The dutch oven she found was half buried in ash, and other than some very burnt food inside of it, appeared to be brand new. Except that it had been left in a fire pit, and gotten rained on, and obviously had that carbonized food that needed to be cleaned out of it. But, knowing the value of good cast iron (we found this brand and size for $40 at Walmart later. . ), she asked her boss if she might be allowed to keep the dutch oven. Of course Mom (me) would know how to clean it of the charred food and the rust it had accumulated.
Yes, Mom (me) does know how to clean and reseason cast iron; we've had our own camping set for nearly two decades. But, along with all the other challenges life was throwing at me in summer 2018 (and for another year plus), I really wasn't overly eager to tackle the reconditioning project. And so it sat. And sat. And sat.
Until this month! Maybe it's the increased amount of daylight. Maybe it's the endorphins from doing my daily mile on the treadmill. Maybe it's the fact that DH's job has eased up a little and when he's home, his brain is too and his phone doesn't alert with work calls or texts in the evening or on weekends lately. Whatever the reason being, I decided it was high time to get to caring for that cast iron that needed me.
And so, armed with hot water and a steel wool pad (actually, two, the first one got totally eaten up on the dutch oven), I set to scrubbing. And scrubbing. And scrubbing. (And forgot to take pictures of the process.)
Once the rust and residue was removed from my three cast iron pieces, I rinsed them in scaldingly hot water and let them air dry (being hot, they did so quickly). Once dry, each piece got coated inside and out with shortening. Then into a 350 degree oven they went, for one hour.
On the rack underneath the cast iron, I placed my largest cookie sheet to use as a drip pan. I didn't want to also have to scrub my oven when finished with this cast iron project! Incidentally, this cookie sheet has long been my favorite cookie sheet; it was a gift at my bridal shower in 1993, and has been so well used that the original coating has just about completely worn off. In fact, just a week prior, DH had asked me if I didn't think it was time to replace that cookie sheet. A question I vehemently answered "NO! That cookie sheet works great! It's my favorite one!"
The cast iron came out of the oven perfectly seasoned, and very hot. I set it on cooling racks on the island for several hours.
So black and shiny! And HOT!
Finished cooling; still beautiful.
I was very pleased with how the dutch oven and my pot turned out. They look like brand new!
My cookie sheet, however, did not fare so well.
Yuck!
The shortening that dripped off of the cast iron during the seasoning process kind of baked itself into a very plastic-like film on my beloved nearly 27 year old cookie sheet. A film that I have not been able to get off with steel wool, or boiling water, or even sticking back into the oven to 'soften'. I think I killed it. Guess DH was right; time to retire my cookie sheet. It isn't fit for baking cookies on anymore.
I will, however, keep it on hand for when I need a drip pan under a pie or cheesecake, or the next time we have some cast iron in need of reseasoning!
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