Cast Iron Pans - Camp Chef Cleaner and Conditioner - does anyone else like it?

[John K BBQ]

I like cooking with my cast iron pans! (1) I feel like a cowboy when I use them! (2) I know my grandparents used them (3) I know they are INDESTRUCTIBLE and (4) they work pretty dang good. BUT, I have always struggled with cleaning and maintenance. I have invested several hours of my life into cracking the code. There is TONS of info out there on how to do it right, and I've tried many different things, including eye of newt, hair of frog, a black cat bone, a mojo hand, and most recently kosher salt for scouring, and flax seed oil for seasoning,and then which was working OK for the most part.... but then...

I found the Camp Chef Cleaner and conditioner shown in my pic below. I think this is my end-game. This stuff is expensive at about $30 for both products, so for anyone who uses their CI pans everyday (like you're supposed to) this is probably not an economical solution, but for folks who are occasional users, maybe this is the best? I like this stuff because when I use it with my "chain male" rag it seems to get the pan really clean, and I can rub about a 1" squeeze out of the conditioner tube all over the pan and the next time I use it, the pan has a good non-stick property. I may go back to the flax seed oil when I run out of camp chef conditioner to see if I like the results as well.

Are you a Cast Iron user? Why do you like cast iron? Have you struggled as I have? Have you tried Camp Chef Cleaner and Conditioner?

 

[JKalchik]

I use my mother's Griswold #8 (1939-1944 production, I think) on a very regular basis. Crisco, bacon grease, high heat fats. I have tried the flaxseed oil, I've had fair success with it, but it's a little pricier than partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Probably one of the biggest "secrets" to seasoning is the thinnest coat you can apply, and multiple sessions.

 

[BFletcher]

I've been using the conditioner for 2 years and I've been pleased with it but I was not aware (for some crazy reason) of their cleaner. I'm only an occasional CI user and all of them are Lodge, purchased over the last 5 years. I'm far from expert at seasoning.

Yikes; the first tube I purchased in June '18 was $10.71 from Amazon.

 

[John K BBQ]

I use my mother's Griswold #8 (1939-1944 production, I think) on a very regular basis. Crisco, bacon grease, high heat fats. I have tried the flaxseed oil, I've had fair success with it, but it's a little pricier than partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Probably one of the biggest "secrets" to seasoning is the thinnest coat you can apply, and multiple sessions.

Yes, that is a great tip, regardless of what you put on, thinner is better when applying the seasoning to CI...

 

[Rich Dahl]

Barb and I almost exclusively cook with cast iron and carbon steel skillets and Dutch ovens. I recently sold seven and still have eleven left some for inside use and some for outside use only.
Beware of food grade flax seed oil it has a pretty short shelf life even if kept in the fridge. I used it for awhile until I noticed that my pans were getting spotty. I found out that the flax oil had gone south and screwed up the seasoning on quite a few pans. I took the bad pans and stripped them down to bare metal and seasoned with vegetable oil four times cooling completely between coats that was a year ago and all I do now is clean with hot water and mild scuffy pad. I let them dry good and apply a very thin coat of canola oil before putting them away and they have been non stick for over a year without any problems.
Barb fries eggs with a little bit of butter and the eggs just slide out of the pans. We also rotate them when we cook high fat items like bacon that seems to really help the non stick.
Also try to avoid ingredients with high acid content like tomatoes I forgot and simmered a big batch of spaghetti sauce in one of the Dutch ovens and it took the seasoning off better than an angle grinder with cup brush could have done.
I think the trick to having great CI pans is to get them to the point that they are as close to non stick as you can get and some are better than others. When you reach that point then you don't have to scrub the dog snot out of them to get them clean thus preserving the seasoning.

 

[Joe Anshien]

I use the chain male to clean and then a thin layer of beef tallow I made from brisket trimmings brought to just smoking on the stove. Works well

 

[John K BBQ]

I use my mother's Griswold #8 (1939-1944 production, I think) on a very regular basis. Crisco, bacon grease, high heat fats. I have tried the flaxseed oil, I've had fair success with it, but it's a little pricier than partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Probably one of the biggest "secrets" to seasoning is the thinnest coat you can apply, and multiple sessions.

Yes, that is a great tip, thinner is definitely better.

Barb and I almost exclusively cook with cast iron and carbon steel skillets and Dutch ovens. I recently sold seven and still have eleven left some for inside use and some for outside use only.
Beware of food grade flax seed oil it has a pretty short shelf life even if kept in the fridge. I used it for awhile until I noticed that my pans were getting spotty. I found out that the flax oil had gone south and screwed up the seasoning on quite a few pans. I took the bad pans and stripped them down to bare metal and seasoned with vegetable oil four times cooling completely between coats that was a year ago and all I do now is clean with hot water and mild scuffy pad. I let them dry good and apply a very thin coat of canola oil before putting them away and they have been non stick for over a year without any problems.
Barb fries eggs with a little bit of butter and the eggs just slide out of the pans. We also rotate them when we cook high fat items like bacon that seems to really help the non stick.
Also try to avoid ingredients with high acid content like tomatoes I forgot and simmered a big batch of spaghetti sauce in one of the Dutch ovens and it took the seasoning off better than an angle grinder with cup brush could have done.
I think the trick to having great CI pans is to get them to the point that they are as close to non stick as you can get and some are better than others. When you reach that point then you don't have to scrub the dog snot out of them to get them clean thus preserving the seasoning.

Nice tip on the flax seed oil. I'll check that expiration date and make sure I use it up. I think it's good for salad dressings and stuff like that too. There are some youtubers that recommend actually sanding/grinding down the base metal on a new pan to get it really smooth (instead of a grainy/rough texture) and then apply the seasoning. This sort of makes sense to me in terms of making the surface more non-stick but I'me hesitant to go that far.

Side note; My lovely mother in law came over while I had my cast iron photo display of stuff out and as usual had helpful hints like "i just use my grandma's old pan and it works great..." LOL, I fired back "not everyone has a 100 year old pan!!" While my inner monologue said "and in the 5x per year eating at your place x 20 years of knowing you, I've never seen this pan". I do love & respect my mother in law but she has a habit of speaking without thinking first. Maybe I should start a mother in law thread so if anyone else needs to vent about their dear wife's mother we can do so in the relative safety of our forum??

 

[BFletcher]

I have one skillet that needs to be re-seasoned and recently bought avocado oil to try. Do any of you experts have opinions on using it? Though I've taken note of Rich's comments of veg oil & bacon fat

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Fletch, I have tried some avocado spray but, only one application so far. At first blush, I think it’s convenient. Jury is still out...

 

[Rich Dahl]

Yes, that is a great tip, thinner is definitely better.

Nice tip on the flax seed oil. I'll check that expiration date and make sure I use it up. I think it's good for salad dressings and stuff like that too. There are some youtubers that recommend actually sanding/grinding down the base metal on a new pan to get it really smooth (instead of a grainy/rough texture) and then apply the seasoning. This sort of makes sense to me in terms of making the surface more non-stick but I'me hesitant to go that far.

Side note; My lovely mother in law came over while I had my cast iron photo display of stuff out and as usual had helpful hints like "i just use my grandma's old pan and it works great..." LOL, I fired back "not everyone has a 100 year old pan!!" While my inner monologue said "and in the 5x per year eating at your place x 20 years of knowing you, I've never seen this pan". I do love & respect my mother in law but she has a habit of speaking without thinking first. Maybe I should start a mother in law thread so if anyone else needs to vent about their dear wife's mother we can do so in the relative safety of our forum??

John, I have both smooth and rough finish pans the smooth finish is a little more stick free than the rough but not enough to go through the hassle of grinding down the surface of the pan.

I'm not going down the mother in law road.... no way.

 

[Joe Anshien]

I have one skillet that needs to be re-seasoned and recently bought avocado oil to try. Do any of you experts have opinions on using it? Though I've taken note of Rich's comments of veg oil & bacon fat

I have used avocado, peanut, gee, tallow, etc, on both my cast iron (CI) and carbon steel (CS) pans. To tell you the truth I have never noticed much of a difference to really matter. If you season in the oven it will matter, as you have to set the oven temp to be 25 degrees above the smoke point of the oil. So know the smoke point if you season that way. I season on top of the stove till just smoking after cleaning the pan. I have also sanded down my Lodge CI 12" pan with a flap disk and it works well. Better than not, somewhat. Hard to quantify without side by side comparison. My CI and CS pans will never match my Woll diamond pan for slipperiness You will always need some kind lube for CI and CS, but not the non-sticks. For instance on my Woll I can cooks eggs with no butter or oil, can't do that on CI no matter how well seasoned. But my Woll has been replaced free twice under the lifetime warranty so far because it does ware out even with the care I give it. All comes down to correct tool for the job in IMHO.