Anyone use an original cast iron waffle maker?

Cafe Society
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I scored a Cast-Iron Waffle Maker MFG By Wagner MFG Co. Sidney, OH for $15 today at an estate sale. It looks like the one here. It has a base ring, so can put it over the stovetop gas flame. Not quite sure how to cook with it. As in, how high of a temp, do I need to really warm up the cast iron, use a runny or thick batter, should I add extra oil, spray with PAM first, how long to cook the waffle, etc. Any hints from someone that’s actually used something similiar would be appreciated.

I’m starting a cast iron collection. I’ve got a standard 14" skillet and a La Crueset grill pan. I grew up with a cast of cast iron that we used camping and for making big ol’ batches of beans or chili.

Recently, I came across THE way to season cast iron using flax oil. This truely is the bee’s knees as far as seasoning cast iron is concerned. Here’s the blog post: Chemistry of Cast Iron Seasoning: A Science-Based How-To | Sheryl's Blog

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I love cast iron and I am way jealous of your score. Now I must find one for myself. Seems like probably trial and error will end up being the best way to figure it out. I would definitely heat it to the point where a drop of water sizzles before adding the batter, but other than that I don’t really know. I don’t cook waffles because I don’t have a waffle iron, but all my pancakes are done on my cast iron griddle.

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I love cast iron, too. In fact, I have similar corn stick and heart pans like the ones on your link.

I’d say pre-heat and maybe a touch of oil (I find that PAM tends to gunk things up sometimes)…definitely heated until water dances on the surface.

UT

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Our roomie loves cast iron and has a fair number of pieces, going to send her the link to the article, she would love the heart shaped pan!

I can’t do cast iron, it puts too much dietary iron into my system and I suffer badly, I get my cast iron fix in the form of la creuset. I collect the red and flame ones. [my next purchase will be the tagine pan in red or flame with my amazon mechanical turk earnings]

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Mine looks the same, though I don’t recall the maker. (Could be Griswold, but I’m not going to dig it out right now to look. Might be someone else.)

Though I frequently cook on cast iron, I’ve never used the waffle maker. I tend to like savoury breakfasts (potatoes, eggs, sausages, bacon, various hot sauces, biscuits and gravy, biscuits and chipped beef gravy – that sort of thing) and if I want sweet then pancakes don’t require a special pan. But the real reason I’ve never used it is because I assume it is meant to be used over a flame. (Why would I assume that? Wood-burning stoves didn’t have open flames on the cook-top.) I’m not entirely sure how to use it on an electric range.

If anyone can give me pointers on how to use it on an electric range, I’d appreciate it – and give it a try. (Not today, though. Today will be chorizo-and-potato burritos.)