Restoring Cast Iron without oven

Hello,

I am new to this all, and recently was taught that Cast iron is the way to go in terms of cooking skillets and health. I purchased two from the company Lodge. Unfortunately their skillets come PRE-SEASONED with a GMO Soy based oil (I checked & verified this with the company). Now I've Google'd ways to remove this genetically modified pre-season, and the only suggestions I've been able to find are to use a Self-cleaning oven (I've asked all my friends and relatives and none of them have one!) and the other option was to use industrial chemical alternatives (like oven cleaner product). I am wondering is there anyway around this? I now have these two beautiful cast iron skillets and they are just sitting around teasing me waiting to be used. On one hand I don't want to start rubbing in toxic chemicals into my iron pans, and on the other I don't want to just leave them sitting around being unusable because no one I know has a self-cleaning oven.

If there are any alternatives to this dilemma please let me know!

Thank you so much,

From,
Tony

Welcome to permies Tony.

Perhaps you could heat up the skillets (good and warm, but NOT hot) and then scrub them with cheap Vodka.
The alcohol should be able to 'cut' the oil if it has softened with heat.

(Also a great excuse for having a "Bloody Mary" this morning. LOL)

If I were worried about such a thing, I'd just throw the pots into a campfire for a while, scour the char off if necessary, and start over with whatever oil or grease you like…..

First off, while i agree that GMO's are abhorrent, I think a little perspective might help.

The amount of oil actually absorbed by the metal in your pan at this point is probably no more than 1/10th of one milliliter.

Also, the heats at which you will be cooking will destroy the DNA in the soybean oil.

I would use the pan without worry.

mark andrews wrote:First off, while i agree that GMO's are abhorrent, I think a little perspective might help.

The amount of oil actually absorbed by the metal in your pan at this point is probably no more than 1/10th of one milliliter.

Also, the heats at which you will be cooking will destroy the DNA in the soybean oil.

I would use the pan without worry.

Yes. This is a non issue.

If a pan needs to be cleaned for some other reason such as scale, heat it on the stove and then take it outside and burn some sugar in it. The sugar will leave a carbon residue which can be scoured away to leave a surface that is smoother and less porous than the original. Cheap pans can be improved with this treatment.

I am wondering if throwing it directly into a camp fire could risk it cracking, or is it safe? And how long should I leave it in there?

Hi Tony. How about using white vinegar to get that nasty oil off your new cast iron pans?

Here's a great video by Green Deane on restoring cast iron pans! One of his methods uses electrolysis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfvHUahZYgM

You can remove the Lodge seasoning with the stove top itself. put that sucker on high and leave it sitting on the burner for 5-10 minutes. I have a skillet whos sole purpose in life is for searing steak and at those temps you simply cannot keep a good Season on it.

Tony Schultz wrote:I am wondering if throwing it directly into a camp fire could risk it cracking, or is it safe? And how long should I leave it in there?

Howdy Tony, welcome to permies!

I season all of my pans on campfires. I dont put them in the fire or on the coals, I set them above the fire on a grate.
Just be sure to warm them slowly and evenly, have a pair of thick gloves that will take the heat so you can move them around, turn them.
Then while they are hot, start to coat them with your oil.