Cast iron ?s

[snuggly]

So, I passed by a free post-garage sale pile in the neighborhood and scored a couple cast iron frying pans... I'm slowly upgrading our kitchen to the healthiest, toxin-free-est, stuff I can find so I'm excited about the find!

A couple questions I'm hoping you smart mamas can help me with:

They have no brand or "made in ..." or anything. Do I need to question their quality at all? Is all cast iron considered safe, or are there questions about cast iron pans of unknown origin? Or other not so great stuff that looks similar to cast iron?

Also, they look like they were never seasoned, but maybe used once or twice anyway... How can I get them in tip-top shape?

Thanks!

[mamadelbosque]

I'd use them! Are they silver colored? If their at all black then they are seasoned. Either way, if you have a self cleaning oven, you can put them in their and turn it on and it'll burn off the seasoning, and then re-season yourself (coat with some sort of oil - canola, lard, whatever, and then bake in the oven at like 350 for an hour or so, I think).

I LOVE cast iron - I have a ton of it, and can't imagine cooking on anything else Just always start with a little oil, just wash with hot water and then dry on the stove/in the oven briefly and your pans will last forever

[Chicky2]

Ditto what mamadelbosque said. I cook in my cast iron skillet every day.

[Llyra]

I have some hundred-year-old cast iron that belonged to DH's great-grandmother. What we did with them was to use steel wool to "sand" then down to the silver-colored iron, and then we reseasoned them. I smeared with them lard, and put them in a 350 oven until they went black all over. I repeated this a few times. Then every time you wash, use plain water and a gentle sponge or cloth, and then dry them with a towel or in the oven, smear again with oil or fat, and then put in the oven for a bit. It takes some time, but then they get really nice and non-stick.

The only issue with cast iron that I know of is that if you are cooking high-acid foods like tomatoes in there, the pans may lose some of their seasoning, and it may have to be done again.

Some iron will make its way into your food. For most of us, though, this is a healthy addition to our diet.

FWIW, I have a cast iron griddle, two cast iron frying pans in different sizes, a cast iron wok, and a cast iron kettle, and I cook almost everything we eat in them.

[nukuspot]

Why would you have to reseason them? Our cast iron was bought black (Lodge brand) and we've used them for years, they are super black and seasoned by this point. But I don't understand why the PPs talk about sanding them and redoing it? Maybe I missed something....

And I also love our cast iron. We have 4 different frying pans, a fajita skillet, and a pizza pan! I hope to get more in the future. I use them daily.

[Magelet]

if you are using a used pan, you might or might not want to reseason it. You know, in case there are still lots of unhealthy fats, or other ukky stuff from the previous owner. I'm not sure it's needed, it might just be a comfort thing. the lodge brands come "pre-seasoned", or many of them do.

[mumkimum]

I've never heard of any reason to be wary of particular varieties of cast iron - I believe it's pretty reliably safe even without markings, etc.

If you want - and it wouldn't always be necessary - we have boiled water for 5-10 minutes in secondhand cast iron to 'bring out the impurities' (this would be, say, soap that got absorbed by cleaning the pan or other stuff from cooking) and then we'll lightly re-season it with oil and/or shortening and/or coconut oil. I'll also add that cooking with a really high quality butter regularly for awhile in your cast iron will keep it beautifully seasoned (since we're vegetarian we don't use lard, but I'm sure that has pretty much the same effect).

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by nukuspot

Why would you have to reseason them? Our cast iron was bought black (Lodge brand) and we've used them for years, they are super black and seasoned by this point. But I don't understand why the PPs talk about sanding them and redoing it? Maybe I missed something....

In our case it was because the pans had been sitting in an attic for twenty or more years, and the "seasoning" was peeling off in strips, and plus the pan smelled like rancid bacon.

[BetsyS]

If you have a rusty pan, then it's helpful to reseason.

I have my great-grandmother's pans, and a few years back, we took them camping and stuck them in the fire to burn off alot of years of accumulated stuff on the bottom. The outside of the pan had gotten some build up, and it wasn't smooth. The fire made it smooth again. Just for asthetics, though.

[snuggly]

Hi, OP here. Thanks all of you for setting me on the right course!

These pans are still silvery, which I guess means they were never seasoned originally? yet they have some scorching on the bottom. Maybe the first owner tried to cook in them once or twice without seasoning, didn't like it, and the to free pile they went...

They are in the self cleaning oven as we speak, then I will start rounds of the seasoning process as outlined here! Thank you all!

[Magelet]

if they're silver, they aren't seasoned. I suspect it takes a LOT of seasoning work to season them but I don't know.