cast iron cookware

[riverboss]

Ive been doing some cooking latley on moms old cast iron skillets. She had Wagner Ware skillets, so now im interested in a dutch oven. Which brand is best? Ive been checking on Ebay and see several names, Ive had some Lodge brand stuff that wasnt much! The wagner stuff seams to be great so far. Griswold comes up alot is it any count?

[coyote101]

Wagner Ware and Griswold are both good and very collectible. Lodge is also good and I believe it is the only cast iron cookware currently being made in America, so if you want new it will have to be Lodge. I'd stay away from the Chinese and other foreign made stuff. And remember.......never use soap in your cast iron. 

Pat

[slagmaker]

I have lodge and some American camper. The AC stuff is chineeze but works well. I also have some cast that i have no idea wbo made it but ir works .

What size dutch oven are you looking for? Do you want legs and a coals lid?

There is a town me called Matamora that has a shop chock full of all kinds of cast. I will see if i can get some info on it.

[FinsnFur]

What happens if you use soap?

[slagmaker]

It will rust

[Okanagan]

What happens if you use soap?

You lose all of your sourdough points, all of your credibility on any subject remotely related to the outdoors, hang your head in shame and have to start over to season your Dutch oven.   

I might cheat a little if I get it really sticky with cobbler, but if so I oil it and restore it over low heat.  It is mo betta to just wash with clean water and scrub a bit with a rough scour pad, maybe even clean steel wool though I don't like to get so aggressive with mine.   

I cook with a cast iron skillet almost exclusively at home.  If it can't be cooked in a skillet I usually don't do it.  Love my Dutch oven.  Wonderful meals of hot bisquits in the snow, hot stew cooked to perfection when we get back to camp in blowing snow, etc.

I followed Ted Trueblood's  instructions for prepping my new Dutch oven 30 years ago, and will post my recall of them if anybody wants.

[riverboss]

 Yes Lodge is still made i bought some at Gattlinburg a few years ago at the outlet store. It just seams very rough on the inside to me. Slag i want a coals lid! How do you tell the difference in a picture? I dont think i need a real big one it will mostly be used for cobbler and bread with some small stews to feed 3-4 people.

[FinsnFur]

Interesting

[KySongDog]

I followed Ted Trueblood's  instructions for prepping my new Dutch oven 30 years ago, and will post my recall of them if anybody wants.

I would be interested in your seasoning technique.   

[coyote101]

Slag i want a coals lid! How do you tell the difference in a picture?

The lid will appear to be a little flatter (less of a dome) and it will have legs.

Pat

[Dave]

What happens if you use soap?

You lose all of your sourdough points, all of your credibility on any subject remotely related to the outdoors, hang your head in shame and have to start over to season your Dutch oven.   

   

I followed Ted Trueblood's  instructions for prepping my new Dutch oven 30 years ago, and will post my recall of them if anybody wants.

I would be interested in your seasoning technique.   

I too would be interested.

I just seasoned all mine last week using someone's method with flaxseed oil.  Not sure I'm as pleased with the results as with what I was expecting, though.  My wife was very disappointed when the method turned her "Le Creuset" (blue with a cream colored inside) jet black.    

And when cleaning, I use a tablespoon or so of salt rubbed aggressively with a paper towel.

[slagmaker]

Slag i want a coals lid! How do you tell the difference in a picture?

The lid will appear to be a little flatter (less of a dome) and it will have legs.

Pat

It will also have a raised rim around the edge

[Okanagan]

PREPARING  AND SEASONING A CAST IRON DUTCH OVEN

This is from recall so may be off on some details Ted Trueblood put in his article.  It would work for any cast iron ware.  Ted started with a campfire Dutch oven, the kind with legs and a side wall around the top of the lid to hold coals on top.

Dab some valve grinding compound around the rim of the oven where the flange of the lid rides.  Put the lid in place and turn the lid around and around and back and forth to lap and seat the lid on the oven with a tighter seal than the natural rough cast iron normally permits. 

I can't remember how long I lapped it in but a good portion of the rim and lid flange were shiny clean, smooth and it fit flush and tight.  The idea is to have the lid fit so well that the oven holds steam and heat much better.  Grind to desired tightness and or boredom.  I set mine in a handy place and would grind and lap it a few minutes at a time for a day or two.

I think I added this step but I took valve grinding paste and a flat flexible grinding head on an electric drill and ground/polished the interior of the oven.  Mine wasn't nearly as rough as some cast iron but it smoothed up a lot.

After thoroughly cleaning the grinding residue, pour a half inch of cooking oil into the Dutch oven.  I don't recall what oil I used but suspect something standard like liquid Crisco.  A Dutch oven site might tell what oil is best.  Use a brush to paint the oil over the entire inside of the oven and inside of the lid.  Place the whole Dutch oven on a cookie sheet in a regular baking oven at a low heat (140 degrees?) for ten or 12 hours.  Longer wouldn't hurt.  The idea is to expand and open the porous cast iron and fill the micro cavities with oil.

During the hours of heating, every so often use the brush to repaint oil from the bottom of the Dutch oven all over the inside.  This may sound onerous but if done on the side while doing normal household activities, the entire weekend process was no problem for me at all.

I've used the same Dutch oven for 25 years.  Wipe it out after bisquits, wash with water only after stew, cobbler etc.  Ten years into it I re-seasoned it again in the oven for a few hours.  Nonstick spray works well and makes it clean easier.  If it seems too dry, rub oil on the cast iron and wipe it off before storing over winter, etc.

[riverboss]

Some very great info! Thanks alot to all.

[Okanagan]

I omitted part of the seasoning process:  the first time you brush cooking oil over the oven, do it inside and out.  It protects against rust.   Cookie sheet catches any drips. 


   

[slagmaker]

Never store your iron with the lids on. They need to breath, youll end up with rust if ya leave rhe lids on

[Okanagan]

I have a wooden box that takes my Dutch oven on its side with just enough room to fit in the lid and a steel hook that I use to lift the lid or the whole Dutch oven by its bail.  The box hauls nicely in a vehicle.  The hook started life as a skookum steel barbecue spatula with a long stainless steel rod between wooden handle and spatula.  I cut off the spatula end, kept the wooden handle on the other end, and bent a hook on the cut off end that fits into the hole in the center ridge of the lid. 

A shovel is handy for Dutch oven cooking by a campfire, to move coals, bury potatoes or corn in foil, etc.  Something to brush ashes off the lid is also handy but I never remember and use a branch.  It doesn't take as many coals as you might think to cook well, especially if the fire has been burning on that spot a long time and the ground itself is hot.  Set the oven on hot coals or ashes or rake coals out to one side and set the oven on them.  The legs hold it high enough that the coals keep getting some air and stay hot.  A shovel full of coals on the lid and you are good to go, though if they are really hot coals, a shovel full may be too much.  A Dutch oven bakes perfect golden topped biscuits without much effort.

[coyote101]

Here's slagmaker's dutch oven making a delicious cobbler at LBL last year:


Pat

[slagmaker]

I season as such

Wire brush every surface to get rid of rust. Ya want it to almost shine. Then coat everything in lard. You can use bacon grease but i tbink it adds a bacon flavor to everything and a peach/bacon cobbler just dont sound good. Put it in the oven at 150-175 for 3 hours or so. Use a cookie sheet to catch drips. After about 3 hours sbut the oven off leave the iron in the oven and let it cool.

Now that it is seasoned it is non stick and very easy to care for. I boil water in them dump out the water and wipe out with a dry rag. Dry it off and your done.

I am looking for a cast iron pot like securepro had at the LBL a couple.years ago.

[coyote101]

I am looking for a cast iron pot like securepro had at the LBL a couple.years ago.

Here it is with a big batch of chile:




Pat