On the Porch
Onisha Ellis
My husband threw my frying pan into the fire. Well, to be accurate, he threw two frying pans into the fire. You might think he was swearing off of fried foods and choosing to eat healthy, but nothing could be further from the truth. His idea of eating healthy is if it tastes good eat it.
The “frying pan incident” began back in the summer when my aunt Geroleen came to visit. I was getting ready to scramble eggs and pulled out my cast iron frying pan that had been my mothers. My mind flashed back to washing up my aunt’s frying pan on one of our visits with her. That frying pan was smooth and a thing of cured beauty. I was a bit embarrassed by the bubbles of built up burned grease on mine so I asked her how she kept her pans free of crud. Her answer was culinary shock and awe. She throws her cast iron frying pans into a fire! I questioned her on just how that worked and filed it in my mind. (It’s like a steel trap, you know-Ha-ha)
Weeks passed as I mulled this bizarre idea. I decided I had to try it, so I told my husband the next time he burned brush, to let me know. I wanted to add my pans to the fire.
On Monday it was a beautiful cool morning with very little wind. Mike announced it was time to burn some brush. Now burning brush is not a chore for my husband. He loves burning wood and tends the fire while practicing whittling with a water hose by his side. My ears perked up. “Wait, I said. I want you to burn my frying pans” Since he has lived with me for forty-three years, he didn’t even hesitate. When the fire was all set, he took the pans and put them on top of the heap. He said the pans literally caught fire as the grease burned. As the wood burned down, the glowing pans fell into a nest in the ashes.
Once the pans were cool, he brought them up to the house and I began the job of scrubbing them with steel wool. I was thrilled with the smooth sides and inner surface Once that was done; I washed them, coated them with oil and put them in a 180-degree oven for an hour and a half. After they cooled again, I used paper towels to wipe out the remaining oil.
The downside to this story is the pans look so nice, I don’t want to mess them up again.
When I searched the Internet for ways to clean cast iron, this method was not listed. It’s an “old” method. Do you have any cleaning or cooking hints from the old ways that you use today?
Old Things R New 
I think you need to cook up some more memories in those pans now that you’ve burned away all of our Christmas morning breakfasts and fish fries.
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Yes, one of the pans is grandma’s. I learned to cook using that skillet.
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Your frying pans turned out to be works of art. Did you see the magenta cast to the one on the right? Lovely. I don’t blame you for not wanting to use them now. My old cleaning tip is one my grandmother taught me. To clean the oven lay a thick pad of newspaper on a rack and soak it with ammonia. I don’t vouch for the healthiness of this method, but after you leave the door closed for at least an hour or two all the grime washes right off. Now what about dirty grout between bathroom tiles?
Love, DiVoran
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DiVoran, I find “Scrubing Bubbles” bathroom cleaner works fine in cleaning the grout between tiles Kills 99.9% of bacteria at the same time. Love, Louise.
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Alta, your pans look so nice, I wouldn’t have the heart to mess them up aain!
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I remember when ammonia was used to clean ovens but I wasn’t brave enough to try it. I did see the magenta cast, I wonder if it is from my frying pan or my mother’s older one.
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