Believe it or not, lodge is the best bang for the buck. Pores don’t really matter once you’ve got a decent layer of “season” built up. If anything, it makes the polymerized oils hold on a tiny bit better.
But, if you don’t mind starting the seasoning process over, you can hand sand the cooking surface and get it as smooth as you prefer. Well, you can machine sand it instead, but that’s less forgiving if you aren’t used to doing that kind of thing.
Just get a lodge and use it a lot. It will get good fast. Alternatively go check Craigslist or ebay or shopgoodwill for something cheap that looks good to you.
The difference between cast irons is pretty small at the end of the day is pretty tiny and you shouldn’t spend too much money or brain power on getting one. You don’t need to be too selective because the biggest determing factors are how heavily seasoned it is and how practiced you are using it so you are better off just getting something and using it rather than looking for the perfect pan. I don’t even know who made my main pan, it just says “Taiwan” lol
You’re overthinking it. As long as a cast-iron pan isn’t nearly rusted through or cracked in half, it’s fine. Get a cheap Lodge, get an expensive one, get an old one at a yard sale – doesn’t matter. If the surface is rusty or something, just put it through an oven self-cleaning cycle, sand it down to the state shown in the meme, and re-season.
(Note: my previous comment mentioned only the sanding method, but I researched this reply a bit and now I think the chemical soak method is probably the better first try if a “normal” cleaning with a kitchen scrubbie or whatever isn’t sufficient.)
Soak the entire pan in acid (vinegar, pool cleaner, acidic drain cleaner – whatever) and then scrub it with a stiff-bristled brush. Make sure every part is completely submerged, handle and all (edit: wait, you said “dutch oven” – if it’s got a wire bail handle, remove that first), 'cause otherwise it can eat away at the pan at the point where the liquid meets the air. The stronger the acid you use, the quicker it’ll work but the more you’ll have to watch it because it’ll start eating away at the metal once it finishes off the rust. Wear safety goggles and gloves, BTW. Alternatively, if the prospect of acid sounds sketchy, apparently Evapo-Rust is safe for cookware, so that’s neat.
Otherwise, if you want to keep trying to remove the rust mechanically, basically try harder and with stronger abrasives. That’s up to and including sandpaper, if necessary.
If the pan is pitted, either use the soaking method to get rid of the rust and just deal with cooking on the uneven surface until the seasoning builds up enough to get it out, or consider resorting to power tools (palm sander, die grinder with abrasive disc, angle grinder with flap disc, etc.) since you’ll have to remove a lot of material to get the surface smooth and flat again.
In any case, once all the rust is gone, wash it with soap and water, dry it off, and season it immediately, before any new rust has a chance to start forming.
Clean and strip seasoning with yellow cap oven cleaner(lye). If any rust remains, use a vinegar bath and scrubbing until it comes off. When you use the vinegar and get all the rust off do not let air dry, wipe dry then heat on stove until liquid evaporates. Reseason.
Stargazer. Among the companies that smooth out the surface of their pans (a think any company could trivially do but don’t) , they cost the least. My info is a few years out do date though.
Good ones that have been cut smooth will cost you double or more than a lodge.
You can sand and grind a lodge down to be a lot smoother and then season it up and you can get there. Or even just season a lodge a whole bunch of times amd you can make it smooth.
Otherwise, there’s a lot of cast irons that are smooth right out of the box, such as BackCountry Iron and Finex.
Just be careful of a lot of cheaper brands advertising “lighter weight” as a feature. It isn’t. Them being heavy as hell is a large part of what makes cast iron skillets cook so nicely. The iron doesn’t cool off when you put the food in. Lighter weight means it’s easier for them to make, uses less raw materials they have to buy, and costs less to ship.
If you’re up for shopping a little, go to thrift stores. Cast iron pans are durable and you can find them really cheap in perfectly fine condition in thrift stores. There’s essentially no need to buy new since they last so damn long. You also really don’t need a smoothed surface.
On the topic of cast iron pans, any recommendations on a quality pan? All the cheap ones seem to have a rough surface are very porous.
Believe it or not, lodge is the best bang for the buck. Pores don’t really matter once you’ve got a decent layer of “season” built up. If anything, it makes the polymerized oils hold on a tiny bit better.
But, if you don’t mind starting the seasoning process over, you can hand sand the cooking surface and get it as smooth as you prefer. Well, you can machine sand it instead, but that’s less forgiving if you aren’t used to doing that kind of thing.
Just get a lodge and use it a lot. It will get good fast. Alternatively go check Craigslist or ebay or shopgoodwill for something cheap that looks good to you.
The difference between cast irons is pretty small at the end of the day is pretty tiny and you shouldn’t spend too much money or brain power on getting one. You don’t need to be too selective because the biggest determing factors are how heavily seasoned it is and how practiced you are using it so you are better off just getting something and using it rather than looking for the perfect pan. I don’t even know who made my main pan, it just says “Taiwan” lol
Go to an antique mall and look for a Wagner or Griswold. Vintage cast irons were machined smooth like the pans pictured in the OP.
You’re overthinking it. As long as a cast-iron pan isn’t nearly rusted through or cracked in half, it’s fine. Get a cheap Lodge, get an expensive one, get an old one at a yard sale – doesn’t matter. If the surface is rusty or something, just put it through an oven self-cleaning cycle, sand it down to the state shown in the meme, and re-season.
I’ve got a couple of dutch ovens but I can’t get all the rust off, plus they rust over before I can get them oiled.
Any idea what I should do?
(Note: my previous comment mentioned only the sanding method, but I researched this reply a bit and now I think the chemical soak method is probably the better first try if a “normal” cleaning with a kitchen scrubbie or whatever isn’t sufficient.)
Soak the entire pan in acid (vinegar, pool cleaner, acidic drain cleaner – whatever) and then scrub it with a stiff-bristled brush. Make sure every part is completely submerged, handle and all (edit: wait, you said “dutch oven” – if it’s got a wire bail handle, remove that first), 'cause otherwise it can eat away at the pan at the point where the liquid meets the air. The stronger the acid you use, the quicker it’ll work but the more you’ll have to watch it because it’ll start eating away at the metal once it finishes off the rust. Wear safety goggles and gloves, BTW. Alternatively, if the prospect of acid sounds sketchy, apparently Evapo-Rust is safe for cookware, so that’s neat.
Otherwise, if you want to keep trying to remove the rust mechanically, basically try harder and with stronger abrasives. That’s up to and including sandpaper, if necessary.
If the pan is pitted, either use the soaking method to get rid of the rust and just deal with cooking on the uneven surface until the seasoning builds up enough to get it out, or consider resorting to power tools (palm sander, die grinder with abrasive disc, angle grinder with flap disc, etc.) since you’ll have to remove a lot of material to get the surface smooth and flat again.
In any case, once all the rust is gone, wash it with soap and water, dry it off, and season it immediately, before any new rust has a chance to start forming.
Ooh. I’m saving this post for my next attempt, thank you.
Clean and strip seasoning with yellow cap oven cleaner(lye). If any rust remains, use a vinegar bath and scrubbing until it comes off. When you use the vinegar and get all the rust off do not let air dry, wipe dry then heat on stove until liquid evaporates. Reseason.
Stargazer. Among the companies that smooth out the surface of their pans (a think any company could trivially do but don’t) , they cost the least. My info is a few years out do date though.
Good ones that have been cut smooth will cost you double or more than a lodge.
You can sand and grind a lodge down to be a lot smoother and then season it up and you can get there. Or even just season a lodge a whole bunch of times amd you can make it smooth.
Otherwise, there’s a lot of cast irons that are smooth right out of the box, such as BackCountry Iron and Finex.
Just be careful of a lot of cheaper brands advertising “lighter weight” as a feature. It isn’t. Them being heavy as hell is a large part of what makes cast iron skillets cook so nicely. The iron doesn’t cool off when you put the food in. Lighter weight means it’s easier for them to make, uses less raw materials they have to buy, and costs less to ship.
Go carbon steel instead.
If you’re up for shopping a little, go to thrift stores. Cast iron pans are durable and you can find them really cheap in perfectly fine condition in thrift stores. There’s essentially no need to buy new since they last so damn long. You also really don’t need a smoothed surface.