasoning from Lodge be good enough to get you going, but i always fry bacon in them the first few times i use them...

As for seasoning them after a through cleaning, i use my gas grill...

It works for me!

DM

preacherchris · « **Reply #19 on:** August 06, 2009, 09:10:52 AM »

i came across 2 griswold skillets at a flea market the other day. 1 was marked 9 and 710 B the other was marked 3 709 I . i paid 65 for them was that a good price?

AtlLaw · « **Reply #20 on:** August 07, 2009, 09:24:38 AM »

Quote from: preacherchris on August 06, 2009, 09:10:52 AM

i paid 65 for them was that a good price?

Not to me...

I picked my last one up out of the trash in the back yard of a friends house...

hillbill · « **Reply #21 on:** October 19, 2009, 02:13:00 PM »

drillingman, thats a pretty nice outdoor kitchen yu got there!is that a stainless countertop you got around your sink there?also are those the water spigots that shut off up inside the wall so you dont have to worry about them freezeing?id like to do a similar set up when i build my new house except useing granite countertop.sorry dont mean to hijak just curious.

Drilling Man · « **Reply #22 on:** October 19, 2009, 02:32:45 PM »

Quote from: hillbill on October 19, 2009, 02:13:00 PM

drillingman, thats a pretty nice outdoor kitchen yu got there!is that a stainless countertop you got around your sink there?also are those the water spigots that shut off up inside the wall so you dont have to worry about them freezeing?id like to do a similar set up when i build my new house except useing granite countertop.sorry dont mean to hijak just curious.

Yes, it is a stainless counter top, as is the sink. And the hydrants "are" frost free, so they can be used year around. I wanted to keep it as low of maintance as i could, so stainless it is!

I have some more stainless planned, so when i get some time, i'll be adding on...

DM

kevthebassman · « **Reply #23 on:** October 19, 2009, 02:33:58 PM »

My family has always tossed any cast iron into a hot campfire to get it cleaned up.

Drilling Man · « **Reply #24 on:** October 20, 2009, 01:32:29 PM »

Quote from: kevthebassman on October 19, 2009, 02:33:58 PM

My family has always tossed any cast iron into a hot campfire to get it cleaned up.

That does work, but every once in a while, it warps or cracks in the fire, and i'm NOT taking that chance with my CI.

DM