I did read somewhere that the seasoning does not stick as well to super-smooth cast iron pans. I’m going through the seasoning process on a new carbon steel pan and have been more careful with it than I would be with my Lodge.
Was not thrilled with my Lodge either. It did not heat up very evenly or hot. I had the same problem you did. I thought I seasoned the pan well too. Used the Lodge 2-3 times and now it sits in my closet.
No it is the opposite. You want it smooth. The old cast iron were always polished and made in a way that the seasoning would adhere well. People swear by their old Griswold pans. Old pans make me nervous. I have no idea what the owners did with them or how they treated them. That is why I was willing to pay more for a new, well manufactured cast iron. The Field took my seasoning well and I can tell it will be a life long pan. The Smithey might wind up being a life long pan as well. I just need to strip off whatever crap they seasoned it with and start fresh. I will get it there. If I don’t I will pitch it. Life is too short for bad cookware and I have ZERO patience for dealing with some yahoo customer service agent on a return.
You can get the Lodge there. My father-in-law has best looking lodge pan I have ever seen. It has 30 years of seasoning on it. It’s the kind of pan that real cooks would get in fist fights over because you know it is going to be a wonderful pan to cook in. But it took decades. I have been cooking on my lodge for 10 years. I have 2 pans. One is perfectly seasoned, but is no where near my father-in-laws. The other is a very large pan that I do not use enough, so the seasoning has never really taken. I also cooked a few acidic dishes that screwed up my previous attempts of seasoning. I knew better but did it anyway, then started my seasoning process again.
My hope is that one of these new pans, right now it is obviously going to be the Field, will help me catch up to what my father-in-laws Lodge looks and cooks like. At the end of the day, it really isn’t what the pan looks like at all. It is how it cooks and imparts flavor.
Fried chicken, cream gravy, and corn bread are on the rotation this weekend. Buttermilk biscuits in the morning with left over gravy, sausage bacon and eggs for breakfast. Pan seared beef fillet au poivre for supper the next night. All in the name of seasoning. “No really honey…I have to cook these fating delicious foods. The instructions told me so. I know were are on a diet, but I want to make sure that I get the pans seasoned perfectly. Then those sauteed veggies salmon will taste amazing!” LOL!!!
My Lodge is also very large. I think I should have purchased a smaller pan in retrospect.
That’s what I had always thought. I forget where I read it, but the article said something about the smoother surface not being as porous; it didn’t make much sense to me. Damn interwebs. Still, for the price of the newer smooth CI pans, I’ll take carbon steel.
Well I screwed up on the 8 inch size on the Smithey. I should have purchased the 10. 10 and 12 are going to be the most useful. The Field I bought was a 10. The finex looks great as well. I may buy that one to try next.
Kinda off-topic, but here’s a recipe for stacked potatoes. I started it in a muffin tin but now do in a small’ish skillet.
So it’s not just me then.
I was under the impression that CI simply doesn’t.
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UpDate to my earlier post…
Sent Smithey an email and got a phone call from Trevor the next day along with a UPS label to ship it back to them. That was in February. I fully expected them to just ship me a new pan but that didn’t happen. After a couple weeks I had nearly forgotten about it so I sent Trevor an email asking about the pan. He replied that it was undergoing a new seasoning process and they would get it out as soon as it was finished. It finally showed up about two weeks ago. The pan looks very different, it has a burnished copper tint to it, very classy looking. With a very smooth finish. I’m not sure what they did to it but it has obviously gone through a new process.
I tried the pan out with a pound of bacon last weekend and it was 100% better. Also fried several eggs in it and had zero issues with the eggs sticking almost like a non-stick finish. It’s taken a while to get it right but the folks at Smithey stood behind their product and fixed whatever issues they were having. I would not hesitate to recommend this pan to anyone that likes cast iron. I can try to post some pics if anyone is interested.
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My local William Sonoma has a sale on a few Finex cast iron pans. Was planning to pick one up taking advantage of an additional 25% off coupon until I stumbled across this article about lead content in brass…