A non-chili comment:

I noticed that some old cast iron skillets have a ring around the bottom and some don't. Obviously, the ring is designed to keep the skillet from rocking when it's on a flat surface.

Does anybody have any experience comparing those with the ring to those without the ring? I.e., is one type preferred?

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The ring was so the pan would fit into the proper "burner" (I don't remember the proper term) on a wood burning stove.  You can read more about them at https://www.castironcollector.com/.

I always thought that ring would catch heat rolling across the bottom of the skillet and absorbing it along the outer edge to balance the direct heat hitting the middle.. but the wood stove seat is probably the real answer.
I call that the pleasure ring.

Yep, that is correct which makes skillets with fire rings unsuitable for glass top stoves.    

Also, the prior posters comment about a skillet "rocking" is because someone warped it at some point from excessive heating or cooling it too quickly.  I always take a decent straight edge when I am shopping for cast iron so I can check the flatness.   A really good way to warp a skillet is to do what a prior post suggested and throw your newly acquired antique cast iron into a roaring campfire and heat it to glowing.   You should never do that if you value it in any way.  There are far better ways to begin the process of restoring an old skillet.  

Thanks, guys for the insight regarding the "ring" on the bottom of the cast iron pans. That makes sense.

When I was a kid we didn't have electricity, and my mama cooked on a wood stove. She called the place where she set a pot the "eye". Or "stove eye".

I think the term "eye" is still used regarding electric and gas stoves.

But I don't recall her removing the round "eye" when she was cooking. I suspect that would have immediately filled the kitchen with smoke. Her pots probably didn't fit the hole anyway.

She just put a pot on top of the wood stove when cooking.

Oh, and she only had 1 cast iron skillet which she called a "corn bread" skillet. We were pore---but so were all of our neighbors. We bathed in a No. 2 zinc tub with warm water heated on the wood stove. And "running water" meant "run out to the cistern and draw a bucket of water".  

Uh-oh.  I did that once and was planning on doing it again when needed.

What's the better/best way?

Oven cleaning cycle, or use oven cleaner with lye and elbow grease.

Cool. Thx!

I have used ringed CI on both radiant ceramic/glass top at a previous house and induction ceramic/glass top at current house. Zero problems. I think it's just a myth someone once started and it has been spread by people that have never actually tried it.


In regards to the others arguing about seasoning and chili nobody wants to hear it.
These facts are well established, post count doesn't matter.
Seasoning can be broken down even by non-acidic foods, but acids do it faster/more aggressively. A well seasoned CI piece can withstand abuse without losing seasoning but at some point you will get bitten if you push it too far. You might cook something many times without a problem and then 1 day, it becomes a problem.

Texans think their version of chili (no beans or tomatoes) is the only chili, but that's been proven wrong as well. Even historians from the TX region agree that beans were used as a filler in chili or with chili, especially on cattle drives and remote areas where dried goods were the only things that were available. Chili is a regional food and has many variations, none are wrong.

I don't care what you want to hear I'm telling you that one can cook chili in cast iron, and you can add tomatoes if you wish.  If you want to make tomato sauce with beans in it, I would not use cast iron but that's not chili so that's that. this fact is well established and proven. Post count must matter because most of the trolls have low post  counts. Thank you for your interest in this matter.

Tell us you can't read without telling us...SMH...

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.  I have never ruined a batch of chili by any method and it works fine in my Dutch ovens.  Yes, I have the trophies.

I do prefer to use a crock pot if I have time.  If I have no time, I use the instant pot to get the meat tender and finish in a stainless pot.  

It is stupid simple to apply new seasoning, no need to live in fear.

Also, er muh gerds!!!! Muh leds!!!

Discada, or farm field wok: