If you can help me, you're a god among men!

[Wm_Scott]

Hello everyone. This is my first post as I can't seem to get the answers I need and Ive scoured the internet looking for them. I have three cast iron jambalaya pots. A 5 gal, a 10 gal, and a 20 gal. As you can see from the pics, they are way to big to get into the oven. When I first got them, they were "seasoned", but the cooking surface was very rough from the casting. I was told to get a hand grinder with a flap disc, sand it smooth down to the metal and preseason the pot. I did on all three pots. Since as you can see they aren't gonna fit in the oven, the method I came up with was to oil them, invert them over the burner and burn them that way. Ive seasoned smaller pans and dutch ovens before with success but these are giving me trouble. Ive used lard, shortening, canola oil and flax seed oil. I usually get the heat up there and then shoot the bottom of the inverted pot with a laser thermometer to see how hot they are. The usually get between 450º-600º. I burn them for an hour then let them cool. When I turn them over they have a very nice slick black finish. I have been repeating this over and over...probably 25 times on the 20 gal and a dozen on the 10 and 5 gal, to try to layer the seasoning. When cooking jambalaya in the pots, I use a paddle like in the pic below. My friend from New Orleans and a champion jambalaya competition cook says that when your meats are browning, you need to scrape the pot to loosen the fond. So Ive noticed after the jambalaya has been served, there are scrape marks where the seasoning has been scraped off. So I usually wash and reseason. I can't figure out why the seasoning is scraping off. Yesterday I gave them all another burn and the 5 gallon pot shown in the closeup below, for no reason that I can tell started to flake. Ive watched every video and read every article I can about seasoning, and even sent emails to Lodge (Though these aren't Lodge pots)and they have lead me here as none of them have fixed my problem. Can anyone tell me what Im doing wrong or a better way than what Im doing? If you can help me I will be forever grateful. I love these pots and this little problem is really bothering me. Thanks a bunch...Scott.

5 and 10 gallon


20 gallon


Paddle


Flaking

 

[Doug D.]

I wonder if your manual seasonings haven't been in too thick of applications. You really do need to wipe off the applied oil as if you are trying to remove it altogether, leaving the absolutely thinnest layer possible. Cotton terry towels are best for this. Then bake and repeat.

To me, a durable seasoning is best obtained through repeated cooking vs. baking on multiple applications of oil or fat. I would also recommend switching to a wooden paddle until that degree of seasoning is achieved.

 

[Jeffrey R.]

Not knowing your whole process, here is what I am thinking.

Wash and clean the pot
Put it on the heat for 1/2 Hr bring the temp up to 250
Remove and oil, THIN when you think it is thin wipe it again. Thin coats are the trick.
"When I turn them over they have a very nice slick black finish." Sounds like to much lard, shortening, canola oil and flax seed oil what ever you are using.

"450º-600º. I burn them for an hour" I would not exceed 550 deg You just might be burning you're seasoning off. = for no reason that I can tell started to flake.

I have seasoned over 100 pieces of cast iron. Not one has come back with a problem.

Now, send one pot of jambalaya to VT, need to warm me up. :icon_thumbsup:

When I went to New Orleans, jambalaya was one of my favorites.

 

[BryanB]

I hate to rain on the cookout, if you bought Chinese cast pots they work better with a rough surface because of the poor quality iron mixture used at the foundry. I helped season a five gallon TexSport (Chinese) pot and lid that would make new lodge look slick. This one was unseasoned and coated in a wax like substance.To my amazement, we cooked off the wax and applied lard to the rough iron. We fired it twice over a hot wood fire. It's a campground regular jambalaya, cabbage-onion-sausage, dump stew whatever pot. My advise was not to buy the Chinese piece of :icon_crap::icon_crap: