Today I bought a snowman gem pan, with plans to bake in it tomorrow morning for a Christmas luncheon. The pan looked like it had never been seasoned and had a few small patches of surface rust in a few of the snowmen.
I scrubbed it with a stainless steel brush, washed in with Dawn (using a stainless steel Chore Boy) and dried it with paper towels. The paper towels were not any dirtier than normal. Just typical residue that comes off of raw cast iron.
When I heated it up to apply the oil, it was a different story. I apply Crisco with a paper towel. The towel turned deep black where I was rubbing on the pan. Folded the towel and rubbed it again. Same. Then I noticed I seemed to be removing a thin layer of something as I was wiping. What the heck?
I wonder if they applied some wax or something to it? Whatever it is seems to have loosened with the heat. I'm thinking of trying: 1. 30 minutes in the lye bucket (which is in a very cold garage), or 2. Heat the pan up to about 200 and spraying it with EasyOff, let it sit in the oven for ten minutes (with a pan under it to catch the drops) and then scrubbing it again with the steel brush.
Anybody have a better idea? I'd like to get it clean enough to season it once tonight.
I scrubbed it with a stainless steel brush, washed in with Dawn (using a stainless steel Chore Boy) and dried it with paper towels. The paper towels were not any dirtier than normal. Just typical residue that comes off of raw cast iron.
When I heated it up to apply the oil, it was a different story. I apply Crisco with a paper towel. The towel turned deep black where I was rubbing on the pan. Folded the towel and rubbed it again. Same. Then I noticed I seemed to be removing a thin layer of something as I was wiping. What the heck?
I wonder if they applied some wax or something to it? Whatever it is seems to have loosened with the heat. I'm thinking of trying: 1. 30 minutes in the lye bucket (which is in a very cold garage), or 2. Heat the pan up to about 200 and spraying it with EasyOff, let it sit in the oven for ten minutes (with a pan under it to catch the drops) and then scrubbing it again with the steel brush.
Anybody have a better idea? I'd like to get it clean enough to season it once tonight.