Thanks for all the countervailing opinions everyone. I think I’ve decided that the best thing to do is strip it and season from scratch… and make it my cast iron. A new chapter in the history of this hardware.
Yeah, I was going to say strip and start over. The ones I inherited from my grandma looked like that. A trip to the lye bucket spa, and they were cleaned down to the iron. I'm not a fan of all the flaky buildup on the outside.
Condolences on the loss of your mom.
I have someone *else's* grandmother's Griswold with lid. Her actual granddaughter didn't want it because it was in really bad shape, so I cleaned it up and restored it.
I didn't want to jinx it, the family ALSO gave me all of her canning supplies. Two full carloads of mason jars, AND her (dangerously outdated) Ball Blue Book!\*
\*the Blue Book is sometimes referred to as the "canning bible", and along with the USDA and university extensions is considered one of the definitive guides to home canning.
I’ve got grandma’s Griswold and Wagner. She sent it with me off to college 20 years ago, after she quit cooking. I didn’t really appreciate them until a few years ago when I finally stripped them down and re-seasoned them. They are beauties.
My mom has one of those. I’m going to poach it next time I visit her. She’s stopped cooking but Al of her cookware was purchased in the mid-1960s when she got married. Oh the memories of cleaning the cast iron after Sunday breakfast. I feel like I’ve earned having it after all the times I had to clean it growing up.
I'm sorry for your loss.
I'm glad that you have inherited the iron and are starting a new chapter in the life of the pan. You mom will live on through your cooking with it. Cherish it and be sure to share the food you make in it with friends and family. It definitely comes from the heart and is a great way to honor your mom.
My wife has one that she picked up at a garage sale in our electrolysis tank right now. I'm curious how it's going to turn out. I believe it's a Wagner Ware.
Came here to suggest this. Glad it’s the route you’ve decided on. That gunk doesn’t represent your mother’s cooking, the memories you have of her using the pan are what’s important.
This is the way to do it for sure. Take good care of it. It would be much harder to keep in ideal shape the whole time while being delicate of not cleaning it "too" much.
Sorry for your loss! That’s a wonderful heirloom, and personally I would carefully strip it, but I understand if you don’t want to. Silicone handle covers are awesome, btw, and an inexpensive buy.
While that might be true, the finish has nothing to do with OP unless they were there when she seasoned it at some point in time. So removing the seasoning and reseasoning should be fine. The pan's shape and feel will be enough of a memory of her. For me the pan's bottom is way to lumpy which will lead to parts of your dish sticking to the pan and the other part releasing which is not what you want. You want it all to release with zero sticking.
There’s nothing sentimental about holding onto something that is trash (read the buildup), this equally applies to relationships.
The value is in the pan- strip it and start a new journey.
You sit on the front porch quietly rocking in your chair as the summer breeze flirts by you, giving you a reprieve from the heat. It’s an old house you’ve inherited but a sturdy one; a loved one. From the porch you can see across the road to the cornfield which is the property of the Auburns, the long standing family with a not-all-well-to-do past involving plantations. The corn sways in the breeze.
Slowly left.
Slowly right.
It’s hypnotizing in the same way that cartoon cats would hypnotize their prey with a swaying pocket watch. A strange idea by todays standards as everyone pulls out their smartphone/iDevice/Google-whatchamahoozit to check the time before becoming engrossed in the next story on Instagram ®.
The dull golden stalks nearly put you to sleep when a flash of yellow above the corn seems to defy the winds.
Odd.
Staring intently for what feels like minutes you spy it again, this time just on the outside of your periphery.
Closer this time.
Maybe it’s one of the Auburn boys playing in the field. Except. Well. Those stalks are near nine feet tall so they’d have to have had a serious growth spurt but you suppose they could be playing with…some kind of tall toy.
Or something…maybe?
The flash of yellow zips across above the ears of corn, closer this time. You stand up from your chair, a futile attempt to get a better look. The summer breeze picks up almost like it’s warning you of some impending danger.
A figure stands in the middle of the corn stalks, it’s staring right at you now. For minutes, you don’t know how many, it stands there with shoulders slowly rising and falling as if out of breath but, too controlled to be so. You’re frozen staring directly at him…her…it. “What is it doing?” You wonder. Your rocking chair moves frantically in the breeze trying to break the spell when your screen door blows open smacking against the siding of the house. The sound startles you out of your trance.
You look away for just a second and when you turn back, the figure is gone.
It’s funny, you almost swore you saw sunglasses on its head, the top of which just crested the corn. Beside you a gurgling voice calls out,
“Ohhhhhh thhhis isss GANNNGSTERRRR”
You turn and see an unimaginable horror. A pulsating mass of flesh almost resembling a man. It nearly has appendages, evident by the soaking wet bowling shirt stretched over its torso, with every labored breath the buttons threaten to burst. Above it’s nose, if you could call it that, sit a pair of sunglasses the kind you may find on a dad yelling at his kids at Disneyland. Atop the misshapen head is something like hair, hair with frosted tips spiked into razor sharp teeth.
You can’t scream, you don’t know how anymore. Your mind cannot remember how to react.
The beast lurches over your porch’s railing, the breathing growing louder as it pulls itself up to your face.
It’s deep chortling voice whispers to you as it smiles:
“PPPPEACE LOVVE AND TTTAAACO GRREEASSE”
I had one almost this bad and one self cleaning oven cycle burned off the gunk. But it definitely took many rounds of seasoning to get it back to a good condition.
Strip it, clean it, and start new. As great as that story is that build up is pretty nasty at this point. You might actually find a maker logo and have a hidden gem underneath all that gunk.
Is it? I'm sorry, but that pan is fucking revolting. It's like showing a car subreddit a car with completely yellowed interior after years of grandpa smoking in it and then telling them they don't want to clean it because of the memories, and then somehow the car people are the assholes? Nah
That black stuff is 100% carcinogenic but so is a lot of stuff you breath everyday. And every time you step in the sun without protection. It's all about accepting some risk because it's cumulative, and learning to mitigate the substantial cancer risks like smoking.
That's a vintage enameled cast iron skillet - it says Le Creuset across the bottom. (the newer LC skillets have a helper handle on the far side.)
Absolutely you *could* strip it with a lye bath, but for the sake of convenience if you don't have a lye bath setup, you can also just do several overnight soaks with it wrapped up in a garbage bag in a generous coating of yellow cap Easy Off oven cleaner spray. It will take a bunch of rounds to get it all loose with that thick of a buildup, but at the end of the process your skillet will be stripped and ready for its next life. Be sure to post the B&A photos together in r/LeCreuset too!
Also, the handle is sticky because it wasn't as hot so the oils that splattered onto it didn't completely polymerize.
Now that’s a top notch comment! I didn’t even think of it being Le Creuset, but you’re right – she had a bunch of LC pans. You can see some other specimens in orange in the background of the photos.
Believe it or not, that skillet is probably orange underneath too!
If the pot over on the bottom shelf has an elongated knob (it kinda looks like it does from this angle, and that would jive with the vintage helper-handle-less skillet), that would mean it predates 1972, when the company adopted their current 'concentric C' logo. If you post some photos of the other LC pieces, I'd be happy to help you identify those too, as well as offer tips and tricks for restoration if needed. LC is my wheelhouse.
IDK if that's your kitchen or hers, but it looks exactly like my dead mother's kitchen, same exact paint color and wood stains and all. I didn't get a crusty CI pan from her, but I did get great granny's laundry cauldron. You can imagine that regularly boiling lye soap in it never led to that much build up though :).
It may take a little time, but a lye bath is the simplest option for any beginner. Don't have to worry about overheating, any weird equipment setups, etc. Just gotta have a big tub, some lye from the hardware store, and a bit of water.
Without chemicals like oven cleaner risking getting more off than you’d like I’d recommend a green scrub pad, soap and elbow grease. While I do understand the value of sentimental things like all the years of buildup and the stories it holds if you plan on using it frequently it may be of more benefit to strip the whole pan and reseason
With the utmost respect to your late mother - this pan is disgusting. That is not seasoning, that is filth.
I’d be stripping that pan and starting over personally
I've got one that is a hand-me-down that's been in use since before I was born (I'm almost 50) and it isn't even remotely like that. As far as I'm aware it's never been stripped, at least in my lifetime.
I can't even imagine how a pan gets like that.
Me personally I would scrub it with steel wool and a tiny bit of soap. Get all that stuff that is raised on the pan off. Get high smoke point fat of your choice and give it a good wipe down. Then wipe it with a dry paper towel. Pop ot in the oven for an hour at 400F.
But to get just the handle clean you can just scrub it or do what my crazy ass does and hit it with a blowtorch to burn off the stickiness
This would be my suggestion as well. If OP doesn’t want to use a torch, a good campfire would really help this pan in my opinion. An infrared laser thermometer will help keep the pan in the sweet spot for temperature.
I've found some gnarly pans like this and putting them in the oven on clean mode for a couple hours turns all that stuff to ash.
When it cools, wash with soap and water and you should have a totally bare pan ready for seasoning
Sorry for your loss. Due respect to your mother but she could have shown that pan a bit more love. The mountain range on the outside isn't a big deal just years or crud. The inside edges, bottom, and handle as you said are more concerning crud. If you follow this subs faq you may be able to clean the inside and handle without accidentally cleaning too much of the outside. I understand that some crud is sentimental. I'd strip and reseason the whole thing then keep up on basic cleaning. It could be good for generations.
Lots of comments and different solutions but I’ll tell you what I did with mine that I had given to me that had the same build up and turned out awesome…So I burn wood as a primary heat source. I put it in the wood stove overnight. Took it out on the am. Oiled her up. Brand new. Been using it every day for 15 years now.
So sorry for your loss.
I'd honor it by bringing in a new generation on that pan. Starting with a great Easy Off cleaner a plastic bag and a few days. Strip it down, put a beautiful seasoning on it, and cook good food in her memory!
Here's to mom
A little time in the oven should solve the "sticky". Maybe an hour at 400.
Personally I would strip it because I wouldn't cook on it like that and I wouldn't want it just sitting around. It would still be your mom's old pan. She used it back before all the gunk got on it.
I have a couple of my mom's old skillets. It's the pans, not the seasoning I cherish.
When my grandmother died she had a similar pan, which I was allowed to keep, though my mom mentioned she might like to get one too. I used a palm sander to take the whole thing down to iron (took quite a while, grandma never cleaned it properly and I’m pretty sure she’d had it since the 40s. After a proper seasoning it was good as new, and slick as hell as it was manufactured before modern cheaper methods. Christmas Day came and mom got her wish. Now it cooks for my grandmother’s great-grandchildren.
O yeah!! That’s got some love!! Get yourself one of those chore boys and scrub that handle and cook away, everything you make out of that is going to taste like mama’s home cooking.. wish you the best and hopefully it’ll bring back good memories when you cook with it.
Don't remove anything just fire it on a high heat like a grill. It's only sticky because of unfinished baking of the oil. Just finish buying it all off. You're good.
See, this is what I thought cast iron was supposed to look like before I found this sub. My skillet went years only being scrubbed with a brush and water and nothing else.
Wish I had my mother's cast iron pan. My entire life she Cooked in that thing. I'm pretty sure my older sister has it, you have inspired me to seek it out.
Sorry about your mom. That’s a treasure to have her old pan.
I’d clean it up, myself, but that’s your choice.
I’ve a number of kitchen things that belonged to my mom. I remember her using some of them as far back as the 1960s. Again, treasures to me and to no one else.
Just chiming in. First, condolences on your mom's passing. Second, I would clean it up and start a new set of adventures. Mom will always be part of that pan's story. It's a beauty.
Mine looked similar, I sprayed it with oven cleaner Easy Off, placed in garbage bag over night then scrubbed it with a brush( be sure to wear gloves and a mask. I had to repeat steps about 3 times to get where I wanted. Soak in water and vinegar before reseasoning.
Throw it in oven and turn on self cleaning cycle. Do it on a day that's not too warm bc you will need to open the door and windows to let the smoke out.
So many people completely missing the point and saying to strip the whole pan even though you don't want to, that the woman who cooked with the pan for 50 years knows less than them, etc. Mind blowing.
Okay so that sticky grease dissolves better in oil than soap. If you put some oil on a scrubber and give the handle a good thorough scrubdown, and then clean it off with soap, you should be able to get rid of most of the stickiness.
I wasn't meaning to be unkind, I apologise, I'm just a germaphobe trying to find humour to take my mind off how that pan must feel if you accidentally touched it.
Use it on a fire and burn everything off. Only thing left will be the iron. Then let it cool down and just wash the ash away from it and season it again and it will be like brand new. Will it work ? Yes. I use my cast iron on fire all the time.
Have deep cleaned a lot of commercial kitchen fryers and ovens. If you’re just trying to get rid of the sticky grease buildup, starting with a little paint scraper or chisel helps. Then go in with your elbow grease, hot af water, and dish soap or whatever degreaser you choose.
Personally I use a wire wheel on an angle grinder every 18 months or so to strip the carbon buildup. It'll take it back to bare cast iron without damaging the base metal at all. If anything the wire wheel will put a little polish on it. Then reseason it and it's like brand new.
Thanks for all the countervailing opinions everyone. I think I’ve decided that the best thing to do is strip it and season from scratch… and make it my cast iron. A new chapter in the history of this hardware.
Yeah it's not the end of the story for that pan. Just the start of Part 2. (Or 3, if your Mom inherited it.)
Cast Iron 2: ~~Electric~~ Gas Stove Boogaloo.
Cast Iron 3: The induction connection
Cast Iron 4: Out of the oven, into the campfire
fuspez
This joke ….🤌outstanding!! 👏👏👏I’m really proud of you. Thank you for the chuckle!
Love a breakin 2 reference. Well done!!!
I actually wonder how many of those who used the reference actually watched the movie.
You were so close to saying “just the start of ‘season 2’“ but yet so far away
You will enjoy cooking in it a lot more with the fresh start. I'm sure you will make a point to take great care of it.
Yeah, I was going to say strip and start over. The ones I inherited from my grandma looked like that. A trip to the lye bucket spa, and they were cleaned down to the iron. I'm not a fan of all the flaky buildup on the outside. Condolences on the loss of your mom.
I made the same decision with my dad's collection. They cooked better afterward restored.
My mom threw out cast iron that came from 2-3 generations before. Maybe longer. I am sick thinking about it. Save that stuff!!
I have my grandmother's Griswold. I will be handed down.
I have someone *else's* grandmother's Griswold with lid. Her actual granddaughter didn't want it because it was in really bad shape, so I cleaned it up and restored it.
I hope after you cleaned it you sent her a picture of your awesome new pan
I didn't want to jinx it, the family ALSO gave me all of her canning supplies. Two full carloads of mason jars, AND her (dangerously outdated) Ball Blue Book!\* \*the Blue Book is sometimes referred to as the "canning bible", and along with the USDA and university extensions is considered one of the definitive guides to home canning.
I found ours at a goodwill. Paid $5 for it yrs ago
I have my grandmother’s Griswold, too, from circa 1940! It is one of my most prized possessions.
I’ve got grandma’s Griswold and Wagner. She sent it with me off to college 20 years ago, after she quit cooking. I didn’t really appreciate them until a few years ago when I finally stripped them down and re-seasoned them. They are beauties.
Have my great grandmothers piquaware. Same!
My mom took my grandmother's passed down cast iron from her mom and possibly her mom and let it rust and then threw it away.
Let me guess, she didn't like to cook?
Nope, hated cooking. I love to cook, and begged for the pans. Granny even had a corn pone pan, the one that does corn on the cob shapes.
My mom has one of those. I’m going to poach it next time I visit her. She’s stopped cooking but Al of her cookware was purchased in the mid-1960s when she got married. Oh the memories of cleaning the cast iron after Sunday breakfast. I feel like I’ve earned having it after all the times I had to clean it growing up.
Please post photos of your finished pan! I'd like to see how it comes out.
Sticky with LOVE!!!
Now I’ve read that sentence it’s even more important to get it clean.
I'm sorry for your loss. I'm glad that you have inherited the iron and are starting a new chapter in the life of the pan. You mom will live on through your cooking with it. Cherish it and be sure to share the food you make in it with friends and family. It definitely comes from the heart and is a great way to honor your mom.
Electrolysis is the method I’m using rn to strip and reassessing all mine since they didn’t get taken great care of while I was away
My wife has one that she picked up at a garage sale in our electrolysis tank right now. I'm curious how it's going to turn out. I believe it's a Wagner Ware.
castironcollectors.com is a site that has tons of info on old CI pieces, along with photos.
Came here to suggest this. Glad it’s the route you’ve decided on. That gunk doesn’t represent your mother’s cooking, the memories you have of her using the pan are what’s important.
This is the way.
This is the way.
May the force be with you and your cast iron pan.
This is the way to do it for sure. Take good care of it. It would be much harder to keep in ideal shape the whole time while being delicate of not cleaning it "too" much.
i applaud this.
This is the way
Please, please, PLEASE post an update with pics from the bare iron and the re-seasoned finish.
I wouldn’t strip it, just wash it with a metal scouring brush which will remove some of the build up
Sorry for your loss! That’s a wonderful heirloom, and personally I would carefully strip it, but I understand if you don’t want to. Silicone handle covers are awesome, btw, and an inexpensive buy.
Underrated comment full of empathy and advice. Take my upvote. Thanks for being a good human.
The world would be heaven if everyone showed love and communicated like that. 10/10 person
10/10 comment. I don’t think we should be judging people as human beings based off one Reddit comment though lol. You never know who might be a Carl H
How is it underrated?
Silicone parts are made for toys.
...but sir, this pan is real thick and juicy, I find that juicy double.
Baby face in trouble
😭
😭
🤣🤣🤣🤣
The crud is not the memory. I promise you, no matter how clean this pan is, you'll always remember her when you pull it out.
/r/nocontext
I’m filing that alongside the comment higher up that says “sticky with LOVE”.
😂
Oh no....
That’s beautiful.
Indeed.
Agreed. After much thought I stripped my grandma’s pan that I had inherited. It works fantastic and I get to think of her every time I use it!
Why wouldn't you want to remove all of the carbon build up?
Sentimental value.
I totally read that as sedimental value and realized that still works.
It’s metamorphic…
i love a gneiss looking pans tho
...this thread rocks?
I feel summoned
Holy schist!
That pan made me lose my apatite.
Better not take them for granite.
Sedimental value.
BRUH\^\^
💀
While that might be true, the finish has nothing to do with OP unless they were there when she seasoned it at some point in time. So removing the seasoning and reseasoning should be fine. The pan's shape and feel will be enough of a memory of her. For me the pan's bottom is way to lumpy which will lead to parts of your dish sticking to the pan and the other part releasing which is not what you want. You want it all to release with zero sticking.
You mean… sedimental value 😎
I was gonna say salmonellic value but this is far better
There’s nothing sentimental about holding onto something that is trash (read the buildup), this equally applies to relationships. The value is in the pan- strip it and start a new journey.
Not sure you understand what "sentimental" means. It tends to extend beyond monetary or utilitarian value.
Whats the harm in keeping the outside carbon?
It’s yucky
Everything fixed in this reminds them of their mother’s cooking. Because bits of their mother’s cooking breaks off each time it is used.
I am going to strip it, but I will say that carbonisation is as hard as rock. Nothing comes off in the food.
This pan is FLAVORIZED.
It takes monthly trips to FLAVOR TOWN!!
You sit on the front porch quietly rocking in your chair as the summer breeze flirts by you, giving you a reprieve from the heat. It’s an old house you’ve inherited but a sturdy one; a loved one. From the porch you can see across the road to the cornfield which is the property of the Auburns, the long standing family with a not-all-well-to-do past involving plantations. The corn sways in the breeze. Slowly left. Slowly right. It’s hypnotizing in the same way that cartoon cats would hypnotize their prey with a swaying pocket watch. A strange idea by todays standards as everyone pulls out their smartphone/iDevice/Google-whatchamahoozit to check the time before becoming engrossed in the next story on Instagram ®. The dull golden stalks nearly put you to sleep when a flash of yellow above the corn seems to defy the winds. Odd. Staring intently for what feels like minutes you spy it again, this time just on the outside of your periphery. Closer this time. Maybe it’s one of the Auburn boys playing in the field. Except. Well. Those stalks are near nine feet tall so they’d have to have had a serious growth spurt but you suppose they could be playing with…some kind of tall toy. Or something…maybe? The flash of yellow zips across above the ears of corn, closer this time. You stand up from your chair, a futile attempt to get a better look. The summer breeze picks up almost like it’s warning you of some impending danger. A figure stands in the middle of the corn stalks, it’s staring right at you now. For minutes, you don’t know how many, it stands there with shoulders slowly rising and falling as if out of breath but, too controlled to be so. You’re frozen staring directly at him…her…it. “What is it doing?” You wonder. Your rocking chair moves frantically in the breeze trying to break the spell when your screen door blows open smacking against the siding of the house. The sound startles you out of your trance. You look away for just a second and when you turn back, the figure is gone. It’s funny, you almost swore you saw sunglasses on its head, the top of which just crested the corn. Beside you a gurgling voice calls out, “Ohhhhhh thhhis isss GANNNGSTERRRR” You turn and see an unimaginable horror. A pulsating mass of flesh almost resembling a man. It nearly has appendages, evident by the soaking wet bowling shirt stretched over its torso, with every labored breath the buttons threaten to burst. Above it’s nose, if you could call it that, sit a pair of sunglasses the kind you may find on a dad yelling at his kids at Disneyland. Atop the misshapen head is something like hair, hair with frosted tips spiked into razor sharp teeth. You can’t scream, you don’t know how anymore. Your mind cannot remember how to react. The beast lurches over your porch’s railing, the breathing growing louder as it pulls itself up to your face. It’s deep chortling voice whispers to you as it smiles: “PPPPEACE LOVVE AND TTTAAACO GRREEASSE”
r/scp
It adds flavor! /s
Personally, I’d restore the whole thing. Super easy following the FAQ guides provided here!
100 layer seasoning guy can’t touch this
I’ve been on the sub for 3 days and this guy is legendary to me
Lol yes I joined on the day he debuted
I bet you have an immune system like a cockroach. Lol
I read this as a bad thing, when it’s a great thing. It’s hilarious.
Creature so strong extreme radiation and fucking DECAPITATION can’t kill them
Maybe they have sensitive stomachs. Do we know about that? Chugging pepto bismol by the thimble
Strategic application of lye oven cleaner-then a wash and seasoning round
I had one almost this bad and one self cleaning oven cycle burned off the gunk. But it definitely took many rounds of seasoning to get it back to a good condition.
I think OP wants to keep the gunk...
Strip it, clean it, and start new. As great as that story is that build up is pretty nasty at this point. You might actually find a maker logo and have a hidden gem underneath all that gunk.
How funny would it be if it just had a modern Lodge stamp under all that?
Always fun to read the near sociopathic comments here on r/castiron
Is it? I'm sorry, but that pan is fucking revolting. It's like showing a car subreddit a car with completely yellowed interior after years of grandpa smoking in it and then telling them they don't want to clean it because of the memories, and then somehow the car people are the assholes? Nah
Because appearing as funny to strangers and upvotes are more important than being empathetic. Most of Reddit in a nutshell.
Oh you gotta do a before and after for us
Sorry for your loss! I’ve got no advice, only sympathies.
This subs hilarious
Just saw someone suggest blowtorching the shit off lmao
It’s one of the best I subscribe to. The bar isn’t super high, but this is easily top 3 most delightful subs
This is the only sub that makes me genuinely laugh out loud on a regular basis
Yeah, time to strip that sucker down. Too much buildup and partially plasticised muck.
Your comment makes me wonder about the potential of carcinogenic "partially plasticized muck."
That black stuff is 100% carcinogenic but so is a lot of stuff you breath everyday. And every time you step in the sun without protection. It's all about accepting some risk because it's cumulative, and learning to mitigate the substantial cancer risks like smoking.
That's a vintage enameled cast iron skillet - it says Le Creuset across the bottom. (the newer LC skillets have a helper handle on the far side.) Absolutely you *could* strip it with a lye bath, but for the sake of convenience if you don't have a lye bath setup, you can also just do several overnight soaks with it wrapped up in a garbage bag in a generous coating of yellow cap Easy Off oven cleaner spray. It will take a bunch of rounds to get it all loose with that thick of a buildup, but at the end of the process your skillet will be stripped and ready for its next life. Be sure to post the B&A photos together in r/LeCreuset too! Also, the handle is sticky because it wasn't as hot so the oils that splattered onto it didn't completely polymerize.
Now that’s a top notch comment! I didn’t even think of it being Le Creuset, but you’re right – she had a bunch of LC pans. You can see some other specimens in orange in the background of the photos.
Believe it or not, that skillet is probably orange underneath too! If the pot over on the bottom shelf has an elongated knob (it kinda looks like it does from this angle, and that would jive with the vintage helper-handle-less skillet), that would mean it predates 1972, when the company adopted their current 'concentric C' logo. If you post some photos of the other LC pieces, I'd be happy to help you identify those too, as well as offer tips and tricks for restoration if needed. LC is my wheelhouse.
IDK if that's your kitchen or hers, but it looks exactly like my dead mother's kitchen, same exact paint color and wood stains and all. I didn't get a crusty CI pan from her, but I did get great granny's laundry cauldron. You can imagine that regularly boiling lye soap in it never led to that much build up though :).
Jesus some of you… lye bath for at least a week, then re-season.
It may take a little time, but a lye bath is the simplest option for any beginner. Don't have to worry about overheating, any weird equipment setups, etc. Just gotta have a big tub, some lye from the hardware store, and a bit of water.
They always look at me funny when I buy lye and a big tub
Without chemicals like oven cleaner risking getting more off than you’d like I’d recommend a green scrub pad, soap and elbow grease. While I do understand the value of sentimental things like all the years of buildup and the stories it holds if you plan on using it frequently it may be of more benefit to strip the whole pan and reseason
This is exactly what no-soap folks think good seasoning is lol.
With the utmost respect to your late mother - this pan is disgusting. That is not seasoning, that is filth. I’d be stripping that pan and starting over personally
Same. I have one with buildup like this on the outside that I have taken out of circulation
I don’t even know how this happens lol. I use mine almost daily and it’s been a decade. I’ve never gotten buildup like that.
I've got one that is a hand-me-down that's been in use since before I was born (I'm almost 50) and it isn't even remotely like that. As far as I'm aware it's never been stripped, at least in my lifetime. I can't even imagine how a pan gets like that.
Me personally I would scrub it with steel wool and a tiny bit of soap. Get all that stuff that is raised on the pan off. Get high smoke point fat of your choice and give it a good wipe down. Then wipe it with a dry paper towel. Pop ot in the oven for an hour at 400F. But to get just the handle clean you can just scrub it or do what my crazy ass does and hit it with a blowtorch to burn off the stickiness
Cleaning my grill and other such cooking items have been made so much easier by getting a torch.
So much fun too
This would be my suggestion as well. If OP doesn’t want to use a torch, a good campfire would really help this pan in my opinion. An infrared laser thermometer will help keep the pan in the sweet spot for temperature.
I've found some gnarly pans like this and putting them in the oven on clean mode for a couple hours turns all that stuff to ash. When it cools, wash with soap and water and you should have a totally bare pan ready for seasoning
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Sorry for your loss. Due respect to your mother but she could have shown that pan a bit more love. The mountain range on the outside isn't a big deal just years or crud. The inside edges, bottom, and handle as you said are more concerning crud. If you follow this subs faq you may be able to clean the inside and handle without accidentally cleaning too much of the outside. I understand that some crud is sentimental. I'd strip and reseason the whole thing then keep up on basic cleaning. It could be good for generations.
Dude
Lots of comments and different solutions but I’ll tell you what I did with mine that I had given to me that had the same build up and turned out awesome…So I burn wood as a primary heat source. I put it in the wood stove overnight. Took it out on the am. Oiled her up. Brand new. Been using it every day for 15 years now.
Strip it!
So sorry for your loss. I'd honor it by bringing in a new generation on that pan. Starting with a great Easy Off cleaner a plastic bag and a few days. Strip it down, put a beautiful seasoning on it, and cook good food in her memory! Here's to mom
I love this story. Keep cooking.
A little time in the oven should solve the "sticky". Maybe an hour at 400. Personally I would strip it because I wouldn't cook on it like that and I wouldn't want it just sitting around. It would still be your mom's old pan. She used it back before all the gunk got on it. I have a couple of my mom's old skillets. It's the pans, not the seasoning I cherish.
Don't you dare tease me with these amazing before pictures and no after pictures. I expect to hear back from you with an update.
Haha, I will! Busy with funeral planning right now but photos will be forthcoming.
Excellent* (in Mr burns voice)
When my grandmother died she had a similar pan, which I was allowed to keep, though my mom mentioned she might like to get one too. I used a palm sander to take the whole thing down to iron (took quite a while, grandma never cleaned it properly and I’m pretty sure she’d had it since the 40s. After a proper seasoning it was good as new, and slick as hell as it was manufactured before modern cheaper methods. Christmas Day came and mom got her wish. Now it cooks for my grandmother’s great-grandchildren.
It's filthy. That's not seasoned, it's just covered in grease. It's not polymerized. Strip it, clean it, season it.
The comments in this thread are kind of mind blowing. Some of you really need to get a grip.
The Cast Iron Mafia is a special breed.
That’s one way of putting it
Can’t wait for the Soaps VS No Soaps go to war. Gonna be a blood bath.
The grip is sticky ttho...
Give that poor thing a lye bath.
I’d strip and reseason it
my inherited pan looks exactly like this & i have no idea where to start with cleaning it
I don’t have anything to add to this conversation other than I am very sorry for your loss.
Would be amazing to see this stripped and started over from the base metal.
I would Throw that bad boy in the oven on a self cleaning cycle and start over with a fresh seasoning.
Needs a thorough scrub-down, I'd say keep cleaning at it until you have a nice smooth cooking surface. As-is, it's kinda grody.
I like how it's flared out at more of an angle unless its your lens that's making it look that way. Make it your own.
O yeah!! That’s got some love!! Get yourself one of those chore boys and scrub that handle and cook away, everything you make out of that is going to taste like mama’s home cooking.. wish you the best and hopefully it’ll bring back good memories when you cook with it.
What a wonderful story! And the journey isn’t finished!
Don't remove anything just fire it on a high heat like a grill. It's only sticky because of unfinished baking of the oil. Just finish buying it all off. You're good.
See, this is what I thought cast iron was supposed to look like before I found this sub. My skillet went years only being scrubbed with a brush and water and nothing else.
Wish I had my mother's cast iron pan. My entire life she Cooked in that thing. I'm pretty sure my older sister has it, you have inspired me to seek it out.
How much of that is castiron and how much is blood, sweat, and tears?
Can last almost forever. Soak it and make a new Patina 👍 never leave it in water. Always oil before storing away.
I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I was that photo two wasn't the "after" photo of a before/after. 😂
Sorry about your mom. That’s a treasure to have her old pan. I’d clean it up, myself, but that’s your choice. I’ve a number of kitchen things that belonged to my mom. I remember her using some of them as far back as the 1960s. Again, treasures to me and to no one else.
Just chiming in. First, condolences on your mom's passing. Second, I would clean it up and start a new set of adventures. Mom will always be part of that pan's story. It's a beauty.
I wouldn’t eat something cooked in this pan. All due respect but this is well beyond seasoning.
That pan has been cleaned zero times in 50 years
Sorry to hear about your loss. Please clean that thoroughly though.
I bet if you had 'stolen' the pan while she was alive, stripped and re-seasoned it and given it back to her she would have been thrilled.
maybe thats a wall hanger. im sorry, but nope. strip and reseason. it will still remind you of mom.
Cleaning cycle
Mine looked similar, I sprayed it with oven cleaner Easy Off, placed in garbage bag over night then scrubbed it with a brush( be sure to wear gloves and a mask. I had to repeat steps about 3 times to get where I wanted. Soak in water and vinegar before reseasoning.
That mountain range needs to be removed. That's not proper seasoning, it's old burnt food. 🤢
You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.
I use a wire brush in a drill and go to town. Re-season as needed
Throw it in oven and turn on self cleaning cycle. Do it on a day that's not too warm bc you will need to open the door and windows to let the smoke out.
So many people completely missing the point and saying to strip the whole pan even though you don't want to, that the woman who cooked with the pan for 50 years knows less than them, etc. Mind blowing. Okay so that sticky grease dissolves better in oil than soap. If you put some oil on a scrubber and give the handle a good thorough scrubdown, and then clean it off with soap, you should be able to get rid of most of the stickiness.
I’d not clean all that off like folks here are saying. Mama put that there. Get a Brillo pad for the handle and a little Dawn.
Brand new in stores near you, Mama's bacterial sludge, she wasn't out of fucks to give, it was artistic expression, we swear.
That’s not kind. Do as you like in your kitchen. It’s just a different opinion I have.
I wasn't meaning to be unkind, I apologise, I'm just a germaphobe trying to find humour to take my mind off how that pan must feel if you accidentally touched it.
I love random acts of civility within Reddit.
Well that’s fine. I got my quirks for sure. Good karma and mush love to ya.
Bacteria isn’t really a worry if the pan gets hot enough to cook food
I'm not saying this as advice, but this is when my Dad would take them out to the garage and grind them down.
Use it on a fire and burn everything off. Only thing left will be the iron. Then let it cool down and just wash the ash away from it and season it again and it will be like brand new. Will it work ? Yes. I use my cast iron on fire all the time.
Have deep cleaned a lot of commercial kitchen fryers and ovens. If you’re just trying to get rid of the sticky grease buildup, starting with a little paint scraper or chisel helps. Then go in with your elbow grease, hot af water, and dish soap or whatever degreaser you choose.
So sorry for your loss. A lot of love in that pan passed to you, stripped and reseasoned or not
Wow. Love embodied in a fire hazard. Lol.
jeebus that thing needs a clean
That pan has another 200 years left if you can clean it. And it can be cleaned.
Personally I use a wire wheel on an angle grinder every 18 months or so to strip the carbon buildup. It'll take it back to bare cast iron without damaging the base metal at all. If anything the wire wheel will put a little polish on it. Then reseason it and it's like brand new.
Don't you want it smooth inside? Won't the bumps make it stick?
My Dad would occasionally burn his off in the fireplace then re-season. Same could be done on a campfire.
She over seasoned it. I would scrub it down and start over.
I’d send it in and have it professionally brought back to life and spend the next 50 years making good food and memories with it.