Subject: Re: Curing of cast iron

Hi

Again.

I bought my first cast iron fry pan when they let (wellll - ok - maybe, "made," is closer...) me move off base while I was in the army. I cured it with vegetable oil, the way it said in the book I had.

It rusted.

I cured it again. It rusted again.

I did a super-cure - almost six hours in the oven with periodic oiling. It rusted.

Later on, I was talking with Momma on the phone and I happened to mention my bad luck with the thing, so she asked me what I was doing with it. I gave her a detailed description of the process and the results.

At the end, Momma said, "wow. I just don't know. gamma [my grandmother - see earlier post for family description] always used lard...."

Boy howdy. I now believe that a great number of "grandmother things" begin (pie crust, biscuits) and end (first degree burns) with lard.

To keep closer-kosher, I might try a vegetable shortening.

This ALL acts as preamble to telling you that there's a bit on curing cast iron cookware on the Lodge Manufacturing site (above).

Last Edited: 08/27/2010