Seasoning Cast Iron Skillet

[Dude]

Okay, so I have read too many versions of how to season a cast iron skillet. There seem to be 2 philosophies.
(with a stripped down, clean pan)
1) Lower temps ~200f for an hour - repeat 2+ times
2) Higher temps ~500f for an hour - repeat 2+ times

Conceptually, I understand you are trying to polymerize the fats (seems that any old fat will do - i'm gonna use crisco).

So, it seems like a terrible waste of energy to have an oven running for many hours. Does anyone have any experience doing it on a stove top? If not, i'll give it a shot and let everyone know.

[sonny]

i always just cook a bunch of bacon in a clean skillet and stick it in the oven. stovetop could work on real low, but would be hard with spot heat vs. distributed

moral of the story: can't really do it wrong. i've saved dutch ovens that spend decades outdoors and/or buried in the ground

[summilux]

+1 on bacon seasoning. Low and stovetop works with bacon. I have two skillets, the big one that I regularly cook bacon in is like glass. The other, seasoned low in the oven, is smooth and non-stick but not glass-like.

[zetroc]

Really, for me, it comes down to using the pan often. When I get a pan that's new to me I usually do something like the following:

1. Mechanically clean with stiff bristled brush, scrubbies, steel wool, etc to get old crap off (hot soapy water is fine here). Main thing is to get the pan clean.
2. Heat oven to ~450-500
3. Put pan in oven for about 30 minutes
4. Pull very hot pan out of oven. Wipe all over with bacon grease or other oil. Inside, outside, bottom, everywhere. Careful, it's hot!
5. Back into oven for another hour or so.
6. Turn off oven, letting pan cool inside the oven.
7. Wipe off excess oil.
8. Cook fatty bacon in pan. Don't rush it, let this go for a while. Eat the bacon, then go for a bike ride.
9. Repeat 8 as necessary.

This takes time, but the main thing is that you need to cook with the pan a lot to get the season to really take. I like to scrape the bottom a lot with a metal spatula - this helps form a slick carbonized surface over the pores of the metal that basically becomes a nonstick coating. After step 9, don't use soap ever unless you want to repeat the process. My favorite pan is an Erie circa 1890 that looks like glass and just needs to be wiped out with a paper towel after use. On the other hand I have a Lodge from the 80s that I've had longer, but isn't as slick yet due to having a rougher surface to start with. YMMV.

[maunahaole]

re: oil

Does it make a difference what sort of fat/oil that you use? Animal or vegetable? saturated fat or unsaturated fat? I'd guess that if you went after a hot pan with olive or canola you would lose a lot to smoke, but bacon grease would be able to handle a good deal more of that 450-500 heat as it would take a fair amount of energy to liquefy before it starts to burn... Spitballing here.

[Cookietruck]

didn't like crisco
same with bacon grease, too soft
vegetable oil works well
grapeseed oil works better
i imagine flaxseed oil is best but i haven't used that yet

[Too Tall]

Agree with Steve, there are mfg. chemicals or what-ev-ah on there that need to not be in your dinner. Burn the cr@p out of it than wash it hard and make bacon, can't miss. I've done this with every cast iron piece and use the bacon trick to bring things back from the dead when a certain someone (gasp) washing and puts my pans in the drying rack. Ouch

[ryker]

http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/20...ing-cast-iron/

I have been using this method with flax. Works the best of anything I've tried.

[Mark Kelly]

Vegetable oil is best, oxidative polymerisation requires double bonds which are what makes an unsaturated fat unsaturated. Of quick reacting veg oils, grape seed oil is the most neutral in flavour - I personally can't bear the smell of flax.

You could enormously acclerate the process by wiping the pan with grape seed oil, wiping it dry then wiping over with MEKP (methyl ethyl ketone peroxide, sold as fibreglassing catalyst in your local hardware store). The peroxide accelerates the polymerisation, the MEK makes it oil compatible.

You'd then need to cook oil in the pan and throw away said oil so you don't have any MEKP residue. MEKP is toxic because it oxidises everything organic it touches, including people. Give it enough substrate and the oxidative power dissipates.

[BShow]

I have a new cast iron grill pan that I use occasionally throughout the winter when its too cold to grill outside. This thing is a pain in the ass to clean after use. I'm sure its not seasoned properly and it's far too rough (not to mention the grooves) to simply wipe clean. What should I do to this thing to 1) season it and 2) clean it after use?

[Bobonli]

I have a new cast iron grill pan that I use occasionally throughout the winter when its too cold to grill outside. This thing is a pain in the ass to clean after use. I'm sure its not seasoned properly and it's far too rough (not to mention the grooves) to simply wipe clean. What should I do to this thing to 1) season it and 2) clean it after use?

I've been using this technique for several years and it works for me. Comparable instructions say to put it in an oven and bake in the oil, but that crosses the PITA threshold for me. I do this EVERY time I use the pan.

[Cookietruck]

^ that's large amounts of salt and oil for each use of the pan

before the skillets cool, i rinse with hot water and scrub with a plastic scrub brush
sometimes i'll use the sharp plastic edge of the brush to scrape the pan if bits are stuck on there

i have old skillets though, their cooking surface is extremely smooth

if they start lookin dry i'll just rub a very thin layer of oil on the cooking surface and heat on the stove til they smoke a little...then wipe the excess oil out and let cool

[steve garro]

I use Lodge pre-seasoned, but for non seasoned the way is...................throw it in a campfire until hot, damn hot & then oil it with whatever, while it is still damn hot.
The best thing to do for awhile to get them egg-worthy is to cook soups & chilis in them - polishes them up mighty fine.
- Garo.

[jitahs]

I have a new cast iron grill pan that I use occasionally throughout the winter when its too cold to grill outside. This thing is a pain in the ass to clean after use. I'm sure its not seasoned properly and it's far too rough (not to mention the grooves) to simply wipe clean. What should I do to this thing to 1) season it and 2) clean it after use?

Aside from everything else in this thread (which is all correct), how you cook matters. Make sure your meat is dry. Scrape off all marinade. Heat your pan really hot. Put in oil, swirl.

When done splash a cup of water into it, leave it outside. After dinner do the plastic brush thing above (leaves a thicker oil coating). Turn upside down in sink to drip dry, throw in oven for next use. Watch the guys in a Chinese restaurant - same deal but they use more oil because.

[MacLaughlin]

Heat the skillet in a hardwood campfire under a full moon, and when it begins to glow a dull red, toss in the brains of a stout young buck, the second egg ever laid by a hen, and a wild chive plant, diced. Take the skillet out of the fire, and walk with it through a river in new boots. On the opposite bank, eat the meal with a rudimentary fork fashioned from available branches. Repeat each full moon until the Solstice.

[Dude]

Thanks for all the tips. Sadly, we try to keep a vegetarian household so bacon grease isn't really an option.I have done most of them in some variation or another and have a pretty good surface - I'm about 80% there, I use it ~7 times/week so it's not for lack of use. I'm going to try it on the stove top and see what happens.

I read on some blog that there as many ways to season a cast iron skillet as there are southern grandmaws.

[Dude]

Just a quick follow up. So I did it on the stove and it worked fine. Heated it up for about 5+ minuts on high (gas range). Put a thin layer of crisco down, let it smoke for another 5 mins, crisco, smoke 5 mins, crisco, smoke and then that was it. I could feel the surface become very very smooth on the third application of crisco so I shut off the heat and just let it sit onthe stove for a few more mins then let it cool outside.

All in all took about 30 mins and did dinner cleanup at the same time. Still smokes and smells up the house, but other than that...it worked fine.

[bellman]

Heat the skillet in a hardwood campfire under a full moon, and when it begins to glow a dull red, toss in the brains of a stout young buck, the second egg ever laid by a hen, and a wild chive plant, diced. Take the skillet out of the fire, and walk with it through a river in new boots. On the opposite bank, eat the meal with a rudimentary fork fashioned from available branches. Repeat each full moon until the Solstice.

This is great. I stared at the final period hoping, wishing that it went on for a couple more paragraphs. Nicely done! :-)

[Jonathan]

Since everyone is happy now talking about cast iron and bacon ill share that my favorite way to blacken fish is to start with a cast iron pan and 4 strips of bacon. Nothing gets as hot and has as much flavor as bacon grease.

[sladejw]

I keep a jar of bacon fat in the fridge. Just a spoonful of bacon helps the [whatever] go down . . .

Also, the next time you wanna season it, put it on the grill after you're done cooking and just let it hang out while the coals die down. Add your bacon fat/crisco/veggie oil, and do the grates while you're at it.