Amen brother.

Thanks to you all. I am going to print out this info and put it with my cookbooks. This is priceless!

I have the concave lid, BEyes, and I think I was not getting the lid hot enough. Now I will try again, when it warms up again, armed with this new information. (It is -36 here right now.)

I kept digging for this thread the last few days and getting distracted by others. I'm glad I found it again.

Thank God for curmudgeons! ;o)

There is a "Cast Iron Cooking for Dummies" book that has a lot of great tips and some recipes in it. We got it for my son for Christmas last year. It's got some interesting info on cast iron and the various manufacturers that used to be in business. It helped me understand that the old Griswold pan I inherited from my dad is truely an antique. In fact when I questioned my mother about it she told me that it was one that my dad had "on the farm when he was young". That means that it was actually my granddad's. Now it's even more precious as a family heirloom, and I still cook in it.

http://www.macscouter.com/Cooking/DutchOven.html

http://www.idos.com/

Here are a couple sites you might find helpful as well .

Drifter

Wow my little question got big. Great answers guys, I think yall bunches!!

min I usually just make a big fire out in the back yard put the pot in the fire inverted with the lid off then take it otu clean and put back in fire to get it hot wipe down with bacon drippings or else make cracklins in it will work too

i fyou have a domed lid you can still bake in it. Just turn the lid over and put coals on top. just be careful when removing lid as the handle will be inside the pot.

I have quite a collection of cast iron cookware and I use it almost daily for pancakes, bacon, chicken, chilli, baked beans, venison or pizza. I seasoned all of mine with canola oil and only use hot water and a plastic scouring pad to clean it. After it's completely dry, I just recoat it with canola oil. I season all of mine in the oven when the wife is at work(she don't like the smoke in the kitchen), but you could also season them outside on the gas grill if you have one.

Peanut Oil is the best oil to season cast iron with. It gets hotter than any other oil w/o producing smoke.

IMO, the next best thing to season with is lard. Cast iron seasoned w/lard could be considered the world's first no-stick cookwear.

I keep my corn bread pan seasoned w/lard. Corn bread just slides out w/no help from me.

Later,
45/70

I went on a web site that said to boil hay in your cast iron to "sweeten" it, then season it by filling it to the top with oil to 200 degrees in the oven.Has anyone else ever heard of this?I think it was the rural heritage site.