It’s one of those awful cold windy days where the only shelter is indoors but the wind is swirling around so much that the stovepipe can’t make up its mind if air should be going up or down. Fire don’t burn so good when it’s doing that.
I am morally opposed to using my propane oven for interior heat – unless I want to, and preferably when I can get some double duty out of the expenditure. This past week Ian brought up a bunch of cast iron skillets he found somewhere and offered me one. I have wanted a smaller skillet than my usual and he had one, but it needs seasoning so very badly. Plus my big skillet which I rarely use also needed some attention.
And having heated up the oven for that purpose, it would have been wasteful! Wasteful! not to crack the door and use that heat for the cabin. See? It was totally responsible behavior on my part.
Oh, man! Be sure to tell everyone how it goes if you decide to season that pan indoors 🙂
If you season them correctly, no problem. Clean well; sand if necessary (sandpaper, that is; once seasoned, sand is an acceptable cleaning method. For that matter, wet, clean sand would be a good way to take it down to metal. Use damned good gloves). Wash well with detergent. After seasoning, detergent shouldn’t even be in the same room as good cast iron. Dry skillet completely. Use a rag to smear it liberally with lard, although bacon grease works well too. Turn upside down in about a 450-degree oven for a half hour or so.
I know that you know this already, Joel. I was speaking to those who may not. In moving, I rediscovered a couple of skillets I’d stashed at the old place for lack of room (I still had a couple for cooking). All of mine have been in the family for at least 40 years. Most have still got a fair coating that I think I can just cook more grease into; a couple need deep-cleaning & reseasoning.
For those who don’t know, don’t cook a bunch of tomatoes or anything else acidic in seasoned cast-iron cookware. That’s why you keep other pots & pans around. Frying sliced tomatoes is okay; boiling them isn’t.