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Reclaiming Cast Iron after 30 years?


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I have just been given what I think is the most awesome gift ever - my great grandmothers gumbo pot. It's obviously designed to hang over flame, but has spent the last 30 years+ sitting in a shed. There's rust and a few spots of discoloration.

 

Can I still cook with it? How do you tell if cast iron is ruined? Was there anything about the way they made cast iron back then that would be dangerous? We're thinking this was made 1912ish

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I will tell you what I did with an iron skillet that we found at a campground. Some may scream and say NO don't do it that way but it worked for me.

 

First I set my oven to preheat at 350*. While the oven was preheating I washed the pot in hot soapy water. Then I took a steel wool pad and scrubbed the rust off. It may take several depending on how much rust there is on the pot. Then washed it again, this time I dried it with paper towels. I then coated the pot with shortening inside and out. Set it in the oven upside down with a cookie sheet on the shelf below it to catch oil drips. Baked it for at least an hour. I then turned the oven off and let it cool in the oven. Once it cooled enough I took a paper towel and wiped down removing any extra oil. I have had the skillet for 15 plus years and I still use it all the time.

 

Some say you are never to put your cast iron in water again after you season it. I am not from that school I grew up with my mom and grandmothers all washing their iron skillets in hot soapy water. They would then set it on the top of the stove and turn the burner on low and let it dry. They would then oil it once it was dry. Theirs never rusted and neither does mine.

 

I do NOT use pan spray on my iron skillets I use only shortening or butter when I cook. The pan spray makes it sticky. I learned that the hard way.

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thats the way I do it momma! Works fine for me. I am always rescuing cast iron cookwear. Its heavy, but my oh my, it sure can cook!

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I've scrubbed and scrubbed and feel really proud of getting through all that rust. But it won't fit into my oven facedown. Should I go ahead and build my firepit and dry over that?

 

Plus, since I'll be making gumbo (which shouldn't stick) do I really need to season? I always start my roux by melting fat, so won't I be seasoning just by making roux?

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I'm probably one of the "no no's" also...but I started washing my cast irons in straight hot soapy water (with my gloves) and using my homemade soap and then rinsing, then setting on a hot burner and doing the "pop corn" thing...it seasons them excellently! Also...looky what I found and am enjoy the dickens out of. It will take awhile for it to "look" cast iron because it's new...but I'm sure glad I found it...I needed a small grill for my stove top!

Oh...ps...I use a "carpenters" sponge to scrub rust spots from cast iron. It will remove any seasoning so you'll need to re-season.

Edited by Philbe
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I've scrubbed and scrubbed and feel really proud of getting through all that rust. But it won't fit into my oven facedown. Should I go ahead and build my firepit and dry over that?

 

Plus, since I'll be making gumbo (which shouldn't stick) do I really need to season? I always start my roux by melting fat, so won't I be seasoning just by making roux?

You could just use the roux.

 

I do not have an oven to season mine, I use either my stove top, the BBQ or fire pit. I make sure I use a cooking wood, mesquite or hickory, coal it down and put the pan on to dry after wiping it down with grease. After it gets hot, I wipe it down and put it away. After it is 'seasoned' good the first time, it does not always need to be re-seasoned after every washing as long as you do not see any signs of rusting.

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  • 3 months later...

Love my cast iron...after breakfast today I needed to clean my cast iron (scrambled eggs) so I had rinsed it off with hot water and sat it on my hot burner to dry out. I put a dab of vegetable shortening in it (which I always do) and it started smoking almost immediately (guess it was hotter than I thought) so I grabbed it and set it off on another burner...but forgot that there was a microfiber cloth setting there. Phooooey! Green "stuff" all over the bottom of my cast iron skillet. So I just let it cool off, used one of Mountain Man's putty knives and it scraped off just fine! So glad it was seasoned well on the bottom. So, rinsed it back off, put some shortening inside, on a less hot burner (!) and just wiped everything down again and it's in my oven ready to use for another day. LOVE MY CAST IRON...

:cheer:

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I guess I'm the ultimate heretic because I stuck my garage sale acquisitions in the sand-blaster, took them down to bare metal, and then polished them a bit (they were a bit rough) with auto-body type sanding pads. Finished with scotchbrite - drilled the hole out in the handle for my 1/4" hooks, and then washed it really well, coated with grease and stuck in the BBQ. Really - it's a piece of metal. I use bamboo scrapes and a regular kitchen sponge for cleaning and just stick on the stove for a minute or two to make sure it is dry. Some people have their strange rituals, but its never made any sense to me. It's a hunk of iron. Just like the grate on my grill. Nobody complains about scrubbing off the grill with a wire brush, do they?

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  • 2 months later...
  • 9 months later...

I guess I'm the ultimate heretic because I stuck my garage sale acquisitions in the sand-blaster, took them down to bare metal, and then polished them a bit (they were a bit rough) with auto-body type sanding pads. Finished with scotchbrite - drilled the hole out in the handle for my 1/4" hooks, and then washed it really well, coated with grease and stuck in the BBQ. Really - it's a piece of metal. I use bamboo scrapes and a regular kitchen sponge for cleaning and just stick on the stove for a minute or two to make sure it is dry. Some people have their strange rituals, but its never made any sense to me. It's a hunk of iron. Just like the grate on my grill. Nobody complains about scrubbing off the grill with a wire brush, do they?

The cast iron skillet I learned to cook with was my grandmother's (no clue what happened to it). My grandfather found it in a junk pile during WWII when iron was scarce. It was completely rusted over and he used a sand blaster to clean it off.. seasoned it and it was still being used as I said, when I was learning to cook. I imagine that it was gotten rid of when my grandfather died (1987) and it was too heavy for my grandmother to use and my mom had carpal tunnel so she couldn't lift it and my sister and I didn't have our own households yet.

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Suncat, sometimes these skillet's are just "treasures". I've got one that came from my grandmother...somewhere? I have all kinds of cast iron cookware but somehow this "treasure" has slipped off. I'm hoping it will turn up :pray: and not lost.

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  • 11 months later...

I'm probably one of the "no no's" also...but I started washing my cast irons in straight hot soapy water (with my gloves) and using my homemade soap and then rinsing, then setting on a hot burner and doing the "pop corn" thing...it seasons them excellently! Also...looky what I found and am enjoy the dickens out of. It will take awhile for it to "look" cast iron because it's new...but I'm sure glad I found it...I needed a small grill for my stove top!

Oh...ps...I use a "carpenters" sponge to scrub rust spots from cast iron. It will remove any seasoning so you'll need to re-season.

 

I've changed my method of taking care of my cast iron after watching Swamp Boss...his method is faultless. About all I do now is rinse them off with scalding hot water, wipe them out and set them on a hot burner just long enough for them to dry. I turn the burner off and let the pan cool completely down. Then I wipe it with olive oil and set it back in my oven (where they stay). If one happens to lose it's seasoning for some reason, I've found I can heat it up, wipe it down with olive oil three or four times, and it will season back up pretty fast. Haven't had to bake any of them for quite some time.

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I'm sad. I have my father's Wagner skillet with high sides from when he was in college, and somehow the bottom has warped so it's no longer level. New ones just aren't smooth.

 

Have you considered sitting it upside down in a hot oven with another cast iron pan on top of it?

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  • 1 year later...

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