# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Cooking, Food Storage, & Preserving >  How did the pioneers season their cast iron?

## sofasurfer

I know how we do it today but how did the settelers do it? I do not believe they were as picky as we are and they probably did it better. So, how was it done?

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## DSJohnson

Just an opinion here no real research done personally. Quite simply they used them. The first dutch oven I got 45 years ago was a brand new American made Wagner Ware No.10.  I had asked for one for Christmas because I had just earned my Cooking merit badge and had used one several times in the process.  My mom told to wash it well and then grease it before I used it the first time.  I bet that is pretty much what "the settlers" did.

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## hunter63

> I know how we do it today but how did the settelers do it? I do not believe they were as picky as we are and they probably did it better. So, how was it done?


Why would you think that?....
Just curious.

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## sofasurfer

I am thinking the same thing. However, everyone makes the first seasoning to be critical. I am thinking that thowing some bacon grease in it and heating it up to a good fry and then wiping it out may be sufficient. Do you also think that may be good?

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## Rick

It's critical in the sense you don't want the food to stick. The early stuff was called Cast Iron Holloware. I would imagine they used lard and placed it in the oven just as we do today.

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## madmax

Bear grease.

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## hunter63

> I am thinking the same thing. However, everyone makes the first seasoning to be critical. I am thinking that thowing some bacon grease in it and heating it up to a good fry and then wiping it out may be sufficient. Do you also think that may be good?


The first seasoning is important....but I have brought many of old, rusted, caked on gunk....back from the dead...then re-seasoned so it not like you are gonna hurt it much.
It just easier to cook with.

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## DSJohnson

"The first seasoning is important....but I have brought many of old, rusted, caked on gunk....back from the dead...then re-seasoned so it not like you are gonna hurt it much.
It just easier to cook with." Hunter is right in my opinion.

I have bought 8 or 10 old rusty, nasty dutch ovens over the years.  Wire brushed them or sand blasted them. Put them on a fire until they were hot hot then as they cooled, but while they were hot enough for the grease to smoke, greased them with bacon grease or lard.  Just kept wiping them with the grease until they were good and greased.  The only pot I did not have any luck resurrecting was one that was given to me that had been sitting with kerosene in it for several years.  I never got it to season.  It was an old Griswold and was a neat old dutch oven but it just never would season and it turned anything you tried to cook in it very dark purple, almost like trap dye, everything.

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## hunter63

Secret....Put a old gunky one in the oven...run oven cleaning mode.....works pretty good but can be kinda smoky.

The fire method is what I use mostly....

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## hunter63

> Bear grease.


Can get rancid....LOL...
Had a guy give me a soup can full, sealed up...had been rendered down to look almost like lard....don't know how old it was......but kinda smelled like canned toe jamb.

Have been told that bear grease heated and poured down a ML barrel and left there for a while (?) then melted back out would seep into the metal and never rust...
Of course the guy that told me that may have been pulling my leg....as Grey Beard Buckskinners are want to do.....Come to think about it...he was the one that gave me the can of bear grease....and thinking to him self....Wait till he opens that can....He he he

I'm more the lard or oil guy.

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## kyratshooter

I can clue you in on this one pretty well.

First, the pioneers did not have ovens as we do today so they were not seasoned in an oven unless you were at a fort or settlement that had a big clay community oven.  The dutch oven was their only oven and it was wiped clean and reused.

Second, they did not use cast iron skillets as we do today.  The cast iron they had was mostly kettles and pots.  Skillets were sheet metal and had legs riveted on them for cooking over coals on the hearth.  Seasoning was not something they worried about because they were not frying in the cast iron like we do on the stove top.  When they did fry they used plenty of lard rather then the little dab of vegetable oil we consider adequate today, it was deep fat floating in grease frying (welcome to southern cooking).

Most pots and kettles had legs for the same reason.  Pots and kettles from the "real pioneer days" were made considerably different from the modern stuff.  It is scarce and easily spotted by the way the casting was done, how the ears were formed and attached, and the shape of the lip around the rim. 

Also washing of cookware was not the compulsive activity we engage in today.  Fact being that dishes were not washed too often.  They did not have the concept of germs that we maintain as personal daily hygiene. Wooden trenchers were scraped clean and pewter dishes were wiped out and considered clean.  

Pots and kettles were wiped clean but probably never washed.  For that matter, they were seldom allowed to go empty over the home fire.  Stuff for the pot was just added as it came through the door so the kettle was seldom emptied for cleaning.

It was not until well into the late 1800s before the cook-stove became common in homes. All the cooking was done at the hearth over coals or the main fire.  Flat bottomed cookware that is common for use on stove tops was almost unknown.

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## Enigma

Clean old rusty pots, by heating vinegar and water with a bit of oil.

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## Grizz123

interesting thread

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## hunter63

> Clean old rusty pots, by heating vinegar and water with a bit of oil.
> 
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Now that is a great tip....haven't heard before....will try it if needed.
Thanks for posting.

Tried to "rep" you, says I gotta spread some around.

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## Rick

I tagged him for you.

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## hunter63

Thanks.....that was a new one on me.......
Every once in a while an idea comes along.....

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## Rick

> Every once in a while an idea comes along.....




Man, don't I know that feeling.

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## Enigma

Yep, vinegar works quite well. I use maybe 50-50 mix with water, add quarter of a cup of oil, so the rust particles stick, and float on top, then simmer on a low heat for about an hour. Throw that mix away, wipe the inside with old newspaper, then repeat. if the outside is also quite bad, then just dunk it all inside a larger (old) pot to 'cook' the rust off.

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## randyt

I wonder how ashes and water boiling in a pot would fare as a cleaner?  I've used lye before for cleaning and have also used electrolysis using a battery charger and anode rod.

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## hunter63

> I wonder how ashes and water boiling in a pot would fare as a cleaner?  I've used lye before for cleaning and have also used electrolysis using a battery charger and anode rod.


Now the ashes boiled in a pot or pan works pretty good...have used that.....cut excess deer tallow that had been left in too long.
Ashes also works to that the _nasty_ out of a stone ware crock that had a batch of sauerkraut that went bad........soak a couple of days, couple of batches.

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## 2dumb2kwit

> How did the pioneers season their cast iron?


 They used it spring, summer, fall, etc..
(Get it, Rick? "Season" it. I crack myself up.) :Cowboy:

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## Rick

Fess up. The mule thought that up didn't he?

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## sofasurfer

So, today I oiled up a couple of cleaned skillets. Put them on a rack over the campfire pit. Started a fire and let it build till the pans were to hot to touch and then let the fire burn itself out over a period of 20 minutes or so. The pans can out kind of sooty. I wiped them out and they don't look to bad. One of them was not cleaned adequetely and so I may reclean it tomorrow and give them both a new treatment before trying to use them. We'll see how it goes.

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## Rick

You're heating the metal to open the pores so the oil can get inside. That's what prevents food from sticking. Heating it over a wood fire may also allow soot to get into the pores. I don't know that for sure. I've never tried seasoning one over a wood fire. I've always used the oven. It's normally done at higher temperature not just too hot to touch but hot enough to open the metal. I've always seasoned mine at 350F.

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## hunter63

I still like to boil dirty pans out, then dump and wipe out.
If really dirty, a wad of alum foil clean them out pretty well....
Then oil as they are cooling down.

The vinegar and oil method is on the "things to try" list.

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## Batch

I season mine in my Weber grill. If I get a light spot in the seasoning. I just coat it and heat it on the stove or fire. Then as its cooling down I wipe again.

As long as it doesn't start rusting or food start sticking, I don't really worry about it.

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## MrsSmith410

Hi...so I'm new to this forum.  We do A LOT of dutch oven cooking and what works for my pots is I use a rubber scraper to get rid of any food that is sticking to the pot, bring some water to a rolling boil in it then toss the water out. Wipe with a napkin or paper towel and I always carry a can of bacon grease with me rub a little of that on the inside and let it sit near the fire for about half hour.  I've only ever had my pot rust on me once and that was because I let a group of young girls from our church borrow my dutch ovens.

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## hunter63

Hunter63 saying Hey and Welcome.........that pretty much the way we do ours as well.

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## hayshaker

welcome to the wilderness

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## Mannlicher

don't know about settlers, but my Grandma used bacon grease.

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## shiftyer1

I use a wood fire when I get new nasty pans,  I like to burn them out to get rid of whatever is on them.  I then drag them out of the fire and let them cool off enough to handle and wash with hot soapy water and steel wool.  I will then either oil and season in the house or on the fire depending on my mood.  

I've never noticed a sooty flavor when I use the fire.  

If it's a real hot fire remember that these pans are a little more fragile when HOT.  

As far a what to use to season,  I've use shortening,  bacon grease,  vegetable oil,  olive oil,  and i'm sure some others.  I would assume the pioneers did the same

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## finallyME

I don't know how the pioneers did it.....  I trust KY for that info....  He studied it, and he is just old enough  :Smile:  . For me, I only worry about seasoning the dutch oven.  I only do it for rust prevention.  My skillet was seasoned once.  But, it gets used almost every day.  It is stored on the stove top.  Why put it away in the cupboard if you are just going to take it out again soon?  After we use it, we generally scrub it clean and put it back on the stove.  Sometimes my wife will spray it with cooking spray, sometimes I will drop a little lard in it and rub it around, sometimes we just leave it, and come back to a little rust.  Then we scrub it out real quick and cook something in it.  We got it when we were married as a gift, and have used it for the last 15 years extensively.  It is truly dummy proof.  As long as you keep oil on it, it won't rust.  It does cook better if you let it heat up and let the oil soak in it for a little bit.

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## crashdive123

Yep - our enameled cast iron pot stays on the stove top.  Looks good there, gets used often, Mrs. Crash doesn't want to be moving it around.

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## RkyMntPrepper

Hunter63,

THANK YOU, I currently have an iron skillet, given to me, that needs some help.  Never heard of the vinegar before but I'm about to try it.  It's a good skillet and will serve me well for years but just needs an exceptionally good cleaning and then seasoning.   :clap:

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## hunter63

> Hunter63,
> 
> THANK YOU, I currently have an iron skillet, given to me, that needs some help.  Never heard of the vinegar before but I'm about to try it.  It's a good skillet and will serve me well for years but just needs an exceptionally good cleaning and then seasoning.


This is not my idea but came from Enigma...Haven't tried it yet, but will.




> Clean old rusty pots, by heating vinegar and water with a bit of oil.
> 
> Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.


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