Cast iron

I am looking to get a cast iron skillet, Dutch oven and a sauce pot to use with the Kamado Joe. What brand should I be looking at. I want USA made and quality. I have been looking at finex brand so far

PM skinnerback

Lodge cast iron does well for us at the fire station.

My bge puts the hurt on the pans. I would just go lodge and replace as you need

PM Cast he's the authority...

Id say if you're going new, then Lodge as already mentioned. You can find youtube videos on how to resurface the cooking face by sanding it down smooth, then seasoning. Or you can go the 4x expensive route and look on ebay and other places like estate sales for old Griswold and a couple of other old named cookware. Just watch for fakes and knockoffs.

Start with lodge. Walmart or Academy both should have it. Buy the more expensive stuff later if you really use it. If I had an expensive piece of cast iron. I’d be more careful with it I’m pretty sure.

Lodge for new. Put a 60 grit flap disc on the angle grinder and slick off the inside on day one. Then re-season them on the grill outside with bacon grease.

The best ones are found at antique stores and flea markets. And they will cost you more money than a brand new one, and for good reason.

There’s a new manufacturer of high quality cast iron cookware. It’s very expensive. It’s also thin walled and lighter due to high grade cast iron. It wants to be Griswald. But it’s not.

Lodge is American made heavy cast iron. The finish is hit and miss. If you took the time to polish the interior, it will break in and cook just fine. The cast iron is not high grade, therefore it’s got to be thicker and heavier to last. Don’t get the idea that cast iron cookware is fragile, but pieces do crack.

Walter, my advice. Buy Griswald stuff. It’s already proved it’s metal (pun intended) and you’re young enough to get your money’s worth from it. I’ve got some expensive pieces in my Griswald collection but the stuff I use daily is much more affordable. You can get skillets from number 4 to 10 for less that fifty bucks each.

I’ll volunteer to help you sort them out. Browse eBay and text me links to what you like. I’ll check it and render an opinion. Pay no mind to how nasty it is, there’s brand new cast iron under the crud and I have the glass blaster to prove it. Get a few pieces and come over. You’ll learn how to season your new treasures.

I’d suggest getting a set of smaller skillets. I’ve got a 4,6,8 set on my stove right now. That’ll cover most of your needs. Try to find skillets with lids. That’ll drive the price up but it’s so nice to have a lid. You mentioned a sauce pan. Get a small dutch oven instead. Get Lodge, Griswald dutch ovens are rare/pricey. Grab those up through the years. My favorite piece is my Griswald chicken skillet. It’s high sided with a domed lid. I found that one when I wasn’t looking for it.

Good luck.

Lard is what I advocate for seasoning cast iron, but bacon grease is pretty close. I save my bacon grease for seasoning my food.

Another guy that knows a little about cast iron...

Lard is the fat of a hog.

Bacon comes from the hog's belly...

Inspired me to break mine out this morning for some B&E and yes food taste much better cooked out of well seasoned cast iron

Thanks guys. I will get to looking around for some !

As mentioned go with Lodge, best bang for your buck. I also recommend resurfacing & reseasoning right off the bat. If you take care of your cast iron it will last for a very long time, and it cooks better with each use. There are some stupid expensive new pieces out there, but Lodge works just fine.

There is a little difference as bacon has been cured/seasoned and tastes better....both will work just fine. I prefer bacon grease as it’s a good excuse to cook more bacon....

Be aware that Lodge is heavy. Huge difference in weight between same size Lodge and Griswald. Lodge uses inferior cast iron when compared to the black cast iron used in Griswald. Plus, Lodge will never be heirloom grade.

You might also check out Stargazer. A bit pricier than Lodge but the cooking surface it is already smoothed. They seem to get good ratings.
http://www.stargazercastiron.com/

For my BGE, I bought the Lodge pizza pan. Allows me to do fajitas, wings and veggies. Just be careful to not get it too hot.

https://fieldcompany.com/
are you familiar with these Cast?

Ive got a lodge and 2 others, one from my mom and the other I dug out of the sand at our ranch when we bought it. The lodge functions fine but I like the others two more. Lard is the best thing I have found to season with, far better than oil like most manufacturers recommend. I had a little lard left over from making tamales so I gave it a whirl... far superior to oil.

Thanks guys I will order a couple of the lodge pieces to use inside my grill. Will also probably end up ordering a new one from finex to use inside the house and have as an heirloom piece to hand down to the grandchildren one day.

Good deal. Your Lodge pieces can end up being family heirlooms as well, I have lots of Lodge pieces and a few other brands that will be passed down. Don't let the cast iron snobs fool you.

We have a huge pile of cast iron. Most picked up at flea markets and resale shops. Need to go through it and see what I have.

how do you fry an egg sunny-side up in a cast fry-pan?

I say that more as I’m going to use the lodge inside the Kamado Joe and it will probably get used much more often and spend a fair amount of time outside so it certainly won’t be babied. I tend to buy quality stuff and then use the heck out of it. But the finex stuff sure is good looking with their spring handle.

Call me a snob but I don’t like the finex. The handle wont last and you can’t put a lid on them. Too expensive as well.

Griswold is simply the best out there. I have a number 4. wish I had one just a bit bigger.

They make lids for them, and yes they are too rich for my blood too. I think they look funny as well, but that's just me....sorry being snobby.

signature worthy indeed ...

I have a electric Griswold skillet from the early 50's that was handed down to me from my family.

Walter I got a 5 Qt dutch oven for only $16.00 if you want it.

Stub I’ll take it! You got my cell we can set something up to meet up.

Nice!

Well done Stub!

i think thats a chicken pot, not a dutch oven

1/16" layer of hot bacon grease.

Or a pad of butter in the skillet, turn on the fire, spread out the butter. As soon as it begins to slightly brown, throw the eggs on. Flip as needed.

The key to not sticking eggs on a cast iron skillet is to cook the egg on top of oil or browning butter, not on top of the iron surface.

Rarely do my skillets see the sink, and water. When done, I wipe them out. In the event one needs to be scrubbed clean, scrape it with a steel spatula, go to the sink with cold running water, and scrub without soap. Put the wet skillet on a fire, when the water has cooked off, turn off the fire, and cover the skillet in bacon grease.

Awesome thread, just started cooking yesterday with them.

Stub, thank you again. It was great meeting you and your wife! Well put this one to good use.

Our pleasure Luke included! Great meeting you, your beautiful wife and baby girl. Next time hopefully it is over a cold one

I didn’t check prices but those are Griswald clones. Black cast iron and thin walls.

No you don’t.

That’s how I was taught as a kid and how I do it.

So according to the Cowboy in the video this is a chicken pot, not a dutch oven....True...or...False?

True.

Dutch Oven has a flatter lid, with a circumferencial rim, to hold coals on the lid, for baking.

The Dutch oven with a flat top and rim is called a camping Dutch oven. https://shop.lodgemfg.com/prodcat/dutch-ovens.asp Lodge Dutch ovens, they have domed and flat tops.

Well, the cowboy can call it like he sees it. It’s not a chicken skillet. They’re both Dutch ovens in my eyes. The camping dutch oven is just specialized for cooking with coals.

Here’s a chicken skillet -

love the THF, we can stir up dust no matter what the topic

aint it fun.


ya'll make me want to collect some nice pieces. Cast Iron cookware that is

What is that cooking there?

Looks like Lodge actually just came out with a better quality series.
https://gearpatrol.com/2019/03/14/lodge-chef-collection-released/

I think it was my premier in Cajun cookery. It was a fail.

Needs whole hard boiled eggs.

nice rou

droolin

I just priced the Griswald stuff. It dang sure better be the best at those prices!!!! Holy ****!!!!!!!!!!

I bought a Camp Chef reversible griddle and have been torture testing it trying to learn the do's and donts. So far I don't see how you can ask for anything more than what it has done and they run about $40. Then again I aint a professional chef so I guess I don't need professional cookware. Im sure it will outlast me.

Btw that’s Skinnerback’s gumbo. All I can take credit for is making love to it when he said it was ready to eat.

The Griswold brand is mostly about bragging rights,

Thanks to this thread I’m in the middle of reseasoning a 10-15yr old no-name skillet of mine that’s been in desperate need of some TLC.

I used the kamado to burn it down to bare metal yesterday then scrubbed it with steel wool & hot soapy water. It’s currently in the oven getting seasoning coat #3.

Very interested.

Yep. I'd put my 2013-vintage Lodge up against any Griswold. I put a custom grind on it.

Pics or it didn’t happen!

You can see the finish on the bottom and about 0.25" up the side is different than the rest.

It’s got okra in it I’ll eat it!

Mickey Moose, you just scrub the crud out of it?

https://shop.lodgemfg.com/prodcat/chef-collection.asp

Yes, I'm experimenting with different oils. Still a top notch performer in its current condition.

Science says won’t beat pure flaxseed oil for seasoning it.

Are you seasoning with oil? Bad move. You could maybe use coconut oil, but lard is the way.

So says many places I've read. However, I'm trying a new diet in which I'm using Avocado oil so that's my current iteration of experimenting since I already have it on hand.



I appreciate your opinion despite countless people having used various oils for a long, long time without a problem. I'm one of them. While I'm not challenging the use of lard, I don't keep it on hand. See above comment.

so you season with a solid fat?

ya'll getting me into this. Good thing is you can cook in a dutch oven on my Weber Kettle.

actually, anyone can use the cheapest cheap cooking oil
from any dollar store.
a lot of these "seasoning" methods are a bunch of hooey
and myth.
"seasoning" is in the pores of the cast iron and can't be
scraped or scrubbed off. if it chips off like paint, it's not
"seasoning", it's just burned on crap.
you can remove "seasoning" with lye or oven cleaner,
but plain ol' dish soap won't take it off.
the most important thing is after you wash your cast iron
vessels is to re-heat them and drive all moisture out before
you lightly oil them for storage.
also, use whatever spatula or spoon you have on hand.
it doesn't have to be a plastic or wooden one like so
many of these people say in magazine articles and online.
i can guarantee you that my old granny never ever owned a
wooden or plastic spatula or spoon, and she cooked pretty
much daily with cast iron pans and never had a problem
with "seasoning" like these modern experts seem to.
she used whatever metal spoon or spatula she had on hand,
and wouldn't have even considered buying some special
something to stir a pot or for cooking in a skillet.
21st century people are too anal, and we all think we need
special guns to hunt with and special knives to get the guts
out of our dead animals, and we for sure don't need any special
seasoning oils or creams to spread on our cast iron cookware
or any special utensils to cook with it.
use it and enjoy it

I buy into most of that. Especially the part of the seasoning being IN the iron, and not on top of the iron.

And all I use are steel spatulas that are flat across, and I'll grind the corners to a radius to match the radius of the corner of the skillet. Mine are slick enough, they rarely go into the sink. They get scraped and wiped out. In the event I have to scrub with cold water, I do put them on the burner, cook off the water, turn off the burner, and apply bacon grease.

Same.

I prefer my metal spatula to wood or any synthetic. Second preference is wood.

Dang it, not again!

Alright, let’s talk oils. Let’s fry a turkey. What oil do we use? Peanut oil. Why? Because peanut oil gets hotter than most oils before it breaks down and smokes. That’s called burnt oil, and it’s nasty. The oil changes it’s viscosity and thickens and darkens. Sounds yummy huh?

If you season cast iron with oil, congrats, you have added a crust of burnt, sticky oil to your pan. Your pan has a brown sticky surface that won’t wash off. Sounds delicious.

Now let’s talk seasoning cast iron. I treat new Lodge and antique Griswald cast iron the same. It goes to the glass blasting cabinet for stripping.

I hear you. Yeah sure that’s cheating. Well I wasn’t geared up when I was 6, but I was still cleaning and seasoning cast iron (and one steel) skillets. Back then, to clean them, they went in the middle of a huge pine needle pile once a year and they burned clean while I did my chores. So, you can use heat to clean cast iron too. You got a self-cleaning oven? Do your cast iron at the same time. Fish fryer burners, gas grills, pear burners. They’ll get the job done. So there’s no reason not to clean it well before seasoning. I like my glassblaster because it cleans down to new cast iron. You can see any defects easily, and it really seasons well. I don’t like oven cleaner stripping with pieces in a trash bag, it’s just too nasty and dangerous. But it will clean if you need a plan B.

Ok, I’m gonna tell y’all a secret. I tried seasoning cast iron with oil after the Navy. I had forgotten, but when I saw that brown oil slick I remembered lard. I don’t do that anymore. Because I learned the hard way.

I have several pairs of identical Griswald skillets. I can promise you this is true because I did it. If I take a pair of identical skillets through the glass blaster and prep them for seasoning they will be the same skillets in the same condition. I season on my gas grill. It’ll hold both skillets and fully close the lid. I’ll rub one with peanut oil to give it a fighting chance and the other I rub with a thin coat of lard.

Here’s another secret, place a HD sheet of foil shiny side down on the gas grill grates and turn all burners on high. That’s how you clean your gas grill and superheat the skillets at the same time. The oil and lard will smoke mightily and burn away. Let them cool for round two of seasoning. Wipe them out with paper towels before round two. You will see a difference already. The lard has burnt away leaving a black surface behind, the oil has burnt away leaving a brown tacky surface behind. Follow the same procedure and you will see the lard getting blacker and slicker while the oil gets browner and eventually very sticky. Soon, you won’t be able to wipe out the oil as it will stick to the paper and tear it. You’ll go wash it, but it won’t come clean.

I know you have no reason to believe me, but I’m hard headed and had to try once again to save some cast iron.

I’ll throw out an offer to maybe stop this madness. If someone will send me two small new identical Lodge skillets, I’ll take them both through the process, your choice of oil, and my lard. I’ll carefully document and photograph the process and publish it here. The finished pics will tell the tale, but I’ll get the skillets back to the owner for his/her examination and subsequent report. Let’s stop the madness!

been using Avocado oil for everything too MM

I cheat a brand new skillet into glass smooth iron, with this right here.

If you get a sticky brown oil slick from seasoning your cast iron with oil, you’re using wayyy too much oil.

The goal here is polymerization. Google it and you’ll learn why flaxseed oil is the best.

If you ever buy a dutch oven with a lid at the farm store, and a can of fly spray, I hope you remember to take the fly spray out before putting it in the oven to preheat. Supposedly an old friend of mine did this many years ago before some manufacturers started pre-seasoning. If I remember the story correctly a new range was the next purchase.

Yeah I Googled it here. This expert admits to seasoning one pan. Her entire premis in picking the most expensive and volitile oil to season with is the unavailability of lard. That’s complete bunk.

I already told you guys what happens when oil smokes, nothing new there. I think old Sheryl is a vegetarian as she trashes bacon grease as carcinogenic and lard as unavailable then goes bonkers on all vegetable oils. She comes right out and says any oil will work. Corn, peanut, vegetable, any kind of oil will work she says. The only thing she doesn’t like is lard (and bacon grease).

If I was convinced that flaxseed oil was the ticket, I’d use linseed oil. It’d probably be fine after it was burnt away. I will say that her flax seasoned skillet looked pretty good. Matte black. Semi gloss black is what I’m after.

But why would I switch when I already have a time tested and proven method that works? Plus, a four pound tub of lard costs seven bucks and will season many, many skillets.

She talked about the hardness of the seasoning coat? She says flaxseed oil is harder than lard. Really? How did she quantify that?

Are you guys basing all this oil talk on an internet article, or have you done a side by side comparison? I have.

Have you guys seasoned dozens, probably hundreds of pieces of cast iron? I have.

Have you guys messed up a skillet trying to season it? I have. And I had to fix it.

Have you guys ever been asked to season a friends cast iron? I have, many times.

Have you guys ever been asked to teach your method to others. I have, many times.

Do you guys run off at the mouth when you get yourself going? I do!

I'll just stick with my tried and true bacon grease....

You can buy a tub of bacon grease ya know. Do you get any good bacon smoke left after seasoning?

We just keep the grease after cooking bacon. The house smells like bacon after seasoning.....

Flax seed oil and the linseed oil you buy at the hardware store is not the same stuff. While flaxseed can be made into linseed oil, the linseed oil has chemical dryers added to it.

Flaxseed oil IS linseed oil, just not food grade. Whatever the difference is, I submit it’ll all burn away during seasoning.

Flaxseed oil is fit for human consumption, the linseed oil at the hardware store will make you sick.. Today's process to convert flaxseed oil to linseed oil uses chemical additives and is not safe for human consumption.

Great thread, fellas. Now I'm hungry and need to go check out the cast iron I inherited from my grandfather.

It is a good thread. It motivated me to take out my 30+ year old cast iron skillet, that I rarely use and take a look at it. It was pretty rough and after watching some you tube clips and using the tips from Cast, I sanded it down and seasoned it. Cooked some bacon in it yesterday and it looks really good. Will be using bacon grease to season it after each use.

First time seasoning I use extra virgin olive oil on the inside....outside use any cheap oil. Then cook some bacon and other starchy foods a few times. While cooking use metal if you want...but if something requires some elbow grease to clean up use a wooden spatula. Do not clean hard with a metal tool...thats just stupid. Seasoning can be taken out of cast iron...boil water in it if you don't believe me. Hot water out of the sink to clean. Never use soap. Put on heat and dry it out. Again I coat with olive oil because....I do not use cast as often as some do and cheap oils/grease will go rancid if left over time. If your using cast very regularly then season it with whatever you want after each use.

Another tip I got and use for my cast iron if if needs a bit of scrubbing. Pour salt in and rub that around as a mild abrasive to get some stubborn stuff out. Most of the time, I simply wipe out any food particles after cooking and put a little clean olive oil on while it’s warm and the pores of the cast iron are open.

The reason why modern cast iron like Lodge have.a rough surface is because they pre-season them while hanging vertically. That texture holds the seasoning agent in place. Or so I’ve been told.

Edit to add: I LOVE cooking cornbread in the cast iron skillet. There’s just something about the way it comes out.

I see a few references to oiling the cast prior to storage. That’s kinda nasty. Every is gonna stick to it, you’ll have to wash it before you use it. Fact is, well seasoned cast needs no more coating.

Washing - when you’re about done cooking, turn on the hot water in the kitchen sink. Take the cast off the fire and dump any grease or oil out and wipe the still hot skillet dry with a wad of paper towels or crumpled newspaper. To the sink. The water is steaming hot now, turn it down slow and add a little to the skillet. It’ll sizzle and deglaze the skillet. Do it again then grab the Tuffy pad and scrub. It should come clean right down to the seasoning. Wipe it dry and put it on the still warm burner to dry.

This happens fast. Two or three minutes.

This Chicken skillet gets a lotta love -

Here’s my no-name 10” skillet after a quick refresh and 6 coats of seasoning. The surface texture is typical as-cast garbage and needs some love - one of these days I’ll get around to resurfacing it.

Here’s my everyday use set -

The 8,6,&4 that we use daily.



The #8 -



The #6 -



The #4 -



Here they are flipped over -



Notice anything? Different logos, different handles? Three different series of Griswald skillets!

The ones we use at work, left to right. "Vittles n Fixins" Chinese brand skillet I use for cornbread regularly, it as actually a pretty good piece. Wagner Ware skillet of Mom's in the middle, and last no name "Made In USA" also belongs to mom. I don't use those 2 much, prefer stainless on the stove top.

What a dead horse topic

That #8 with the smoke ring is an old keeper. That Wagner with the tab makes me think there is a lid for it somewhere.

Jelly much?

https://gearpatrol.com/2019/03/19/best-oil-to-season-cast-iron-skillet/

The Best: Grapeseed Oil

Every expert praised grapeseed oil. Stuart Shank of Stargazer Cast Iron says its strength comes from a high smoke point and low saturated fat content, which make for a “slick, durable seasoning.” Smithey Ironware’s Isaac Morton, meanwhile, likes its neutral odor, and he uses it to season every pan he sells. Stephen Muscarella of Field Company asked himself what oils would be useful in applications other than seasoning, are relatively easy to obtain and carry a neutral odor and taste. This led him to grapeseed.

“We like organic, cold-pressed oils for environmental and health reasons, and the chemistry is clear that oils high in polyunsaturated fats are the best at crosslinking into a durable coating,” Muscarella said. Another highlight: it’s affordable.




Good: Butter and Animal Fats

While grapeseed oil is great, Dennis Powell of Butter Pat Industries prefers the classics: saturated fats like butter and animal fats, which season your pan naturally during the cooking process. The benefits of doing it this way should be obvious: you don’t have to buy a special oil for seasoning and you don’t need to apply dozens of layers of seasoning. The downside is your pan won’t have the best-looking seasoning (expect some streaks and dark spots) and it may be slightly uneven. But once you’ve seasoned this way enough times the whole pan will turn black anyway.

Also Good: Flaxseed Oil

Flaxseed oil is an odd choice, but a popular one among some cast iron experts like Liz Seru of Borough Furnace. It has a very low smoke point — the temperature at which oil begins to polymerize to the pan — but it’s also one of very few food-safe “drying” oils, meaning it dries out naturally. The main drawbacks are price, smell and precision. Compared to common cooking oils, flaxseed oil is expensive and typically only found in pharmacies and health food stores. There are also many examples around the web of flaxseed oil being a bit finicky, with some testers reporting long-term durability issues. And it smells pretty bad.

Bad: Olive Oil

No expert recommended America’s most popular cooking oil. “Olive oil is tougher because its smoke point is usually so low,” Morton says. In other words, every time you heat than pan up near or above its smoke point, the seasoning can begin to degrade if it’s not perfectly adhered.

Think she has a few lids at the house. What would the #8 likely be? Don't know much about the history of them.

You guys are treading on thin ice with the self-proclaimed Cast iron authority. He's going to get upset if you don't acknowledge that his way is the *the* way.

Oh, I wouldn’t know, but you don’t see smoke rings too much. They’re for cooking on a wood stove.

Damn man! That’s not nice.

Man, have seen those rings my whole life and never even paid attention. You learn something everyday.

I betcha a good cook will make good food no matter what the brand or if it's seasoned in oil or lard, and a crummy chef will be crummy just the same. The skillet doesn't cook for you.

Here’s some of my unused stuff.

Nice set of skillets -



Some oddities and more rare stuff -



Yes, all Griswald.

It's all in fun. I understand your angle and appreciate your experience and enthusiasm. I don't agree 100% but that's ok. Kinda like hunting. We don't all agree on all aspects of hunting.

Nice collection, Cast.

You are absolutely right! I have old and new Lodge, no name, Wagner and even an old steel skillet. I can cook well in any of them. The Griswald is just lighter so I lake it better. Plus it’s got class. Just like me.



But this thread is about cookware not cooking.

Sounds like Mr Moose has had a bad experience with an iron skillet

A few years ago I bought at old Puritan cast iron skillet

Apparently it’s pretty old, I wanna say I read it was made in the 1930’s

And you didn't read my previous posts.

* https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/7458855/re-cast-iron#Post7458855
* https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/7459913/re-cast-iron#Post7459913

My one 2013 skillet, the only skillet I have, and I hit it off from day one. So not decades of experience with numerous pieces like some here have but all positive experience.

Puritan cast iron! Man it’s been years since I’ve heard that. It’s old and I’ve never seen one in person. You got a good one most likely. Post a pic!

It’s cool and I’m interested in the new oils y’all are trying. Keep us in the loop as you try different oils. But please try lard once.

I can't play, I'm working away from home and most of my CI. I do have 5 pieces in my camper though..

That is a beautiful piece! There’s another old smoke ring. I hope you use it daily.

About once/twice a week

All well and in good fun Moose, I have a three Lodge Iron skillets and won't use them for anything but decoration and that is no joke

Cast ... what are you calling a smoke ring on the cast iron skillets/pots? I have some really old stuff passed down from my parents and think even some from my grandparents but never heard something called a smoke ring???

See the raised edge on the bottom of the skillet? That’s it but it’s usually a little inside the edge. Check out Chalet’s #8 skillet below, bottom pic, no name skillet with a smoke ring. It’s more traditional. There’s a couple more smoke rings in here too.

The deep one on the right and one below it are from my wife’s family.
We are at least 3rd generation cooking in then.
Bottom left #8 and the 6-1/2” I rescued from a dilapidated shed
on my family property. They were in bad shape but cleaned up
and seasoned well. We use them regularly.

I have one. I don't use it all the time but when it is an expensive piece of meat I do.

Almost forgot this one probably because it doesn’t get used near enough.
Left behind by previous owner of a home we bought.
12oz beverage container for size comparison only.

I now realize why I like our cast iron cookware so much.

None of it cost me a dime

Top to bottom.

1st. 12" skillet with homemade steel lid is prob my best treasure, it was my Grandma's chicken fryer. Not sure when or where she got it but I know she cooked for Bridwell Ranch back probably in the 30's, worked as a cook at ACISD and also farmwife for close to 60 years. Don't use it a whole lot, it stays in my chuck wagon and comes out on hunting trips. Only markings are a 12 on the bottom.

2nd is my Lodge Dutch Oven. Received as a gift about the time I finished college, so 20 years ago. Has seen many pots of chili, gumbo, pork and kraut, breakfast sausage and eggs, and critter fricasse. Even burned a few biscuits in it. It stays on chuck wagon duty also.

3rd. Some made in Taiwan wooden handled skillet my wife had when we dated. Pretty sure she was washing it with soap and water when we met. Used to use it a lot when we got married, not so much these days. It works pretty good.

4th. Little griddle that stays on my stove. Think I got it @ World Market 15-20 years ago. Made in China, see's fried egg duty almost daily. Zero complaints about function.

5th. Bayou Classic 12" square skillet I got last year, made in China. Center of it has humped a little bit but still works ok, stays in the oven mostly. Use it mainly for bacon as I don't like crowding bacon or making it fit right in a round skillet.

That's about it.

Bought this a couple years ago, don't use it as much as I like. Think its the 10 gallon King Cooker Jambalaya pot. Made in China but the price was right.

I like that cook pot. Nice find.

The three smaller Lodge were wedding gifts 24 years ago, the bigger one I picked up about 2 years ago. Will add a few more pieces when it is right.

thanks for the explanation!!! I have noticed the raised ring on the bottom but never knew it was called anything or had a purpose. Interesting!

Yeah it’s called a smoke ring but I imagine it’s more about an insulated air space to keep the skillet off the top of that hot wood burning stove.

1st they put an electric heating element on a cast iron skillet, next thing you know we got self driving automobiles and too much technology on airplanes....



Seriously though, neat skillet. Never have seen an electric one before. Is that factory or a home made job?

I too, did not know what that was called or its purpose. I have one with that. I kept my mom’s old cast iron skillets and I have a couple of my own.

Thanks for the insight!

Greg

Well I’ll be danged! I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that. If that thing still works, it could be valuable.

i've never heard it called a smoke ring, but i can say
that it's on older skillets for the purpose of holding them
in place on top of a wood cookstove when you remove
the lid from the eye on the top. the ring on the bottom
fits into the hole and prevents it from moving around.
that's where they got the numerical designation such as
#6 or #8 etc.instead of a measurement in inches like the
modern made skillets do.

Check this guys take on smoke rings -

Link

There’s some really big skillets with really big smoke rings. Bigger than the biggest hole in a wood stove top.

I was told that it is factory by my grandparents. It does work and I use it to do my double dip buttermilk fried chicken in it. My grandparents got it sometime in the fifties and they passed it down to me.

CAST you basically called me a liar so I felt compelled to take a pic of it and post it here.

You should demand an apology imho

I actually thought you were joking. All my years searching out cast iron and never ran across one. I love it! I was wr wr wro wro wro

I apologize.

You will give us more pics please?

Had a family member give me some cast iron last night.

Can anyone tell me what this one is?

You got some good pieces there. The griddle is great and very handy on the stovetop. I use mine for tortillas, grilled cheese and as a lid for my smaller skillets. The deep skillet looks like a chicken skillet. You’ll be using that a lot. Chili and spaghetti sauce love that pot. I bet it’ll make perfect fried chicken using that lid. That little shallow skillet would be my fried egg/fritata skillet.

Congrats!

TexasLefty I like that small skillet!

Is the one you’re cleaning the top one in the first sideways pic? That’s a straight sided stew pot with a lid that you don’t often see. Chili, stew, beans and a deep peach cobbler belong in it. How deep is it? I might be looking at it wrong.

I will have to see if I can get some pictures of some of my older pieces ... my brother wanted several that my parents had, a big rectangular griddle that would stretch over two stove burners, probably 12x20 or 12x24 with handles on both ends, corn ear shaped corn bread muffin like someone posted earlier, several dutch ovens and a number of skillets in various sizes ... he got those but I got most of the guns since he hasn't hunted since the early 1970s.

This might be one of the Greatest threads ever!!!

PMK reminded me. I have a big Griswald griddle too. Straddles two burners with a grease catcher on one end. Works great on the gas grill. I gotta dig around in the cabinets to find more of the lesser used stuff. I wanna show y’all my big skillet too.

Hey Cast, I always thought spaghetti sauce in cast iron wasn’t a no-no due to the acidity & long cooktimes - thoughts?

I say poppycock. My shiny chicken skillet has cooked many tomato based sauces through the decades. It always simmers all day. Chili too, and I bet that’s more acidic.

Cast, no sir. It’s the bottom one. I hate when they look right but they post sideways. The top one is definitely a No. 8-B (7) 10 1/4 Birmingham (BSR) and their lid too. I think the lid is older, could be wrong.

But look at the lid handles. They’re very similar but no markings on the bigger one in question. I thought maybe someone would recognize the Pan by the two dimple carry handle mostly. The big handle is kind of different too.

Oh and Cast, it’s exactly 3” deep(heh heh). Does it look like maybe a handle was added later or is it just maybe done by hand, not a machine. Where the handle meets the pot, it’s just not perfectly uniform.

I agree. I grew up on every tomato based meal being made in Mom’s skillet. Spaghetti, chicken and tomatoes(you’ll have to try it, hard to describe but it was my favorite meal as a kid).

I’ve been looking at handles like those and wonder why it’s welded on one end. There’s a bunch of them out there. Wait, I was referring to the loops on the lids.

The first skillet handle looks factory to me. The second one is special. That started out as a stew pot with two stub handles. Somebody made it a skillet by welding that handle to the original stub handle. It takes real skill and some special stuff to weld cast iron. Be skeptical of it. It probably won’t fail but just be aware.

Flip that top one over and pic the handle please. Interesting.

I lived in firehouses for 34 years. In the older houses I saw the same cast iron skillets in use during those years and probably used as many years before that. One of them had a big crack that had been repaired by one of the guys with brazed bronze 30 years ago and was still holding strong when I left. Spaghetti sauce was cooked in those skillets many 100s of times over those years. Almost every time out of the 1000s of times used, they were cleaned with dish washing soap, dried on a burner, and a thin coat of grease, Crisco, or cooking spray applied then put up. They had a thick patina, but shined like glass on the inside with a deep dark black color. Every once in a while some rookie would come along and scrub the patina off then get razed for it, but it did not take long for the patina to build back up in use. Some of y'all overthink this stuff IMHO.

I almost bought a Chicken type pot but the inside bottom was pitted out (small holes) pretty bad so I passed.

I’d lowball the price, grab and grind if they weren’t too bad.

Here’s another random question - what would you cook in a no7 skillet? Seems to be an odd size to me (to large for small cornbread batches yet too small for family meals).

It depends on how you cook. I’ll usually have a couple of skillets cooking. I might be sautéing chili’s and/or onions in the small one. Corn or potato cakes. Lots of uses for a small skillet.

There’s only two of us to cook for, so I use a 4,6,8 set.

Cast, I put top and bottom pics

Those are both welded on skillet handles! I bet those are home poured with the optional add on skillet handles.

So, crud?

Not crud! Old handmade CI pots. Blast and season them.

That an invite sir?

Hear that TexasLefty!!!? You heard him, load the trailer for a blastin’ party!

C’mon

I ordered the 10.5” skillet (unseasoned) yesterday. Will post some pictures once I get it.

In the process now rotating the old media out of the cabinet and filling it with fresh 60 grit windshield glass.

The CI clique has hatched a conspiracy. We’re gonna blast everything in sight and season them one at a time using everything from 30 weight to coon grease. Just because we can.

This is the best way to end the debate on best oils and internet science.

ANY of them will work. It’s the combination of time and whatever oil used that makes them what they are

This will be the most transparent study on CI seasoning in our history.

Sounds like someone has too much time on their hands

Does this one count?

Here is what I have.

Chalet, those are really nice.

Will that 60 grit smooth out the cooking surface or just blast off any existing seasoning / grime?

60 would be a good start...personally I'd work my way down to at least 120 if not 220 on the cooking surfaces....

The cleaner and smother the surface prior to seasoning will result in a smother (less likely to stick) cooking surface...

I try to get down to a good highly polished finish on cooking surfaces.....for the outside 60 should be good...

Jes my

#TM
FTM

I bought this Dutch Oven yesterday for $20.00 it is 10" across and 4" deep how many quarts does that make it?
Unfortunately there is no stamping on it with any kind of information? It is heavy duty and appears to be well made, any ideas on where this might have been made?

Looks like a 4qt.

It’s glass. It cleans down to the original surface. It does not move any cast iron. You’ll need an angle grinder for that. I could put in carbide but it’s a PIA to change and I’m afraid it would make it worse.

I’ve never ground a skillet. Mine get smother through years of usage. I use heavy steel tool flippers and I’m not afraid to scrape the bottom with them.

Wish I had a number 6

Thanks Cast!


Tried to do a little research and the only thing that popped up for sale said 5 qt that was 10" across, so 4 or 5 it is actually smaller than what I want so I will resell it and look for a larger one.

nice smoke ring