reddale79
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Post by reddale79 on Apr 8, 2014 20:24:56 GMT -8
Over the years I've bought lots of cast iron cookware. I look for old stuff, because it was polished. Anyway I've found that good way to clean the rust and seasoning off is todo these steps. 1. I spray them with oven cleaner (easy off), and put them in a garbage bag. After two days I will check the progress, and usually respray then wait two or three more days. 2. Then I'll use steel wool and go to town, at this point it will be down to bare cast iron. 3. The I will give them a with vinagar bath to neutralize the acid (lye) in the oven cleaner. 4. Then I reseason with lard. My question is would this method work on aluminum to get rust stains off?
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Post by vikx on Apr 8, 2014 21:14:23 GMT -8
I think oven cleaner would "eat" the aluminum, especially over a couple of days... LOL. Many of us use wheel cleaner (believe it's oxalic acid) to get the worst off, then sand with progressively lighter grits and finally several steps of polishing. Steel wool works well for cleaning, too. Thanks for posting! I may move this to the Glamp cooking section later...
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pirateslife
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Post by pirateslife on Apr 8, 2014 21:38:21 GMT -8
I'll have to try this. We have a ton of the old stuff
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Apr 12, 2016 16:39:07 GMT -8
Anyone know if the new cast iron is any good? Toxic? Junk?
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Post by danrhodes on Apr 12, 2016 17:49:19 GMT -8
Anyone know if the new cast iron is any good? Toxic? Junk? Nothing beats the smooth polished finish of a vintage Wagner or Griswold frying pan. You can get them for pennies at garage sales and thrift stores, then use oven cleaner or electrolysis to get it to factory condition. I cook half our meals in them. That being said, my mother won't give up her Dutch oven and I find the Lodge to be great quality and very well priced.
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Post by kto17 on Apr 12, 2016 18:31:32 GMT -8
I have a few Lodge modern pieces and a few older. They seem to be pretty good and as far as I know the only ones still made in the USA. I wouldn't trust them if they weren't. I take my frying pan and Dutch oven on every camping trip. I have yet to use them on coals. I usually use them on the cooktop.
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turbodaddy
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Post by turbodaddy on Apr 12, 2016 18:41:29 GMT -8
Cast iron cookware is something a lot of folks don't understand. My wife (for example) thinks that I "like greasy pans". Not true, I do like seasoned cast iron. It is amazing what you can cook with it on a stove top, in an oven, or over a campfire. Saute first, add more ingredients, then roast...all in the same pan. Yummy!
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kirkadie
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Post by kirkadie on Apr 12, 2016 19:22:58 GMT -8
I use a 5 year old Lodge 10" almost every day. It supposedly came pre-seasoned. I clean it with an open weave blue scrunch-like thing from Kroger and hot water, and heat it up for a minute or two over stove or flame after a modest rub with cheap olive oil after every use. It has never failed to resist sticking. Just get it hot before adding a touch of oil or butter. It doesn't care whether it's split oak on a grill over a camp fire,or gas, or an electric burner. It wants to get hot before you start, and by not using soap, it has remembrances of everything cooked in it before, which in my opinion is a very tasty benefit. Oven mitts or welders gloves are required accoutrements as the handle gets as hot as the pan body. I have never used mine directly in hot coals but am told it won't mind, if you don't mind some ash in your eggs.
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Apr 12, 2016 19:49:09 GMT -8
Thanks all... I'll be looking into some Lodge pans and I want to get a Dutch oven as well. Just me so a small one will work.
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Lola53
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Post by Lola53 on Apr 12, 2016 22:26:44 GMT -8
I acquired my father's vintage camping cast iron skillets - 14", 10 3/4", 9". The two big ones are not labeled, the small one is a Wagner Ware. They are very smooth and seasoned with a very hard carbon layer - the original non-stick surface. I wipe them out when finished cooking, dry on stove, and oil. Definitely no soaking. Lye (caustic soda) will react with and disolve aluminum: youtu.be/GESJ2YUWRx8. Mark
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Post by kto17 on Apr 13, 2016 4:52:17 GMT -8
My wife loves what I cook in it. Worries about messing up the seasoning if she cleans it, and hates how heavy they are. I think these are all excuses to get me to cook and clean. She openly admits I cook better. I tell her I'm fine with that as long as she brings home the bacon.
I'm going to try one of the new Lodge lightweight frying pans. If it works well it will stay in the camper with one of the three dutch ovens.
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Post by vintagebruce on Apr 13, 2016 22:04:22 GMT -8
For just one person buying a small cast iron hibachi is a good way to cook up a burger, couple of hot dogs or a chicken quarter and use a minimum amount of charcoal. I would steer clear of any cast iron product being made in China. I agree you can't beat anything cast iron made by Griswold or Lodge.
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Lola53
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Post by Lola53 on Apr 14, 2016 18:50:37 GMT -8
... I would steer clear of any cast iron product being made in China. ... I think my cast iron skillits predate the Boxer Rebellion. I'm pretty sure they were cast in the new world. :-)
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Apr 14, 2016 19:55:15 GMT -8
I'll stick with the brand names on this one. I don't need much. One normal size skillet and a small one. Also a medium or small size Dutch oven.
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turbodaddy
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Post by turbodaddy on Apr 15, 2016 12:14:39 GMT -8
vintagebruce, we used to buy one of those hibachis almost every year at the grocery store. We'd use it all summer and into fall and of course left it outside on the picnic table all the time. They used to cost about 5 or 10 bucks! I haven't seen one in years.
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