Refurbishing Cast Iron Cookware



Posted: Friday, February 10, 2006

by Larry Honz
Recipe-Rack.com

The process of restoring rusted cast iron cookware can bring a family heirloom back to life and make it a fully functional asset in your kitchen. You can even salvage a garage sale or flea market find that looks too far gone. The beauty of cast iron cookware lies in it's rugged durability and versatility. Cast irons durability results from the quality and thickness of the material from which the pan was made. Older cast iron is especially tough since it was made before the time of cheap imports that do suffer some quality issues. But, nonetheless any piece of cast iron that is structurally sound can be restored and put to use in your kitchen.

Before beginning the restoration process, you must carefully inspect the pot or pan and make sure it is truly structurally sound. Look for cracking or pitting in the surface of the pan. If the pan is cracked or severely pitted then it would be best to set that pan aside and not proceed with restoration. a cracked cast iron pan is very hard to repair and requires a process called brazing to fix the pan. This is usually an expensive process and even with repair the possibility of contamination of your food from the repair process makes the pan pretty much useless for use in the kitchen. If you would like you can restore the damaged pan and use it as a decorative reminder of days gone by in your kitchen.

Once you have established the soundness of the cast iron, you can begin the process of restoration. Start by using steel wool or a wire brush to remove as much surface rust from the pan as possible. You can then soak the pan in a solution of 1 part vinegar to 10 parts water for a day or so. This will help to finish dissolving any rust that remains on the surface of the pan. If you run into a pan with severe rusting, then you may have to use a product like spray on oven cleaner to remove a heavy layer of rust. Be careful when using caustic chemicals like oven cleaner. Wear personal protection such as gloves and a mask to prevent personal injury. Also, avoid using any other highly caustic chemicals on your cast iron. Solvents and similar chemicals can soak into the loose pores of the iron and then leach into your food at a later time.

After you are sufficiently satisfied with the initial phase of restoration of your cast iron, then you can proceed to the seasoning step. Seasoning is a simple process whereby the clean pan is coated with either lard or bacon grease and repeatedly heated in an oven. This process creates a durable non-stick finish for the cast iron and makes it easy to clean after use. For a more detailed look at the seasoning of cast iron cookware, please review my other article at Recipe-Rack.com

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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)
» left by marty lane from Indy 4 years 274 days ago.
No - I have heard putting the rusty cast iron pan in the oven on self cleaning setting to get the ancient coating off - this article says use steel wool to scrape it. Do I do both?
» left by Amy
from Madison WI 3 years 69 days ago.
This was helpful, but I do have a question. I have several cast iron skillets that i am trying to refurbish. I went through the process similar to what you have described, but with two of my larger skillets I did put them in the oven on self cleaning and it seemed to work quite well. I soaked them in the vinegar solution and began the seasoning. I coated them with veg. oil and placed them upside down in the oven for about an hour on 375. When they came out, they had small pools of sticky oil. I'm not sure what to do now! Please help! Is this normal? do I continue to re-do this seasoning procedure?
» left by Anonymous 3 years 67 days ago.
Clean the pan again.  Don't use Vegetable Oil.  Try Bacon Grease.  You don't have to do it in the oven. You can do it on the stove top.  When the Grease / Oil starts to smoke, turn the burner off, let it smoke a little bit, and leave the grease in it until you're ready to use the pan.  Oven baking is only good for the outside of the pan to help burn any crud off that may have built up.  Hope this helps.  I have several cast Iron pots and pans and I ran into the same problem with Veggie oil in the oven.
» left by Carolyn Flanders from Grande Prairie, AB 2 years 352 days ago.
I have access to a sandblaster. Is this overkill?
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