Bringing Back the Cast Iron

I've made a huge mistake.

I have spent my whole adult life thinking that cast iron is for browning/cooking meat, and that when you season cast iron it is supposed to have a thick crust on it. I don't know how I got to thinking this, I can't blame my parents, they correctly used cast iron (although not often) throughout my whole childhood.

It all started with a pin.

(im not linking the pin because I can't figure out what pinterest did, and I have no idea how to do it)

source

But I need to give credit where credit is due, and she gets her tutorial from Black Iron Blog.

that's a beautiful pan! 

I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I interchanged the word "seasoning" with "crust of burned on shit." 

But my cast iron was nasty, and for some reason I thought that was okay. 

Anyway. 

I saw the pin and thought "gee, mine doesn't look like that at all" 

after clicking on links and watching videos, I learned that a good test of a decently seasoned cast iron is to scramble eggs in it. Watching the video of scrambling eggs in cast iron made me sad that I have been neglecting mine so much. But it also made me wish I had more.  All I have is a 12 inch skillet and a 12 inch pan. So I set out to gather more. 

Within a day of posting an add on a local page searching for some I had three new (to me) pans, a 9 (inch) 8 and a 6 1/2. I could easily tell that the 6 1/2 stated that it was made in taiwan. If I were a real collecter this one would go into the giveaway pile.  But right now this is just fun. I could also see that the 9 pan had some sort of stamp on the back, but it could not be read because of the thick crust. Then I set off to clean them with the method shown in the pin, and on the Black Iron Blog. I really wish I had taken before and after pictures. 

The really sad thing is my cast iron are way worse off than the ones that I bought off some stranger and he had them sitting outside for a few years. I used mine maybe two months ago. 

After two days of soaking in oven cleaner the 6 1/2 pan was ready to be de-rused and seasoned. The others still have some days left. Mine will be close to a week I think. 

Also on the second day I discovered that the 9 pan is an antique, the brand stamped on the bottom is Wagner Ware Sidney O from what I gather this pan was made in 1940's

I worked save my two pans from the horrible burned on ick that I had put on them.
Sadly this took much longer than the other pans. The pans I bought off some guy on facebook? a couple of days. The pans I have used for years? a WEEK.
I am a horrible person. 

so pretty

But after much work and elbow grease, I have 5 wonderful cast iron pans. And I use at least one almost every day. I love my cast iron, it cooks so evenly and hold temperature very well.

One lesson I learned, don't season your cast iron in the summer, in a house with no AC. I choose one of the hottest days (why? I dunno) and it got almost to 90 in my house with the oven on at 500˚. 

Just a friendly reminder, I was nominated for the top 50 Military Mom Blogs by VoiceBoks, you can vote for me here. Thank you for your support.