Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Reverse searing some pork chops this evening. 2 days marinated with salt, pepper, garlic, PF regular and PF On Point. They should be good. Just putting a light apple smoke on them for 15-20 minutes then seared.

 

I've got a piece of wood to make one with, another project that I ain't got to yet.

 

Ditto, and the Father in Law got one as well for Christmas.

 

A couple years ago helping my widowed neighbor clean out her garage and amongst many things she passed on to me was a couple smaller cast iron pans... They were rusty and I didn't think much of them but I felt I'd get around to them some day... So some day was today haha.


Use a small wire brush on a drill to clean up the majority of the rust.

After a wash with soap and water it still appears to need something more.

A small potato and salt actually makes a great scrubber! Haha! I used Kosher salt then table salt to get in the tiny places!

Looks ready to be re-seasoned.

Rather than fire up the oven inside the house on a 90F + day.. I fired up the gasser and turned both knobs to low and let the grill get to like 375-380.

The pan was rubbed down with bacon fat that I reheated slightly to make a liquid and poured over the pan and rubbed in.

An hour in the grill, and just turned the burners off to let it cool down.

Edited to add finished picture! Looks ready to use to me!

 

I’m a cast iron guy. I hit mine with a palm sander though. Lodge says you don’t need it but that’s just their marketing.

 

Always more than one way to do things.

This is a 6 inch pan so sanding it wasn't a good option. I didn't take anything away from the pan other then the rust.

 

The one I posted in that picture is nylon.. so it's only for cleaning a cold grill/grate.

 

If y'all want to get down:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...on-or-dutch-ovens-go-here-post-them-up.97176/

 

Very good.

 

Haha thanks for the link! I restored this little pan specifically for the grill/smoker and didn't realize there was a better place to post it!

 

What brands are they

 

Well that's a good question. The one I restored and posted above has casting marks on the back that says
No 3
6 5/8
Then in the point of the handle there's a "2". I'm sure that's just position or casting mark. No Brand name or other markings.



The second one I will need to restore says
GRISWALD
ERIE PA
724
That one is about 8 inches across.



The last one is made in Taiwan and is 6 1/2 inches and shallow. That one needs to be re-seasoned.and just some surface rust on the back where it barely touched the one I restored.

 

Gris is your diamond in this group

 

I use a

$10 3M 7771 Paint and Rust Stripper Brush, 4" Diameter

3M paint and rust stripping brush on the drill it makes short work of it



Then on the gasser upside down. For raw pores and occasional seasoning I like

$15 Caron & Doucet - Cast Iron Seasoning & Cleaning Oil | 100% Plant-Based & Food Grade! | Best for Seasoning, Restoring, Curing and Care (8oz)

Caron & Doucet it is ranked so high for a reason



But then once that is done cook bacon. Lots of bacon and often especially in the beginning.

 

I figured it was something since it was marked so nicely.

The one I restored was specifically for a recipe I want to make on the grill so it's totally worth a little elbow grease to me!! I know you understand that!

 

Yes sir, but I would save the Gris for stovetop cooking

 

Yea.. I used what I had on hand... Plus the whole potato and salt trick was pretty F ing cool! Haha

I seasoned it with bacon grease that I saved from my air fryer bacon cooking!

Sounds like a good plan to me... It's the worst of the 3 on the inside but with the success I had on the first one, I have no doubt I can save that one too.

 

I have a large logo Gris I picked up at a hunting cabin I stayed in a couple of years ago for $20. Actually picked up 2 for $40 but let my friend have the other one even though it was a smaller and more valuable #6. I have nothing against generic no names either though as long as they are no wobble\not warped. But yeah those collectors go nuts over Griswold either small or large labels.

 

What makes it a large or small label?

 

The size of the logo, around 1940 or so they started to make the logo smaller. Yours is a small logo. The really old ones the name Griswold is slanted like italics but those pans usually have heat rings to sit on wood stoves. They are all good IMO and a lot lighter than the new lodge pans. Once you get degenerative arthritis in your wrists and hands that becomes important.