Chemistry types, how accurate is this?

[Balog]

Blog post claims to have a more "scientific" approach to seasoning cast iron. Thoughts?

http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

[zxcvbob]

Looks right to me.  I've thought about using linseed oil for seasoning cast iron but all I have is "boiled linseed oil"

[Nick1911]

I've used flaxseed oil to season cast iron.  It worked great; left a nice non-stick polymerized coating.

[Northwoods]

I should get some cast iron sometime when SWMBO is out of town and do that seasoning.  She'd never let me cook on it if she knew ahead of time that it was cast iron.  Don't know why.

[vaskidmark]

I should get some cast iron sometime when SWMBO is out of town and do that seasoning.  She'd never let me cook on it if she knew ahead of time that it was cast iron.  Don't know why.

Fairly recent "old wives tale" that cast iron leaches into food, causing all sorts of horrible diseases?  Aluminium has been linked to Alzhimers, plus you can literally destroy it with acids.

("Sure, vaskidmark, simmer that tomato sauce all day in the pretty aluminum pot."  Somewhere around the 3:30 mark a leak developed, but there was nobody home to notice it.  Almost as much fun as when the future ex left a pot of eggs simmering (deviled eggs were planned) while she went out "to get a few groceries we needed."  Do not EVAR boil a pot of eggs dry in a cheap aluminium pot and then think only one can of Lysol  spray will fix that odor.)

stay safe.

[zxcvbob]

A little iron does leach into food, and that's a GOOD thing -- for women anyway.  How do you think Granny got her daily iron when she was younger? (I'm serious)

[Jim147]

A little iron does leach into food, and that's a GOOD thing -- for women anyway.  How do you think Granny got her daily iron when she was younger? (I'm serious)

That's the story I've gone with for years. I;ve never found a liver I like the taste of so I have to get my iron from someplace.

I've always wondered if I absorbed much iron during all my years in the machine shop. I sure could taste it all the time.

jim

[RoadKingLarry]

When did it become difficult to obtain lard?

[Gewehr98]

Curious about that, too.

I just bought another block before Christmas for BPCR bullet lube.

There was plenty on the shelf... 

[Brad Johnson]

When did it become difficult to obtain lard?

It didn't.  Still stocked on most supermarket shelves.  Some places have moved it to the ethnic aisle, but it's still there.  Or you can go to Sams or Cosco and get it by the five gallon bucket.

Brad

[T.O.M.]

A little iron does leach into food, and that's a GOOD thing -- for women anyway.  How do you think Granny got her daily iron when she was younger? (I'm serious)

My wife's doc suggested cast iron cookware when she was a little anemic, not enough to warrant supplements.  I always liked that doc...

[Jim147]

When did it become difficult to obtain lard?

Going by the number of times she used the word organic in the story I'm thinking lard is a no no at the store she shops at.

jim

[kgbsquirrel]

Going by the number of times she used the word organic in the story I'm thinking lard is a no no at the store she shops at.

jim

Organic, bah.

My Mom fed us organic food before it was "cool." How? It's call she had a vegetable garden in the back yard. And it didn't cost her the extortionate prices that some of the organic retail outlets charge.

[red headed stranger]

Unfortunately, nearly all the Lard available today is hydrogenated so it can be shelf stable. 

[zxcvbob]

Your best alternative to food-grade linseed oil is soybean oil. But it doesn't dry as fast or as hard as linseed oil.  I guess fish oil might work too   I think hardware store linseed oil is probably OK if it's raw (you'll have to decide that or yourself), but you don't want to "boiled" stuff because it contains toxic drying additives.

[RoadKingLarry]

It didn't.  Still stocked on most supermarket shelves.  Some places have moved it to the ethnic aisle, but it's still there.  Or you can go to Sams or Cosco and get it by the five gallon bucket.

Brad

Wait. People have to buy lard?

 

[drewtam]

Wait. People have to buy lard?

 

For some reason that reminded me of an old animaniacs cartoon skit, in which the movie proprietor sucked the lard right out of the fat movie goers' butts and put it on their popcorn purchase like butter.

[kgbsquirrel]

Wait. People have to buy lard?

 

Huh, unadulterated lard supplier. I guess now I have a second reason for driving out to my "associates" pig farm.  

[K Frame]

"Aluminium has been linked to Alzheimers..."

Actually, no such link has ever been proven.

The ONLY "link" between aluminum and Alzhimer's was that back in the 1990s autopsies of Alzheimer's patients showed that many had elevated levels of aluminum in their brains, but there was absolutely NO proof of any kind showing a link behind using cooking, storage, or eating utensils and the development of Alzheimer's.

For all anyone knew, aluminum was simply a symptom of the disease, not a cause, but that certainly didn't stop news organizations from whipping people into an incredible froth about how dangerous aluminum was.

http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=99