dutch oven rust....?

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WEB2

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Oct 13, 2004
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i have a rusty dutch oven, if i turn it upside down over a fire will that clean out the rust so i can use it for food prep? after the rust is out should i grease it and bake it like you would when it is first bought new? thanks in advance.
 
Are you talking about cast iron? You can use steel wool or sandpaper to remove the rust on cast iron, then reseason as you describe.
 
As you mentioned in your first post, old folks would "burn out" their cast iron cookware when they needed it. Build a fire with hardwood, no pine, put the pan in upside down and let it burn. Let it cool on its own. Then scrub and wash with a nylon pad and very hot water. You will have to cure the pan again by oiling and heating (preferrably in the oven). Nothing cooks like cast iron, as I'm sure you're aware.
 
how did the dutch oven get rusty, if you keepit well oioled then it should be in good shape. i usually oil the oven heavily to prevent rusting.. also place a paper towel under the lid to allow some air circulation and prevent condensation in the oven.

alex
 
it was given to me rusty, an older couple had it and was throwing it out. so naturally i snatched it up like any wise camper would do!
 
Burning cast iron cookware does not do anything to the rust. The sandpaper (or white silica sand is better, too many oxides in most sandpaper) is what I would use. Then wash it thoroughly, dry it in an oven on low heat, reapply oil with a cotton cloth (not animal oil that goes rancid) and heat it again. As it cools, rub in the oil with a cloth. Don't cook high acid foods in it, clean immediately with hot water (no soap) and then reapply oil after using. Eventually, treated right, the pores in the cast iron will hold oil, and it will be nearly as non-stick as teflon. Plus, believe it or not, it adds a minute amount of iron to you cooked food. Burning was to get out foods and oils that had become rancid.

Codger
 
You got some good answers . You can also brass brush the loose rust , oil it up brass brush some more and rinse off the accumulated rust with hot oil or water . Then you oil the crap out of it with cooking oil wipe it round and round . No Paper towels . Then you cook/season the oil into the oven . Like has been said no high acid foods .
 
I got a horribly rust skillet from a scrap metal bin a while back. Used steel wool, Scotch-Brite, and finally sandpaper on the smooth parts. Came out very well. Seasoned like heck and now I cook all the time on it. Nice big 12" (more like 15") Wagner-Ware.
 
WEB2 said:
i have a rusty dutch oven, if i turn it upside down over a fire will that clean out the rust so i can use it for food prep? after the rust is out should i grease it and bake it like you would when it is first bought new? thanks in advance.
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The best part of cast iron cook pots and skillets is they last (virtually) forever. As the folks above mentioned, with a bit or work, and reseasoning, old dutch ovens will be as good as new.

Is yours flat bottomed, or did you get the kind with the legs?
 
Codger_64 said:
Burning cast iron cookware does not do anything to the rust. The sandpaper (or white silica sand is better, too many oxides in most sandpaper) is what I would use. Then wash it thoroughly, dry it in an oven on low heat, reapply oil with a cotton cloth (not animal oil that goes rancid) and heat it again. As it cools, rub in the oil with a cloth. Don't cook high acid foods in it, clean immediately with hot water (no soap) and then reapply oil after using. Eventually, treated right, the pores in the cast iron will hold oil, and it will be nearly as non-stick as teflon. Plus, believe it or not, it adds a minute amount of iron to you cooked food. Burning was to get out foods and oils that had become rancid.

Codger
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Codger64, where can I order the contents of your brain on DVD online? Man, you are a fountain of knowledge :D :thumbup:
 
Howdy,
There's lots of good advice on here. Steel wool and elbow grease is all it takes to clean up cast iron cookware when rusty. One thing I'd like to add is that once you get your pot/pan nice and seasoned and you use it again. Don't use steel wool or brillo pads to clean it again. You'll lose all the oil. Use just hot water and some seasalt to clean it. You have to reseason after every use, but the seasalt and hot water won't be so abrasive. And most soap will wash away the oil in the pours of the cast iron, and that's not what you want to happen.
 
Temper said:
Codger64, where can I order the contents of your brain on DVD online? Man, you are a fountain of knowledge :D :thumbup:
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You'll have to wait for the movie. If you enjoyed Forrest Gump, then you'll love...:D

One advantage to being an old Codger is that you have lived long enough to have seen the elephant from both ends, and ridden his back as often as been stepped and pooped on.

I remarried four years ago today, and one of my first official acts was to turn her on.....to the wonders of cast iron cookery. She still makes spaghetti sauce in my best 12" skillet, and in revenge I leave the toilet seat up every night. Even 'sketty sauce can be overcome by dilligent boiling, nylon scouring pad, stovetop drying, and olive oil wipedown if the skillet is kept seasoned, clean and dry.

Codger

PS- My ex got my three dutch ovens eight years ago, but I got our daughter. Sometimes life is sweet!
 
If there are, they belong to the butcher, the baker, or the candlestick maker, not me!:)
 
I use my iron for meat and pancakes. Anodized aluminum for most everything else. Also a pressure cooker when I want a bag of potatos cooked in 8 minutes.
 
Bumppo, the worst part is that they then ignore it and let it rust and fill with dust bunnies. Well, I've replaced mine now after these years, though not the dutch ovens and the "coon cooker". You just can't find those any more. It was an oblong covered roaster like a flat bottom dutch oven about eighteen inches long and nine wide, nine or ten deep. Oh... and I haven't found another griddle with the grease drain either. Dagnabit! I bet she has broken all my glazed crocks too, or else used them for flowerpots!:mad:

ABTOMAT, I try not to cook anything in aluminum anymore, not since reading the studies connecting high concentrations of aluminum in the body and old timers disease. I have CRS bad enough as it is!
 
I think the studies linking bare aluminum to parkinson's disease has been refuted. But like I said, I use anodized aluminum--don't use bare for anything but boiling pasta. Anodized (like Calphalon) probably makes up 80% of the cookware sold these days.
 
Vinegar or Coca Cola will dissolve rust. Fill up the oven, wait a few hours (or overnight if the rust is really thick) and the rust will be gone. This really works. I've done it.

Scott
 
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