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I had no idea there was a thread for this! Just picked up two no-name fairly rusty cast iron saucepans yesterday for a quid each, with lids! Gonna clean them up once I have some linseed oil and vinegar later in the week.  Gotta see if I can get the wooden handles off first though, pretty sure they should unscrew. Thinking about it, I don't have a clue what I'm going to do with them, they're kinda tiny and I can't think of anything I'd want to cook in them that the stainless steel pans won't do, but oh well! Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Mar 8, 2015 |
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Mar 8, 2015 16:24
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I have a small cast iron frying pan for that (and I'm absolutely in love with it) I've been amassing a set of things over the past couple of years of carbooting and for <£30 I've managed to get a frying pan, two enamelled casserole dishes, one with a lid, a huge enamelled le creuset roasting dish, and now these two saucepans. The saucepans are basically milk-pan sized, with one slightly larger than the other.
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Mar 8, 2015 18:22
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I've never eaten peach (or any) cobbler, guess I should try making some! Edit: For the hell of it and to make this less of a spam post, two saucepans and an obligatory frying pan:    They really are cheap and battered to hell, but at £2 they didn't really cost me anything. Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Mar 8, 2015 |
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Mar 8, 2015 18:56
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That is awesome  I'd have to make more friends just to have reasons to use it... Make sure to show pics when it's all cleaned up and in use!
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Mar 9, 2015 17:13
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Put a little oil in, heat it up until a drop of water sizzles nicely, turn the heat down, swish the oil around so it covers everything, cook, eat, wipe the pan out and replace until next time. Honestly I skip the sink step and just wipe it hard with paper towels until the towel comes away clean, then I use that towel and some salt to give it one last scrub. then I tip it out and it goes back on the hob until the next time I need it. You shouldn't leave grease sitting in there longer than you really need but it doesn't damage it either. The pan should be dry and clean to the touch when you're done cleaning it. The pan I posted on the previous page hasn't been "washed" in about a month, and that one time really screwed it up until I reseasoned it. Everyone has their own way of doing it though. 
Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Mar 10, 2015 |
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Mar 10, 2015 22:54
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I just use my sleeve or a teatowel... Your witches cauldron is looking good! It's almost ready for a ghastly brew!
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Mar 16, 2015 17:55
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Never had a problem with my little frying pan and I've done all sorts in it, nobody has ever commented either. It might be worth seasoning it properly and not washing it with soap for at least a couple of meals? Sounds like the flavour of rust, when really the food shouldn't be touching the "iron" at all. Also that looks delicious and I'm totally gonna go cook that now, thanks!
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Mar 21, 2015 14:37
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Looking good! Wouldn't the glue/wood have issues spending a lot of time submerged in hot liquid? *knows nothing about wood or glue*
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Mar 29, 2015 17:27
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Tonights dinner is skillet pizza http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/10/cast-iron-skillet-tortilla-pizza-bar-pie-food-lab.html  Made 3 of them for a quick dinner, it worked alright! Went back to the market on Saturday and found the third missing counterpart of those two saucepans I picked up a few weeks back, it's much rustier than the others but still could be worse. I should take a photo of them all cleaned up.
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Apr 7, 2015 17:53
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It's Easter, there's your excuse.
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Apr 8, 2015 09:32
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I did that Shakshuka thing in mine the other day and it was delicious, I did notice it was a lot more difficult to clean off than most things I cook though.
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Apr 19, 2015 10:16
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Ah that's the same as my little orange pan from the other page! Give up trying to get that all off, rub it down with steel wool until it's smooth, paint it in fat and bake it!
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Apr 30, 2015 15:52
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Nope, just bare cast iron, it had a lot of fuzz on though which came off with steel wool. Take a picture of the inside? Mine was more orange on the outside when I got it, but after the first time I seasoned it I realised it was never going to stay like that without serious, serious effort, so I gave up on that and it's more or less the same as yours now. It's a fantastic little pan and I cook *everything* in it. I even did crumpets this morning.  My cat isn't as cooperative as yours, and then my camera batteries ran out, so here's a very rough picture of the underside. Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Apr 30, 2015 |
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Apr 30, 2015 16:35
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You can always sell them on again.
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May 15, 2015 10:52
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Whats the problem with eggs anyway? They stick? People expect to not have to use oil for them?
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Aug 30, 2015 19:34
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Yeah, good luck finding a griswald or wagner outside the US. Go for oval, it fits most meats and stuff better as nothing is perfectly round. You can get Lodge stuff off Amazon but yeah, expensive. I'd say go round your local charity or second hand shops and see what they've got, you can also put in an order, say to the person at the desk in each shop, "Hey, if you get any big heavy pans in, could you give me a ring? I'll pay x for it." Make a list you can give them, this is what collectors do. If you're polite about it and go in and ask every now and again, most shops will oblige you, they want to sell stuff fast and not have it take up stock-space. Edit: The spotty seasoning, try leaving it in for longer, that stuff should burn off and you'll get a more even coating. You need to give it more time. Seasoning will build up as you cook with it anyway. Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Nov 27, 2015 |
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Nov 27, 2015 02:15
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Hell, if you did want le creset, now is the time I suppose. Although ebay might be cheaper in the long-run: https://www.amazon.co.uk/b/ref=gbps...KE4CDRAWWAHEK7Z Be warned that these things are *heavy* before you fill them up with meat and stock, bigger isn't always easier. I have a giant le cruset roasting dish I got off a carboot and while it makes a fantastic roast, it's all chipped on one side where somebody has obviously dropped it. I don't let my little brother lift it at all because if he dropped it on his foot or something, the dish would win, and that's with nothing in it. Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Nov 27, 2015 |
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Nov 27, 2015 02:35
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So, what ridiculously heavy gifts did everyone else get for Christmas?
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Jan 1, 2016 03:40
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coyo7e posted:My brother did get the only piece I actually coveted - an old 12" wood-handled flat skillet of a brand I don't know offahnd, it had a native american head as the logo on the bottom, iirc? My grandma supposedly stole that skillet from a mean neighbor lady during the depression when she was a little girl, and my brother never uses it and doesn't know how to take care of it. I learned to make tortillas on that skillet. Sad, but at least there's not much he can do to seriously damage it! One day you can claim it back! I got a Lodge griddle for Christmas, so far I've used it pretty much every day, as a baking tray. Oh man, you can get actual cast iron baking trays... I'm very tempted.
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Jan 2, 2016 02:01
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I have a bottle of flaxseed oil and I must admit, I've used a *lot* less oil in my cooking since getting it. I suspect that's not due to seasoning properties though but more due to how much it cost for such a tiny bottle. A couple of drops before I start cooking, a couple of drops after and all is good. I've never kept it in the fridge though...
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Jan 30, 2016 16:09
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Shoulda cast himself some cutlery to go with it.
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May 11, 2016 11:48
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Looking good! Also yeah, UK here and I've never seen a self-cleaning oven either.
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Jun 22, 2016 13:32
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Today's carboot find! A 26cm pan identical to the 13 I already have, only much newer looking. Been looking for a decent big pan forever. Here it is scrubbed clean.  Here's my identical but smaller and much more beaten up pan for comparison, I've finally managed to get a fried-egg-safe seasoning on this thing again, although it still has dents and nicks in the seasoning.  Currently have it in the oven with a nice coating of flax oil on it, this should be good!
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Aug 13, 2016 20:23
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Yeah just soak it for a while and then scrub it down with a brillo pad, then throw some flax oil or bacon or whatever on it. It'll be fine. New pan up there came out lovely, although there's a weird shiny spot in the center. Gonna try cooking on it later!
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Aug 14, 2016 09:22
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Sweet, first thing I cooked in mine was a fried egg too, this pan came up really nice. It stuck a little bit, but I'd only really put two coats of oil on it.
Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Aug 21, 2016 |
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Aug 21, 2016 17:21
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moller posted:I may be way off base here, but is that a Le Creuset with the "satin black" interior surface? I inherited one of those and I have no idea how to use/clean it. Treating it like my Lodge doesn't seem to work. Treating it like a normal pan doesn't seem to work. It's "Cousances", which Google helpfully informs me is actually Le Creuset under a name they stopped using in the 80s, neat. It doesn't seem to have any sort of finish on the inside, I just scrubbed it down and then seasoned it...
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Aug 22, 2016 20:14
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Probably just grime, who ever looks at the bottom?
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Dec 27, 2016 02:31
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Right click > copy image location, take the "l" off the end of the image code.
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Dec 31, 2016 04:39
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Honestly the trick seems to be "heat it up enough and it'll fix itself" most neon powders and onion smells and burnt on bits will come off or out the next time you really properly heat it up and rub oil over it. Just keep using it and don't worry.
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Feb 10, 2017 13:14
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Probably the most valuable thing you'll get out of that is the lid from that oven set I have a couple of good lids that have well outlasted whatever was meant to go under them.
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Mar 9, 2017 15:16
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Check they've got no cracks or anything in, at which point, they're fine.
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Sep 14, 2017 05:45
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Brillo pads or steel wool and elbow grease work fine too, if you just wanna be cheap and it's not too bad.
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Jan 3, 2018 23:47
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Most of what I've seen says to just treat it the same. I keep meaning to pick up a nice carbon steel wok...
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Aug 9, 2018 14:52
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Reason he's asking, is it sounds like your heat was turned off.
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Nov 14, 2018 17:59
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Looks good!
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Oct 25, 2019 18:59
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I used flax on my pan and it worked fine, but I beat the poo poo out of it constantly, so it's probably only ever a relatively thin layer. I didn't bother to buy another bottle when it ran out. So what's everyones Christmas Cast Iron this year?
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Dec 25, 2019 15:42
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You can always just keep cooking over the top of it and hope it fades. That's what I did... Nah though, seems to be an art to it. Just try again. If the seasoning is that weak that just chipping some grunge off will take it down that badly, might be worth reseasoning the whole thing.
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Jan 8, 2020 01:09
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Maybe take a picture too?
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Oct 1, 2020 17:55
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Looks like flaking seasoning. What did you season with originally? For now, go at it with some wire wool/a brillo pad and take all that seasoning down to the bone, then start again. If you can't get it off or you're not happy with it, oven cleaner works very well and might be what I'd go for. Using vegetable oil or lard to reseason works fine, if you were using flax then the finish tends to be a little more fragile. Reseason it either way, cook with it, then each time you feel it needs a proper wash scrub the poo poo out of it, before heating and oiling. Any seasoning that doesn't make it through the scrubbing didn't deserve to live, that sponge isn't harsh enough to damage it. Always do the heat + oil step after washing it. Long term, you're probably just not cleaning it viciously enough and anything that builds up enough to flake off is then taking what's underneath with it. It might also be that cooking liquids in it isn't the way to go and you'd be better off with a saucepan sometimes, use it for the initial step of frying veg and stuff, then tip the veg into a saucepan, deglaze with some water and tip that in too, then wash the cast iron if it needs it and cook that way. Try not to cook in it without adding a little oil or butter first. You can generally clean off anything that's stuck to it by heating it on the stove a bit to dry it out, throwing in some coarse salt and a little oil and scrubbing it with some paper towels, just to mix things up and so you don't have to wash it in the sink so often. Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 12:28 on Oct 3, 2020 |
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Oct 3, 2020 12:24
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I think we basically agree, you're not beating it enough, wash it more. Here's a cute little thing I never posted:   It says "Matthew Swain LTD, Cottage Cookware, Made in England" on the bottom and it's lived a hard life... Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Oct 4, 2020 |
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Oct 4, 2020 15:51
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