Now, that's a griddle

[jeff_t]

Garage sale find, $30, Griswold #11. I took it out of the lye bath today and finished scrubbing it with steel wool. It was a rusty mess. Now, I'm not sure what to do, because it's too darn big to fit in the oven for a proper seasoning. It's also too big to fit on my gas grill. We have a bigger grill at our weekend place, so hopefully that will work.

Thing weighs about 50 lbs.

 

[BrotherBart]

Nice skating rink!

 

[bogydave]

Now, I'm not sure what to do, because it's too darn big to fit in the oven for a proper seasoning. It's also too big to fit on my gas grill. We have a bigger grill at our weekend place, so hopefully that will work.

Time for a nice outdoor fit pit ?

 

[Jags]

Yep - a low and slow pit fire with a couple of properly place bricks will get the job done. Just don't get all crazy - it is easy to pull enough coals to overfire cast. That will defeat your purpose.

 

[jeff_t]

I've had good luck in the oven at 350-400° for an hour or so. Let it warm up and cool down with the oven. I hope it fits on the grill at the lake. If not, a neighbor up there has a giant stainless job that should work. I guess I'll take my IR thermo just in case.

I have a smaller round Wagner griddle that I'll leave at home. That thing is so slick, it's hard to flip an egg on it. I have to hold the egg with something to keep it from pushing off the edge. I hope this one ends up the same.

I love cooking on cast iron.

 

[Jags]

I love cooking on cast iron.

I am not sure what the deal is, but biscuits and gravy out of a cast iron skillet is like none other that you will find.

 

[Hearth Mistress]

I'm sure that my suggestion is going to make some cringe but I have a very similar griddle and until my new oven (thanks to Hurricane Sandy frying the electronics on the old one) I seasoned it right on the burners as it didn't fit in my oven either.

I'd put them on low, had to use two burners, let the pan get hot and then rubbed crisco into the surface, waited 15minutes or so until it was evenly absorbed, black and shiny. I then turned the burners off and moved it onto a few extra fire bricks from my wood stove (sitting on kitchen towels) greased side down and rubbed crisco on the other side while it was still hot. Let it sit this way until it was cool, wiped it out with a paper towel, worked like a charm.

I have a glass top now but use my cast iron, enameled cast iron and terra cotta without issue. You just cant shimmy it around the top or drop it

 

[jharkin]

Just cook a lot of bacon on that bad boy.... Season it right nice

 

[jeff_t]

So, it barely fit on the grill



It's just too darn big, though. I have all four burners on, and need another in the middle. Eight potato pancakes, but only the outside four really get cooked. Take them off, then slide the inside four out. Worked great, still cooked a bunch in a short time, and it was sooooper slick.

 

[swagler85]

That thing is awesome! We just got a gas stove (finally) and love having five burners. It also has one big grate over the whole cooktop so you can slide a pan anywhere and not tip over or have to pick it up. Nice for getting a hot pan off of heat without having to lift the set back down.

 

[Hogwildz]

Hell, just set that thing out in the sun around here this week, and it will season and cook anything you want to cook.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I touch-up the cast iron skillets on the stove top all the time. I use veggie oil, or whatever is handy. Looks like you got it handled, but otherwise- a good coating of oil, heat slow on the stove top, shut it off, repeat.

 

[firebroad]

Had one of those for many, many years. Great for making a mess of pancakes to freeze for the week. I used to prop it up on the floor between the stove and the wall. When I didn't have a gas range anymore I dontated it.

 

[Hills Hoard]

I have been on the look out for something similar for a while. well done...that thing is awesome!

 

[Badfish740]

Nice piece! I love Griswold stuff and am the proud owner of a #9 skillet and a #8 round griddle (Basically a skillet with no sidewalls)-I've been combing yard sales and flea markets for a rectangular griddle like yours as well as a Griswold dutch oven for a long time. I tried Ebay but griddles like yours routinely fetch $150+ Gotta catch them at a yard sale where someone just seems them as "old junk" to get rid of...

I touch-up the cast iron skillets on the stove top all the time. I use veggie oil, or whatever is handy. Looks like you got it handled, but otherwise- a good coating of oil, heat slow on the stove top, shut it off, repeat.

I've been using flax seed oil with great results-picked up the idea on a cooking blog. Flax seed oil has one of the highest smoke points (the point at which it begins to break down) of any edible oil. I think only avocado oil is higher, but good luck finding it. I gave my pans a good coating, baked them in the oven on 400 for two hours, and was left with a slick black shiny coating that is extremely durable. Flax seed oil is usually easy to find at the supermarket-check it out. Also, one last thing, when you put them in the oven, put them in upside down with foil below them to catch the excess oil. This way you ensure you don't get a coating that is too thick in any one spot that will chip off. An even and thin coating is the key.

 

[jeff_t]

I'm accumlating quite an arsenal of some good stuff. Griswold, Wagner, National, Favorite.

Don't read this if you're a purist, but sometimes I take a wire brush to them on an angle grinder. Makes pretty short work of some nasty stuff. I'm a consumer, not a collector

 

[firebroad]

I'm accumlating quite an arsenal of some good stuff. Griswold, Wagner, National, Favorite.

Don't read this if you're a purist, but sometimes I take a wire brush to them on an angle grinder. Makes pretty short work of some nasty stuff. I'm a consumer, not a collector

HORRORS!!
I found a grinding wheel that is not made of metal, meant to remove paint. Did a good job of getting rid of rust and carbon off a pan someone was about to throw away. Reseasoned it, turned bronze, then black. Cooks beautifully now.

 

[Jags]

Don't read this if you're a purist, but sometimes I take a wire brush to them on an angle grinder.

Nothing wrong with that. I have a garage sale find waiting in my shop for the same treatment. Using the wire wheel takes you back to ground zero so you can finish it like it should be.

 

[Badfish740]

Nothing wrong with that. I have a garage sale find waiting in my shop for the same treatment. Using the wire wheel takes you back to ground zero so you can finish it like it should be.

If you have a large enough pot and an outdoor burner, boiling them in lye works also. Just add powdered lye drain cleaner (Red Devil, etc...) to water, heat, and boil as long as needed. Basically nothing will survive except for the cast iron itself. When you're done dump a healthy amount of cheap white vinegar in the pot to help bring the pH to close to neutral and it will be safe to dump in the backyard.

 

[Jags]

If you have a large enough pot and an outdoor burner, boiling them in lye works also. Just add powdered lye drain cleaner (Red Devil, etc...) to water, heat, and boil as long as needed. Basically nothing will survive except for the cast iron itself. When you're done dump a healthy amount of cheap white vinegar in the pot to help bring the pH to close to neutral and it will be safe to dump in the backyard.

How well does this treatment work if you have rust to deal with??

 

[firebroad]

If you have a large enough pot and an outdoor burner, boiling them in lye works also. Just add powdered lye drain cleaner (Red Devil, etc...) to water, heat, and boil as long as needed. Basically nothing will survive except for the cast iron itself. When you're done dump a healthy amount of cheap white vinegar in the pot to help bring the pH to close to neutral and it will be safe to dump in the backyard.

Man, I bet that's a Stank...

 

[Badfish740]

Hmmm...honestly not sure-I've never done it myself, just watched my dad do it. I don't know the chemistry well enough to know what lye does to rust. My dad has picked up old Griswold hardware at estate sales/yard sales/flea market all crudded up with years of baked on grease/seasoning, and he would always boil them and start from scratch. I have seen him take a wire wheel to a pan a time or two. His reasoning for the boiling was that you're actually getting into the microscopic pores of the iron and removing the oils (which wire wheeling won't necessarily do), allowing you to build up your own seasoned coating on pure cast iron.

Man, I bet that's a stank...

Wasn't that bad that I noticed. I didn't make an effort to stand over the pot though... He got the idea from working in kitchens in his younger days. Lye is used to clean deep fryers in a similar way-they use a product called "Boil Out" which is basically lye (sodium hydroxide). You dump the old oil into a container for disposal, then fill the fryer with water, dump in packet of boil out, and turn it on as high as it will go. After about an hour the fryer is clean and what little oil/fat/grease is left can be easily wiped off. The solution gets dumped down the drain as it's no more harmful than drain cleaner.

 

[jeff_t]

Nothing wrong with that. I have a garage sale find waiting in my shop for the same treatment. Using the wire wheel takes you back to ground zero so you can finish it like it should be.

Wire brushing and sandblasting removes the acquired patina, and lowers the value amongst collectors. A lye bath is more traditional, and therefore more acceptable. The way I see it, after I cook on it for another thirty years, ain't nobody gonna know.

 

[Jags]

I ain't a collector I am a user. When I am done with it, I won't care what a collector thinks.

 

[firebroad]

+1 on being a user. Anyone who "collects" such quality cookware just to hang on a a wall and never use should be ashamed of themselves for hoarding something that someone could be putting to good use for the next 100 years.