Help with Cast iron stock pot.

[justusnak]

I love my DIL....really I do..but she does not come from a long line of women that bakes or even cooks for that matter.
I have an old stock pot. Its cast iron. My great grandmother used it, passed it to my grandmother, then to my mother, and finally to me. I have had it several years, and it has seen more roast,stews, and home made soups than I could possibly count.
It had many years of great build up on the bottom, to keep it from sticking.
Here is where the problem starts. My DIL....whome I love most dearly...wanted to help me by doing the dishes. When she was done, she so proudly came to me and said. " Mom, that old pot, with all the black in the bottom, well...it took some doing, but its shiney and clean now"

She was so proud of herself, for getting it " clean" I could not say anything to her. Now.....how do I get that back? Everything I cook in it sticks now.

MissPrissy?? Anyone?? HELP!!!

 

[EweSheep]

OMG! That is the worse thing to do to a pot like that! Jeez, you would have to do it all over again to re=season the pot but it wont be as good as it used to be. In due time, it will build itself. In the Lodge Pan book, it said if it sticks, you must re season it again and again. I'd prefer to do that on the grill when I dont have access to a campfire. So that is why all my "bad" pans wait until spring to get their reseasoning part over the campfire.

I am sure someone in here would chime in for your case.

 

[BantyChickMom]

Re-seasoning is the only hope, and it will probably take many, many times.
Give her credit for trying to be helpful, but explain to her the importance of that pot.

 

[Yogiman]

How unfortunate for you but re-seasoning is the only hope. I have dozens of real old cast iron cookware myself. And I have a weakness if I see a new one, I almost compulsively have to buy it.
I have seasoned many new cast iron pots and skillets. One way that I was taught over the years might help you. If you can find any reason to fry in it for a period of time that is a sure fire way to re-season a pot. Example: fry fish, french fries, chicken, etc.
If this is not an option, I often would just put it on an outdoor cooker and fry anything I could find just to season it.
Food for thought.

 

[Lunachick]

I had the same thing happen to me but it was my stepdaughter who so vigourosly scrubbed by grandmothers cast iron pan clean. My hubby said, well it was about time someone cleaned that thing. Oh don't tell me how P.O.d I was about that. It took years to get that "old" look again.

But I still have it and it still doesn't look like it used to, but it cooks the same. So there is hope for those pots and pans. We need to teach them young'uns.

 

[Rosalind]

If you are not vegetarian, rub lard all over it, then bake it in the oven (not sure what temp--300? 350?) for a few hours. It will smoke, just keep the oven door shut.

If you are vegetarian, use butter. Theoretically you can use cooking oil too, but that never worked nearly as well for me.

The next few meals you make in it, make 'em like fricassee: melt a ton of butter in the bottom, twice as much as you'd normally use, then fry the food until browned on the outside, THEN add the broth or whatever else is going in. Don't do anything acidic (tomato sauces, anything with wine, beer or vinegar) for a long time.

I feel for you. My father-in-law managed to RUST my good cast-iron skillet once. Took years of frying in whole sticks of butter to get it back.

 

[countryboy]

throw some bell pepper in it along with some onions and sprinkle black pepper in it too and cook it maybe some garlic clove too. but yes to get it right its gonna take some time to age it again.

 

[bigzio]

Yep, back in the oven with a fair rub of vegetable oil and bake at 200F for several hours.

bigzio

 

[Flufnstuffs~FluffySilkies]

When I grew up Mom cooked on a wood stove.

Mom would rub the stock pots with Lard & Salt then let them heat up so that when you let a drop of water on the pan it would sizzle and be gone in an instant. She would leav it for about 5 Min then push it aside to cool naturally,
The next morning she would whipe it out with a paper towel.

For the frying pans she heated them the same way and rubbed them with bacon grease.

You can still buy lard in the super markets.

 

[Pelican49]

Been there. After my knee replacement, my daughter's best friend (bless her heart), brought me lunch one day and asked what she could to help me get ready to move.

I asked her to take down the Xmas tree, box it all up, box up the Halloween stuff and take it all to the garage. My Son-in-law was going to haul it all to storage at my new place.

Later, she came in and said she was finished and had started up the dishwasher. Dishwasher? No dirty dishes. Oh yeah, Mom, all those black pots in the pantry. Yikes! I had her shut it off quick.

With the arthritis, the old cast iron are just too heavy for me now. I gave them all to my daughter and son-in-law. I'll miss them, but the stainless is so much easier to handle.

All you can do is wait for time to fix it. Keep cooking in it as often as possible and you'll build the seasoning back up........... eventually.