cast iron DO... black food...

[Cookingmama]

A while back i was able to get a DO for ten bucks.  i believe it is 5 qt Lodge.  it has the bail handle but not the spiral.  The underside of the cover has the little dealies to baste the food.  i haven't used it much... because the first time i used it.... my beans started turning black.  another time when i was trying to make rice... the rice turned black.  i don't throw food away, every.  but i did those times.  I'm guessing it needs to be better seasoned.  it does feel rough on the inside. 

i don't have a self cleaning oven. 

i do not want to do the battery-tub-thingamagigger.... way beyond me.

i did try some simple seasoning in my oven.... but still no go. 

ideas.... suggestions.....

[truckertrash]

Pics? I season mine on a gasser. A guess, and just a guess is maybe rancid oil from prior seasoning?

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[jd]

you can also use oven cleaner and put it a black bag for a few hours, I saw some one do it on u tube

[Cookingmama]

oven cleaner would completely strip it.  ugh... didn't want to do that. 

rancid oil?  i don't know... i thought that was a more sticky thing going on. 

i will try to get some pictures when i get a chance

[OoPEZoO]

Yeah.....something there isn't right. If you wet a paper towel and wipe the bottom of the DO, does it come out black?  If so, you have some sort of residue living in there. Personally, I wouldn't do anything with it until it was stripped and reseasoned. I know it's a PITA, but not much work for the piece of mind knowing it's clean.

[Idahawk]

It may have been painted or filled with motor oil or something nasty that's leaching out of the cast iron . It needs to burned out, not electrolysis that's for rust.


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[huntergreen]

put it a self cleaning oven, scrape out anything burnt on repeat a few times.    coat with grape pr flax seed oil, put in oven at around 400degrees. repeat a few times.  put aluminum tray underneath to catch excess oil. cook a fried egg in it. when the egg slides out, it is seasoned and ready to go.

[OoPEZoO]

That's the one scary thing about used cast iron. It gets left all sorts of strange places (sheds, garages, etc), and can get used for unintended things. I was planning to buy a DO at a flea market one time until the guy blurted out about how great it was for melting lead in. Apparently he was using it to melt lead for making fishing lures. I bitched at him for a few minutes about trying to resell it as a cooking vessel, but he didn't seem to see the big deal. According to him, "No one cooks in these old things anyway".

[LaTuFu]

Yeah, I have the exact same DO for our kitchen, you have a seasoning issue.  The quickest path to resolution is to strip it clean either on your grill or with oven cleaner, then reseason it.

I highly recommend reseasoning with Flaxseed oil.  I wasn't so sure how well it worked compared to bacon grease/tallow (my preferred oils for seasoning until trying flaxseed oil).

Here's a pretty informative article about it if you're not familiar with it.  (Sorry if I'm re-linking a well known article):
http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

[Cookingmama]

thanks for the input.  i figured it was a seasoning issue. just odd... most used pieces i have bought are in semi condition.  i don't have a self cleaning oven.... but i will season in there without it.  i will give this DO a go in there.  hopefully i remember to take some pictures!