So here is the path that led me here, and where I'm currently at in my CI experience. A few years back my uncle made some delicious venison steaks in cast iron at hunting camp, I instantly wanted CI pans. My mother in law bought me a 3 pan Basic Essentials set, made in China(she meant well). Being my first set of cast iron this is all I knew, they came preseasoned, I researched online and seasoned again without stripping factory seasoning. I then proceeded to cook a little bit in them. However I slowly stopped using them and I think it was due to frustration, stuff seemed to stick, I was always scraping, and the surfaces seemed sticky. My mother bought me a new Lodge flat pancake skillet that I use for pancakes. then my mother gave me a #8 Wagner no name made in the USA 10 1/2", I never knew a CI Pan could be so smooth, I've been frying fish in it ever since. 2 weeks ago my great uncle passed away, I got their Wagner Ware -O- #8. Unfortunately it is a spinner however other than that excellent shape. So I used 50/50 vinegar water and soaked the Chinese basic essentials and the Wagner ware -O-, scrubbed them with SS brushes, and then seasoned per the instructions on this site. Everything went well. I have since made cornbread in the Wagner ware -O-, fried 2 eggs in the medium basic essentials pan and they didn't stick at all, and fried bacon in the large basic essentials, which did stick. Had to scrape some gunk off the bottom. I use a Dexter SB25 1/2 spatula on a recommendation from an article I read, stating the curved edges work good in the radius corners of the pans, and the SS spatula would help knock off the bumps in rough pans. Sorry so long winded but I wanted to give the scope of where I'm at and why. Now for the questions I have, as I am very OCD and growing increasingly frustrated with researching and reading one thing only for it to be contradicted in the next article.
1. The mother in law meant well, and I don't want to run the risk of hurt feelings, so I can't ditch the pans, should I use em and tough through the roughness? Grind em smooth? Or keep em for campfires?
2. I know the spinner has no collector value and that's ok, it has great sentimental value, but is it basically worthless for anything but cornbread?
3. When I finish using the pans, I usually use my spatula and scrape off anything stuck, not pushing hard just basically sliding along the surface popping stuff off, should I not do this? It doesn't seem to scratch or hurt the seasoning, although my seasoning is not thick yet.
4. When I do scrape the spatula in the Chinese pans, you can see where it makes the tops of the roughness shiny, is it working the rough edges down, or should I not do this?
I know I have more questions, and will have more, but that's enough for now. Thank you in advance for any help.
1. The mother in law meant well, and I don't want to run the risk of hurt feelings, so I can't ditch the pans, should I use em and tough through the roughness? Grind em smooth? Or keep em for campfires?
2. I know the spinner has no collector value and that's ok, it has great sentimental value, but is it basically worthless for anything but cornbread?
3. When I finish using the pans, I usually use my spatula and scrape off anything stuck, not pushing hard just basically sliding along the surface popping stuff off, should I not do this? It doesn't seem to scratch or hurt the seasoning, although my seasoning is not thick yet.
4. When I do scrape the spatula in the Chinese pans, you can see where it makes the tops of the roughness shiny, is it working the rough edges down, or should I not do this?
I know I have more questions, and will have more, but that's enough for now. Thank you in advance for any help.