cast iron waffle irons

On to the next topic...

Now I'm enamored of those beautiful, antique waffle irons. 

Paul wrote in his article about using a cast iron skillet, that the new cast iron is not machined smooth.  A waffle iron has these "nooks and crannies," so much of the surface won't be getting scraped with a metal spatula regularly, like a griddle would be.  So is there any hope of getting that nice, smooth surface?

Secondly... About those old waffle irons.  They often come with a ring underneath the waffle-iron  part.  I suppose this ring goes over the burner on the stove.  But what about a ceramic stovetop or induction?  And would you flip the waffle-iron part during cooking to cook the second side?

Our church had an event where we made waffles.  One lady had a particularly good (electric and not antique, to the best of my knowledge) waffle iron.  I don't know that it was cast iron, but I did notice a difference between her iron and others!  Made me think I'd want to get a "good" waffle iron...

Thanks!

zum Wege

zumwege wrote:

Now I'm enamored of those beautiful, antique waffle irons. 

I don't have much to say except that it is nice to know I am not the only one who thinks the castiron cookware is beautiful! I place them n the category of functional art. There is nothing better than something that is incredibly useful and beautiful

I have an electric waffle maker. It does such a great job I don't plan on switching although I love cooking on cast iron.

Thanks for the reply!  Can you describe a little bit about your waffle maker, what you like and don't like about it, what you would recommend to someone who is buying one, etc.?

I have an old, cast iron waffle iron.  I place it over the burner and every minute or so I rotate waffly-part. 

The ring kinda holds the whole thing above the burner and you can flip, flip, flip it without having to pick the whole thing up.

In the beginning, there was some stick.  The more I used it, the less stick there was.  Then, one day, I accidentally left it empty and the heat was still on.  It lost all of the seasoning and then it was extra sticky.

Since you could flip it without picking it up, I assume you have one with a tall ring.  Were you using it over a normal electric burner?  How much distance is there between the burner and the "waffly part"?  I just have so much trouble thinking the waffle iron can work well when there is such a great distance between the waffly part and the heat source. 

(And if it's not too much trouble, could you try to stick a magnet to your waffle iron? Thanks!)

zum Wege

I do have a tall ring.  About four or five inches tall.  And yes, I've used it on an electric stove - it works great!

Magnet moved from fridge to waffle iron and back - yup!  It is iron! 

Is all iron magnetic!?

I think only some iron is magnetic, but I'm pretty sure that all magnets are attracted to all iron.

Oh, yeah!  I guess there might be a difference between being magnetized and being attractive to magnets! Thanks!