Mother in law went to the same antique market I had previously visited. She wanted to get a cast iron skillet and have me clean it up for her. I specifically told her to avoid the one I saw up there that was marked Taiwan on the bottom.... Long story short it's the one she bought. For $15. When they had Wagner and Griswolds up there in great shape for 19. Yeah this thing is trash. Pitted inside and out. I got it soaking in vinegar just to be sure.
I am not sure where this belongs. I have used a cast iron Dutch Oven for years and love it. I want to get a 12" pan and am considering either a cast iron or a carbon iron pan. The carbon is lighter which would be a benefit but if the cast iron has any real advantages I will go with the old tried and true.
I think it depends a lot on what you will be cooking in it. If you are cooking things that require fast, high heat (chinese food, for example), go with the carbon steel (you said iron but I think you are referring to the steel pans, right?). If you are going to do any baking at all in it, you will want the heavier, thicker cast iron to even out the heat and not burn stuff.
Yes I meant cast steel. I mostly cook steak, hamburger, bacon, sausage, eggs, beans, but some Chinese. I think I will go with cast iron.
First round of cornbread after a few rounds of seasoning. No stick at all and the cornbread was goooood....
Thats awesome. I love seeing old things brought back to life and used as intended. Did you put any spray or butter down first or just put the batter in? It certainly came out clean
Damn that cornbread looks good. I'm actually typing this at 6:20 am sitting at my desk eating a Krispy Kreme donut.... ....and your corn bread is making me hungry. Now that, my friends, is the definition of a fat-ass.
Francis Mallman is awesome. If anyone here has not seen the first season of Chef's Table on Netflix, I highly recommend it. Especially his episode. The second season falls short of the first IMO, but if you get addicted you may still need to watch it.
A potential cast iron hack for you guys. The first time I ever saw what I would have considered really ruined cast iron, the owner told me that they just put a piece in a camp fire for the night to start the restoration. Warning was that if the fire got too hot the piece could crack or warp but they were buying it cheap enough they didn't mind risking it. When I moved to the city I had some stuff that I wanted to refinish so I decided to throw it in the oven during a cleaning cycle. My electric oven can't get hot enough to damage the healthy metal but it reduces everything else to ash, rust and organics too. Now I've never tried this on a super caked and roached pan, but I have a feeling it would still work. Would probably be worth trying if someone has something that could use a good treatment. After the oven it's pure raw metal. I'll go looking for something to try myself this weekend. The electricity is probably a little more costly than a tub of lye, but it's otherwise painless and does not make a mess or require storage for a tub of lye. And it's surely safer.
...and another contribution I made from the previous thread. The best way I've found to clean cast iron without harming the coating is The Ringer. Gets frequent use in my kitchen with the high temps and resulting mess I use for meat cooking with cast iron. Or I use a polycarbonate scraper and a paper towel for more minor messes. https://www.amazon.com/Ringer-Original-Stainless-Cleaner-Patented/dp/B00FKBR1ZG/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0039UU9UO/
Here's a Dutch oven mountain man breakfast a friend cooked when we went car camping last. It was spectacular.
That looks really, really good. You know they have lids with a ridge around it to the keep the coals from sliding off.
So, with the above "hack" I mentioned I want to try to find something in need of some serious love to try it on. Any tips on picking up a abused/improperly stored piece that is more likely to be a quality old brand and not just junk? I understand that the pitting or lack thereof may be a gamble.
If they are going to be as bad as you say, you won't be able to read the mark on the bottom. I have bought pans like that. The best you can do is look at the shape, whether or not there is a heat ring, if so, are there notches in it, the shape of the handle, whether there is a number on the handle and if so, the font or style of the number, etc. Those things should be visible even if it's roached out. Often times the inside is in the best shape. If it has been machined, it's probably an older piece. Once you find one that has some of the older characteristics, bad mouth it to the seller. "I mean, seriously, who else is going to buy this rusted out, caked on crap? This could have been caused by dangerous chemicals. It's probably unsafe to ever eat out of again. We were just going to hang up in the back yard and let my 5 year old nephew use it for bb gun practice. I'll give you $5 for it." and so on.
