3-Piece Ozark Trail Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet Set Expired

I cook on Lodge skillets daily, as well as sometimes on an old Griswold or two.
When I get my Lodge skillets new, the first thing I do is do a high temp seasoning with about 1/4" of Lard, followed by a cooling off to about 150°, then a scraping of the bottom with a thin metal scraper, which removes nearly all the 'bumpiness' of the inside bottom.

Most of the 'bumpiness', believe it or not, comes from the "pre-seasoning", which I remove thru the process.
But Ozark Trail has an actual coarse 'sandblast' finish to it, on the iron itself.
After I re-season my Lodges 'my way', then eggs or any food just slides right out like it was a teflon pan, and nothing sticks.
I've been cooking on cast iron over 50 years.

I will definitely give the lodge another try. It was the first cast iron I ever bought and tried to season. Appreciate the time you took to respond with your advice.

FYI, enameled Lodge dutch ovens are all made in Chyna,

How about scrambled eggs, does it work on the lodge? thx in adv

Got a lodge dutch oven on sale and it was also a very rough finish so it also YMMV on lodge as well. I think the only true way to ensure a smoother finish is buy it in person or spend extra $. For $14, I'm considering whether it is worth another roll of the dice on this set.

I cook on Lodge skillets daily, as well as sometimes on an old Griswold or two.
When I get my Lodge skillets new, the first thing I do is do a high temp seasoning with about 1/4" of Lard, followed by a cooling off to about 150°, then a scraping of the bottom with a thin metal scraper, which removes nearly all the 'bumpiness' of the inside bottom.

Most of the 'bumpiness', believe it or not, comes from the "pre-seasoning", which I remove thru the process.
But Ozark Trail has an actual coarse 'sandblast' finish to it, on the iron itself.
After I re-season my Lodges 'my way', then eggs or any food just slides right out like it was a teflon pan, and nothing sticks.
I've been cooking on cast iron over 50 years.

This might remove the bumpiness by placebo effect? Lodge casts their cookware using a sand mixture, which is what causes the texture. Unfortunately boiling with lard won't remove this. You can watch a full how it's made video on YouTube from Lodge, search "Official Lodge cast-iron foundry tour." Super interesting.

Made in China

I quoted (ie. tagged you) so that you could see the additional info here, in response to zpeedster's question. Also, too many ppl put far too much emphasis on how 'smooth' the surface is & they think that is the 'main' reason for whether food sticks or not.
It's not.
The seasoning of the skillet is what matters most, and I'm not talking about 'factory' seasoning (which I remove nearly always before using the skillet).
Also, the cooking process matters far more than how 'smooth' the skillet is. I can cook in any 'bumpy' Lodge skillet and food won't stick at all, where an inexperienced person will cook in a "glass-smooth" $300 Finex cast iron skillet and food will stick like it's welded to it.
I know one such person that is selling hers for $150, that she only used twice, just for this reason.

The skillet temperature matters big time. You need to first heat the skillet to about 300°-350° first, THEN add your oil... slowly. Then wait a bit before adding your food. Teflon cookware has allowed ppl to make huge & multiple mistakes in cooking, while cast iron sharpens one's cooking skills.


I don't blame Lodge for farming out the 'enameled' dutch ovens to Chyna, as it doesn't affect me because cooking on enameled cast iron cookware, imo, is not true cast iron cooking. Apples/bowling balls difference. ALL my dutch ovens are bare well-seasoned cast iron, no enamel.
I just wonder why you didn't mention that ALL the Ozark Trail cast iron comes from Chyna.


Good timing on that question. I have a newer Lodge 6" skillet and often use for eggs (both over medium and scrambled) if I'm cooking eggs just for me. I cooked 3 fried eggs 2x this past week and 3 scrambled eggs twice this week, with earlier this morning being one of those times.
Luckily, I still hadn't even cleaned the skillet (which is only a simple water rinse & paper towel wipe & dry) and took some pics (attached) of it uncleaned "as is".
As you see, absolutely no part of this 3-eggs scrambled egg batch 'stuck' to the skillet. Just a flake of egg resting on the lower right and a bit of unstuck egg 'residue' near the top pour spout.
Because the skillet is so small I never put really cold eggs in it. Three cold eggs would cause too much temperature drop on the skillet's surface and cause sticking. Before adding them to the (hot) skillet, I simply took them out of the fridge and into a small bowl, which I ran hot tap water over them while the skillet was heating.Result: Zero sticking (and notice the skillet is 'semi-bumpy' not 'sanded slick'.
Then, after a quick 3 second water rinse (never any soap!) and a quick wipe dry, I recoat the skillet with a light film of oil/lard, and heat/cool the skillet each time. Easy peasy.

Thank you Iron skillet master.

Welcome to Walmart.

Plenty of videos on YT about how to sand down and re-season the pans. I did one of mine and the surface now is smooth as silk, and cooking fatty foods in it keeps it seasoned.