Cast Iron cookware...
I have an old cast iron skillet I would like to love, but am very frustrated with it. I know you need to season it and I have read how to do that. However, my question is this: mine does not have a smooth surface...it is "pocked" and not smooth at all. Is it restoreable? I have recently bought a cast iron dutch oven and used it once and managed to create the same surface on it. Yikes. I am trying to get away from my teflon addiction.
Thanks!
amyhoulihan
Jul 01, 2008 11:49AM
Cast Iron is weird to clean... If you use dish soap you take off the seasoning and if you let it air dry it rusts... clean it by wiping out anything left loose in the pan fill it with water to where the food residue is then boil the crap out of it... scraping as it's boiling... when it feels smooth, dump the water out and wipe it out... then put it back on the stove to dry the water off, wipe it with peanut oil, and let it cool and put it away.
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Amy, you might want to do a search here on "cast iron seasoning", etc. Tons of info. You can beat the addiction but it does take a bit of a different approach and patience. Good luck!
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I've wondered about the "pocked" surface too. I have an old cast iron pan that is smooth and very non-stick, but I bought one of those "pre-seasoned" dutch ovens, and have never gotten it nice and smooth, even though I have tried re-seasoning it. I actually prefer the old ones you have to season yourself.
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When properly seasoned, the pebbly surface of Lodge pans works just as well as the machined surface of older cookware. Pre-seasoning is just a start; keep working on it.
Alton Brown's Good Eats has a new episode called 'Good Dutch', which covers seasoning, as well as the use of Dutch Ovens with coals.
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I clean my well seasoned cast iron cook ware with salt, and only salt. I heat the pan slightly (so I can still handle it comfortably) and dump in enough coarse salt to cover the bottom. Then, using a couple of sheets of paper towel, I rub the salt over the cooking surfaces until the pan surfaces are smooth, the wipe the surface with cooking oil on a paper towel to finish the job. If I am fortunate to find a good quality cast iron pan at a yard sale etc. (not all cast iron cook ware is the same - some of it is pretty poor quality) and I find it hasn't been properly cared for I use coarse salt and an oscillating sander with a padded disk to shine it up before taking it back through the seasoning process.
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You can also calls the Lodge customer service number and see if they have any suggestions for you. I assume your old skillet is a Lodge? They can probably still help if it's not.
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A lot of the old ones made in the USA don't have a manufacturer's name. They were, at one time, a rather generic product.
The question in this case is, what does 'pocked' mean? Cast iron is made with compressed sand molds. Some makers machine the inside surface, others leave it as is. Is that the case here, or is the 'pocking' a result of wear, rust, or a corrosive substance. The sand casting surface can be cleaned and reseasoned. The pits from other causes may be too deep.
Another possibility is that the surface is burnt food, not the bare metal. That can be cleaned. I wonder if the OP has a friend who could tell the difference; maybe someone mechanically inclined.
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Cast iron is VERY restorable and very hard to hurt. I have pieces I scavanged from the dump when working in recycling one had actually been half buried in the dirt outdoors for quite awhile. VERY rusty. The other was a bit rusty..and just arrived in a truck full of garbage. One was an odd square skillet,the other an oval griddle. I used a wire brush on a power drill and sandpaper to get the worst rust + crud off. I boiled some water in each, rubbed good with the heavy duty blue scotchbrite, and Joy, rinsed, oiled with corn oil and heated a while. All fixed.
ALL the advice here is good..and in 40 years with Iron..I've done each,but as a skillet ages,it builds up a "permanent" seasoning of sorts. Then you can do the salt + paper towel, or regular soap and hot water. If you wash off most of the residual oil,you dry by heating on the stove till dry,and then lightly oil. Not too much pampering.
my griddle is for pancakes and such so generally the no soap method is good. I have a deep 9" I often use as a casserole and it gets scraped with a steel spat,soaked a bit, soap,scrub,etc,but dried hot + oiled.
A pampered "fry only and salt rub" skillet can build up a nice natural "no stick" from bonded carbon and a film of oil molecules,but I still want skillets that I can do ANYTHING too and with....and I have that too.
Cast Iron stuff from yard sales is better than new. Really. The "experianced" skillet gets cured/seasoned almost unavoidably by just being used. When about 10 years old is when they really hit their prime.
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