[TheForge] Re: Cast Iron Cookware

Wed Mar 27 04:41:01 2002

Spot on Dann. I use, buy and resell tons of cast iron annually. I use the
caustic method to remove other people's grunge then pre-season the iron. My
preference is peanut oil applied after preheating in a 250 degree oven. It
takes some time afterwards before enough of my grunge fills the pores to
make the utensil "semi" non-stick.

After seasoning, cast iron should never be washed with soap or detergent.
You should only knock the big chunks off using a 3M (or similar) synthetic
scouring pad and lukewarm water. In the old days they "scoured" the pans
with dirt or sand scooped from the ground and rinsed with clear water.

Regards,
Donn

----- Original Message -----
From: dann <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 8:02 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: Cast Iron Cookware

>
> It is my opinion that cast iron cook  is NOT best used in a bright and
> shining condition, but rather with a seasoned cooked-in black oil
> coating.  I season cast iron cook ware by heating it sort of hot on the
> stove and then applying cooking oil .. not all that different that the
> bees' wax treatment  we give  forged iron.
>
> I love my cast iron cook ware.   While I have done some serious
"cleaning"
> on cast iron; that is not the norm.  On an auction find  I  tend to take
> them back to bare cast iron,  then season them with good oil...  as I did
> with NEW  Black Chinese cast iron  "TeaPot" I bought  with an attached
> warning label: "NOT to use for  heating of liquids to be consumed.
>
> The grunge on the outside of  a cast iron skillet is not a health
> issue.  The cooked in black-oil  seasoning on the inside becomes  a " semi
> -non stick " surface that is probably  a lot healthier than
> the  modern  non-stick frying pans.  Cast iron makes the best bacon and
> eggs!  Perhaps the "iron poor blood" be came an issue as we moved away
from
> cast iron cook ware.
>
> Dann Johnson
>
>
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