cast iron

[Jaxom22]

I fell in love with cooking with cast iron many years ago when I was in boy scouts. Loved working with it ever since! And while I have 30+ years of knowledge on how to properly season, and maintain cast, I do have a few questions.

I'd like to take my love of cast to the next level. COLLECTING!!! But I'd also like to still use some as well.

So my first question is about how to make "fair" cast better. For example, Lodge brand cast is okay and readily available. Although they claim thier product is preseasoned, I still give it a good cleaning and re-season it myself. I've also read and seen a few youtube videos, where folks have used a grinder or such a smoothed out the rough finnish that Lodge is known for.

My second question is about what your latest great find was. Love reading about garage sale and flea market treasures. Pictures would be fantastic!

 

[baymule]

I love love love cast iron! I have skillets of all sizes. My son saw a iron pot with a bail handle, lid and without legs. It belonged to a friend of his and friend would not sell or give it up. My son asked me to find him one. A few months passed and I went to Canton, Texas for First Monday trade days. it is huge, covers over 100 acres. Wandering around with my sister, niece, and 8 other family members, I spied a booth of nothing but cast iron. There it was, the Holy Grail of iron pots! The man wanted $80 for it, I offered $50, we settled on $60. The prize was mine!! I took it home, scrubbed it with a pumice stone, oiled it and baked it. My son was delighted! He is all about cast iron too.

My Son in law admired my 6" iron skillet, remarking that it was the right size for his breakfast eggs and could he have it. Nope. but I knew where to get him one, so went to local antique/junk store, they had 2, I bought them both. Now I have 2 (and use them both) and he has one. He told me about a deep skillet with a lid that could be used for a skillet too that a friend of his had. I knew immediately what he was talking about, because I had one....you guessed it, I didn't let him have that one either. I waited for them to show up at Tractor Supply in their Christmas stuff and bought him one.

I need more.........

 

[Jaxom22]

I need more too!

Have modest collection now. Mostly Lodge brand. Did get a nice oven baker from a second hand shop for $2. Amazing what you can find at Goodwill, Savers, Salvation Army stores!

Would really like to find the same dutch oven my troop used. It was bigger then the Lodge one I have. The lid is flat, rather then domed with a lip on it to hold coals. It also came with a stand for the lid so the lid could be flipped over and be used as a round griddle!

FYI Hope nobody minds but I also belonged to the late Ron Hood's "Hoods Woods" over at Survival.com. His wife does a seris called "Cave Cooking" that relies on cast. Also one episode shows the dutch oven I want!

 

[Hinotori]

I pick them up at the antique stores and sales sometimes. I have a limit on how much I'll pay for a pan. I have a three Lodge pans. I really don't care a whole lot for them. Not after I started using the Wagner I picked up at one of the antique stores. Nice smooth finish. Was great after cleaning and seasoning. I haven't had anything stick in it. I had issues with sticking on the Lodge which frustrated me to no end since I've used regular (not notstic) stainless steel pans for years and not had a sticking issue.

 

[Britesea]

My absolute favorite cast iron find was an antique Wagner waffle iron, size 8. It has a stand with a socket on one side- the two waffle surfaces make a ball when they are joined that fits in the socket to facilitate turning the iron. It was a b**** to clean up, but once I did, I've never had a waffle stick. I also have 4 sizes of skillets (no makers name on any of them- they range from size 3 to size 14) and a Lodge griddle, and a smallish (size 9)Griswold Dutch oven (curved lid, no legs). At one time, I had a set of saucepans, but they were a headache- since I use saucepans for liquid things like boiling potatoes etc, I could never get the darn things to keep their seasoning. I finally grew tired of them and gave them away.

 

[Jaxom22]

Ugh! Wish I was working!!! After going through want/gig ads, I checked sales for cast iron. Someone near me has a cast tea pot. Think they're asking $20 for it. Someone else has a huge Calderon for $60!

Still wondering about taking my grinder with sanding discs to my generic Lodge stuff? Seen either a YouTube video or such someone did with modest success.

 

[Hinotori]

I don't think the tea pots are worth it. Just get rusty and impossible to clean inside. I have a stainless steel water kettle I got at the asian market that I use in winter on the wood stove. Humidity and I use the water to make tea a couple times a day.

 

[Britesea]

I agree with Hinotori- it's why I ended up getting rid of those cast iron saucepans

 

[Jaxom22]

Just thought tea pot would be nice addition to collection. Especially at such a low price. Of course, not working, might as well be a million dollars. Doesn't hurt to dream though! LOL