cast iron is healthier

Got a used dutch oven and frying pan at a garage sale this summer for $5 each. Problem is they are rusty. Could I sand blast them to start over with a new seasoning?

 

You *can* sandblast them, but it completely unneeded. There is an easier, and cheaper way.

 

Just do what Falcon linked too. Only time cast iron cookware is no good is when it's cracked.

 

Thanks for the link, but these things are bad. They were partialy burried in her back yard and left out for years. It would be a lot less work to fire up the compressor and pull a trigger. I just wanted to be sure I wouldn't ruin them.

 

You'll pebble the surface pretty bad, making it a real PITA to season and clean. You may want to take a wire wheel to it after.

 

I could see salvaging a heirloom piece that way just for the sake of saving it, but wouldn't a weld screw up the even heat distribution?

 

Cast iron cookward is one of the few things in life that never wears out or gets old and some of the stuff actually goes up in value.
Fortuniately my xwife didnt like using and they were to heavey for her to tot off.


If I BBQ I generally thow a pot on the grill when Im done cooking. Just wipe a thin coat of oil and that keeps eveythhing seasoned without much fuss. Also put some in your oven if your baking and have room.

 

I wonder if the wire wheel could just do the entire clean-up.

 

I saw really bad nasty stove CI burners cleaned in a strange way...
Put them on a piece of newspaper inside of a black plastic trash bag....pour in some straight ammonia, (not the sudsy type I was told) then tie it closed and leave it in the sun. The grease dissolves and runs off, leaving very clean CI pieces! If it worked on those, it should work on most CI parts...?

 

They say that when Louis & Clark and their group came back from the West they only things that everybody wanted to keep were their guns and their dutch ovens. I've recently started using CI again but I have to admit, I don't understand all the fussing over seasoning. The one I bought said pre-seasoned... so I didn't worry too much, made some bacon and eggs, actually the wife does about twice a week or so for me for breakfast and I make something in it for dinner every other week or so and the rest of the time the pan just sits in my stove, even when we make a pizza. In other words, i haven't done anything to it and I don't see any problems with it, no rusting or anthing, is it going to start rusting if I don't season it or something?

 

Not if you don't leave it sitting in water or especially tomatoe sauce in my experience. If your cooking bacon or other greasy foods in it a lot you should be fine.

 

if you wash it at all or let it suck moisture out of the air it will rust
its cold iron, humidity will condense on it and cause rust
i learned how to care for my cast iron from my parents and grandparents
whose cast iron cookware was passed down several generations
no rusting, no pitting, if you actually scour it clean it looks brand new
they didnt use olive oil or corn oil, no peanut oil or any other substitutes
always bacon grease
now you guys and your better cheaper easier ways of doing it and saving time and such, let me know when your pans are over 100 years old if they still look brand new
then ill be impressed

 

I do not see how cooking food in cast iron is better than cooking in stainless steel cookware. I can see it being better than Teflon, we got rid of the Teflon cookware years ago. I've eaten a lot of food cooked in cast iron but prefer the stainless.

 

Women who require iron supplments as part of their diet, often do not need them when cooking on cast iron.

 

Cast iron also supposedly imparts additional iron to your food, which can be a nutritional BONUS:
Nutrition Diva : Is it Safe to Cook in Cast-Iron? :: Quick and Dirty Tips ™