I've always been kind of a pack rat and I love anything old and nostalgic. Several years ago I inherited some old rusty cast iron cookware. I remember my mother using similar cookware (and she still does today). Mom cooked almost everything in this one 8 inch skillet. Corn bread, bread pudding, biscuits, rolls, sausage, grits, stews, gravy, hot dogs, you name it and she most likely prepared it in this skillet at one time or another. I remember its black, heavy appearance. That skillet has been handed down for 3 generations and now I have some from my diseased mother-in-law. But this cookware was not well cared for and had been rusting in a box for who knows how many decades. It obviously fell out of favor for some reason or another. I was captivated by its nostalgia and I had to go about restoring these beautiful old pieces.
After doing inventory I had 6 very nice pieces of varying size for different functions: I had a round smooth griddle and a square smooth griddle, both are very shallow and quite rusted. I also had 2 skillets one about 12 inches in diameter and the other was curiously tiny, it was not much bigger than the palm of my hand but about 3 inches deep. The tiny one looked like it belonged with an old fashioned Easy Bake Oven! Dropping the large one on anyone would most certainly lead to the demise of the poor victim. I remember thinking how perfect the large one would be for frying chicken evenly with its big deep sides. And last but not least I had these neat corn bread pans that looked like stalks of corn had been etched into them; these would make beautiful corn muffins.
After cleaning off the cob webs and surface dirt I began my plan of attack. I started with just the basics; I started scrubbing the rust with a Brillo pad. The layers of rust came off slowly revealing the clean, dry-looking cast iron. I went through about 10 Brillo Pads. A few of the pieces only required a quick scrub with fine and medium fine sand paper but the significantly rusted fry skillet needed something more substantial. I borrowed my husband's electric drill and attached a wire brush attachment to it. The drill was a heavy duty, corded Black and Decker drill. I doubt the lighter weight 7-volt drill would work. I donned my safety goggles, gloves and a mask and went about removing the rust slowly so as not to dig into the surface which would compromise the cast iron's ability to heat evenly.
After all of the rust was gone the cast iron didn't quite look right and I thought about all of the germs that must be on the surface after all of these years. I put very coarse salt in the skillets and began scrubbing them until they looked cleaner and smoother; this took several hours for all of the pieces but about 20 minutes each I would say. Finally I placed water in each of them and more salt and heated to boiling with some antibacterial dish washing liquid. Using a nylon brush I finished cleaning and disinfecting the cookware. I allowed the water to boil a hard rolling boil for a full 10 minutes. That was the last time soap touched my cast iron cookware.
Satisfied with a job well done I only had to season each piece. I seasoned each piece 3 times both inside and out so any spilled or splattered food would never stick to it. My cast iron cookware looked like new again. The best thing about cast iron cookware is that it only gets better with age. The time and energy investment was well worth it. I saved and restored a bit of the past and was able to gain quality cookware that will last well into the future.
After doing inventory I had 6 very nice pieces of varying size for different functions: I had a round smooth griddle and a square smooth griddle, both are very shallow and quite rusted. I also had 2 skillets one about 12 inches in diameter and the other was curiously tiny, it was not much bigger than the palm of my hand but about 3 inches deep. The tiny one looked like it belonged with an old fashioned Easy Bake Oven! Dropping the large one on anyone would most certainly lead to the demise of the poor victim. I remember thinking how perfect the large one would be for frying chicken evenly with its big deep sides. And last but not least I had these neat corn bread pans that looked like stalks of corn had been etched into them; these would make beautiful corn muffins.
After cleaning off the cob webs and surface dirt I began my plan of attack. I started with just the basics; I started scrubbing the rust with a Brillo pad. The layers of rust came off slowly revealing the clean, dry-looking cast iron. I went through about 10 Brillo Pads. A few of the pieces only required a quick scrub with fine and medium fine sand paper but the significantly rusted fry skillet needed something more substantial. I borrowed my husband's electric drill and attached a wire brush attachment to it. The drill was a heavy duty, corded Black and Decker drill. I doubt the lighter weight 7-volt drill would work. I donned my safety goggles, gloves and a mask and went about removing the rust slowly so as not to dig into the surface which would compromise the cast iron's ability to heat evenly.
After all of the rust was gone the cast iron didn't quite look right and I thought about all of the germs that must be on the surface after all of these years. I put very coarse salt in the skillets and began scrubbing them until they looked cleaner and smoother; this took several hours for all of the pieces but about 20 minutes each I would say. Finally I placed water in each of them and more salt and heated to boiling with some antibacterial dish washing liquid. Using a nylon brush I finished cleaning and disinfecting the cookware. I allowed the water to boil a hard rolling boil for a full 10 minutes. That was the last time soap touched my cast iron cookware.
Satisfied with a job well done I only had to season each piece. I seasoned each piece 3 times both inside and out so any spilled or splattered food would never stick to it. My cast iron cookware looked like new again. The best thing about cast iron cookware is that it only gets better with age. The time and energy investment was well worth it. I saved and restored a bit of the past and was able to gain quality cookware that will last well into the future.
About the Author:
Want to find out more about seasoning cast iron cookware, then visit Trella Dutton's site on cast iron skillets .