Cooking in an Early Erie Skillet

Roland B.

Member
What have I done? What am I doing? I finally got my hands on a first series Erie, and after getting all the crud off, I confirmed that she sits flat, so I proceed with minor detailing and final cleaning. I turn the burner on the lowest setting and set the towel-dried skillet upside down on it to dry. Then I flip it over and, to my horror, see that she spins and wobbles like a pre-1996 PRC satellite on my stove! I calmy tell myself not to panic, just let it cool down, so I did...
Now she's as flat as a week old road-kill possum on the 405 Fwy in SoCal. How am I going to cook in this?!
 
This phenomenon is not unheard of. Older, thinner castings would seem to be the most likely candidates. You could try preheating it in the oven instead of on a burner to see if that mitigates it any.
 
That's what I thought, but I needed confirmation from someone like you, experienced and willing to share that experience. My biggest fear came at the moment I noticed the change, because I wasn't sure that the skillet wouldn't continue it's odd behavior and launch into orbit, or worse, whether or not the sudden change was permanent. :geek: I'd read somewhere thaat one of the initial problems Erie customers complained about, was cracking. But nowhere is the potential for warping, even temporary (to the best of my limited knowledge), mentioned. One for the books! During seasoning, I noticed that the skillet did not change that much at all, but I've yet to test it as you suggested above, prior to cooking. Thank you, Doug:)
 
I feel that you are lucky that it didn’t permanently warp your skillet. I wouldn’t try heating the cooking surface like that again “upside down” I ruined a #9 Griswold Dutch Oven because the oven was too hot and I put the cold Pot inside
and it warped it. It’s now a spinner. It sat flat before I seasoned it. I’ve never had that issue before but I had been baking and thought to myself that the ovens already hot may as well season something. I’ve never had anything else warp on me and of all pots to ruin it had to be a Griswold!
 
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