Seasoning, Care, Use, cleaning instructions

If you are new to cast iron cooking, you are starting a wonderful cooking tradition. There are millions of wonderful cast iron cooks that will be glad to share their experience and help you along the way.

Our pieces come seasoned from our factory, They are ready to use. We reccomend always doing a quick wash with any new cookware and we will not be offended if you do, too. Dawn or other mild dish soap is fine. Warm on stove top or in the oven for a few minutes afterwards.

After cooking, you may simply wash out with hot water and a scrub brush. For particularly oily or flavorful meals, a few drops of dish soap may be helpful in preventing “ghost flavors” from showing up next meal.

After your seasoning has built up, you can cook mildly acidic foods. The longer acidic foods are in contact with your cast iron, the more likely they are to affect your seasoning. So, if you need to add to your seasoning, wash and dry thoroughly. Warm the piece on your stove top, or in oven for a minute or two. Add your preferred seasoning oil. Wipe off as much oil as you can. Bake in oven above smoke point of the oil for an hour. Most issues with seasoning are corrected simply by continuing to cook with the piece. Seasoning builds on your cookware and its appearance will change with use.
Long Term Storage: If you have a seasonal home or camper, coat your cast iron well with a cooking spray before leaving unattended for long periods. It may be quite sticky when you return months later. That's ok. Bake at high temp for an hour and the sticky portion will harden, and possibly flake off. After the piece cools enough to handle with your bare hands, scrub with hot water a stiff bristle brush, and a mild soap. Lightly re-oil and return to service. This process locks oxygen away from the iron and will help prevent rust.

If you do encounter rust on your cast iron piece: spot rust can be scrubbed off with an SOS or Scotch brite pad, or even Bar Keeper’s Friend. Don’t scrub too hard, though, and leave marks. Apply a light coating of oil and continue use.
Do not clean by placing in fire or embers.
It is OK to clean Appalachian Cast Iron pieces in a gas grill. Just remember to heat slowly.

Place in a cold grill.
Light grill and set to 250 degrees for 20 minutes
Increase heat by 100 degrees every 5-10 minutes until you reach 600 plus degrees. Leave for 1 hour.
Reduce heat to low for an hour.
Turn off grill and let grill return to ambient temperature before opening.
The pre-heat and cool down process is critical to keep from warping your pieces. Do not rush.

Do not use the self cleaning function on your oven. It will not hurt the iron, but many manufacturers specify removing racks, etc.

Dishwashers:

Yeah, don’t do that.

To Use Your Appalachian Cast Iron Great American Waffle Iron:

Preheat waffle maker thoroughly. Start on a low heat. After a few minutes you can increase your heat as needed.
DANGER! DANGER! Rapid increase in temperature can cause warpage or cracks due to the center of the pan expanding faster than the perimeter. Something is going to give.
High heat use in cast iron is rarely needed. Low or medium is enough

If your piece came unseasoned, it was coated with a food grade rust preventative oil, most likely PAM purchased at our local grocery store. You will need to season your cookware. Please read this article about seasoning. (link to article about seasoning.)

I have seasoned my waffle irons with spray on PAM, as well as BuzzyWaxx. PAM is easier, but BuzzyWaxx gives a more beautiful finish.

If unseasoned, apply 2 coats of seasoning prior to use.

After cooking, you may simply wash out with hot water and a scrub brush. For particularly oily or flavorful meals, a few drops of dish soap may be helpful in preventing “ghost flavors” from showing up next meal.

After your seasoning has built up, you can cook mildly acidic foods. The longer acidic foods are in contact with your cast iron, the more likely they are to harm your seasoning. So, if you need to add to your seasoning, wash and dry thoroughly. Warm the piece on your stove top, or in oven for a minute or two. Add your preferred seasoning oil. Wipe off as much oil as you can. Bake in oven above smoke point of the oil for an hour.

Long Term Storage:

If you have a seasonal home or camper, coat your cast iron well with a cooking spray before leaving unattended for long periods. It may be quite sticky when you return months later. That’s ok. Bake at high temperature for an hour, and the sticky portion will harden, maybe even flake off. After the piece cools enough to handle with your bare hands, scrub under hot water and with stiff bristle brush and soap, lightly re-oil and return to service. This process may seem a little different from other types of cookware, but it will prevent rust. Seasoning is equal parts rust prevention as much as a natural non-stick coating. Much of the non-stick properties of cast iron are equal parts cooking technique, good surface texture, and seasoning.

Another great idea for long term storage is to vacuum bag your clean and dry cast iron pieces. If there is no moisture or Oxygen, corrosion will not take place.

If you do encounter rust on your cast iron piece: spot rust can be scrubbed off with an SOS or Scotch brite pad, or even Bar Keeper’s Friend. Don’t scrub too hard, though, and leave marks. For heavier rust, you can soak the piece in 50/50 water and vinegar. After soaking, rinse thoroughly, dry, heat, and re-season.
Do not clean by placing in fire or embers.
It is OK to clean Appalachian Cast Iron pieces in a gas grill. Just remember to heat slowly.

Place in a cold grill
Light grill and set to 250 degrees for 20 minutes
Increase heat by 100 degrees every 5-10 minutes until you reach 600 plus degrees. Leave for 1 hour.
Reduce heat to low for an hour.
Turn off grill and let grill return to ambient temperature before opening.
The pre-heat and cool down process is critical to keep from warping your pieces. Do not rush.

Self-Cleaning oven is acceptable to use if you use your self-clean function. First, preheat oven to 435 with Appalachian Cast Iron pieces in the oven for 20 minutes after the preheat completes. Turn off oven and restart in self-cleaning mode. After self-cleaning has completed, leave cook ware in oven until room temperature.

* Note: Tony has a background in appliance repair and does not recommend the use of a heated self-cleaning mode due to the potential for damaging the relays on the oven power control board. But, if you take that risk anyway, by following our protocol, you will do no harm to your Appalachian Cast Iron products. The manufacturers recognize the alarming potential for an oven to be damaged during self-cleaning, so several of them now offer “Steam Cleaning.” By pouring a cup of water into a recess in the oven floor and initiating a controlled heating cycle, the oven steams up the interior of the oven, which loosens grime. It is very effective. DO NOT PUT YOUR Appalachian Cast Iron products in a steam clean cycle.

To Use Your Appalachian Cast Iron Great American Waffle Iron or Jeweled cook ware:

Preheat your skillet or waffle maker thoroughly. Start on a low heat. After a few minutes you can increase your heat as needed.
DANGER! DANGER! Rapid increase in temperature can cause warpage or cracks due to the center of the pan expanding faster than the perimeter. Something is going to give.
High heat use in cast iron is rarely needed. I do use medium high heat when searing a roast. First, I preheat appropriately to a medium / low temperature, then once I place the roast in the skillet, or Dutch oven, I increase the heat to medium high to quickly replace the heat transferring to the roast. If it starts to smoke that’s hot enough, back off a tad.

If you are an experienced cast iron cook, thank you for trying out our products. We do not claim to produce the best cast iron cookware. There are several wonderful companies out there and that claim is a very tall order. Our humble hope is simple, that while using, you will smile, and have a new favorite.

The vast majority of my customers have made waffles without any issue, but the Amazon market will be a different category of folks. I encourage you to suggest an infrared thermometer as part of the purchase.

The leading reasons for poor performance is the waffle iron not being hot enough, customer using a non-traditional recipe containing alternate ingredients and not enough oil.Specialty recipes are great, but the basic waffle recipe is a great training ground and helps develop seasoning.

Please note: These waffle irons are crafted by hand, both in casting and finishing. It's typical to observe minor tooling marks on the waffle maker and will have minor variations from piece to piece. and it only makes it more unique.

Food Grade cast iron, each batch of iron is tested to insure zero heavy metals. No Teflon or other Non-stick agents. No electronics, heating elements, or plastic to break.

Works on gas, coil, glass, most induction ranges, and wood fired stoves

Allow your waffle maker to preheat on Medium/Low as you prepare

your batter. Rotate every minute or so to evenly heat both paddles to 375 – 425 degrees on

the cook surface, measured with an infrared thermometer. If using a sugar heavy recipe or

ingredient, use lower temperatures to prevent scorching. Do NOT preheat on high. If

heated too quickly, it can crack. After your waffle maker has reached the proper temperature,

spray your favorite non-stick spray on the cook surface, then pour in your batter. We have

some great recipes on AppalachianCastIron.com. Initially, pour batter to fill about 2/3’s of the

paddle’s space. Close the waffle iron and rotate. Rotate every minute or so.