Cast Iron Seasoning


 
LMichaels

LMichaels

TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
Honestly something you'd think I should know by now LOL.
We bought our daughter a Lodge cast iron pan so she could make skillet meals. (she's not a good cook). She calls me in a panic the other day. The pan is rusty. So I instructed her how to handle it and she was able to make her meal and I promised her I would strip it and reseason it. So I stripped it down nicely. And since I had some bacon drippings from breakfast I did the first wipe down with it. By, getting the pan hot on the stove, and wiping down to a very thin shine really well.. Then into 350 oven for one hour and allowed to cool in the oven. Took it out for the second treatment and noticed that it felt "sticky". My plan was (and what I did so far), was to repeat the heat up on stove top, wiped it well with about a tsp of avocado oil. Now it's back in the oven at 350. Should I have not used the drippings? Am I stuck fully stripping it down again?
 
My CI pans goes through various phases of "seasoning" and cooking hell (looking at YOU kamado!), but every once and a while I just scrub the living crap out of them with a highly abrasive pad, rinse well, and then throw them on a medium burner and let it heat and heat and heat....and then heat some more...and then some more...and then some more.... (you get the picture). If you are wondering if it is heated enough...do it longer!

Then...after i am sure it is well heated, I throw in some oil (and let it come to temp) and then a whole big pile of potato peels, and then fry the living hell our of them - until they are dark, dark brown...and then repeat a couple more times. After a couple rounds of this...the pans are amazing. Personally, I have never like the oven seasoning method. I also don't like using bacon grease in some cases and SOME may have sugar etc, in it. I usually just use olive oil, avocado oil etc. Temperature just short of burning, but hot enough to really brown things deeply...

Then...fry some burgers!!
 
To season CI, well wash it with soap to clean it. Then cooktop to dry it. When hot, oil it with high smoke point oil. Rub in the oil. Let it RE-reach the smoking point and then add an additional oil layer. Then let it smoke to burn the oil in and let cook. Now it’s seasoned.

Once cooled, you can ever so lightly oil the outside of the pan. Next time you cook the outside will burn into the CI.
 
LMichaels said:
Should I have not used the drippings? Am I stuck fully stripping it down again?
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I've fixed some badly messed up CI. Brett's notes are good. Here's my .02

If you can find a couple of pine cones (yes the things that fall off of pine trees) get the pan to the smoking point and scrub it hard with a pine cone.

I use Tongs to grab the cone and then just work it around. If I do this over high heat it will loosen up any extra crud and help smooth the oil out while the oil is smoking away and re-seasoning. There's something magical about the coarseness of the pinecone, the natural oils in it and it's ability to absorb extra oil that leave a nice smooth finish behind.

And btw, I learned this as an adult from a 17 year old eagle scout ( camp counselor ) at a cub scout camp I was at. I'll say this old dog learned a new trick that day.
 
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You can bake the crap out of it, but you’ll end up with a thick seasoning that will most likely release all at once when the pan is heated. Better off to strip and start over. For an even, pretty pan, use a bit of crisco, or for a higher heat finish, olive oil. Then wipe the pan as dry as you can with paper towel and put it in the oven upside down over a drip pan. It will take longer, but should give you a nice finish that will hold up.
 
I've tried all of the above (except the pine cone -- thanks for that @DanHoo since we're moving to a place near towering pines) and agree with the heat and thin oil rub (canola works but avocado is best) method. Nothing wrong with bacon, but proper cleaning is important. I read about rinsing then adding about a teaspoon of coarse kosher salt to scrub. This keeps your seasoning and removes any build up. Over several uses, the conditioning keeps getting better. Dry thoroughly or even heat on the stove top for good measure and then wipe down with a thin coating of oil after each use. Store upside down to prevent any collection in the bottom.
 
I did clean it REALLY well. Coarse scrubber, soap, more scrubbing, then on the heat to dry, then scrubbed with coarse sea salt dry, then washed out again. I had it pretty much down to shiny iron. I was following the advice here
though he didn't mention bacon grease. It's sitting in the oven cooling now. I'll see what tomorrow brings
 
Kent served me cowboy coffee cooked on ol Bertha at Silver Dollar City. Like him and his whole gig. All American family fun.
 
Whatever oil/fat you use: thinnest possible layer (apply oil all over and wipe off excess as if you're trying to remove it entirely). Then bake long enough that it doesn't feel sticky after it's cooled; if not, bake longer. When it feels dry, it's polymerized, and that's the goal. Reaching or exceeding smoke point is not necessary, slightly below is fine. Nothing wrong with bacon grease, it has residue of cooked food in it, and that carbon content can be desirable. In fact, used cooking oil is better than fresh for the same reason. Again, it needs to be the thinnest possible layer. You can repeat one or more times if you feel like it. Bear in mind used oil/fat will have a lower smoke point than if fresh, so proceed accordingly, temp-wise. This initial manual seasoning is a starter layer, a base layer to build upon, so don't expect Teflon from the get-go; time and usage will get you to reasonably non-stick. Re: exotic oils and substances. If you wouldn't cook with it, why would you season your pan with it?
 
Only thing I might have changed is the bacon grease. And that's only in that it depends on what kind of bacon it was, and how 'clean' the grease was. Just thinking out loud, but I'd expect you'd want something pretty 'clean' for that first coat of seasoning.
 
I use and have seasoned hundreds of pans with Crisbee. Works very well and doesn’t require a smoking point to cure and create a dry finished pan. As mentioned it’s important to make sure initially and each successive round gets wiped off looking dry. Always dab a bit after cooking to a warm pan and wipe off to maintain.
 
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My suggestion above for using salt wasn't for the first (or repeat) attempt to season, but for routine cleaning after use. Scrubbing with steel or copper wool can damage the seasoning -- especially when using detergents. Some say never use detergent to clean seasoned cast iron, but I've found that rinsing and washing off with dish soap to get excess cooking fats of followed by the salt clean,dry and light oil works well. A number of years ago, I had to start over as @LMichaels described and following the salt routine since has worked well for me. I only use dish soap if cooking appears to have caused some sticking. Both non-stick cooking and easy cleaning has been characteristic.
 
The "no soap on cast iron" rubric likely stems from back when the use of lye soap was prevalent. A lye bath is a popular method to strip old encrusted pans for reseasoning. I haven't found anything that does happen to stick to my CI after cooking that isn't solved by a half inch of warm water and 20 minutes. Then a Dobie pad with or without a little Dawn, followed by a thorough rinse and towel-dry, and 30-60 seconds on a low burner to completely dissipate residual moisture in the nooks and crannies (think all those Griswold and Wagner makings). Then a wipe down with a few drops of oil or a spritz of PAM, just to bring back the sheen.
 
Well good news. I did the same procedure as first time only with a tiny bit of avocado oil. This AM pulled it out of the oven and it's a little "splotchy" but it's shiny, hard and slick. No time today but I will be repeating things tomorrow a couple more times. Then if I have time gonna fry up some potato pieces with plenty of oil and salt wipe it clean and give it back to daughter
 
LMichaels said:
Well good news. I did the same procedure as first time only with a tiny bit of avocado oil. This AM pulled it out of the oven and it's a little "splotchy" but it's shiny, hard and slick. No time today but I will be repeating things tomorrow a couple more times. Then if I have time gonna fry up some potato pieces with plenty of oil and salt wipe it clean and give it back to daughter
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This is the go to method using flax seed. She breaks everything down, and goes over causes why it can come out sticky. I seasoned my summit griddle this way. Came out perfect, just time consuming process

https://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/
 
Mike - LA said:
I use and have seasoned hundreds of pans with Crisbee. Works very well and doesn’t require a smoking point to cure and create a dry finished pan. As mentioned it’s important to make sure initially and each successive round gets wiped off looking dry. Always dab a bit after cooking to a warm pan and wipe off to maintain.
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Ive used crisbee on both cast iron and carbon steel pans, works well

the lodge skillets ive had in the past had seasoning that wasnt quite set yet, it wasnt completely "baked" which will feel slightly sticky....I just throw them in the oven @425 for an hour to get rid of the sticky....

Ive restored some old griswold by getting any rust out then washing with hot water and soap, then put a thin coating of oil and baking it in...then just fry something in it then just work on layering the seasoning from there on out ...its rare that I have to start over
 
This is a disc blade from a Farmall cutting disc I took the blade 25 years ago and welded up the center hole for a cooking disc. It is carbon steel and was seasoned with cooking oil. It has fried many a time and browned onions just last night with never a sticky/sticking problem. I don’t know about this modern day carbon steel issue or if it can even be called carbon steel but this disc doesn’t loose it’s seasoning and it’s as slick as bull snot. B2B932FB-96DA-4512-9D3D-0FCF19CD5FAA.jpeg
 
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350 is too low to polymerize the fat and carbon.

Use less oil (wipe the surface until it looks bone dry) then try 475 - 500 For an hour.

Stovetop method works too.
 
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