Can We Rescue This Skillet?! (Re-seasoning CAST IRON)
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- This poor skillet has been hanging in my kitchen FOREVER and I have thoroughly ignored it... until now. Can we salvage it?? Or is it a lost cause?
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Thanks for watching! Have you ever tried to strip & re-season a cast iron pan? What type of oils did you use?
I've used the Traditional Cooking School instructions for re-seasoning cast iron and it worked like a charm. Flaxseed oil is recommended and at least 6 cycles at high temp for 1 hour each time, and let it cool for at least 1 hour in between cycles. It took me pretty much all day and evening to finish 6 cycles through the oven. Won't do that again anytime soon! :)
lard, bacon fat are the best to use for seasoning
Any oil with a high smoking point. I took a rusty (like really rusty) cast iron griddle that I bought at a flea market for $5.00 and made it beautiful. First I used steel wool and scrubbed the rust off. Then I coated the whole thing in grape seed oil. I stuck it on my gas grill for an hour and a half. It turned out beautifully. High heat, good oil, and time are the key. I also think the age of the cast iron makes a difference. Older cast iron works better than the new stuff. I also just use it. All I use is cast iron. I wash it in hot water, dry it on the stove, and give it a light coat of oil after every use. Just my $0.02 worth.
I now use avocado oil as it has the highest smoke point. I finally can use my cast iron pans without them smoking.
I just use shortening at roughly 425 for 1 hour. Seems to work. I also season my carbon steel pans the roughly the same way, but I use vegetable oil for carbon steel.
I like that Christian goes “can I use break cleaner” and you say “no” while he sprays anyway😂😂😂 I could see both my dad and my husband doing this! This video came just in time. I can’t wait to fix up my grandmas cast iron skillet. Thanks for another great video!
I once had a cast iron frying pan that was that bad, maybe worse. I accidentally left it in the oven when I did a "self clean," and it came out like brand new! It was a very old frying pan, and I thought it would be ruined. Gave it a good cleaning because of the ash, then started the process of seasoning it. It was the easiest cast iron cleaning ever!
Nice!! Sounds easier than grinding/sanding! ;)
@@theprairiehomestead OK, I see olliecat80 beat me to the 'clean' cycle, but I just posted if you care for someone 'validating' that process......😊
I recently had one given to me that looks similar - I put it in my oven for a self cleaning cycle. Didn't end up needing to sand it at all. It's perfect 😁 I season with grapeseed oil.
I always use lard.
That’s how the “old timers” would have done it, and since they always had amazing finishes inside those pans, I figured it just made sense!
It always work great for me!😊
Bacon grease here.
Stick in upside-down in the oven and put oven on 'clean'. It'll strip this down to bare iron. Blow off the 'dust'. Rinse with hot water and light scrub.....dry. Then you'll have to 'season' it with thin, thin layers several times. But you'll wind up with a pristine piece of cast iron. The 'clean' cycle method will burn the scaling and stuff right off of the pan. I've done this several times.....including with a skillet whose bottom was so scaled I couldn't read the lettering. Boom. Came out clean. They USED to sell cast iron unseasoned.........it wound up looking similar after I 'oven-cleaned' it. Then season properly.
YAY! Someone actually has used the clean setting on the oven besides me! It works SO EASILY I was wondering if there is a downside I don't know about??? I haven't found one...but it makes me wonder why most videos show scrubbing away like crazy when all it seems to need is the oven clean setting. I think lard works best too. I pray I find some forgotten cast iron pan this year to bring back to life 😍
@@Greens5511 Great minds think alike. 'The Prairie Homestead' should listen to us.......😊
We found the clean cycle discoloured the chrome shelves turning them blue. So use used ones for cleaning cycle the skillet clean.
Well my oven doesn't get hot enough/have a "clean" setting lol
I use coconut to reseason after I use and wash it but to do the actual seasoning I use grape, flax, or crisco. Do at least 3 times and then use it a couple of times and it will turn black. I am so excited for you:) It is so fun to use a new to you cast iron.
Jill, use and old rag. Pieces of paper towel will stick to pan. Blue shop towels will work but the rag is best. You have a chicken fryer.
When I was a kid the lady across the street ask for Mom's recipe for pineapple upside down cake, and the pan she used because she didn't have cast iron. When the pan came back it was shinny clean....lol, it was almost the end of their friendship.
Dale Ann Harsh OMG! Poor Mom! 😀
I get the crud off with a homemade e-tank. Sometimes I use oven cleaner or a lye mix and season with Crisco.
Check out Kent Rollins UA-cam channel. He's got a whole playlist on cast iron. He recommends no paper towels, it will leave lint.
Deb Arnold I was just going to suggest Kent Rollins when I saw your same suggestion.
I can remember my mother putting her cast iron outside in a fire with lots of coals. The cast iron skillets would stay in there upside down in the coals for a long time. I would suggest only using hardwoods.
That's the way we do it.
Great video! I have found the opposite to be true though….yes to coconut oil, AND higher temp, for atleast 1 hr each time, and let cool completely and slowly in the oven in between seasoning coats/layers. Then the best comes in time by actual using 😃
I used the self-cleaning oven option for stripping my cast iron. Then re-seasoned with olive oil. It's not as smooth as yours, but it cooks just fine.
Your pan looks like a Wagner. I have used cast iron since 1986 and I love it! It keeps my food warm without the flame being on, it’s healthy cooking, and having the same cast iron since 1986, I can say it’s durable.
Thank you for recording mistakes and all .
I use flax seed oil and a lint free cloth - no paper towels. I also preheat the skillet with the oven at 400 degrees. It does usually take 4 - 5 times to get it seasoned well.
I'll ditch the paper towels next time!
Love your channel!! Another awesome video. Not too chatty but super informative!!!🙏❤🇺🇲🙏
SUCH a helpful video! Thank you! I have my granny’s pan that I need to do this to but like you said, there is so much conflicting info when you set out to see what to do with a pan with 60+ years built up on it.😳 Pray for me, I’m going in!😜
As an cast iron enthusiast, it broke my heart to see them hurt that Birmingham (guessing) with those tools, but the functionality of the pan is still good. That’s what so awesome with cast iron,. It last forever if taken proper care of, and it could be restored to brand new without much effort (that’s if it’s not fully pitted, cracked, or heavily damaged). Sad to see such a great invention lost with the times. I have a 3rd series Erie (pre-griswold) that’s circa 1892-1905 that lives on my stove. It’s used at least a few times a week and is not treated at all like a decorative piece or an antique. I would gladly pay a premium for something modern that’s is as light-weight and smooth, almost glass-like way. I refuse to cook a steak on anything else.
This video is so much better than reading a hundred things online. Thank you!
I was raised in a family that cooks mainly with cast iron, In fact, I have some of my great grandmothers cast iron I use daily, Any oil will do I find and I will coat the pan after cleaning the build up with a light coat of oil and just leave it in the oven so whenever I bake it's being seasoned, another way to speed up the process is use the pan as a deep fryer, once the pan is seasoned after use I wash it like any other pan and dry it on the stovetop over high heat then coat it lightly with oil every time I use it. I can cook pancakes in my iron skillets with no problem with sticking, Hope that helps, Also I never cook tomato produces or eggs in cast iron, it strips the seasoning,
I use bacon drippings usually. We went out of town and thought the other person had cleaned the cast iron Dutch oven....oooopppss. Took a bit of time, but we fixed it right up.
Cowboy Kent Rollins has videos on car iron skillet use and care. Love, love, love your videos. Thank you.
I have used 50/50 white vinager and water. Soak for 30 minutes. Wash with soap and water and then re season it. Thank you for sharing
Some of my favorites are canola or grapeseed oil. When I season i heat oven to 200 degrees with skillet in it for about 10 mins. You want the pours in the skillet to open up before you put any oil on it. Then get a thin coat of oil on turn the oven up to 300 degrees. Leave for about 15 mins and just wipe with dry cloth to make sure there is no extra oil. Lastly turn ove up to maybe 5 degrees above whatever the smoke point is of the oil you use and leave it in oven for 1 hour let your pan cool in the oven. Repeat 3 or 4 times.
A friend of mine wife that live in the panhandle of Nebraska said if u want to start over as I got a cast iron pan from a person recently that has some scrambled egg still on the bottom. To start a fire and when its going great guns to put the pan in it and keep the fire going around it for a couple hours and let it get hot and it will bring the pan back to when it was new. Clean it up and start the seasoning process and ur golden.
I have that with my grandmothers pan but on mine the crud is really thick on the outside I’ll have to try this. Ye the way I’m 64 years old so the pan is really old,I remember her making the best pancakes on them
"Can I use brake clean SHHHHHSHHSH no dont use brake clean" Hahaa
Him and his brake clean! 😳
Great video! I recently went through this same conundrum. Mine didn't end with lard, good pointer, I like your overall results better than my own. My task started with lots of sandpaper and my hands. Then went to 3 rounds of coconut oil baths in the 450 oven. Very sticky, and runny!
Ultimately I just started using the pan. I made sliders, bacon, stir fry, and lot of other things. Each time I put it under the kitchen faucet with hot water and washed out the solids, then wiped with a towel. Now it's been 6 months. The pan is seasoned!
I like your method much much better. Lard for the win! Thank you for the video, love it.
I had a cast iron pan that was coated like that and my hubby built up a big fire and just stuck the fry pan into the fire and left it.. it turned a deep red from the heat but all that crud burned right off.. Then we seasoned it in my oven with lard..
Nice!!
That’s a risky method. Too high of temp can burn carbon out of the cast iron, permanently harming the metal and making it hard for seasoning to stick. Oven clean cycle will work, without getting it too hot to harm it.
Good stuff. Glad you came out ahead. I used high heat after the initial bake of 350f. 500 with about 5-6 applications of good ole pig fat aka lard cooling the pan in the oven overnight after each step. Thanks for sharing and we’ll catch ya on the next episode. ATB Mike
Good to know! Thanks for watching Mike!
I use a product called "The Ringer" ....it's a bunch of little metal rings woven together....it works fantastic! Soap, water and the Ringer...that's it. I am not an affiliate.
You know when I first saw the thumbnail, I though this would need extensive chemistry (electrochemical reactions, oxidation-reduction processes involving acid etc.) to remove that heavy rust layer, but just mechanical sandpapering that your husband did using his tools worked pretty well too.
And yes, high heat is necessary for any kind of bonding process to occur, as confirmed by your ending. Really nice video.
I’m glad to see this one actually. I have 3 that we’re given to me and they need a lot of love! Thanks for the suggestions!
Hey Jill, just to add my what we do knowledge. When we have an iron skillet that needs to be cleaned we build a fire in our fire pit and turn the skillet upside down in the fire for probably an hour. We take it out let it cool and wash it. We only season our iron skillets with mineral oil. Just a light layer!
the coconut oil made those spots & speckles.
Yes, lard & at least 1 hour time & let it naturally cool in the oven afterwards.
I also do my on a campfire, but you have to be careful or you can crack or whorp the pan.
I have come across the same problem over the last 20 years. After much trial and error I researched to find out which oil has the highest smoke point ( to my knowledge is avocado oil) and used that. That way I never have to worry about the oil burning and becoming a carcinogen. The pan is beautiful by the way. =)
My great grandmother always used lard on her cast iron. Gives a great seasoning
to strip i toss in the wood stove for 15 min (let cool on top of the wood stove) clean with a scotch pad . season between lard and vegetal oil
Looks sooo good😉
A dewalt driver with a 3” wire brush... take all the carbon off without puttin a scratch in the cast iron... that way just canola oil in the oven at 300 for 60 mins.. perfect season... no scratches.. is the difference... I collect rusty ones and make them perfect too...😉👍
It turned out beautiful! We don't have the "self clean" feature on our oven so it will be the grinding method for us. Thanks for sharing! I'll try it on my second hand pan that I picked up. On my good cast iron I swirl a chainmail scrubber to clean-works good. I'm in the "use a dab of soap" group.
We had a couple old pans also just like that and we used the dremel sanding tool that is kind of long and round and it took it right off. I just reseasoned it and now it’s getting its black coating back. It’s a great pan now
Awesome! 💚
Thanks for sharing!
Battery charger, the manual kind of Christerphers DC welder. Removes all the crud including rust. I do mean ALL!. You Tube videos available. I use to use the fire method buring off or the NaOH method. They work sort of ok. The higher the smoke poit of the oil the harder the micro structure of the seasoning
wow he cleaned it good. When i grew up my gramas always said to use lard or shortening. Over the years i have used veg oil, lard and once i used coconut oil. I didnt care for the coconut oil...i found it didnt last long and had to be reapplied shortly after. Also i always do mine in a slow low oven. Like 200 for all day, or if you have a wood cook stove, leave it in there for a day.
I think 'back in the day' everyone would have used an animal fat, and I was told to put on the oil or fat a little liberally and then wipe it off so that it doesn't look shiny. That's how you know you have good coverage but not too much.
Yea for you! I heard that it had to be extra high (500) and lard so I'm glad you tested it out for me. Thanks!
A lye bath would have preserved the matetial. I would only sand down pitted or rough surfaces. Lye removes old seasoning and build up crust without affecting the metal.
It is your pan and you can treat it how you want to but people should not do this to their grandmother's or a collectible pan. The moment you use mechanical means to strip the pan ie: your sanding disk you have destroyed any collector value it may have had. There are some Facebrook groups that can give you much better ways to get better results without damaging the pan.
Thank you for doing a video on bringing back a cast iron pan. My mother in law gave me all of her cast iron pans, and we haven't really done anything with the. yet. When we do, I will follow this video.
Nice video! I use canola when I have it. 450 or higher for an hour.
Immersing it in white vinegar will dissolve all of that, check out boss of the Swamp. He has in a hole category devoted to cast-iron cookware.
I pop popcorn in lard (with a lid) in my cleaned skillet. 🤗. Yes mam just use it! God bless
Cowboy Kent Rolling method is good
I’ve tried all the oils and bacon grease, avocado oil works the best IMO. It has a high smoke point and doesn’t get rancid like flax or olive oil. Thanks for the video! I just discovered you and I look forward to watching all the videos.
Lard or Crisco is the best seasoning. Over time it will get darker .
Thanks for sharing. My grandparents swears by lard. Those steaks look good.
upside down in oven at 450-500 degrees for about an hour let it cool in oven thenwash and start seasoning process
We do this exact same thing to our skillets when they get that major build-up. I use vegetable oil
Considering the condition the pan was in, I think it turned out really well.🏆 But I let out a “Nooooo!” when Christian sprayed on the brake cleaner though!😱 To remove grease I use a good hot water scrub, after rubbing well with coarse salt. For me - cos I’m annoyingly sensitive to chemicals etc, the salt and hot water are preferable to chemicals or detergents.🤦🏼♀️😟🤷🏼♀️
But I really liked the way you just got in and got it done. The seasoning part was interesting too, I learned a new method there, so thank you.🙏 😊💛
Don’t use Power tools. Oven clean cycle, lye bath, or electrolysis tank will clean it perfectly without harming the surface of the pan or harming the value of a vintage pan. . Wire wheels are the worst, smears the surface of the metal making it hard for seasoning to stick. Most any oil will work for seasoning, I use crisco.
My favorite expert on this topic is also cowboy Kent rolling.
Build a yard fire.. put the pan in the middle..burn it for a couple hours...just leave it till it's cool. Than wash it within a inch of its life. Than fry something and than just use..
Avocado oil can cook at high temps too
Thanks good info
Lard is the only thing I saw my grandmother use. I'm sure she got that technique from her mother back in the 1800s.
I season with Crisco at 450 for 1 hour. I usually do this 3 times.
Yes I did and the pan became a thrift store item
It looks like something I need to do to my griddle! There are WAY too many sticky spots on it.
Good job. Ended up looking real good. I heard flaxseed oil is the best, too. But a certain kind.... which I forget. Lol. Thanks for sharing.
Question if we are allergic to coconut can we use avocado oil ?
NEVER sand it :( just build on the love and history.. Unless it's totally rusted then throw it in a bon fire then start seasoning it the next day. I "Touch up" the seasoning on my pan on the stove top (smoke the oil, then let it sit) If it accidentally gets washed in soap.
Could you use bacon grease instead if lard?
Use a cut potatoe and rub it all around the pan
For seasoning?
I've read potato with coarse salt to strip/clean old seasoning off. The best recommendation for strip and cleaning is to put into fire pit, coals inside to burn off gunk overnight. Wash thoroughly afterwards, dry in oven and then reseason.
Bacon grease is what I use and cast iron skillets is all I got.. and you have beautiful hair. God speed
Use crisco when doing seasonings or for long-term storage. The 'solid' crisco.
@Aida A You don't have to eat it, Aida.........but yeah. For initial (or re-) seasonings and long storage without frequent cooking, the 'solid' crisco is best to use.
@Aida A Have I watched the video? Yes, I watched the video. What's that got to do with you going "Ew" when I recommended crisco for the initial seasoning? 😊. Matter of fact, the first time I bought an unseasoned Lodge skillet oh......25 years ago, I guess......it was recommended in the seasoning process.
@Aida A And FWIW, with cast iron pieces that I USE a lot, sure.........After cleaning and drying well, they're so well-seasoned and smooth I'll just dab a little warm bacon grease from a previous cooking onto the pan for a light coat. Just keep in mind, when talking about LONG periods of time (and some pieces of cook ware might go unused for a long time....depending on how much cast iron you have), animal fats go rancid. If you just use a couple pieces of cast iron.....and you use them fairly often....you're fine with the animal fats. I'm not judging.....I'm just giving recommendation on what I do.....and would do......if I had a gnarly piece of cast iron I had to either sand or oven-clean back to smoothness and needed to re-season it......which WAS the point of the video I watched. 😊
When we need to clean a old pan, we build a big fire and throw the pan in and let it burn.
You used the HARD way to get the scut off! I just redid a set of eight, two of which were WAY worse than yours! Easiest way to do this is to throw it in the oven and run a cleaning cycle or toss it on your outdoor grill and heat it up as high as you can go. Anything in the 550-700° range is going to incinerate all of that stuff off. Then just wipe off the ash (and wipe, and wipe, and wipe...). Clean off and dry, then re-season from scratch. I like grapeseed oil. Coat and throw in an oven at 475° for an hour. Do that three to six times, and you're good.
Love the idea of cast iron but way to heavy for me to lift.
This was helpful! I have tried to season some cast iron and it came out sticky too- I wasn’t sure if I had done it right or not. 🤷♀️
I once accidentally left my cast iron in oven when I ran oven clean. It baked my entire season off and I started over
Cowboy Kent Rawlins an expert says Flaxseed oil. Watch his videos on seasoning cast iron
I do not recommend flax seed oil. I used to use it to season my pans, but I found it ended up flaking off. I've read many others have had the same problem. I use Crisco shortening now and it has worked much better.
New subscriber.... like your channel
My mom used lard!
Don't sand it cook it out hwid salt and remember newer yous sope only yous hot water fore clonlng. But as a shef I dident yous a oil hwid fleyver
Off topic. Sorry. What brand of gas stove do you have? I am in the market and would like to know how you like yours. Like you, I use my stove several times a day, so, looking for a good one!
I use lard so to speak. I just cook bacon in them until they are right. It will blacken up with age.
That is a chicken fryer. Hope you have a lid to fit it.
cook bacon in it first off and next time to clean the pan put it in the oven and turn on the self cleaning. a lot easyer
Bacon grease!
That looks like a Birmingham Stove & Range possibly a Red Mountain series introducer in 1930 produced to sometime in the1940s. They followed the Red Mountain series with the Century series in the 40s. BSR pans have a ridge that runs the underside of the handle and a unbroken heat ring. BSR was owned by Atlanta Stove Works so their pieces aren't labeled. Please never use a grinder to clean another vintage pan, it destroys the collectability of the piece. Look that pot up on eBay you'll be surprised what it would've been worth. There are so many bad videos on cleaning cast iron I wish these guys would go back under their rock. This piece would have been fine in your oven on the clean cycle, sprayed with oven cleaner and stored in a trash bag a few days, or in a lye bath. I clean mine in an electrolysis tank which is considered to be the gold standard in cast iron cleaning. There are a lot of videos on how to assemble an e-tank on UA-cam however I wouldn't build a tank for just one piece. If you start collecting cast iron by all means assemble a tank. I hope I didn't give ya bad information but that's what works for me. Grape seed, or Crisco is a good seasoning oil just set your temperature 50 degrees higher than the smoke point of your oil. Wipe the oil on with a lint free rag like an old t-shirt, then buff it off with another lint free rag before going into the oven. Repeat this 3-4 times for a good seasoning. The Cast Iron Cookware channel and the The Mud brooker channel are good places to get advice on cast iron. Sorry this comment was so long but I hope it helps.
You could have put it in a wood fire and it would have came clean
You're trying to do this too fast. The best way is a lower temp for a longer time. I always use coconut oil to season my pans.
400 Degrees for 20 minutes
I stopped watching after the stone grinder and brake cleaner...
You could have just put it in a fire outside it would burn it all off.
MY ROOMATE bought a brand new non-stick skillet, brought it home, scrubbed all of the non-stick off with a steel wool, and then rubbed it with olive oil and put it back in the cupboard.
And he called himself a chef.
When I find old pans that are sticky etc. I boil water in them and use a plastic spatula to remove the ick.. I use lard. I have tried every oil they all recommend. Some of those forums are just crazy! Lol If it is really rusted I soak them in vinegar overnight. Then use steel wool to get all the rust off. You did a great job!! Oh and 500 degrees for an hour at a time to reseason. I let it cool between cooks. Love my cast iron.