I have a few pieces of cast iron cookware, the frying pan is nicely seasoned but is getting some rust on it. What should I do about this? Should I just get rid of it?
http://www.lodgemfg.com/care.htm
has some tips on caring for your cookware. Don’t throw it out. 
I love my cast iron pots
I usually take a brillo pad and some dutch cleanser and scrub the heck out of it. If it’s really disgusting you can even rub it with sand or have it sandblasted. Then reseason it by heating uniformly and rubbing oil into it. Some people say don’t use too much oil, but don’t sweat that. Use as much as you want while you’re seasoning it, just get all the extra off before you finish.
No, no, no, don’t throw it out! Cast iron rules!
Scrub out the rust w/ steel wool. Rinse and dry very well. Mop the inside w/ vegetable oil; remove runny excess w/ paper towel. Put the cookware into a 300 degree oven for about an hour. Let cool and wipe out any excess oil.
Presto! It’s reseasoned.
To prevent it happening again…always heat the skillet before adding food/shortening. (Hot skillet/cold oil and you won’t have problems with food sticking.)
If food does stick, scrub cast iron lightly with water. You can use table salt as an abrasive; avoid soap if at all possible. Rinse, towel dry and immediately put onto stove burner to evaporate all oil. When bone dry, swab interior lightly with a small amount of vegetable oil on a paper towel. (The pan can be hot/warm when you do this.) Put cast iron back onto burner and turn heat ot high. Let it get hot, then remove from heat and let cool.
I do the “spot reseasoning” after each use. The cast iron I use is still slick and glossy, even though it’s the cookware my grandmother bought as a young bride. I love my All Clad, but often prefer grandma’s old skillets, etc.
Veb
I have several iron skillets and I always pick them up if I find a nice one at a tag sale or thrift store. I’ll take a really nasty looking one and clean it up with steelwool and coarse salt, then reaseason it as mentioned above. I have filled these with a nice pancake or cornbread mix (cause everyone knows you can’t make decent cornbread without an iron skillet) tuck in a basket and give these as gifts at housewarmings and bridal showers.
Believe me a good iron skillet is worth its weight in gold.
Most people recognize Griswold as a leading maker of iron cookware. Once I was watching a cooking show with lots of fancy chefs and all. They were making an apple flan. We were instructed to “place the apples in the Griswold pan” I cracked up. It was just a plain old iron skillet. But the french chefs know a quality pan when they see one.
Thanks for the advice, it is exactly as I thought. I’d hate to throw out a cast iron pan, it’s not like an aluminum TV dinner tray! Mr. Salinqmind is convinced he would keel over dead if he ate anything cooked in a rusty pan, but I will show him that the pan can be saved.
Please drop by
here for some tips on how to season your cast iron pans. You will find the methods buried in the two omlette recipes. While you’re there, maybe you would like to submit one of your own favorite recipes to the thread.
Incidentally, if you wish to strip your pan before you season it again, try using Easy Off oven cleaner. It will loosen even the most encrusted grunge from your pan. It will also tear the seasoning a new rectal cavity, so beware.
I have over 50 pieces of cast iron ranging from square frying pans and mongolian barbecues to special gingerbread house molds. Be sure to avoid preparing tomato based sauces or any other acidic food stuffs in your cast iron. The corrosive action of the sauce will taint the flavor of the food.
All hail, carbon steel wok! All hail!
Rusts like a sunbitch too if not totally dried after use. After washing cast iron/carbon steel, put on low burner for about 20 minutes to dry out all them little grooves. Cool, then store.