Very good points.
Full disclosure, I have only had one new Lodge cast iron item, a griddle. It cracked after the 3rd use.
I had many old Griswold and Wagner Ware skillets rusting in the basement. So I used citric acid ( I heard Cola works also ) to clean the really rusted ones, and flax oil to season.
When I look at today’s cast iron pan’s in the store they do not seem as smooth. Perhaps my older ones are smoother because of 80+ years of use? I use a metal spatula and scrape the surface down while they are still very hot, wipe out clean, wash in water and if needed rub in a little peanut or canola oil.
There is a small risk to using cast iron everyday according to Andrew Weil, M.D.
There is a book called Seven Fires by Francis Mallman which is a great addition to cast iron lovers library. I particularly like the drama of using iron for creme brulé.
3 liters of 30% hydroxide plus 3 liters of “muriatic acid” aka 30% hydrochloric acid = major industrial accident waiting to happen. I used to demonstrate this to people using about 2cc of each, out of doors. It is surprisingly impressive.
If you want to clean with alkali and do it regularly, it is easy. Get a plastic bucket and make a small hole in the bottom. Stick it over the drain, turn on a faucet or use a garden hose feeding the drain, pour the hydroxide into the bucket and let it slowly empty itself into the flowing water. No HCl fumes, no hydroxide aerosol, and by the time it reaches the pipes under the street it will be as innocuous as regular oven cleaner.
That, I think, is the essential point - it’s not that they don’t manufacture good stuff now, or didn’t manufacture crappy stuff 100 years ago, but the crappy stuff made 100 years ago mostly broke or got thrown out 85 years ago, while the crappy stuff manufactured this year is sitting on store shelves right now, waiting to disappoint you.
I thought the biggest advantage of cast iron cookware is for the iron supplements in your food. If that is true those that have a shortage of iron in there diet could do cooking with cast iron.
Really, really slowly. The pan needs to be over the lowest heat possible which still denatures the albumen. If you do it slowly enough, the eggs become really creamy without adding any butter at all. Sometimes a little bit of water helps. It takes a long time, though. I also don’t like to whisk the eggs, or stir them too much, as I like a bit of differential between the yolkier and whiter bits, but I’m weird like that. If you want to do it a bit more quickly, the recipe at the end of this works well: How to make perfect scrambled eggs | Food | The Guardian (they are also divine with a bit of truffle).
I actually quite like American-style scrambled eggs, but they are a completely different thing: more like a basic omelette than classic scrambled egg. I was a bit shocked when I ordered scrambled eggs at the French Laundry in Vegas and they arrived American style; I would have thought that was one of the very few places in the US where they would know how to do Escoffier style scrambled eggs. Oh well.
Maybe the reason old pans are valued is that they used a bit of a different sand molding techniques in the old days?
Sand composition, moisture, additives (like Bentonite), and oils affect the grain on cast iron.
I worked at a foundry that did hand molding and they used a black sand and orange clay like sand to mix. Later they switched to 'sqeeze jolt" free form machine mold that did not require a ‘flask’ to support the edge and they added bentonite and I think oil to help the sand stick together. The molds where much smaller for the same product.
Could be another use for the microscope to see if you can tell about grain size of the surface; old vs new.
And now that I think it---- it might not be the sand composition at all…but the thermal mass of the sand use. With modern molds smaller and using less sand cooling quickly. leading to larger grains in the cast iron.
If you have a new pan and access to a machine shop, have them smooth down the cooking surface.
That’s the worst part about ones made relatively recently, newer ones are not machined properly after casting.
I have a really old pan that used to belong to my grandmother and it’s smooth. Nothing sticks.
It’s easy to find old cast iron, but what I wish I could find is more hard anodized aluminum from Magnalite. I have one griddle and it’s even better than the slick old cast iron I have…
I think some of you are over thinking this ci pan stuff. Buy your pans from someone besides Walmart. A little hot water and a scrub brush is all you need to clean them. Re-season now and then. KISS
Another possibility about the “lost secret formula”…
Years ago I worked at a company that made read/write heads for disk drives, the process is similar to semiconductor manufacturing. They moved the manufacturing line to a different state, rebuilt it as closely to identical as possible, but the heads were consistently crap, producing high levels of noise. It turned out that the new location has lots of air pollution which was affecting the process.
So it may be possible that higher levels of air pollution have permeated everywhere and has fundamentally changed the process. Disclaimer: I am not a metallurgist.
Look, I’m the guy who said it’s fine to wash a pan with soap in the previous thread, but holy shit putting it through a self-cleaning cycle is a horrible idea. I’m glad it did not end in disaster.
The best way to strip a pan like that is with oven cleaner and patience.
@japhroaig - in Catalan Spain there’s a essentially a “branding iron” for making crema catalana, their version of creme brûlée.
Guys in the metal shop next to where I worked had offered to fix up any cast iron I had using their sand blaster. I’m not sure how that compares in terms of being delicate, but it seems like it’s far easier if you can get your hands on one.
Thanks! I’ve got to try that, although I’m not sure I’ll have the patience.
My scrambled eggs are somewhere in between the two styles. Slow cooked, yes, but not for 45 minutes. Heat a heavy fry/saute pan on a low-medium for a few minutes, then add some butter. Whisk the eggs well – I will fight you to the death on this! – add a little milk or cream, not water, and whisk some more. Pour into the hot pan. Use a light touch with regard to pushing the eggs as they heat until they are only a little bit runny. By the time they are put on a plate and set down, they’re perfect.
But yeah, scrambled eggs in most restaurants in the U.S. are overcooked and rubbery.
