Cast Iron Cooking

This was supposed to be in the grilling thread, but I've either got cobwebs or bad reg valve. Some burgers are a lot of mess.

 

Picked up a few nice pieces of CI over the past few months. A lodge table for dutch oven cooks (and some DIY trivets), a 17" and 12" Lodge, #8 Wagner and a #12 dutch oven that looks to be an older lodge.

 

@kevine0001 nice trivets!

 

Thanks. Had some old bar steel and rebar and cranked a bunch out until the steel was gone. Little oxy acetylene to bend them and some quick mig welding

 

Anyone ever sanded their newer cast iron? I know vintage CI (pre-1950’s?) came sanded or polished from the factory. At some point, due to manufacturing costs, they stopped sanding/polishing. Now you get new Lodge with orange peel that takes multiple coats of seasoning to get it remotely smooth

I watched a few vids on it and just did it to my newer Lodge skillets and a Wagner 1891 (80’s reproduction). Came out beautiful. Used stripping disc, then curved flap wheel for the corners and a regular flap wheel, then some 3” sanding discs to get it down as smooth as possible without wet sanding

Just finished the hour in the oven. I’ll post finished seasoned pics when they cool off but they are a hundred times better than the factory casting.

 

I have new lodge pans i sanded. Really improved them!

 

Stripping discs works great. Couple that with my chainmail cleaner and brownie spatula and they get seriously smooth. Thought about picking up one of the small like 3” guys and throwing it on the lathe to see how it’d turn out

 

Just pulled them out of the oven. One more seasoning and they’ll be black glass

 

Anyone here actually collect old CI? Like 1890's/early 1900's stuff?

 

I have couple older pans not that old though 40s from my research.

 

I just picked this 1891-1910 Wagner skillet. Excellent condition. May actually sell it. Someone who uses them more and knows their value deserves this in their collection...or maybe not.

 

Nice score what does inside look like?

 

Some additional pics.

 

Bummer someone stripped away all the seasoning

 

Just means I'll be seasoning and eating bacon this weekend...

 

Need 100 more years of bacon to get it back to its glory!!!!!

 

This thread is great. I love cooking with cast iron. I just read all 14 pages of it. Lol. I don’t have any vintage CI, but a good bit of Lodge pieces. Now I’m hungry!

 

I know I’m late to this party, and certainly haven’t read through the whole thread. Yet. I love cast iron like wool clothing, Swedish axes, and Tundras.

I just completed a pre-season stripping of a pretty nice McClary #9 I pulled out of a scrap metal bin a while back. It had been rained on with abundant surface rust, so a complete strip was a must. And a cheapo Taiwanese pan from the camping stash got the same treatment. A tiger torch, wire brush, knotted wire wheel, and some fine emory paper later…



They’re currently oiled up with grapeseed oil and will going for 5-6 rounds in the oven within a couple days.

Edit: I did some digging on the age of this McClary skillet. McClary was a Canadian cast manufacturer in Ontario , it seems 1927 is the latest possible date of birth, with other sources showing early to mid ‘20s as the latest, and could go as far back as 1851. McClary went on to be one of the companies that merged into GSW (General Steel Wares) Pretty good rescue!!

 

Here’s the GSW no. 9 I’ve had for over 20 years, and it was long in the tooth then. Was a moving out of home gift from my “adopted grandparents” who are no longer with us, so it’s a bit special to me.



We have about 6 cast iron pans in the house altogether, by far my choice for fried eggs, pancakes, grilled cheese sammiches…

Edit: it appears that this GSW is from the mid - late ‘40’s

 

This morning’s whole grain pancakes sizzling in the GSW and what I believe is an older Lodge 10SK. Bring on the maple syrup!

 

Yup, that’s what’s known as a Lodge 3 Notch.

 

It seems the SK markings without “Made in USA” puts it in the ‘50’s. I was researching while cooking the pancakes.

 

Biscuits and sausage

 

Venison steaks sautéed in butter, garlic, and rosemary first in one cast iron skillet, then pan seared with avocado oil in a second.

 

Oven roasted Cajun catfish. Unfortunately I didn't catch this one, but fishing time is getting closer.

 

Braised rabbit with Pannchetta mushrooms and peas with a cream sauce

 

New Orleans BBQ shrimp.

 

When you need bacon to put in… (non chili) cause it has beans



second pic wa a before it cooked for 4 hours. Was making of pics

I like beans and my Frito pies have been amazing this week