I've cooked extensively with a very rough skillet and never even considered sanding it down. If you are having trouble cleaning a cast iron skillet, I think you're doing something wrong. I've cooked all manner of food for all sorts of durations and even if I don't clean it immediately, it's never difficult.
wlkelley3 wrote:
Not to threadjack but along similar lines. Cast iron that is. My mom has an antique cast iron corn bread mold that makes corn bread look like corn. Years ago dad used it to make lead ingots, he cast his own bullets for black powder shooting. Always been told that once lead was poured into cast iron the cast iron is now toxic and unusable for food. Would sanding/machining a layer of cast iron off make the cast iron usable for food again? Probably a useless question since sanding/machining would get rid of the corn imprints but may be pertinent to the skillet used to melt the lead.
Its done as a food thing, especially since the lead he used most likely had about 5-10% tin. The tin isn't as toxic as the lead, but its used to alloy the lead to make it flow better and release easier. That means it carried the lead further into the pores than just pure lead alone. The iron is porous the whole way through, so think of it like a sponge. If soak a sponge with melted butter and then scrape the butter off the outside, there will always be butter in the sponge.
white_fly wrote:
I've cooked extensively with a very rough skillet and never even considered sanding it down. If you are having trouble cleaning a cast iron skillet, I think you're doing something wrong. I've cooked all manner of food for all sorts of durations and even if I don't clean it immediately, it's never difficult.
Quite true. It doesn't matter how well seasoned a cast iron pan is, it won't ever be like a Teflon pan. They all have their place in the kitchen, but I think part of it is people's expectations based on having used modern coated pans.
If I'm browning meat, making a casserole, braising, or searing something, my Lodge or my All-Clad stainless is the way to go. If I'm cooking an omelette or something delicate like a pancake I just go for the teflon or ceramic. Its just easier and takes less fat.
I worked for a while in a kitchen where we had some iron that was probably 30 years old and used all day every day. It was so well seasoned it had an almost satin finish. It still won't release an egg like a T-fal. We also had several steel Woks that were the same way, but typically with Asian cooking you use a significant amount of fat.
I've used these to clean a burnt on skillet. If you don't get too crazy w/ it you should be able to smooth the surface enough and keep the pores for seasoning. What's the word... finesse it.
![](https://images.lowes.ca/img/p400/8557/2571-1995.jpg)
In reply to fasted58:
Damn, what are you burning on? I've never had a problem with scraping the bulk of it out and then hitting it with dawn and a nylon brush.
BrokenYugo wrote:
In reply to fasted58:
Damn, what are you burning on? I've never had a problem with scraping the bulk of it out and then hitting it with dawn and a nylon brush.
We were baking stuffed chicken breast when the 'smart' electric oven went balls to the wall, locked the oven door as in Clean Mode and would not shut off w/ controls. Had to shut the breaker off to stop the carnage.
The skillet was salvageable.
In reply to curtis73:
Thanks, figured it was. Just a wall ornament now I guess.
fasted58 wrote:
BrokenYugo wrote:
In reply to fasted58:
Damn, what are you burning on? I've never had a problem with scraping the bulk of it out and then hitting it with dawn and a nylon brush.
We were baking stuffed chicken breast when the 'smart' electric oven went balls to the wall, locked the oven door as in Clean Mode and would not shut off w/ controls. Had to shut the breaker off to stop the carnage.
The skillet was salvageable.
Oops, I would have been inclined to just run another clean cycle with the emptied pan in it (burn everything off) and start over, people really overstate how hard it is to season a raw pan.
BrokenYugo wrote:
fasted58 wrote:
BrokenYugo wrote:
In reply to fasted58:
Damn, what are you burning on? I've never had a problem with scraping the bulk of it out and then hitting it with dawn and a nylon brush.
We were baking stuffed chicken breast when the 'smart' electric oven went balls to the wall, locked the oven door as in Clean Mode and would not shut off w/ controls. Had to shut the breaker off to stop the carnage.
The skillet was salvageable.
Oops, I would have been inclined to just run another clean cycle with the emptied pan in it (burn everything off) and start over, people really overstate how hard it is to season a raw pan.
The pan was the least of my concerns at the time, got thrown out in the yard. The out of control malfunctioning oven got disconnected after it cooled down and thrown out on the porch. Three days later I had a new range delivered, sandwiches and take-out in the mean time.
I could give a flyin' berkeley about seasoning a pan at that point... but I did save it.
wlkelley3 wrote:
In reply to curtis73:
Thanks, figured it was. Just a wall ornament now I guess.
Keep it away from the front door if you like to come home late from the bar.![](/media/img/icons/smilies/crazy-18.png)
So I couldn't get it chucked up in the lathe, even though the guys wanted to see it happen
. I ended up using an orbital sander and 120 grit to finish it off. There are still some low spots, but it was good enough for a test. I seasoned it with a thin layer of Canola oil in the oven at 400° for an hour, then let it cool in the oven. All I can say is damn, this thing is as slick as the ceramic pans I have seen! I'm still not 100% done, I'm going to fix some sand casting imperfections around the perimeter of the cooking surface, but overall I'm very impressed with the difference it made. The next season will be done with flaxseed oil.
Oh, also, here is a great background into what actually happens during the seasoning process.
Some Blog
I have my grandmothers cast from when she passed away.
Yes, it is awesome, no, I am not selling any of it.
sobe_death wrote:
So I couldn't get it chucked up in the lathe, even though the guys wanted to see it happen
.
That's a shame. It sounded like the start to a great "Hold my beer and watch this" story.
Glad to hear you're happy with it.