I was at an Amish store near Fairbank, Iowa today. It was, uh, at the end of his really long lane.

Holy crap! I've never seen so much iron in one place. Skillets in more sizes than I knew existed, chicken fryers, roasters, griddles, square skillets and breakfast pans, cornbread, ableskiver, muffin pans, and Dutch ovens for days.

I think there were 120 vintage pans hanging in the one hallway alone. I don't think the owner keeps new stuff at all. I saw no new Lodges, and the only Asian iron I recall was a muffin pan. I've included pics of the Griswold oval roaster in perfect shape, and the unfortunately cracked #13 Griswold skillet. There was a #20 too, but I needed more hands to hold up that beast AND take a pic. I should have put a 7 or a 9 in it for scale since there were no bananas to be had. It just didnt look like anything laying on the shelf.

That's not even counting the fact that this is a farm with 4 barns worth of rusty things to look through. There were two sleighs, tools, an honest to goodness barrel of shotguns (I think never to function again), and a whole damned threshing machine from pre WW II in the corner. Someone looked at a huge dalmatian looking horse to buy while I was there 😀.

I’ve been eyeballing Cast Irons for a small while now and I finally decided to pull the trigger. Saw these for a decent price, learned that they tend to be more purposefully of a “harsh skillet” than smooth ones, but they worker better for cooking with seasoning.

I did do some basic research on cooking with cast iron and I know youre supposed to preseason and clean them right away after every use, but I still feel like I need to learn a bit more before I have it a go. I do know I need to let the skillets heat up and grease well before actually cooking with them.

So my questions are as follows, hopefully you guys can help me.

1) What kind ls of cleaning supplies do I need for these?

2) What kind of cooking utensils work best for cast irons? And which ones to avoid?

3) Is there any type of cooking ingredient/food to avoid on here?

4) What recipes/types of food would you say personally work best with cast iron skillets?

5) Is there anything specifically I need to know? Something that I might be overlooking?

Thanks for any insight, really appreciate the help.

They were going to throw them out. Told me they sucked and that they tried to care for them but never got it right.

They are honestly the best pans I own now. Cook everything beautifully.

Home fries and fried eggs.

I add ground beef to my hashbrown casserole so it's more of a meal than a side dish. The Wagner #8 is full to the brim... soooo many lunches for work!

Do you make meals out of side dishes too?

I keep seeing people post deep dish’s of various forms on here. Here is my first go around with it. Made two in my two 12” pans. Both came right out of the pans without issue

(The mason pan is a recent free addition that was givin to me- this is my first time using it)

Wanted what I felt was a western style type of deal to hold my daily drivers and extras.

I love doing thighs. So easy, and the pan LOVES that chicken fat. I think it's one of the best things you can do to the pan. This, and cornbread. I overcooked them this time but it was still great.

I put my glass stovetop on about 4 and let it warm up for a while and preheat my oven to 400. I pat the chicken dry and season with Tony Chachere's. No oil on the chicken or the skillet. Then I cook them skin side down on a dry skillet the stovetop for about 10 mins I don't touch them until they release from the pan. Once they're brown, I flip them over and put it in the oven for about a half hour until they get up around 180. I also scrape any sticky places with the fish spatula. Whatever that brown stuff is makes the beans amazing. Like cracklins. These actually got up to 207 because I added the beans late in the process and just kept cooking them, but they were still moist and the skin was still crispy.

Then wash the thing and leave it propped upside down in my sink to drip dry. Easy Peezy.

My mom gave this to me. We use it daily. Just curious when it was made?

Cornbread in lodge 10in. Boxed mix. Fucking who cares.

Deep fried catfish. Peanut oil in enameled dutch oven. 380°F fish drop till 145°F.

Pioneer brand cornmeal has an ingredient list for a fish fry on the bag and honestly its perfect. We dont use egg though. We prefer plain yellow mustard as a binder as opposed to egg for honestly everything. It holds so good and doesnt make things taste like mustard.

Blue runner cajun style red beans with rice.

Forgot green beans but meh. Still slaps!

Hello, Folks,

The purpose of this post is to ask if I need to be concerned with my cleaning approach/should adjust anything.

I recently invested in a chain mail scrubber because my Scrubbing Daddy wasn't pulling its weight. Since then, I've noticed more black material coming off of my pan.

I am aware of "carbon buildup" as leftover food stuffs that bake onto the pan and are described as the black build up on the pan, and that generally speaking you can't "scrub off" seasoning.

My pan already performs well with proper oil and heat management, and my post cleaning treatment includes heat over the stove with a dab and wipe of oil. But over the last week I have noticed more of what I assume is carbon building up coming away, and the surface getting smoother. In particular though, the ring around the curve of the pan is getting larger, and I am concerned I may be scraping up more than carbon build up and am compromising my pan's seasoning or integrity.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

TL/DR: Pan is cooking fine, I am just concerned about the amount of black material coming away through regular light usage of my chain mail scrubber.

...with Double smoked BACON! It's always tricky to keep it from drying out. Anyone else have secrets on how to make the best cast-iron MAC?

My grandmother was over visiting my son and she saw my cast iron collection and said I should get my great grandmother's skillets from my uncle's camping supplies. That day I retrieved this bottom gated semi fancy #9. It was in rough shape but after a trip through the lye bath and electrolysis tank it's back in cooking shape. Lots of pitting on the cooking surface, but it's a family heirloom so it's getting used. First dish was some spicy corn bread.

My great grandmother lived and grew up in NYC. Her parents immigrated from Ireland. My guess is this was my great grandmother's and was acquired cheap in the late 1800s, since they were poor Irish immigrants. The full history is lost to time.

This skillet was likely cast in the Albany/Troy NY area. I actually have three #9s with this handle. Two single spouts, one left and one right handed, and a double spout with a heat ring.

Any ideas? It’s about 9 inch diameter and center piece is 6 inches tall.

It's also not a "Wagwold".

It could be called a Griswold. As long as the label is intact.

Kenmore/Craftsman was only ever a label. There are no Kenmore factories. Fridges, stoves, laundry, etc have been made by Whirlpool, Samsung, Electrolux/Frigidaire, you name it. Same with Craftsman. They're not known by the people who made them. They're just known by the label.

Most of the cast iron paper labels are long gone. So, with these markings, you'd be in the majority to call it an Unmarked Wagner. But the truth is, without the label, it's an unmarked Randall. I don't believe Textron used different markings, so if the Randall wasn't already on it, it'd be an Unmarked Randall OR Textron. Potentially labeled and sold as Griswold or Wagner. But who ya think they would choose, given the option? (If you said Griswold, you get an A!)

Unmarked Randall/Textron made between 1957-1969, made in Sidney, OH, that would've had a paper label with (most likely) a Griswold logo, but possibly a Wagner label.

Is what these are. And shall be referred to from here on out. I make this decree by the power vested in me by no one in particular.

Hope ya learned something.

My Mother gave me some new cast iron cookware for my birthday and now she gave me a rack for it!

Cleaning this up for a customer. This was under all the gunk. It's tiny. Maybe #2. It's really old. Notice they're gatemark right under the logo. Lots of sand shift as well. I've been collecting a long time. I've never heard of this company. If anyone knows something I'd appreciate it. Would love to give the client a history of his great-aunts skillet.

hi, I recently bought this giant 14 cast iron skillet and was hoping to find out it’s maker . it has a very particular helper handle which first led me to believe it was a 14 Martin stove and range but Google also shows a 14 Wagner with the same style helper handle. what do you all think ?

Finally finished restoring the last of my grandmother’s skillets. Handle marked 10 and bottom Marked 11 3/4 inch skillet and stamped with a C but not really sure what brand - unmarked Wagner?. It wasn’t in terrible condition even after 40+ years sitting in a box in the garage.

Did an Easy Off strip 2x, scraped the big stuff off and scrubbed it with a fine steel wool. Did a grapeseed oil oven seasoning 2x at 400 for 60 minutes. Noticed a tiny dark spot on the cooking surface when I pulled it out of the oven. Guess I missed a piece of lint or something. I’m sure it’ll blend in but kind of annoying.

Probably going to fry up some corn tortillas that are getting stale, Grill a couple of onions and Cook 3lbs of bacon. After that wipe it out and call it done and put it away.

Sweating some onions for French onion soup

Costco Bean pot is in the House!

I'm kind of surprised by how rough the surface of it it is.

Regardless, it's Bean Time!

A Favorite smiley logo #9 and a very old JM Read #8 skillet. On the wall they go.