Have been reading through all these wonderful posts, soaking the info up like a sponge! Thanks everyone, for posting everything you did!
I mentioned in another thread that I had gotten a decorated pan from a thrift store. Boyfriend is in the water industry and deals with many chemicals, and he put his foot down against trying to remove the paint and cook with it due to potential leach issues. Considering what I paid, and the fact that I can get store credit I will probably give it back and hope someone else uses it as a decoration so it doesn't go to waste.
So I bought a cheap 12" Lodge. Going camping next weekend, and since it's my first real piece of cast iron I figured I would get all my mistakes out on this one. Have already told several people I want some Griswold pieces for Christmas
Any specific pieces I should look for?
Anyway, I tried to use a stiff stainless steel brush to scrape off the pre-non-stick junk on the Lodge, but I didn't really get very far. I got some black dust going, but I know I would probably work for a good 2 or 3 hours trying to get it all down to the bare metal and I just don't have that in me. I'm an apartment-dweller right now, no access to a self-cleaning oven or an open fire, so I just started by laying down a thin layer of canola oil inside and out, then baking it upside-down in the oven at 400 for 30-45 minutes. Turned off oven and let it sit until cool enough to handle (or overnight), then repeated for a total of 3 times.
Bought cheap bacon (I don't eat it very much) and found that it didn't stick very much, just a couple places, but a good nudge with the spatula loosened it. Drained off the bacon leavings into a grease keeper and tried to clean up for eggs.
Ugh. The paper towels started to shred a bit, which was annoying. But I cleaned up enough to try 4 eggs. Two came out great, the other two were a mess. Wondering if because the stove is SLIGHTLY off (the grease migrates toward the back of the pan) that was part of the problem. The two closest to me cooked decently without much sticking, the two in back took longer to cook and I wrecked them pretty badly. Had to use the spatula to try and scrape off the stuck bits.
(PS: Paul, I COMPLETELY missed that when you said get a spatula with a straight edge you meant the SHAPE of the spatula as a whole - like more square/rectangular. For some reason I took it to mean don't get a spatula with a beveled edge, so when I found one at the dollar store I was all excited. Once I was cooking, I did a facepalm and branded myself a moron.
)
Once I got the egg off, I tried re-greasing it, had trouble with the paper towels shredding again - BAH. Decided to give it one more go for the evening and made cornbread. Melted some butter as a base, then poured the batter in - 15 minutes later I took it out and immediately turned it over onto a plate. CAME RIGHT OUT! Just a few SPECKS remained in the pan. I was thrilled.
So hopefully I get some good use out of the Lodge as I start my search for a nice, well-seasoned Griswold (or the like). THANKS EVERYONE!
