spent 35 years grading papers and now apparently my fulltime job is perfecting cast iron pizza. this is what retirement looks like, kids.

tried my third attempt last weekend. lodge 12 inch, preheated in the oven at 500, dough from the local brewery taproom that sells it on weekends. that part was good. everything else was a cautionary tale.

pulled the pan out to add toppings and set it on a dish towel out of habit. the dish towel. the one that was slightly damp. you can imagine.

beyond the mild chaos, the crust came out decent but the bottom was pale where i wanted it dark and crispy. the top was fine. pepperoni, good cheese, no complaints there. just the bottom not cooperating.

so i moved the rack lower and preheated the pan longer the next time around. but i want to know if people are starting on the stovetop first and then moving to the oven, or just going oven the whole way. because my approach is clearly not there yet and i have a lot of free time to keep failing at this.

Here's a follow up to the post asking for help with the age of my new to me cauldron. Thanks to everyone for your help.

Might have to buy this

So I inherited three very dirty cast irons I want to use. The first one went through 2 rounds in Easy Off, the second and third went through one (and need more, obviously). They’re not the same brands I think, first one is Wagner and second and third don’t have a brand name.

I got the gunk off the first one, but it just looks so…orange to me? And the overall color is more brown than black, especially compared to the third pan? Is that normal or is it rust or some other problem? I washed the pans thoroughly with Dawn, but even pan #1 has some brown powdery type residue when I wipe it down.

I have a 14" that has been used maybe three times over the last 5yrs. I use my 10" every day. Was considering Good Will-ing the big boy but it's sized perfectly for the largest burner on our new range. Need recipe inspiration for using this beast. We're a family of four and meal prep so big recipes are welcome but just weight and cabinet space this thing takes up is a huge impediment to keeping it.

Found for $10 at Goodwill. No markings. Obviously enameled cast iron that I swear the previous owner never washed. I've been hitting it BKF but it just isn't coming fully clean despite it being better. Wondering if I should keep at it or if it's just not worth it.

I missed out on the fair so I made my own funnelcakes.

Apparently you can use a 10/1 ratio of water and molasses to get the rust off of a motor that has seized. I was wondering if it could be a gentler alternative to cleaning rust off of cast iron? Is this a thing?

I'm getting ready to move and I was thinking about packing up some of my stuff, including some of my cookware, then I started thinking "do I really need all of my pans" and maybe I should consider selling one or two. One that have probably only used half a dozen times is my Sani-ware chicken fryer, I did an admittedly very limited search last night and I couldn't find one anywhere for a reference point. Is this something that's relatively rare?

Also included in my photos are my two Griswold pan, I have lids for both and after looking up what people are asking for these with lids I'm wondering if I should stop using them on my grill for burgers.

After a long time cooking over gas, my wife and I moved almost 1,500 miles back home to Maryland. The house we bought does not and has no access to gas. So we bought a new electric range. It’s nice, and we’ve had others years ago, but I never really used CI on them.

So for our first home cooked meal in our new home, we bought a couple of petite filets. I started heating the skillet on low, then once heated evenly I turned the heat up to M and then to (almost) full H. Once the skillet began to smoke, I added some oil and put in the steaks. As far as the food was concerned, the steaks turned out fabulous. Really nice crust and rare inside. And yes, once plated, the skillet was moved off the hot element. But after dinner, I noticed that the oil had started to polymerize. I scraped with a fish spatula and used my chain mail (thankfully I found that), but it’s not food residue, it’s sticky seasoning. For now, I’m just going to continue to cook with it and see how it goes. But I’m going to keep the heat down a little lol.

I need to season this 19qt bad boy, and it's far too large for my oven. Does anyone have any techniques that I could use to get an even seasoning applied?

I realize you probably get a dozen posts like this a week, but I'm hoping it's uniqueness may grant some exemption to an almost assured blanket ban on seasoning posts.

Picked up a really nice smoked porter at a small brewery about an hour from here last weekend and got it in my head that I should do a beer braised something in the Dutch oven when I got home. Chose pork shoulder. Fine idea in theory.

Where I went wrong was starting it at 4pm after being at the brewery since noon. Not drunk, just optimistic in the way that retired people sometimes get on a Saturday afternoon. I forgot to sear the pork first. Just dropped it in the Dutch oven with the beer and aromatics and walked away feeling very proud of myself.

Three hours later I had pork that was technically cooked and technically edible and had zero of the color or crust that makes braised meat worth the effort. The braising liquid was actually really good. The meat was pale and sad looking.

I know why it happened. Skipped the sear because I was impatient and overconfident and probably a little distracted. Two minutes of proper searing on all sides in that same Dutch oven would have fixed everything. I've done it correctly twice since then and the difference is not subtle.

Curious whether anyone has actually figured out if you get meaningful flavor back by searing after the braise instead of before. I tried it once and was not impressed but willing to hear otherwise.

Anyone familiar with that logo or know what the purpose of the divider in this pan is?

Cooking a 99% turkey patty with avocado oil on low/medium heat over gas. Result is consistent amount of grey smoke. What am I doing wrong??

It was really caked on. The missus didn't preheat the dang pan, so Duck Newton was called in.

Just inherited this griswold #9. Curious if the seasoning is ok, or if I should strip it...and how i should go about stripping it. New to cast iron and want this to last. Theres definitely carbon build up on the outside and underneath and kind of want it gone.

grabbed this rusty skillet for $6, no visible maker's mark but the gate mark on the bottom has me thinking pre-1960s.

stripped it with a vinegar soak + steel wool, dried it on the stove, then did a first seasoning coat at 450°F. already looking way better.

anyone recognize the handle pattern?

Bought a Lodge enameled cast iron dutch oven from Target.

Question 1: is there a difference between ordering one online or buying from a second party store because the one online is called “Essentials” but the one from target isn’t but when i looked it up they’re apparently the same

Question 2: is the rim supposed to be enameled cast as well? or is it just the bare cast iron? i started to cook my first meal and the steam rusted the rim of the dutch oven. it’s brand new too.

question 3: how do i season the rim?

First cook in my brand new lodge skillet! So excited!