How Cast Iron Pans Are Made

[Tom]

There was previous thread on cast iron cookware.  I thought I'd post this with a vid on they're made.

https://kottke.org/21/08/how-cast-iron-pans-are-made?utm_source=GetTheElevatordotcom

[Perazzimx14]

There was previous thread on cast iron cookware.  I thought I'd post this with a vid on they're made.

https://kottke.org/21/08/how-cast-iron-pans-are-made?utm_source=GetTheElevatordotcom

Love my vintage cast iron cookware. With reasonable care its will last for 100's of years and cook some of the best food you ever had.

[AJ Huff]

Brings back memories.

I've been through Lodge's foundry twice. It's well run. Even had the privilege of having dinner with Henry Lodge once.

Most of what is on the internet regarding cast iron cookware is voodoo.

-AJ

[Gliderjohn]

I have a very aged and seasoned skillet. IMHO a better steak cannot be had by any other method. Also good for many other foods.
GliderJohn

[nc43bsa]

I rode by the Lodge plant a while back on the way to the Dutch Maid Bakery and Cafe in Tracy City.   

[Guzzi Gal]

I love my old Griswolds.

[Stretch]

Beautiful work by real people committed to making heirloom quality items. 

I hope they stay in business a long time.

                                   -Stretch

[Perazzimx14]

I love my old Griswolds.

Griswold also made "house brands". Same quality but under names like Good Health. Years ago my mom gave me some of of my grandmothers cast iron cookware. Some of it was chinease and then I came across a Good Health piece. Did a bit or research and found it to be Griswold.

I have a Lodge 6qt Dutch Oven that takes 3 men and a boy to lift when it full but it cooks nice and a lot. The Lodge has a rougher texture that iis supposed to hold the seasoning better. I still prefer the very fine texture/finish of the Griswold/Wagner stuff. Once seasoned it like a mirror on the bottom.

If I had to have one piece of cookware it would be a tossup between my steel wok and a cast iron Dutch Oven.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

Blows my mind they are making 2million of these A MONTH? seems like 95% of every cast iron skillet ever made is still in service. I own about 25 pieces of cast iron in every conceivable size and shape, but I've never bought one new and I'd be shocked if anything in my collection is under 35years old! how the heck are they selling 2 million a month?? Wild.

[Guzzistajohn]

Can't make a really good roux without a cast iron skillet. Bon Ton Roulle! 

[AJ Huff]

I own about 2 dozen pieces. I rarely use the skillets. I hate the off center hot spot on the stove top. They shine in the oven though, like corn bread or upsidedown pineapple corn cake. On the stove top I moved to French black steel pan. It rocks. I use my Staub cassoulet about once a week but the reality is all enameled cast iron pans are about the same. The one cast iron piece that I love the most though are my two cast iron bread loaf pans from Lodge. Those are winners.

-AJ

[AJ Huff]

Griswold also made "house brands". Same quality but under names like Good Health. Years ago my mom gave me some of of my grandmothers cast iron cookware. Some of it was chinease and then I came across a Good Health piece. Did a bit or research and found it to be Griswold.

I have a Lodge 6qt Dutch Oven that takes 3 men and a boy to lift when it full but it cooks nice and a lot. The Lodge has a rougher texture that iis supposed to hold the seasoning better. I still prefer the very fine texture/finish of the Griswold/Wagner stuff. Once seasoned it like a mirror on the bottom.

If I had to have one piece of cookware it would be a tossup between my steel wok and a cast iron Dutch Oven.

The rough texture of Lodge's pans is a function of how they are made. The claim of holding the seasoning better is marketing.

-AJ

[Perazzimx14]

The rough texture of Lodge's pans is a function of how they are made. The claim of holding the seasoning better is marketing.

-AJ

Really more the grain size of the sand used.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

I like the old ones better since they are generally worn down to a smoother surface.  You can accelerate that affect with a die grinder or angle grinder with a flapper wheel

[sib]

I have a complete set of Griswold large block logo skillets.  These were cast with an exceptionally fine grade of sand and their surfaces are much smoother than run-of-the-mill skillets, including other Griswold lines, that were cast with coarser sand.  I've been using my Griswolds every day since the early 1980s.  I also have most of the matching lids, but I'll probably never have all of them, because the prices of the rarer ones (sizes 3 and 4) have gone through the roof.  Enjoy your skillets.

[AJ Huff]

Really more the grain size of the sand used.

While grain size and type of sand are important factors, in the case of Lodge their finish is more dependent on their installation of a Didion drum rotary shakeout system in the early 90s. They also tumble in river rock rather that use traditional shot blasting.

I've heard people talk about how early Lodge pans just aren't the same as new Lodge pans. The shakeout change was one major factor. Another was when the switched from horizontal molding to vertical molding, that was in the 80s if I remember correctly.

The iron itself is the same. If anything Lodge has much greater tolerances in all aspects today in making a pan than 30, 50, 75 years ago.

For ~20 years iron foundry was my life, especially green sand molding.

-AJ

[Tom]

Good info.  I have to recheck the surface of cast iron pans. 😳

[AJ Huff]

Good info.  I have to recheck the surface of cast iron pans. 😳

In that second video of pans being made at Borough Furnace, they are using a no-bake process. Lodge uses Green Sand, which not going into great detail is a mixture of clay, water, sand, coal. It's called green because it's wet. No-bake is sand bonded with phenolic resin. They most likely can use a much finer grain sand distribution with the no-bake process. It's also much more expensive, much more. And there are other differences.

-AJ

[Motormike]

Lodge is just a few miles down the road from me.  I wish my wife would cook on cast iron more often. She hates the extra weight of cast iron skillets.

[Moparnut72]

I don't use anything else, although most of mine are lesser quality. One of them is rough, I think I will take an angle grinder to it after watching one of the videos. I love cooking on cast iron with my gas stove. Only way to go in my opinion.
kk

[n3303j]

Someone should hand Lodge the patterns for Brembo cast rotors now that OEM is no longer available.

[cliffrod]

For ~20 years iron foundry was my life, especially green sand molding.

-AJ

o

Thank you for an expert's perspective, AJ.  Very, very cool.

At the very beginning of my apprenticeship, I made 1374 crepes in an 11 1/2 hrs non-stop session.  First time I had ever made a crepe. Chef told me to make 2000, but said that would be enough. New Teflon pans, 6 pans going at once, spray oil, etc...  Then I saw a chef on tv making them with perfectly seasoned cast iron with a little clarified butter.  That became my point of reference.  After doing all of the blackened product for lunch at Commanders (where K. Paul invented it) in a 24" griswold every single day for months, cast iron was it.   Soon after that, I threw out everything else and decided that cast iron would be my cookware.

In 2017 as a 50th birthday present to myself, I finally scored a long-desired set of $$$$ Bourgeat copper cookware that cooks like magic- even when it needs to be polished....





But I still use my awesome cast iron 99% of the time.  There is simply nothing better.





I've gifted and exchanged quite a few cast iron pans to close friends (weddings, etc) so we can share food in the same pans, even when we aren't cooking together. 

cast iron pans take care of you as well as you take care of them. 

[Rough Edge racing]

I have a very aged and seasoned skillet. IMHO a better steak cannot be had by any other method. Also good for many other foods.
GliderJohn

I agree. My wife has literally dozens of cast iron skillets and pots. All were bought used or free. I would think the demand for new ones would be light, I guess not..

[80CX100]

I have a very aged and seasoned skillet. IMHO a better steak cannot be had by any other method. Also good for many other foods.
GliderJohn

    AJ, I continue to be astounded by the breadth of knowledge here, tks so much for going into depth on one of my favorite things, good cast iron pans 

    I have quite a few, but this discussion forced me to dive under the cupboard and take a closer look.

     One of the foods I love to fry is liver, and I don't like the flavour transfer, so over time my decent but inferior Taiwanese cast iron pans have made their way to the top; and my good pans somehow ended up on the bottom out of the rotation,,, that's changing today,lol.

      From the discussion here, I think my smaller Lodge pan may be an older, finer finish one, idk.

       My 2 best pans and they appear to be very fine, are made in Sydney, Ohio, US "Wagner's 1891 Originals", I'm surprised no one has mentioned them. A quick look online shows they appear to be a similar quality to these Griswolds you're all talking about.

        Back to this op; John, you, RER and many other people have raved about steaks in cast iron, I'm not sure if it's my cheap cuts, too low a temp, dry rubs (rosemary,cumin,pepper) or oil, but steaks in a pan never really worked for me, I'd much prefer a good sear over a flame on a BBQ grill.

         Would you or anyone else please share the secret for a nice steak seared on a cast iron skillet. Is it real high heat or butter, just a wag?

          tia

[AJ Huff]

80CX100

For searing you want HIGH heat. Personally I'd recommend starting in the oven, get that skillet super hot, 450-500, then sear. I also like to sprinkle coarse Kosher salt on a dry pan like a baker would use corn meal on a baking sheet. That's my method, others will do it differently. But to be honest, that's more work than just throwing meat on the grill. I'm perfectly fine with that.

-AJ

[cliffrod]

The caramelization  of sugars and protein over high heat, called the Maillard Reaction, is what produces the color and flavor we associate with a good sear on a steak.  The goal it to brown (caramelize) not to carbonize (burn) but some amount of actual char can be good.  As a general rule- if the browning or fond in the pan burns, the product can easily be burned and ruined as well.   

The hotter the pan, the less likely steam will linger to rinse off any caramelization.  Kosher salt helps provide some air gap to facilitate the escape of steam and to help limit sticking.  Sticking is normally the best indication that the browning is not complete.  As soon as it is, the product will normally lift easily.  For more sear, leave it on a little longer.  The more mass of the pan or griddle, the more consistent the heat to produce the sear.

Adding anything that can easily burn, like organic seasonings & especially garlic or pepper, when trying to sear is risking a bitter flavor because they will scorch faster.  The solids in whole butter can also cause this (as they deep fry & then scorch), so using clarified butter is better.  Again, Kosher salt is good to use.  The actual blackening method is different than just a sear.

To a chef, the pan is as important as the product.  The renderings and fond make a perfect basis for any sauce or jus to accompany the product.  Don't burn your pan.

My favorite way to do a rustic steak is to heat a clean rock in the fire and cook the steak right on the rock. Doesn't get much more basic than that and that probably how it all began.

[AJ Huff]

By the way, those early pans, later 19th century up to probably about WWII, were made much differently than today's pans. They would have been molded with bank sand, literally the sand from river banks and always horizontally molded. Bank sand being a product of mother nature has unique sand grain shapes and sizes that make it basically impossible to replicate. But it's probably the main factor why that era of pans tend to be smoother. While I own one cast iron pancake skillet that the surface was machined, machining was not the norm. You do see it in some of today's boutique manufacturers but it's really an attempt to overcome manufacturing limitations. Tradeoffs.

-AJ

[Perazzimx14]

80CX100

For searing you want HIGH heat. Personally I'd recommend starting in the oven, get that skillet super hot, 450-500, then sear. I also like to sprinkle coarse Kosher salt on a dry pan like a baker would use corn meal on a baking sheet. That's my method, others will do it differently. But to be honest, that's more work than just throwing meat on the grill. I'm perfectly fine with that.

-AJ

Even better CI it an in oven set at 450/500 to preheat then onto red hot coals for an even higher bump then the a drizzle of clarified butter and then the room temp meat.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

     
   


         Would you or anyone else please share the secret for a nice steak seared on a cast iron skillet. Is it real high heat or butter, just a wag?

       

I heat the pan slowly but completely over moderate heat, when the entire thing is hot (including handle lol) I crank the heat to a bit over medium high, pat my steak dry and add a little oil (high smoke point)-- *then* the steak goes in... cook it until a crust is forming.. then I crank the heat all the way up as I flip to side 2.. let it go for a minute, and just before it's done I will drop in a knob of whole butter in the pan (with a grip of fresh herbs from the garden) and baste the beezesus out of it until it's ready.

DONT FORGET TO REST. Resting your steak is just as important as the cooking, rest it longer than you think you should- and undershoot the temp a hair, as it will continue to cook as it rests.

I usually do this on the grill instead of in the house unless I have great ventilation

Oh yeah, and read Cliffrod's post twice before you begin! 

[80CX100]

     It's great hearing professional and varied insights to add to my cooking bag of tricks, 

     I think Mayor nailed part of the problem for me, is a lack of good ventilation inside; I cook on a Jennair downdraft poorly vented cooktop; so I am probably cooking at too low a heat, trying to keep the smoke and fumes to a minimum.

      AJ that's an interesting flip side to the opinion of river sand; years ago, I worked in a precast plant, the owner was extremely "frugal" and started buying cheaper dredged up river sand instead of the sharp concrete sand, the Italians hated it, they said it made the concrete like mud.

     I thank everyone for their replies, I'll be trying some of those ideas out, the next time bad weather forces me off the BBQ into the house.