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Cross posting from the Post Your Recent Purchases thread  I bought a 150 year old 30 gallon cast iron cauldron for cooking a large amount of food for a large amount of people. It took almost a year to find since a lot of them have had holes drilled through the bottom and turned into rusted out planters. The metal underneath the crud on this one is in really great shape.  I'm in the middle of stripping off the old seasoning now, so far so good. The inside is as smooth as any Griswold, no pitting at all.
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Mar 9, 2015 15:51
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| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 01:10 |
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spankmeister posted:That owns. First use is probably going to be for a fundraising event this summer. Going with a brunswick stew, or maybe a gumbo if we get a shrimp donation. I'm already working on a design for the wood paddle we'll stir with. Nettle Soup posted:That is awesome Will do! Unfortunately it looks like it's supposed to rain for the rest of the week and re-seasoning this thing is definitely an outside job. Hunterhr posted:How are you going to get it back from that cat though Lots of skritches, her one weakness. 
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Mar 9, 2015 18:12
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I'd have to make more friends just to have reasons to use it... Make sure to show pics when it's all cleaned up and in use!
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Probably around 75 pounds. I can carry it by myself, but it's easier with two people.
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Mar 9, 2015 19:00
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I'm planning on slathering the whole thing in as much bacon grease as I have with crisco filling in the remainder. I've tried flax seed and other oils, but I really think the saturated/hydrogenated oils work best. I've got a 100,000 BTU propane burner I'll use to get the whole thing up to around 450F for 30 minutes to an hour. I bet the heat capacity of all that iron will keep it pretty hot for a long time after. It's 27" across by 18" tall, definitely big enough for a small to medium sized turkey.
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Mar 9, 2015 22:06
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Lets get 30 gallons of oil up to it's smoke point, light it on fire, then dump in 5-10 gallons of water for the words biggest grease fire... for science? In other news, this is the result after the first sodium hydroxide bath. I'm letting it soak overnight again to get the last bits off the outside. It's pretty tenacious stuff. The inside isn't near as bad. For regular sized pans and stuff I prefer electrolysis, but the lye/sodium hydroxide method works great too.  Just to share, here's an electrolysis example. I got the pan cheap, cleaned it up, and resold it for 5x the money. This was the gen 1 tank, the newer one is a lot more capable with some extra safety features. (Hooks to hang the pots from, graphite anodes, and reenforced the structure)    Lastly, the personal set. There's no culinary reason to have all the sizes, it's just collecting at this point. I'm still looking for a good deal on a flat #10. I doubt the #2 will ever happen, way too expensive. I've got some other odds and ends like a slant logo dutch oven that's great for roasting chickens and a popover pan that makes great cornbread. The #9 is my go to for cast iron cooking, eggs will slide right off of it. Although honestly, 80% of the time I just use my stainless pans. 
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Mar 10, 2015 03:11
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There are a ton of guides online, but the only real thing I did different was the power supply. A lot of folks use car battery chargers, but as the chargers got "smarter" they stopped liking to work for electrolysis. A better option is a 12 VDC power supply that can do 10+ amps. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Mean-Well-Power-Supply-12-5A/dp/B004P472X0/ Attach the negative end to the pan and the positive to your sacrificial anode. Steel works fine for the anode, but it rusts like crazy since the current is driving it to oxidize. You can find used blocks of graphite cheap on ebay if you look for used EDM electrodes. Avoid stainless steel since there is concern that it might create hexavalent chromium, nasty stuff. You're on the money with sodium carbonate for the electrolyte. Walmart sells it in big boxes as washing soda.
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Mar 11, 2015 21:40
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Welp, 3/4 of an LP tank later the cauldron is somewhat seasoned. It's not the deep black we want yet, but we're on the way. This is probably the last update until I get a chance to cook with it and/or start a huge grease fire. I'm going to fabricate a stand for it and make a wooden paddle in the meantime. Pre seasoning. There was some serious pitting up around the lip.  My makeshift pot holder out of three metal chairs.  Fire! I may need to get a higher output burner, this is just what they had at Home Depot. Everyone online seems to like the "bayou" brand burners, so I may invest in one.     
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Mar 16, 2015 15:12
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It feels odd posting woodworking stuff in a cast iron cooking thread, but I hope y'all will forgive me. I finished up the paddle that I'm going to use for that big 30 gallon cast iron cauldron I posted a couple pages back. It didn't take much more work than just cutting out a rough paddle shape from a board, but I think the extra effort looks pretty great. This is the glued up rough form from maple and walnut. The maple looked like it would have some nice figure to it. The growth rings are all oriented parallel to the stirring direction for maximum strength.  Post rough shaping on the band saw.  Then a whole lot of sanding and a food safe beeswax and mineral oil finish that I make to use on cutting boards.  The fabricated stand for the cauldron is still a work in progress. funkatron3000 fucked around with this message at 01:33 on Mar 30, 2015 |
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Mar 29, 2015 17:24
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Nah, should be fine, at least I hope so. I used titebond 2, which is the food safe one that you use for cutting boards. If anyone knows for sure that it's a terrible idea, let me know heh. The wax finish will also melt a bit in hot liquid, so I only used enough to soak into the wood. There's basically none on the surface.
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Mar 29, 2015 17:33
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Biscuit Joiner posted:Titetbond 2 vs. Titebond 3 Good to know, appreciate the info. On the upside, if it does fall apart there's really only a couple hours of actual labor in it. Wooden utensils just don't last forever. In other news, I got my Griswold #10 last week and just won an auction for a #2. That means I've got the full smooth bottom block logo set, 2-10.   I'll post a photo of them all once I get the #2 in.I also got a really odd Griswold piece with some really cool history to talk about later... 
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Mar 30, 2015 01:47
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It took a few years, but the collection is complete. #2-#10 of the smooth bottom large block logo pans.   That's cool and all, but I wanted some neat little Griswold thing to cap off the collection. In 1951, the city of Erie, PA held a centennial parade to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the city's incorporation. Griswold had a float in the parade and handed out 2,000 small cast iron pups with "Griswold pup" on the back and the number "30" on the back of the head. They were the only ones ever made, so people collect them. To complicate things though, around 2005 a bunch of crappy reproductions from China hit the market. You can tell them apart because the casting quality is really poor - rough surface and grinding marks. In 1980, a couple named Bill & Denise Harned bought a few of these pups from an antique store in Erie for their personal collection. Five years later they went on to author the first book on Griswold cast iron, "Griswold Cast Collectibles - History and Values". There are newer better books now, but it was first, which is cool. Welp, they put one of their pups up for sale and I bought it.   And now it sits on my desk at work.
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Apr 2, 2015 18:33
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Biscuit Joiner posted:That is a fantastic collection. Do you use them or are they decorative pieces only? Thanks! They all get used, but the 9 and 10 get used the most.
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Apr 2, 2015 22:16
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Planet X posted:I was going to consider the lye method to strip them before reseasoning, but I can't find regular lye at the store. I figured I'd get some off of amazon, some gloves and goggles, and put it all in a bag and let it work its magic. Look for spray oven cleaner, just check that the main ingredient is sodium hydroxide. edit: If you're doing a bunch of pans, getting the pure lye granules and mixing up a bucket of concentrated lye solution is going to be a lot cheaper than a bunch of $5 cans of oven cleaner. If you're just doing a pan or two though, save yourself the hassle and just go with the spray. Have some bulk white vinegar on hand to neutralize the lye. funkatron3000 fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Apr 5, 2015 |
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Apr 5, 2015 05:11
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This is what you want if you go the spray route: http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Off-Professional-Cleaner-Aerosol/dp/B000JKCY8M/ Plus these stainless steel scrub pads https://www.amazon.com/3M-Scotch-Brite-Stainless-Steel-Scouring/dp/B002CQTXBC/ Regular rubber'ish kitchen gloves are fine.
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Apr 5, 2015 23:16
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| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 01:10 |
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If I could only have one I'd go with the 12 inch. Lodge pans are heavy as hell though, so if that's an issue, consider the 10 inch.
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Apr 6, 2015 00:21
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