Oh, what have I done?!
02-05-2020, 07:42 AM
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Central Missouri
Posts: 462
The old timers would clean their cast iron skillets periodically by submersing them in the hot coals of a wood fire, not while it
was burning brightly but after there was nothing but coals in the pile. They would cover the pan inside and out with the coals and often leave it overnight and then wash and re-season the next day and when it got too much of accumulation on the outside or they couldn't get the inside cleaned good, they would repeat the process which didn't have to be done very often. I have seen my mom and my grandmother both use this process. Sad thing is most of us do not have the wood fires of old with the coals these days. Wish I could use my cast iron skillets on my glass top stove, I loved those old cast iron and still have several of them and will not get rid of them until I die.
was burning brightly but after there was nothing but coals in the pile. They would cover the pan inside and out with the coals and often leave it overnight and then wash and re-season the next day and when it got too much of accumulation on the outside or they couldn't get the inside cleaned good, they would repeat the process which didn't have to be done very often. I have seen my mom and my grandmother both use this process. Sad thing is most of us do not have the wood fires of old with the coals these days. Wish I could use my cast iron skillets on my glass top stove, I loved those old cast iron and still have several of them and will not get rid of them until I die.
02-05-2020, 12:13 PM
#12
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Richmond, VA
Posts: 601
Originally Posted by themachinelady
The old timers would clean their cast iron skillets periodically by submersing them in the hot coals of a wood fire, not while it
was burning brightly but after there was nothing but coals in the pile. They would cover the pan inside and out with the coals and often leave it overnight and then wash and re-season the next day and when it got too much of accumulation on the outside or they couldn't get the inside cleaned good, they would repeat the process which didn't have to be done very often. I have seen my mom and my grandmother both use this process. Sad thing is most of us do not have the wood fires of old with the coals these days. Wish I could use my cast iron skillets on my glass top stove, I loved those old cast iron and still have several of them and will not get rid of them until I die.
was burning brightly but after there was nothing but coals in the pile. They would cover the pan inside and out with the coals and often leave it overnight and then wash and re-season the next day and when it got too much of accumulation on the outside or they couldn't get the inside cleaned good, they would repeat the process which didn't have to be done very often. I have seen my mom and my grandmother both use this process. Sad thing is most of us do not have the wood fires of old with the coals these days. Wish I could use my cast iron skillets on my glass top stove, I loved those old cast iron and still have several of them and will not get rid of them until I die.
02-05-2020, 02:32 PM
#13
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Upstate NY, north of Syracuse Area
Posts: 6,003
I am also curious about why not to use cast iron on the glass top stove? My husband does most of the cooking and he does use the cast iron on our glass stove top.
On another note, I did completely ruin my mother's old chicken fryer cast iron skillet before we had this glass top. I had fried the chicken and was making the gravy. Had the flour all browned and poured in the milk... cold from the refrigerator. A loud bang scared the crap out of me and then the milk was running out all over the stove. The bottom of that cast iron pan had split wide open in the middle, a big gaping crack! I'd made gravy a hundred times in that old pan and never suspected that could ever happen.
On another note, I did completely ruin my mother's old chicken fryer cast iron skillet before we had this glass top. I had fried the chicken and was making the gravy. Had the flour all browned and poured in the milk... cold from the refrigerator. A loud bang scared the crap out of me and then the milk was running out all over the stove. The bottom of that cast iron pan had split wide open in the middle, a big gaping crack! I'd made gravy a hundred times in that old pan and never suspected that could ever happen.
02-05-2020, 03:47 PM
#14
Power Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Southern USA
Posts: 15,931
A really bad cast iron skillet can be tossed in a fire to burn then scrubbed clean. My grandfather use to do his camping cast iron this way. There isn't much that can damage cast iron. I keep a 6 qt dutch oven on my stove top all the time. I fry in it (no splatter), roast, bake, simmer, and boil in it. I love it.
I use the chainmail scrubber for all my cast iorn and it cleans it right up good as new. If something is really burnt to it, I let water boil in it and then let cook and scrub. Coat it with oil and ready to go.
Lodge makes a new lightweight cast iron now. Called Blacklock.
I use the chainmail scrubber for all my cast iorn and it cleans it right up good as new. If something is really burnt to it, I let water boil in it and then let cook and scrub. Coat it with oil and ready to go.
Lodge makes a new lightweight cast iron now. Called Blacklock.
Last edited by Onebyone; 02-05-2020 at 03:50 PM.
02-05-2020, 04:08 PM
#15
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: jacksonville bch
Posts: 2,065
I have scrubbed my cast iron skillet with salt and a metal scrubber. Then coat with Crisco, and put in 150 deg. oven upside down on aluminum foil for at least an hour. It works for me, and I use it on my glass top all the time.
