Boring Alert: This will be a thread about old cookware. If you're bored easily, quit reading now.
In an effort to keep the other thread from getting too hijacked and because several of you have PM'd me asking me the same thing, I'm going to start a new thread here to address everything.
Recently found this pan in the antique store in the ghetto I go to:
The tag said $15. I paid $10. I did not know what brand it was or what year it was from because of the build up of scale. I would put this at about 30 years of build up, more or less. Most people would not touch this and some would even just throw it out. I thought this one was really old because of the raised heat ring on the outside and also the shape of the handle support. So, I took a chance.
I have a restoration process that I do involving soaking in lye and other things.
After a week in lye, this is what she looked like:
Turns out to be a NATIONAL pan. This pan was manufactured somewhere between 1914 and 1930, so roughly 90-100 years old. As you can see, there was some metal pitting on the bottom. No big deal really. I ground it down and smoothed it out. (SORRY, don't have an AFTER picture of that.)
Re-seasoned:
Back in use after a few decades. I have since cooked about 30 cakes of cornbread in it as well as a bunch of other things and it is well seasoned and cooks perfectly on the stove, in the stove or over a fire. Cooking with cast iron can take some getting used to but once you get it down, there is nothing better!
This one is good for another 100 years. Seriously, my great grandkids could be using this. They just don't wear out.
***********RESTORATION PROCESS:
You got old pans?
If they are vintage and worth restoring, this is what you want to do:
Take a PLASTIC container. I use a Rubbermaid tote with a good lid to it.
Put the pan in it and fill it up with water a couple of inches above the top of the pan.
Add 100% Lye. It has to be LYE. Lye is hard to find now because it's used in Meth cooking. But, if you go to Lowe's, you can see some drain cleaner that says 100% Sodium Hydroxide. That's what you want. That's lye. Here's what I use:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_486650-331-H...ductId=4751600
Alternatively, you can get Jeff to send you some of his lye he uses at the farm in the "HOW TO COOK METH CLASSES".
Pour that into the water and stir it with a wood or plastic stick.
Make sure you don't get ANY of this on your hands and ESPECIALLY not in your eyes! It will burn/blind you.
Put the lid on it, make sure no kids can get to it and let it soak for 3 days to however many it takes. Lye will not harm metal, but it will eat EVERYTHING organic. You can safely leave the pan in there for a month if you want, however long it takes. My pan is about as bad as you'll see and it took about 10 days.
Use heavy duty rubber gloves when picking the pan up and checking the status.
Once it's clean, you take it out and rinse it off really well. Then, rinse it with vinegar. This will take off any rust if there is any. It will also chemically neutralize the lye, making anything left on it non-toxic.
Next, get some 0000 steel wool and some Dawn detergent and just give the whole thing a good scrubbing. Another good rinse and dry it really well. Then reseason it and you're done.
You can pour the lye solution down the drain when you're done but again BE CAREFUL it doesn't splash in your eyes!!!!!
DO NOT USE THIS METHOD WITH ALUMINUM PANS. IT SUPPOSEDLY CREATES DEADLY CHEMICAL GAS THAT WILL KILL EVERYONE IN A 5 MILLION MILE RADIUS. Someone geeky smart like Nem or someone would have to explain why.
*********Seasoning Process:
Caveat: For as many people out there using cast iron pans, there are at least that many seasoning methods. You can find temps from 200 to 500. You can find times from 30 minutes to 6 hours. I won't argue with anyone that mine is any better than anyone else's but so far, this is what I've found that works for me:
I put about a quarter size amount in the bottom of the pan and rub that all over the inside and out with a cloth or paper towel (paper towel will put off some lint if that bothers you).
I then bake it upside down (in case anything drips but you really shouldn't have it that thick) for 1 hour at 400. Then, I just let it cool in the oven. Then another dime sized amount of vegetable oil in the bottom of the pan and rub it around just on the inside. It's good to go, I hang it up on my pot rack. You can do this over and over if you want, or you can just let it build up over time as you cook in it.
Here's some things to help you when you're first starting out with that seasoning coating. The coating is VERY thin in the beginning and fragile. You can build it up over time to where it's slick as snot and tough as nails but you need to take your time. What will help:
-use a lot of fat when you first start cooking in it, but add the fat AFTER the pan is heated
-do NOT cook on high. Cast iron retains heat better than anything else, so you don't have to have the heat anywhere near as high as with other pans. I cook omelets on like a 3 out of 9 setting.
-stay away from acidic foods like tomato based sauces and stuff until that coating is really thick.
-proteins in meat can sort of bother the seasoning in the beginning so use lower heat than you think and lots of fat. This is if you're cooking burgers or a steak in it.
-best things to cook in the pan when you're starting out is bacon, cornbread, fried chicken, things like that. High fat/oils and/or lots of liquid.
-use no soap during clean-up if you can help it--just wipe it out with a vegetable oil soaked paper towel. If you have stuck bits from chicken or whatever, use a bristle brush with no soap on it. Once you get a seasoning built up from thin layer on top of layer, it will pretty much be impervious to anything.
-The most important step in the seasoning process in my opinion is to go slow. Most mistakes I've made were putting it on too thick. Lots and lots of thin layers built on top of each other is best. Too thick at one time and it is sticky and uneven.
Finally, here's the same pan as above with my world famous pecan pie cooling in it as I type this: