Cast iron coating coming off

[JMacs]

Question to all of you cast iron users out there.

We have a pre-seasoned, cast iron, Lodge, dutch oven. "8DOL" on the bottom. The inside coating is coming off. It looks like paint peeling. The rough textured finish is coming off revealing a smooth, bare metal underneath.

I thought the magic of cast iron is that the seasoning is baked into the metal. This appears to be a surface coating. What do I do about it? Should I be concerned about eating any of the bits pealing off?

I have sent the question into Lodge's customer service to see what they say. But I am curious to see what other people's experience is.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Cast iron is seasoned, it's a coating. It's not nearly as harmful as the teflon junk on non-stick pans to consume, but you don't want it to come off.

You can re-season cast iron but if you're just a little careful you can build one up naturally that is resilient. But a couple of things will eat it, acidic foods (tomatoes) and harsh soapy washing.

http://bfy.tw/87Ro

 

[JMacs]

I have done the seasoning of it. Used the directions on the Lodge web site. We bought the pot used and it needed a little help. But this looks different to me than the areas that needed a little seasoning when we bought it.

I will take some picture tonight. Maybe it is just the "heavily seasoned" areas coming off.

The washing is just using Dawn soap and a sponge. Never any scratching pads.

 

[DaveInDenver]

So you rebaked it to season? That may be part of it. When you re-season but don't get it hot enough to truly polymerize the fat into the base metal all you may do is burn off the existing seasoning.

You generally do not want to randomly do a full seasoning. When I do it I strip the existing coating off with a lye bath to start with nekkid cast iron and season with flaxseed oil at 500F.

But I'll bake a layer to prolong the seasoning, usually lard at a lower temp enough to get it absorbed into the pores. But when I did something stupid that takes off the coating it's only holding off the inevitable.

We only use cast iron with some Revereware and stainless stock pots. I just use hot water and a sponge to wash our cast iron. But I also use metal tools, but that's intentional. There's a theory I have that people, pioneers I guess, rarely had high quality cast iron and used metal tools, which served to smooth the surfaces. I have an old Griswold dutch oven that was my great grandmothers and it's like smooth as glass under the seasoning and I'm pretty sure it wasn't machined like that originally. It may not have been as rough as Lodge is now, dunno, but they get smooth like that from use and wood & plastic wouldn't work.

 

[DaveInDenver]

The flaxseed seasoning ends up as good as any non-stick pan, too.

 

[Haf-E]

We use cast iron fry pans exclusively at home and camping - but have enameled cast iron pots for things like tomato sauces. We use stainless steel scrubbing pads and metal tools on them all the time - no problem. I think the key is not using dish soap on them on a regular basis - just hot water to clean them and perhaps a very dilute soap water solution sparingly (like dipping the scrub pad in dish water and then using it). As mentioned, they get a nice non-stick coating and smooth finish after a while. Also - wash them soon after use and don't let food sit on them overnight or it tends to remove the seasoning. If the pans start to rust they need to be rubbed with a high heat oil (not olive oil) more - I usually apply it after washing and then wipe it off in the morning before using the pan(s).

 

[Ducky's Dad]

I have some cast iron that is probably 100 years old and it is smooth as glass, works great. Also have some newer stuff and some very new Lodge stuff. With the new Lodge and anything I pick up used and cruddy, I hit the cooking surfaces with a metal prep disc or flap wheel to smooth everything out, then season from scratch with flaxseed oil. I usually wash with soapy water, heat dry and add a light wipe of flaxseed oil while the iron is still hot. Seems to work. OP's problem is likely to be the original seasoning that may not have been in great shape to start with. If it's flaking, then it's too thick.

 

[mjac]

No soap, ever. It's an Appalachian thing.

 

[dwh]

Getting to the bare metal before seasoning a piece is key. I sandblast 'em. Gets everything off down to the bare metal, and leaves a finish that feels smooth to the touch, but is actually just rough enough to grab and hold onto the new seasoning coat.

High temp baking the new coating does make a difference in the longevity of the coating.

I too use metal tools with cast iron. My smoothest pan is an 8" omelette pan that was my mother's. At least 50 years of almost daily polishing with metal spatulas. Eggs DO NOT stick to it. Even without oil or butter, they just won't stick. My mom caught me once, when I was a kid, cooking cured, salted bacon in that pan. She absolutely reamed my over it. The gist if it was, NO SALT in the egg pan. Ever. Yes, mom.

And no soap. I also wipe away excess moisture after washing, and then stick 'em back on the stove at low heat for a few minutes to totally dry it out. Water, even without soap, is a solvent that eats things...like the finish on cast iron.

 

[DaveInDenver]

My mom caught me once, when I was a kid, cooking cured, salted bacon in that pan. She absolutely reamed my over it. The gist if it was, NO SALT in the egg pan. Ever. Yes, mom.

Little known factoid, you can use course kosher salt to remove stuck on food in cast iron. Pour a handful in and use half a potato to work it around gently, rinse and oil and you probably won't ruin the seasoning. It's not the #1 cleaning technique (just letting the pan soak in oil is better), but it's infinitely better than soap and a Brillo.

I personally cook the heck out of food with salt, pretty much what-evah. It's a tool, not a museum piece.

 

[dwh]

I cook with salt in cast iron all the time. So did mom. But not in mom's egg pan. Not even salted butter.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I cook with salt in cast iron all the time. So did mom. But not in mom's egg pan. Not even salted butter.

What was she worried about, taking the season off? Never heard of anyone being that concerned with it. When you think about it just about everything was salted on the frontier and that constant grinding probably smoothed and cleaned them, too.

 

[JMacs]

Sound like I haven't been treating my cast iron quite as I should. I haven't been seasoning often enough, after every use.

nothing is rusted or broken. Sounds like it just needs a little refurbishment. Thanks for the advice.

 

[dwh]

What was she worried about, taking the season off? Never heard of anyone being that concerned with it. When you think about it just about everything was salted on the frontier and that constant grinding probably smoothed and cleaned them, too.

Dunno. I doubt she had some chemical analysis behind her violent opposition to salt in her egg pan. Probably got it from her mother. Or her grandmother, who actually was on the frontier.

But I do know that that pan can cook eggs without lube and the eggs won't stick. Hell, I've baked a cheese topped omelette in the thing without lube and even the crusty cheese around the edges didn't stick.

Though, that was only because I had nothing but soybean oil in the house, and I hate the taste of soybean oil. Usually I use just a small pat of (unsalted) butter in the egg pan.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I firmly believe passed down and tribal knowledge is usually supported by eventually realized natural science. So just curious if she had a reason, always interested in hearing the why of something like that. Quite a bit of that daily family tradition more or less stopped with my grandmothers since my mom embraced the go-go technowonders nonstick and margarine and all that. By the time I started trying to piece it back together in my early 30s I'd lost her and both grandmas unfortunately. Possibly related I think part of the reason for her relatively early health failings may have been exposure to aluminum and teflon cookware, which is why we got rid of all it all.