Season a Cast Iron Griddle - Spirit 300


 
Fred Weiss said:
What is the best method to season a new cast iron griddle? And, ongoing maintenance/cleaning?
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I had to reseason a dutch oven and I bought 20 pieces of old cast iron that needed to be cleaned and reseasoned. I've finished with half the pieces so far and am delighted with the results. I used the method recommended by Cook's Illustrated as reproduced below. I bought the flax seed oil at Whole Foods. Their 365 brand was about half as much as others I priced at another market and a healthfood store. Just remember, it should remain refrigerated (you'll find it in the refrigerated goods in the vitamin section).

Once the pan seasoned, after you cook in it, rinse with water when its warm and scrub out any baked on bits. I never use soap on mine. Dry thoroughly and, while still warm, apply another light coating of oil. I use vegetable oil since I always have it. Each time you use it the pan will get more seasoned and will become more nonstick.


The Ultimate Way to Season Cast Iron

Published January 1, 2011. From Cook's Illustrated.

We'd seasoned our cast iron the same way for years. But when we heard about a new method that creates a slick surface so indestructible that touch-ups are almost never necessary, we were intrigued.

For years we’ve seasoned cast-iron cookware in the test kitchen by placing it over medium heat and wiping out the pan with coats of vegetable oil until its surface turns dark and shiny. When a pan starts to look patchy, we simply repeat the process. But when we heard about a new method that creates a slick surface so indestructible that touch-ups are almost never necessary, we were intrigued. Developed by blogger Sheryl Canter, the approach calls for treating the pan with multiple coats of flaxseed oil between hour-long stints in the oven.

We carried out Canter’s approach on new, unseasoned cast-iron skillets and compared them with pans treated with vegetable oil—and the results amazed us. The flaxseed oil so effectively bonded to the skillets, forming a sheer, stick-resistant veneer, that even a run through our commercial dishwasher with a squirt of degreaser left them totally unscathed. But the vegetable oil-treated skillets showed rusty spots and patchiness when they emerged from the dishwasher, requiring reseasoning before use.

Why did the new treatment work so well? Flaxseed oil is the food-grade equivalent of linseed oil, used by artists to give their paintings a hard, polished finish, and it boasts six times the amount of omega-3 fatty acids as vegetable oil. Over prolonged exposure to high heat, these fatty acids combine to form a strong, solid matrix that polymerizes to the pan’s surface.

Although lengthy, seasoning with flaxseed oil is a mainly hands-off undertaking. We highly recommend the treatment:

1. Warm an unseasoned pan (either new or stripped of seasoning*) for 15 minutes in a 200-degree oven to open its pores.

2. Remove the pan from the oven. Place 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil in the pan and, using tongs, rub the oil into the surface with paper towels. With fresh paper towels, thoroughly wipe out the pan to remove excess oil.

3. Place the oiled pan upside down in a cold oven, then set the oven to its maximum baking temperature. Once the oven reaches its maximum temperature, heat the pan for one hour. Turn off the oven; cool the pan in the oven for at least two hours.

4. Repeat the process five more times, or until the pan develops a dark, semi-matte surface.

*To strip a cast-iron pan of seasoning, spray it with oven cleaner, wait 30 minutes, wash with soapy water, and thoroughly wipe with paper towels.
 
Both are great links, and I bookmarked them.
I would imagine this is something to do in early spring or fall, when you don't mind heating the crib up, and can still open the windows..

Tim
 
timothy said:
Both are great links, and I bookmarked them.
I would imagine this is something to do in early spring or fall, when you don't mind heating the crib up, and can still open the windows..

Tim
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And, opening the windows helps dissipate the smell. We've had the back door and windows open all weekend.
 
I season mine on the grill. It wastes charcoal, but it saves my kitchen from getting smoky and hot.
 
I purchased 20 pieces of cast iron this past weekend at a yard sale, which were dirty and rusty. (One was enameled so it didn't need any work, just needed to be washed.) Below are the before and after pictures for the pieces I cleaned and re-seasoned. I used the Cook's Illustrated flax seed oil method.



 
That is amazing! What did you use to remove the rust and how "rust free" did you get the pieces before seasoning again? I have a cast iron grill griddle that I have tried to clean up but it isn't anywhere a nice as those turned out...
 
A. Vale said:
That is amazing! What did you use to remove the rust and how "rust free" did you get the pieces before seasoning again? I have a cast iron grill griddle that I have tried to clean up but it isn't anywhere a nice as those turned out...
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First, I scrubbed off as much of the rust as I could with a stainless steel brush (bought for about $2 in the paint section of Home Depot), then I put all the pieces through the self cleaning cycle in the oven. When the pieces came out of the oven there was a thin layer of rust on most of them that I was able to wash off with a soap and water. Then, into the oven to dry thoroughly and heat up a bit so I could apply the first layer of the flax seed oil. There were three pieces that had so much rust that even after the self cleaning cycle, I had to immerse them in a mixture of half vinegar/half water in a plastic trash can to soak. I read cast iron shouldn't soak more than four hours in the vinegar mixture or it will start to degrade the structure. The star and the small dutch oven with the handle took almost four hours. A 6 inch skillet only had to soak about an hour. After the soak, I was able to remove the remaining rust from all three pieces with brillo pads. Then, each was dried and hea in the oven to begin the process.

It wasn't hard, just time consuming and my fingernails are shot. :)
 
That is a great way to do it Mr. Smith, those all turned out great.

I learned how to season cast iron from Black Iron Dude's blog. He is a genius when it comes to using and seasoning cast iron, the guy knows his stuff and I'd trust his info over most anyone. Here is a link to his blog. On the left hand side down a little bit is the link to the important articles and there is one on how to recondition and reseason cast iron. Very thourough explanation of what's going on in the oven and with the oil too. Like a mini science lesson that isn't boring!

Black Iron Dude's Blog
 
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