New Skillet

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #1

Le Creuset :grinning:

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(Bob M) #2

Looks nice. Fancy! What is the surface? Cast iron?

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #3

Yes, cast iron ā€¦ itā€™s a beauty. Iā€™m a bit reluctant to christen it.
Iā€™ve got 3 iron skillets, this one, my old faithful and a pitted one that I think is beyond saving.

#4

Went all the way up on that one!

Always a fun project! Itā€™s (almost) impossible to have one you canā€™t bring back 100%, unless itā€™s cracked. I used to by Lodgeā€™s which have terrible finishes on them and grind them down and re-season them. Takeā€™s a lot after you grind them bare, but the ones Iā€™ve done are as nice to cook on as my Griswalds.

(Robin) #5

Everything in my kitchen is that brand and color. Even my tea kettle.
I love everything about it. Classy, sturdy, gorgeous. Pricey but worth it.

(Geoffrey) #6

Very nice Peter. Congratulations.

I have a very large Lodge that I do my outdoor cooking with and thatā€™s what I did with mine. Sanded it down until it was smooth enough to suit me and then reasoned it.
I have three Griswalds that are my my main pans and I wouldnā€™t part with them.

#7

The wood handle on my cast iron skillet is pretty much done. This reminds me that it is time to renovate it. They can last a life-time. Like when a Sicilian in-law gifts you a coffee pot (it is eventually meant as grave goods. You know how old barbarian warriors were buried with their swords and dogs).

(Jane) #8

Sweet!

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #9

Yeah, the Le Creuset is great quality for sure but I can put a lid on my old faithfulā€¦ which I do like on occasions.

(Marianne) #10

I saw a video on Youtube on how to season a cast iron skillet. Mine is seasoned now after so much use, but I wish I had seen this before I got it. You sandpaper it until it is smooth and then season it with oil, I believe in the oven. Iā€™d give it a shot before you get rid of your original. Good luck!

(Bob M) #11

Iā€™ve used the Alton Brown technique, which is where you heat the pan for a bit at about 200F, then put the oil in. Wipe until thereā€™s a tiny bit of oil, a very thin coat. Put upside down in 500F oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, let it cool down naturally.

Repeat if necessary.

This is about the only time I use vegetable oil.

(nina) #12

Thatā€™s a solid technique, I have restored a few cast iron skillets using a similar method, stripped them down with electrolysis, and then did multiple seasoning rounds in the oven with flaxseed oil. A well-seasoned pan is unbeatable, but I also swear by my carbon steel pan for quick sears and easy maintenance.

(Bob M) #13

For my family, we almost never use any pan that has to be seasoned. The techniques I wrote above do work, and for normal usage, just heating the pan on a burner with a thin coating of oil is useful too.

But for searing, I usually use a pan like this:

Then clean the oil off, put some water and soap in the pan, heat up, scrape any bits, cool, clean.

We have multiple seasoned pans, but we donā€™t use them often.

(KM) #14

Truthfully I think stainless steel is my best choice, too. Itā€™s not perfectly non-stick by any means, but versatile, durable, and relatively forgiving of high heat as well as determined scrubbing. After a few years I do not look at my stainless steel pans and think ā€œickā€, the way I feel about some of my ceramic ones. And I have never had the patience for cast iron. I perpetually screwed them up and had to reseason. Lifeā€™s too Short!

Hope your daughter is feeling better, Bob. :heart:

(Bob M) #15

Thanks about the daughter. We think sheā€™s getting better, but itā€™s hard to tell sometimes.

(Edith) #16

Ah, I have really gotten into using our cast iron skillets lately. I got rid of the ones with nonstick finishes. I have some cast iron that belonged to my grandparents. Soā€¦ theyā€™ve been around 80 years or more? Still good.

I recently got some chainmail for cleaning them. It works great.

(BuckRimfire) #17

Iā€™ve become a big fan of carbon steel skillets. The Winco brand made in Spain is a good low-budget version. I have two of those. They are much lighter than cast iron, but not TOO light IMHO. Between the weight and their longer, wider handles, I find them much more enjoyable to handle than cast iron.

I bought a big Matfer made of slightly thicker steel but it developed a slight protruding cone or dome shape on the bottom so it didnā€™t sit flat on my flat-topped electric range, so the side toward the handle makes more contact with the surface and gets hotter. Itā€™s fine on a gas/propane stove, of course. Not sure if it would work well on induction or not.

The bigger Winco didnā€™t stay perfectly flat on the bottom, either, but it domed up just slightly into the skillet volume, so it still sits flat on the stove. Heat transfer seems less impaired and it isnā€™t asymmetrically heated, so Iā€™m happy enough with that.

One problem with new Lodge cast iron cookware is that I believe they used to do an abrasive polishing step on the inside of them to remove the pebbly texture from sand casting, but they dropped that from their process to keep the price down, trying to compete better with cheap imported stuff.

I have an older 12" cast iron skillet of unknown make that has a nice smooth surface but the usual tiny single handle which I donā€™t love. Maybe 8 or so years ago I bought a Lodge because it had the little secondary handle/hanging loop on the other side, which seemed like it could be handy when lifting it in and out of the oven. I didnā€™t love the pebbly finish and I eventually went at it myself with my random-orbit sander. Sorry. I donā€™t remember what grit sandpapers I used, but with a moderate amount of violence and effort I got it smoothed out to something like an old-production skillet. But I mostly use my steel skillets because they are more ergonomic.