I'm looking for NEW cast iron cookware, what brand is the most durable/well made to buy?

Just letting you know, you're going to be disappointed with the answers.



 

Lodge is the only new CI worth looking at, but they aren't as good as old Wagner or Griswold.  Check out yard sales and flea markets.  

Finex.

this is the correct answer

Yup. get one of the new pans and you will spend lots of time trying to get and keep the smooth "seasoning" to make it perform at any level of satisfaction.

Get a old pan . I believe they were finished better and certainly use over the years has smoothed them more . At any rate the super smooth
surface takes no fussing about you just use it.

Our grandmothers and great grandmothers would LOL at all the foolish BS that the Internet geeks go on about using cast iron . If they could see the crap that passes for cast iron these days they would be flinging it out the nearest window or door

just bought a lodge skillet.

finished quite nicely.

clown

I've worked on a new Lodge 12" skillet for a year and a half and while they don't come with as smooth a surface as they once did, or like the antique and spendy Griswolds and Wagners, after moderate use with a sharp edged spatula, you can start getting a really slick and fairly smooth surface.

You just have to use the thing more than a few times a year and make sure you're scraping it well.

Rub/swirl some hard coarse kosher salt in the pan afterwards, to get all of the big bits out.

I just used flax seed oil for my seasoning, while others bake with grease for hours.  Didn't want that hassle.

Anyway, for $25, the Lodge skillet isn't junk and while it takes some time, once broken it should work as well as the antiques, IMO.

Chris

Buy which ever one you want and sand it down until it is smooth as glass, then re season.

A friend recently bestowed a couple of US made dutch ovens on me that someone scrapped out. They are rusty, not bad flaky rust but substantial surface rust.

To save me time hand sanding them. Can I use a cupped wire brush mounted on a 4 inch grinder?

To season mine I use Crisco and build a charcoal fire in the bbq. Let the grill build up heat, then place my skillets on the grill, close and cook them. Saves propane and electricity plus no added heat in the house.

Lodge is the only new cast iron I would buy.

OK, lodge it is, thank you guys!

Lodge is what I have. Two 12" skillets, a 6 quart 12" dutch oven, and an 8 quart 12" dutch oven. The dutch oven lids fit the skillets or can be be turned upside down on a stand and used as a griddle.