Cast Iron - "good" brands, vintage, etc...

Shamefully, the only cast iron I have is my enameled Le Creuset and 1 "emeril" grill pan.

I'm looking for an everyday cast iron pan, in the store.....the casting of newer pans just look horrible, bad casting, not smooth in the least.

what brands, of the past, have had a good reputation, so I can search for some older cast iron. Griswold? the reason I ask for brands, knowing that the "brand" does not matter much, is it make it easier to scour the internet/ebay.

Lodge, MACA Camp Chef, Wagner are the best current brands.

Wagner is highly regarded but scarce. I don't think I've ever seen it in stores new, just used. I'm not sure they're still in production?

Lodge is commonly available, but they are a bit pricey for cast iron. Good quality and a good pre-seasoning.

MACA focuses on dutch ovens and I don't recall seeing a skillet from them. Mostly seen in the Mountain West.

Camp Chef makes good pans but they often have a decorated bottom which makes them inferior for some cooktops (glass) where they won't make the best even contact. They too are another Utah company but seem to have good penetration into the national market.

Amazon often has free shipping deals which is a good way to pick up any of these brands. They are reliably of good casting quality.

Griswold is also good quality but I've never seen those in the store, nor used. Very popular iron.

My two 12 inch skillets are Lodge and Camp Chef. Slightly different pan angles and the Camp Chef has a more curvy handle.

New cast iron isn't as smooth as old. I have a monster 16" spider of ancient vintage that is amazingly smooth. I even stripped it totally of all seasoning and I've never seen any iron as smooth as that.

However, the newer slightly grainy castings are very good in their own right. As you build up the patina, they smooth out and get as slick as the old ones though never as perfectly smooth. Smooth is good, but the slightly grainy isn't bad as you might be thinking.

Phil - With Griswold what significance does the numbering on the skillets have? Size, model?


Willie

Should be size in inches as I recall.

I'll sing the praises of Lodge skillets, both my 10 and 12 inch ones are Lodge. They are great when it comes to even heating, they have a great amount of thermal inertia, good at retaining heat when off the flame, ovenproof and can be used at pretty much any temperature found in a kitchen. They should outlive you and your children. When was the last time you saw a plain old cast iron skillet that was worn out to the point of being useless?

On the downside they are not happy in a dishwasher, take a modest amount of maintainence now and again, are heavy [ Somedays I feel like I need a brace of oxen to move my 12" around the kitchen ] and have a great amount of thermal inertia, not a good choice when you need a responsive pan for dishes that require fairly quick changes in temperature. Yes, I am claiming that one of their features is one of their drawbacks. It depends on what you are cooking.

When you do get a new skillet, either a pre-seasoned Lodge Logic type, or a 'raw' one you have to season yourself, I'll suggest the first three things to cook in it to start it off:

1. bacon
2. bacon
3. bacon

For those who don't do pork, frying chicken is good as well. In my opnion you want to get the pan seasoned as much as possible with good, natural fats early on in its life. Avoid tomato sauces, wine reductions and such until you have a decent patina built up.

mjb.

Phil, the reason you don't see Griswold in stores is that it hasn't been produced in a great many years.

Griswold is very big with collectors. So much so that much of it is not affordible by those of us looking to cook with it, rather than hang it on a wall. I mean let's face it; a hundred bucks or more for an 8" skillet is enough to make grown men cry.

Griswold markings, btw, are very well documented, and both the numbers and logo changed over time, particularly after the company was sold the first time. Generally speaking, though, the numbers refer to both size and style.

In practical terms, Lodge is the only American company still producing cast iron cookware. Wagner was reintroduced (after the company folded several years back) two or three years ago, but I've never seen any of the new stuff in stores.

Most raw cast iron, nowadays, is made in Asia (i.e., China) and the castings are nowhere near as fine as in the old days when the stuff was made in Europe and the United States. A lot of Asian iron, in fact, is open-grained, contains all sorts of oclusions, and is often difficult to cure properly.

"I have a monster 16" spider....."

Although we all do it, the word "spider," technically does not apply to cast iron. The word did not come into common usage until the American War of Succession, and applied to tinplate skillets on rather long legs (so long that the thing resembles a spider, donchasee). The long legs were used to get the pan high enough so it was above the flames of an open fire.

The short legs on cast iron served a similar, but different purpose. Legged iron was used on the hearth, itself, rather than over the actual fire. Coals were raked out of the fire and swept under the piece. The legs provided clearance for that purpose.

In colonial days there was different nomenclature for legged and nonlegged pieces. Those without legs were skillets, those with were frying pans.

The only exception to the way legged iron was used is kettles. Kettles were designed to be hung over the fire---either in a fireplace from a crane or ginpole, or over an open fire with a tripod. So they didn't need legs for the cooking process. But because most of them were round-bottomed, they needed the legs for stability when they were taken off the fire and shifted somewhere else. Cauldrons, of course, were used on the ground, and had to have the legs for stability.

AFAIK, Lodge cast iron cookware is still made in the USA. Are you saying that may no longer be the case? Their enameled line is made in China.

What do you think of the Signature series, the cast iron cookware with stainless steel handles? Not for me - I much prefer the plain cast iron.

I have to be honest, looking at the Lodges over the past couple of months in the stores, I'm just not impressed by the castings, which is what drove me to this post.

The spider I refer to has the legs for hearth cooking. I mostly use it over charcoal. Sometimes on my big 30K BTU outdoor stove.

MACA casts their pots in Utah and India. Camp Chef has their foundry in China, but it's of good quality, as good as Lodge. These are consistent castings and will perform well.

Another brand to consider is Harbor Freight, the mostly do camp ovens, but I've seen their skillets now and again and there are some good ones at good prices. Inspect before you buy though. Harbor Freight is a hardware store. The cast iron is on clearance this time of year and usually doesn't reappear until spring.

I frequent Harbor Freight...at least 2-3 times a month! best place to get "throwaway 1 time use" tools....and sometimes they have a really good deal on some good equipment. (depending on what it is....gotta watch). I'm a snap-on tool guy (equivalent to all-clad in the cooking world), but Harbor Freight has a place in my heart. haha.

I never saw a pan there though, I'll look next time!

interesting haha.

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

and i could use my 20% off coupons in get in the mail.

there is something to be said about buying a pan new, and seasoning yourself, making it "yours" but also something to be said about a good smooth cast, vintage iron.

They're usually by the patio/outdoors stuff. Quite often it will be an unlabeled box or three just laying there looking like parts boxes for other things.

Do inspect. Harbor Freight does not have consistent quality cast iron. But there are good pieces to be had.

>AFAIK, Lodge cast iron cookware is still made in the USA. Are you saying that may no longer be the case? <

Not at all, Shel. Just the opposite. What I said was that for most people Lodge is the only U.S. made cast iron readily available. (The words I used were "for all practical purposes")

>What do you think of the Signature series, the cast iron cookware with stainless steel handles?<

I try not to think about it at all, Shel. Frankly, I don't understand the point of it.

>The spider I refer to has the legs for hearth cooking.<

That's what I understood you to mean, Phil. Almost everybody I know who uses them (and that's quite a bunch, as they are very popular among living historians) calls them spiders. But spiders are technically a different creature.

>MACA casts their pots in Utah and India.<

True in theory. But those made domestically never seem to get very far from the factory. Almost everyone who wants new, American-made, raw cast iron is almost definitially confined to Lodge.

The fact is, though, you can do better both quality and price-wise by haunting the antique malls, flea markets, and estate sales.

>Camp Chef has their foundry in China, but it's of good quality, as good as Lodge. These are consistent castings and will perform well. <

I'll take your word for it. But the one set I saw left me rather unimpressed.

Well, I'm feeling smug. I have three nice Griswold pans, all picked up at garage sales or flea markets for a pittance before they became unavilable and collector's items.

I have a "Tite-Top Dutch Oven No 9" with lid, a cute little "Cast Iron Skillet No 3" about 5" on the bottom, and a Chicken Fryer No 8 also with lid. All are in excellent condition (how could you wear out a cast-iron pan, anyway?)

Could i use these to fund my retirement?

Any bids?

I replaced a no-name CI frying pan with a warped bottom with a Lodge "pre-seasoned" one about a year ago. Not too impressed with with the "pre-season" but I've gotten it into pretty good shape.

Mike :smoking:

I think the pre-season is a good idea, but not for the quality of the seasoning. It's a good protective coating and much easier for people to put into service than dealing with the wax and industrial grease of yore.

Phil

I agree with Phil 100%.

The preseasoning is a spray-on oil coating, applied while the castings are hot. As such it's about equal to what you get if you "cure" a new piece as per Lodge's directions.

The preseasoning is by no means a deep cure, and you really should use the piece only for frying the first few times, until the cure really starts to develop.

But, as Phil says, it sure beats the heck out of the wax and edible varnishes used previously.

Just an update, I went out antique shopping yesterday and believe it or not, didn't come across any. I may hit up harbor freight today though (thanks phatch for reminding me about this thread!) I've been scouring the land for an older deal, but haven't come across one.

the lodge stuff is very good quality castings. Where current production falls down is in finishing the castings. They no longer machine the insides of pans. The solution is simply to do that yourself. Cast iron is easy to machine, so it'll respond well to sand paper. Wash, then reseason.