Here’s an advanced tip. Go buy some sandpaper. You want to start at something like 200 grit and go up to 1000 if you can find it.
See, modern (and some old) cast iron is low quality and far too rough. But if you sand it super smooth and then reseason it, it will be the best pan you’ve ever used.
High quality cast iron is already finished like this, but companies like Lodge ignore this step.
Lodge used to cast with a much finer sand, obviating the need to grind, mill, or sand down the roughness, but they moved to a coarser grit due to worker safety regarding inhaling the super fine sand that was used.
Here’s an advanced tip. Go buy some sandpaper. You want to start at something like 200 grit and go up to 1000 if you can find it.
See, modern (and some old) cast iron is low quality and far too rough. But if you sand it super smooth and then reseason it, it will be the best pan you’ve ever used.
High quality cast iron is already finished like this, but companies like Lodge ignore this step.
Lodge used to cast with a much finer sand, obviating the need to grind, mill, or sand down the roughness, but they moved to a coarser grit due to worker safety regarding inhaling the super fine sand that was used.
Worker safety is good. But even with the finer casting sand, they weren’t actually finishing their pans.
All castings need to be finished to get that non-stick surface.