Seasoning a Cast Iron Dutch Oven?

[Their Other Mother]

Quote:
Had those and HATED them! Poor quality of iron if you ask me! One even cracked when I was fixing scrambled eggs on the pit fire. Those are made in China as the box says. So I tossed them in the garbage.

I am glad you said it first, a nice old fella told me once never buy chinese cast iron very poor quality.
Like everybody doesnt already know avoid anything chinese if you can.

 

[Fudgie]

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They take a lot of tenderizer,, ground fresh pepper works best,,, and the cat on the desk is reading over my shoulder and glaring at me now.

 

[Ottoman]

I have not read all the post here, so this might have been said already. My grandma use to clean her cast Iron Dutch ovens and frying pans once a year by burning them. She would get a good size fire going outside and then place her cast Iron pot’s and pans into the fire and let it burn down then scrub them with stellwool, then season them with oil and heat them in the oven for one hour. They would look like new.

 

[Opa]

The self cleaning mode on an oven is much easier than building a wood fire.

 

[EweSheep]

I never tried it with self cleaning mode for my oven. Would I need to turn my pan upside down on the heating element? I would imagine a rack would hold but not sure if it would discolor my racks and probably warp my racks. I would not do that while the house is closed up, it stinks LOL!

Yep my father was the one who told my mother not to buy chinese made iron skillets but sometimes Mom didnt know of the origin or thought it wasnt foreign made.

I had to learn the lesson the hard way with the chinese Harbor Freight cast iron cookwares and its was the first time using it at the time when the pan cracked. From then on Lodge cookware is the only thing going for me with high heat and they can take it better than most! Its a priority for us, as Civil War reenactors to have GOOD cast iron pans!

 

[Opa]

I never take the racks out when I use the self clean mode. I just sit the skillet on the rack right side up. Anytime you use the self clean mode it stinks. With a cast iron pan or skillet it doesn't smell any worse then it does after cherry pies have spilled on the oven floor. Just be sure to use the exhaust fan over your stove.

 

[Ottoman]

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[momofdrew]

I have a few peices of cast iron never thought to put them in my self cleaning oven to get the yucky stuff off...thanks for that idea

also cast iron puts extra iron in your diet...it leaches out of the pan into the food but it is really very minamal...

 

[peeplessinNC]

For those that do not have a self-cleaning oven here is one way to clean grunge off your cast iron pans:

spray the pan all over, very heavily, with oven cleaner

insert pan into a heavy-duty plastic bag

take pan in bag outside and lay it where it won't be disturbed and where children and pets can't get into it

let it sit a couple of days

while still outside, scrub it well with a stiff wire bristled brush, then take inside wash well inside and out and examine closely to see how much grunge is left

repeat procedure as necessary to remove the old flaky, scaly finish on the pan - you want to get down to the bare metal which will be dark gray in color, not black - you can use an old knife or paint scraper to chunk off thicker portions of the grunge

when pan is completely clean of old finish, begin to re-season:
take some solid shortening (like Crisco) and rub it all over and into the metal; rub it in so well that there is no more white shortening visible on the pan

put pan in a 250 oven for a couple of hours, then crank up the oven to 400 and leave pan for another 30 minutes or so

repeat seasoning process two times or more as needed to seal the open pores of the iron, resulting in a thin, smooth, dark finish on the pan.

Hope this helps! There are lots of old pans out there that can be bargains and brought back to useful life!

peepless

 

[Pupsnpullets]

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Whoa, Peepless, you take seasoning to a whole new level! I'm impressed. I think I'll print this response and tape it to the inside of my recipe book. Thanks. I've already seasoned my pot per others advice but I know this isn't going to be my only piece of cast iron cookware