Restoring and Using Vintage Cast Iron Cookware- the Original "Nonstick"

I use our vintage cast iron skillets for most cooking that requires a skillet, and I love them much more than using anything nonstick. I love the flexibility of using cast iron over any heat, going from stove top to oven or broiler, deep-frying, etc. While you really should stick with medium heat or lower for nonstick pans, you can get a great sear on your food with cast iron. They are exceptionally durable- the only thing you shouldn't do with cast iron is create a temperature shock (which can cause cracks, sags, wobbles, pits, and other types of damage), such as putting a hot skillet into a sink of water- always let your cast iron cool before cleaning it. They clean up easily (I clean mine with warm water and a nylon scrubber, then dry well and swipe the inside with a light layer of vegetable oil on a paper towel). We fry eggs in one several times per week. Grilled sandwiches and Dutch babies are delicious.

Vintage cast iron skillets are preferable to modern cast iron- they used a different production method, resulting in thinner and lighter pans, and also included a polishing step which most producers stopped doing in the 1960s. When seasoned adequately, vintage cast iron can be exceptionally smooth, nonstick and easy to maintain. We have some modern cast iron pieces , and I vastly prefer the smooth surface in our vintage skillets better than the pebbly modern surfaces. I also love that vintage cast iron pans come with a history, and you can imagine all of the thousands of meals prepared over the years. We have Grandma Margaret's cast iron skillet- each family got to pick a few things after Grandma passed, and this was the first thing we picked- a great 10" Griswold pan.

Grandma Margaret's Griswold. Based on the logo and no heat ring, made between 1939-1957

We also have a pan my mom found for a few dollars at a garage sale in Duluth, it's about 8.5" in diameter, so it's perfect for frying eggs or grilling a sandwich. We use it so often I just leave it on the stove top all of the time. It has a gate mark, so it turns out it was made prior to 1890!

Gate mark and fire ring on skillet

In fact, really the only things I use a nonstick skillet for is scrambled eggs and crepes. We had a beat up nonstick skillet that I had to throw out because it was warped and its coating was shot. I'm also concerned about the reports of nonstick coating fumes and flakes that have been documented.

Beat up nonstick- I threw it out

You can find vintage cast iron skillets online, at thrift stores or at garage sales. Here are great instructions for stripping and restoring a vintage skillet.

I was able to put these restoration instructions to the test by buying a vintage Wagnar Ware Sidney-O skillet for $20 on Craig's List for my daughter for Christmas. Based on the logo and styling, this skillet was made prior to 1959.

This skillet needs some rehab

Crusty! Quite a bit of carbon build up

I opted to use the oven cleaner soak method rather than putting it in a self-cleaning oven cycle, because there are risks of heat damage and splitting for putting a pan in the oven at such a hot temperature, whereas the oven-cleaner method would involve time and elbow grease but no risk of damaging the pan.

And it did in fact involve some elbow grease.

I sprayed the pan with heavy-duty oven cleaner, wrapped it in a plastic garbage bag and left it in the garage for 24 hours. After each soak cycle of 24 hours, I took it out, rinsed it, and went after the carbon build up with a chain mail scrubber, a steel putty knife and steel wool. It took quite a bit of muscle and scrubbing over the four soaking cycles it ended up needing.

After first soak

After first soak

After second soak

After second soak

After third soak

After fourth soak and hard core cleaning with chain mail, steel wool and Barkeeper's Friend

After fourth soak and hard core cleaning with steel wool and Barkeeper's Friend

To season it, I washed it well with detergent, put it in the oven at 200 for 10 minutes to dry and "open up" then rubbed it all over with Crisco, wiping off all excess well with a clean lint-free cloth. I put it back in the oven upside down at 325 for 15 minutes, took it out and wiped it well with a clean cloth again, then returned it to the oven upside down at 375 for 2 hours. I repeated this seasoning process two more times.

Beautiful! After seasoning three times

Here is a range-to-oven recipe we love and cook often:

Apple Breakfast Puff

1 Tbsp butter

3 med tart apples,peeled and cut into chunks

4 Tbsp sugar

1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 C milk

grated lemon peel (optional)

Heat oven to 425 F. In a cast iron skillet over med heat, melt the butter then saute the apples until softened, about 10 min. Stir in 2 Tbsp of the sugar and set aside. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the flour, peel, salt and remaining 2 Tbsp of sugar. Whisk in the eggs and milk, then pour over the apples in the skillet and bake in the preheated oven for 30 min, or until puffed and golden brown. Serve with syrup if desired, serves 4.

For a savory Dutch baby, see this post.

Bonus round:
I bought a carbon steel wok for my daughter at a local Asian grocery store. It had a scuffed black coating on it that looked like scratched black paint.

New wok with coating

There wasn't a person at the store who spoke English, so I again consulted Google for instructions on how to prep the wok. I learned that carbon steel rusts easily if it isn't coated, so it's treated at the factory before shipping, and you generally have to burn the coating off. I heated the wok over a high flame, and it started to smoke and the coating burned away on the area just over the flame. It took a while as I had to move the wok around so all of the surfaces had been held over the flame for a while, and the smoke detector went off several times even though I had the hood fan on high. Eventually the coating burned off, and I was able to wash the wok and then season it with oil.

Wok after cleaning and seasoning

Dec 2019 update:

Bought a Wagner Ware Sidney-O- No#8-1058 H for Will on Ebay, $38 including shipping. It was in good condition and didn't need restoration.

Sep 2020 update:

I wanted a cast iron skillet to keep in our assigned cabinet at our interval townhouse, so I started looking and found a Wagner Ware size 6 (made before 1959) on Craig's List for $30, plus another smaller unmarked skillet included. I had to drive to Delano to get them, then strip and reseason them, but now I've got another nice one to use, plus the bonus,which turned out to be a #3 BSR (Birmingham Stove and Range) which based on markings was made after 1967, but BSR still used a manual polishing step in production at that time.

New skillets Sep 2020, I didn't go for the 4th soak for the Wagner so there is still a bit of build up on the bottom- no big deal

Update March 2021:

Our son is becoming an avid bread baker, and I wanted to get a dutch oven for him to bake in for his birthday. I'd been haunting the thrift stores and Craig's List for a while and not seeing much. I ended up making an offer on this rusty pot. I knew it was made in Taiwan and not going to be the highest quality piece, but for $20 and some elbow grease I thought I could make it work. In the end, I overpaid and over-drove (the place was in Coon Rapids), but I did come home with this rusty pot.

Yikes. Through a combination of chainmail, steel wool and 50% vinegar solution soaking for several hours, I got most of the bad rust off and did 3 rounds of seasoning.

This is certainly no heirloom piece, but it will bake bread for a college kid, and can be taken camping as well. He tells me he and his roommate have used it to fry both chicken and donuts, as well, so it's seeing some good service.

Update April 2021

I restored this pot for my friend Donna, who'd found it an an antique store a while back. It's gate-marked, and I was able to find some information on the maker, Williamson & Co, evolving to Gibson & Lee Manufacturing out of Chattanooga. It was petty rusty, and there was a build up of minerals on the inside that I couldn't get off despite prolonged and repeated vinegar bath and scrubbing, but the outside cleaned up really nicely.

Before

After