Cast iron cookware and SHTF....

[Illini Warrior]

I think I need to find a self-help group for cast iron addiction - told myself that I wasn't going to buy anymore >>> first real garage sale and there's two large Lodge pans sitting - $2/piece - of course I had to buy them >> going to be a tough season ...

 

[Amish Heart]

That's a great deal

 

[Petoski]

I think I need to find a self-help group for cast iron addiction - told myself that I wasn't going to buy anymore >>> first real garage sale and there's two large Lodge pans sitting - $2/piece - of course I had to buy them >> going to be a tough season ...

at 2 dollar a piece you could always flip them in the city and make a tidy profit.

 

[Randolph]

Just bought myself a Lodge ceramic cast iron dutch oven.

Also have a small Lodge skillet and a flat.

My large cast iron skillet used to be my grandmother's. A hundred years old?

Once used it on campfire coals to cook salmon ten years ago. The skillet is still my go to even today.

 

[Kevin L]

Just bought myself a Lodge ceramic cast iron dutch oven.

Also have a small Lodge skillet and a flat.

My large cast iron skillet used to be my grandmother's. A hundred years old?

Once used it on campfire coals to cook salmon ten years ago. The skillet is still my go to even today.

I have a cast-iron skillet that has been with me for 25 years already (where the hell does the time go?), and it's gotten a better surface with constant use.

I season with grapeseed oil, just by cooking bacon to leave a layer of pork fat to season it . . . and--believe it or not--simple Wesson vegetable oil works just fine.
My prize cooking possession must be my cast iron 14 inch wok. It is one solid piece of cast iron, with a flat shoe and a completely round (hemispherical) interior . . . with a large handle on one side with a smaller stabilizer handle opposite.

I like to cook a lot of Chinese and Thai food, with an ongoing attempt to perfect my Phillipino pancit dish . . . but I'm nowhere near where I want to be on this particular dish.

I was looking for years . . . until an Internet-savvy young lady--a friend--helped me track down the perfect wok in about 5 minutes. I was at my wit's end and was ready to have one custom-made, when this young lady found my perfect wok (literally, no concessions on my part) for about $32.00 plus shipping (I don't remember what the shipping was), and I could do nothing but experiment with cooking Chinese food in a cast-iron wok, and you really could taste a difference. This is it below. This photo is from Sonoma Williams, which lists this thing for $99.00, which may put you off . . . but if you hunt around, you can this find for $30.00 to $40.00. All of the covers, specialty wok tools (like the minature rack that fits on the side of the wok, for when you're cooking dim-sum dumplings, for example) are compatable, and can be found in any Asian store . . . or simply ordered from Amazon individually or as a set.

This thing is so heavy, though, that you won't be using it to flip up and down to bust some cool moves on a date . . . unless you have arms like Lou Ferrigno or Arnold Swartzenegger.

 

[user 7704]

Just bought myself a Lodge ceramic cast iron dutch oven.

Also have a small Lodge skillet and a flat.

My large cast iron skillet used to be my grandmother's. A hundred years old?

Once used it on campfire coals to cook salmon ten years ago. The skillet is still my go to even today.

We have numerous cast iron cookware. My favorite is the cornbread pan that has individual sections for each piece. It makes every piece with crust all around. I have 2 dutch ovens in case I have to start cooking over an open fire when SHTF. I believe all of my pieces are Lodge.

 

[user 7704]

I have a cast-iron skillet that has been with me for 25 years already (where the hell does the time go?), and it's gotten a better surface with constant use.

I season with grapeseed oil, just by cooking bacon to leave a layer of pork fat to season it . . . and--believe it or not--simple Wesson vegetable oil works just fine.
My prize cooking possession must be my cast iron 14 inch wok. It is one solid piece of cast iron, with a flat shoe and a completely round (hemispherical) interior . . . with a large handle on one side with a smaller stabilizer handle opposite.

I like to cook a lot of Chinese and Thai food, with an ongoing attempt to perfect my Phillipino pancit dish . . . but I'm nowhere near where I want to be on this particular dish.

I was looking for years . . . until an Internet-savvy young lady--a friend--helped me track down the perfect wok in about 5 minutes. I was at my wit's end and was ready to have one custom-made, when this young lady found my perfect wok (literally, no concessions on my part) for about $32.00 plus shipping (I don't remember what the shipping was), and I could do nothing but experiment with cooking Chinese food in a cast-iron wok, and you really could taste a difference. This is it below. This photo is from Sonoma Williams, which lists this thing for $99.00, which may put you off . . . but if you hunt around, you can this find for $30.00 to $40.00. All of the covers, specialty wok tools (like the minature rack that fits on the side of the wok, for when you're cooking dim-sum dumplings, for example) are compatable, and can be found in any Asian store . . . or simply ordered from Amazon individually or as a set.

This thing is so heavy, though, that you won't be using it to flip up and down to bust some cool moves on a date . . . unless you have arms like Lou Ferrigno or Arnold Swartzenegger.View attachment 12866

I have a large fry pan that I believe is 14 inches and that thing is super heavy. I use an oblong pan that requires 2 burners for most of my family meals. I love it. Mom brought it when she moved in.

 

[Kevin L]

I have a large fry pan that I believe is 14 inches and that thing is super heavy. I use an oblong pan that requires 2 burners for most of my family meals. I love it. Mom brought it when she moved in.

A friend of mine in New York inherited an antique cast iron skillet from his mother that is probably over 100 years old. His great grandparents brought it with them from somewhere in Southern Italy when they immigrated here and settled in Brooklyn.

I remember his mother cooking breakfast for us in that skillet when we were teenagers. The smooth layer of nonstick carbon that has built up in this pan was as smooth as satin, and was just as slippery as a Teflon pan . . . often, she could cook us eggs without using any cooking spray.

 

[GaRp58]

My wife does the preps for food, but I move all the cast iron pots, pans, broilers and soup pans. Too heavy for her now...especially in and out of the gas oven which is seemly low to the floor.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I'm looking for a flat cast iron skillet for making omelets on. I can find some cheap Chinese made ones. I checked with Lodge and they said that due to high demand they had to have some of their models made in China. I told them that I'll wait until they start making them in the US again.

 

[Acdoctor]

I'm looking for a flat cast iron skillet for making omelets on. I can find some cheap Chinese made ones. I checked with Lodge and they said that due to high demand they had to have some of their models made in China. I told them that I'll wait until they start making them in the US again.

What size skillet you looking for ? Some times I run across them at the farmers market sale.

 

[DrHenley]

My wife buys cast iron and stainless steel pots and pans at Goodwill. You'd be amazed!

She paid $5 for one of these in perfect shape: (MSRP $495)
The first words out of my mouth when I picked it up was "This is NOT a cheap pan!"

https://waterlesscookware.com/collections/all-products/products/6-quart-stock-pot-with-cover

 

[Mountain trapper]

What size skillet you looking for ? Some times I run across them at the farmers market sale.

I'm looking for a 12" skillet. I have no idea where the nearest goodwill store is. But I just remembered that we have a "Thrifty store" in town. I'll check them out next time I'm in town.

 

[user 6493]

I was at an auction and watched the biggest cast iron skillet I have ever seen sell for $410.00
it was well over 20 inches it might have been larger than 24,,,,,,,,, it was old as the hills

it looked a lot like this one

 

[user 6493]

here ya go,,,,,

 

[EastenerWesterner]

These are 2 of my favorites.

On the left, a Lodge Grill pan. Grill lines anything on the stove top

On the right, an Upan sausage cooker from New Zealand. Ingenious design makes any normal curved sausage cook straight for a bun. And evenly cooked too. Works great on my grill too, cause the sausages don’t roll. I just got it and after 2 uses it vaults to number 2 of 10 cast iron pans list.

 

[Oddcaliber]

Artic,you should try looking at antique shops. They just might have something there that you're going to want.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Artic,you should try looking at antique shops. They just might have something there that you're going to want.

Thats a good idea too. Second hand or antique shops are probably 100 miles at least from my place. Usually when I'm down where these shops are I forget to stop in and look. I need to make a list.

 

[Proud Prepper]

here ya go,,,,,View attachment 12870

I have one just like that. I will never sell it or trade it,

 

[EastenerWesterner]

Thats a good idea too. Second hand or antique shops are probably 100 miles at least from my place. Usually when I'm down where these shops are I forget to stop in and look. I need to make a list.

I have found some good quality ones in Junktique shops if you look past the rust.

Plenty of videos on restoring. A personal favorite was by Stony Ridge Farmer. He used the oven cleaning cycle to help remove rust.

 

[user 6493]

I have found some good quality ones in Junktique shops if you look past the rust.

Plenty of videos on restoring. A personal favorite was by Stony Ridge Farmer. He used the oven cleaning cycle to help remove rust.

I have put them in my wood stove when they were to nasty,,,,,, and you can't get a wood stove hot enough to hurt one but it will get all the grime off one

 

[Kevin L]

I have found some good quality ones in Junktique shops if you look past the rust.

Plenty of videos on restoring. A personal favorite was by Stony Ridge Farmer. He used the oven cleaning cycle to help remove rust.

I once restored a completely rusted cast iron skillet that had been left at a KOA campsite.

All I did was use a drill with a rotary sanding attachment, and sanded all the rust off. I used a cheap, dollar-store sharpening stone to get in the crevices and other tight areas, and simply seasoned it with Crisco lard when I was done.

It was a great pan, about 12 or 14 inches, if I remember correctly.

I ended up giving it to a friend who was going to culinary school to be a chef, and it's my understanding that he still uses it regularly in the restaurant that he works in.

 

[EastenerWesterner]

I have put them in my wood stove when they were to nasty,,,,,, and you can't get a wood stove hot enough to hurt one but it will get all the grime off one

I liked this one because it heated the pan as the oven temp rose. I would be nervous about throwing an unheated pan in high temps.

Everyone has different ways with cast iron, but it is the best when seasoned.

 

[Oddcaliber]

I found a good bit of my cast iron cookware in junque shops.

 

[Mountain trapper]

These are 2 of my favorites.

On the left, a Lodge Grill pan. Grill lines anything on the stove top

On the right, an Upan sausage cooker from New Zealand. Ingenious design makes any normal curved sausage cook straight for a bun. And evenly cooked too. Works great on my grill too, cause the sausages don’t roll. I just got it and after 2 uses it vaults to number 2 of 10 cast iron pans list.

View attachment 12872

I like the grill pan. I had an aluminum one once, got from mom. Didn't like it. I'll look for a cast iron one.

 

[Kevin L]

A really cool place to find cast iron are at garage sales, flea markets, and farmer's markets.

Also, you can get cast iron for free from Freecycle on Craig's List. Estate sales are also good places to score cast iron.

I know somebody whom actually completely furnished a kitchen for free by using Freecycle.

She had a complete set of cooking implements, a microwave, a coffee maker, and so forth.

 

[GaRp58]

All of my cast iron utensils are from the second hand shop and flea markets for just a few bucks, except the big broiler and chili pots...they were found in the junkyard in the "scrap-metal" container and I got them for free when nobody was looking!!!! Never been used, probably not understood and tossed by the grandkids when grandma and granddad died...

 

[erqueen75]

Teflon is scarey to me. If you have a pet bird (like parrots or mynah birds), they can very easily die from being in the same room with people cooking on teflon. See beliw:

https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/teflon-polytetrafluoroethylene-poisoning-in-birds
If it poisons birds, then why do we want to eat food that's been cooked on it?

Excellent, Outstanding, documentary on Teflon from 2018 called "The Devil We Know".
Rotten Tomatoes gave it 100%
Dupont used pregnant factory workers as "test cases" to see what would happen when they were exposed to the long chain of carbon atoms (C8). The results were miscarriages,stillbirths, and babies born with both physical and intellectual impairments.

"This is Wiliam "Bucky" Bailey. His mother worked at the plant with the C8 waste while she was pregnant. When William was born in January 1981 , he had similar birth defects to his nose and eye that were found in the rats." He has endured over 40 reconstructive surgeries on his face........Dupont denies any wrongdoing. Bucky has been in a few films and is married. and has two healthy children. God Bless!

"Citizens in West Virginia take on a powerful corporation after they discover it has knowingly been dumping a toxic chemical- now found in the blood of 99.7 percent of Americans--into the local drinking water supply."

Pretty much the entire water table of WV is now polluted... when I drive through it I do not drink any water or fountain drinks. Absolutely disgusting what happened to wild, wonderful West Virginia.
Now why would they think a chemical created for the Manhattan Project and the first Nuclear devices could cause harm to humans???

Erqueen75

 

[EastenerWesterner]

Right now we got such a waiting list for the lye bath I started building a E-tank and will start it up tomorrow.
My wife has found a lot of what she calls scratch offs. You don’t know what you have, til you get the crud off.
The old Wagner and Griswold's from 30’s are a really nice pan. The old single notch Lodges from that era were too.
They do make an American brand, Field, that has met those qualities. It is a really nice, but really expensive. About 5 times the price of Lodge. My wife repaired a rusted one for a friend.

 

[Helen Back]

Been a while since I read the thread so I don't remember if anyone said this. I have cleaned several rusted cast iron items by soaking them in used motor oil for a while, then cleaning them off with gasoline to dissolve all of the oil. Then of course, some good soap and water to clean them up. Like new!