Joe Gwinn
Stainless
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2009
- Location
- Boston, MA area
I have a lot of cast iron pans, and my wife also loves them for cooking.
However, Lodge no longer offers the "polished" (inside surface sanded flat) finish, instead leaving the surface as cast. I also have a grill pan, which is a skillet with a bunch of parallel raised ridges on the bottom, for preparing sausage and the like. The ridge tops were too narrow for adequate heat transfer
So, my solution was to take these pans to the shop, and mill the bottom flat (first pan) and to flat-top the ridges in the second pan. Machined dry. (Don't clamp too tightly, or the pan will warp too much.) One can also use some kinds of angle grinder, ones that can abrade the bottom despite the sides being in the way.
This was easy enough, but I was unable to properly season the fresh-cut iron surfaces.
After a number of failed attempts, it occurred to me that there was one thing I had not tried, heating the pans up to the point that all organic material (the seasoning) burns off, and adherent gray iron oxide scale forms.
So I did this with one of those big roaring weed burners, with the pans on firebrick to protect the cast aluminum patio table. After the iron cooled, cleaned it up with a scour pad and allowed it to dry. Then heated up and coated with olive oil (which I had - almost anything works. Bacon grease was traditional).
This worked. At last. Wife happy too. This will surely accrue to my lasting benefit.
However, Lodge no longer offers the "polished" (inside surface sanded flat) finish, instead leaving the surface as cast. I also have a grill pan, which is a skillet with a bunch of parallel raised ridges on the bottom, for preparing sausage and the like. The ridge tops were too narrow for adequate heat transfer
So, my solution was to take these pans to the shop, and mill the bottom flat (first pan) and to flat-top the ridges in the second pan. Machined dry. (Don't clamp too tightly, or the pan will warp too much.) One can also use some kinds of angle grinder, ones that can abrade the bottom despite the sides being in the way.
This was easy enough, but I was unable to properly season the fresh-cut iron surfaces.
After a number of failed attempts, it occurred to me that there was one thing I had not tried, heating the pans up to the point that all organic material (the seasoning) burns off, and adherent gray iron oxide scale forms.
So I did this with one of those big roaring weed burners, with the pans on firebrick to protect the cast aluminum patio table. After the iron cooled, cleaned it up with a scour pad and allowed it to dry. Then heated up and coated with olive oil (which I had - almost anything works. Bacon grease was traditional).
This worked. At last. Wife happy too. This will surely accrue to my lasting benefit.