My camping trip disaster with a rusty skillet

I was up in the mountains near Flagstaff last fall, and I brought my old 10-inch skillet for breakfast over the fire. I left it outside the tent overnight and it rained. Woke up to a pan covered in orange spots, totally rusted. I was miles from any store and really wanted bacon. I remembered reading something about using coarse salt and a potato. I had both in my cooler. I cut the potato in half, poured a bunch of salt into the pan, and used the potato like a scrubber, pushing really hard. It took about 15 minutes of elbow grease, but it got all the rust off. I rinsed it, dried it over the fire, and did a quick re-season with the oil I had for cooking. It worked in a pinch. Has anyone else had to do a field repair like that? What did you use?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscar_hunt611mo ago

Honestly that sounds like a huge waste of time and effort lol. You're out in nature, just cook the bacon directly on a cleaned rock or something. That potato and salt trick is a total myth, you probably just scratched the rust off and ate tiny metal bits with your breakfast. I'd never risk it with a pan that far gone, rust can be nasty. Just pack a decent non-stick camp pan next time, they're cheap and you won't have to play pioneer chemist.

pat_hall871mo ago

You ever try scrubbing with aluminum foil? Works better than a potato and you can ball it up to get in the corners.