A southern frying pan
Dixie Divas
By Ronda Rich

During a recent shopping trip with Mama, I was admiring a cast iron pot.

"Do you have to season cast iron pots like pans?" I asked her, remembering how she seasoned my first pan by oiling it and baking it on a lower rack for weeks while she did her normal baking.

Mama shrugged. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" My eyes bugged out. Now, that's a first. Usually, if Mama doesn't know, she just makes it up and sticks to it as if it were the law and gospel sent down from the Mount. If you need any advice on tax shelters, doctoring or legal matters, be sure to call Mama. She can help you out.

But back to cast iron skillets. I've been doing a lot of studying up on our favorite frying pans. We need to know all the hot points of these Southern necessities. Here's what I found out:

Don't scrub with scouring pad. (There has never been a time when I didn't scrub mine with a wire brush or Brillo pad. How else do you get crusted pork chop droppings out of it?)

After cleaning, lightly rub oil into it and dry it on a heated stove eye. (Never once have I done this, either.)

One of mine developed some rust, which happens when the seasoning has been rubbed off with a wire brush and then it has not been oiled and dried on the stove eye. Some folks claim when it has rusted, its life is over. Not true.

Cut a lemon in half, dip it in salt then rub the rusted areas until the juice is out of the lemon. Repeat with the other half. The rust will disappear. Oil the pan thoroughly and dry it out on the stove. Good as new.

"What do you do if your cast iron rusts?" I had asked Mama.

"Nothin' you can do. Gotta throw em out."

So, when you call Mama to get advice on tax shelters or doctoring, don't bother to ask her about cast iron skillets.

A woman can't know everything.

Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of What Southern Women Know (That Every Woman Should) and The Town That Came A-Courtin'.