Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/10/31/great-primer-on-cooking-with-a.html
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I still have an old cast iron skillet that was a hand-me down from my mom, and was perfectly, beautifully seasoned. Unfortunately some old roommates didn’t understand how to clean it, and I found it in the dishwasher more than once. Currently it’s a mess and I haven’t used it in years, it will take a full day of labor to bring it back to something I can actually cook with again, so it keeps getting pushed off.
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Anyone else notice the difference between the iron quality of old pans vs newer ones? My cousin has a few vintage ones that are bombproof. My Lodge won’t hold a season at all. The structure of the metal just seems finer-grained in the old pans. What other alternative brands have people found?
Edit: Off to Craigslist! Found local seller with a collection of vintage pans…
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WONDERFUL video, thank you so much.
Love everything about it, great instructions, great information, and hilarious close - get back what ya give! 
as far as OLD cast Iron vs NEW cast iron?
a) you get what you pay for - inexpensive is inexpensively made. BIG holes, very porous, very hard to season
b) yard sales and craigslist are your friend. when grannie passes on? her kids GIVE AWAY good cast iron, cause they dont know how to use it. Watch for sales and CL
If Teflon is non-stick? how do the manufacturers get it to stick to the pans? (actually, i KNOW the process, but the joke stands) How many of us cook in non-stick Teflon pans, only to see the teflon begin to flake off after a few years? guess what? more is coming off than you see, and? you are eating it. Hopefully it is not sticking inside us? - Cast Iron solves all that.
yay cast Iron. YAY wonderful video! thank you again BoingBoing for sharing something that lit my morning up.
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Manufacturers used to sand the inside surface of cast iron pans, but most stopped in the 50’s or 60’s. that’s the difference.
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Got it. Found seller on CL who has a collection of old pans, wife is picking up a couple tomorrow.
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This!
I have a large lodge that was pissing me off, so I took it out to the garage, and hit it with a variety of abrasive metalworking tools. Actually polished the cooking surface up to about 400 grit. Kind of weird seeing a cast iron look “shiny”. Once seasoned though, it’s like black obsidian.
We’ve got a rule in this house that if you use the cast iron, and aren’t sure how to clean it completely, don’t. I’m more than happy to heat it back up and clean it if it means keeping them in good shape.
Also, protip: If you’ve got a Chinese grocery store near you, they often have brushes made of small flat slats of bamboo. They’re used to clean woks. Seasoned iron vs seasoned steel… Not much of a difference in how to clean them. I really haven’t found anything cookable that can’t be cleaned out of the cast iron with heat, water, and one of those brushes.
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