So, I bought a cheapo house brand cast iron pan a couple weeks ago. I’ve been coating it and the Lodge pan I use for camping with a thin layer of oil and then baking to get them properly seasoned. This last round, the cheapo pan is looking good, not really smooth yet, but getting there and slipperier than frozen snot to the touch. The lodge pan, sigh, feels just barely tacky or gummy to the touch. I’m thinking this is not what is supposed to happen and how easy is it to fix?
Lodgepan is 9 inch pan, el cheapo is 12 inch, bake for 1 hour at 450F then cool on stove top
It is no longer true that nobody makes them any more. I don’t have any experience with these Field pans, I’ve always used legacy cookware such as Wagner’s or Griswold. But if I couldn’t find the latter at yard sales or tolerably priced on eBay, this is what I’d buy.
Are you supposed to use high heat or low heat? After getting a cast iron pan for Christmas a few years ago, and reading numerous threads here about how to season them, I would put it in the oven and set the temperature to 425 or 450 and turn the oven off after about half an hour. But then a few months ago I saw a newspaper article that basically had you put it in a 225 oven for about an hour, pulling it out once halfway through to wipe it down again.
I just recently completely stripped and re-seasoned my Lodge, following the above advice, and everything has worked out great so far. I am being a little more gentle with my pan than I probably need to, at least until I get a lot more seasoning built up, but it’s been performing well.
If you’ve got a tacky or gummy surface, then you’ve probably put too much oil on. The pan should look more satiny than shiny after you’ve applied the oil, and there should be no pools of oil at all.
I’ve been having similar gummy problems with a Lodge - it came “pre-seasoned” and I suspect that’s the problem. I’m thinking of running it through the dishwasher and/or some oven cleaner to eradicate the unknown coating.
I can second this advice. I was using too much oil when I seasoned my first carbon steel pan, and it was creating an uneven result.
After wiping away the oil, try wiping it a few more times with a paper towel. If there is any oil visible on the paper towel, then keep wiping. A very thin surface of oil on the pan was enough for a good seasoning result.
I will throw my few cents. Scrub the pan with brillo pad and hot water. When seasoning, lower the temp to 300, bake for an hour, but put a layer of aluminum foil below the pan and turn the pan upside down. That will allow excess oil to drip out onto the Aluminum foil and you do not have to be so careful about how much oil you have in the pan for seasoning.
Yeah, I was wondering why turn it upside down. There shouldn’t be any drips if you have only a thin coat. I don’t pore the oil directly into the pan, I apply it with a paper towel before I even turn the oven on. That way I can make sure that there isn’t any excess oil by mistake(pooling, running)
While I’m asking, what is the point or reason for seasoning the outside of the pan? I don’t get it.
This. 100%. Especially the part about washing with soap, and the part about after every cleaning, wipe a thin coat of oil on it and heat it to barely smoking.
One thing not mentioned is that after the initial seasoning, you have to use the pan. The real seasoning comes with use. Many of the people I know who have cast iron pans, use it once or twice and then toss it in the bottom of the drawer for months on end. Then they wonder why it sticks when they decide to try it again.
You’re right that if you apply the oil correctly, you shouldn’t have any drips. I suggested turning the pan over because in my experience, the explanation for your problem, a tacky pan, is incomplete polymerization, usually caused by applying too much oil, oil pooling in an uneven spot in the pan as it heats, or simply not baking the pan long enough. Turning it over has a shot at ameliorating the first two and never hurts. One of my pans is a wok, and no matter how thinly I apply the oil, if I don’t flip it, I’m going to wind up with a thicker spot somewhere.
While you might not have to pay as much attention to it over time, if you don’t have at least some sort of protection on the outside of the pan, it’s going to rust.
A well used pan will basically keep its seasoning forever.
That means no overnight soaks. No dishwasher. And in my personal experience: no tomatoes shall ever go in my cast iron.
I’ve been using the same skillets almost daily for twenty+ years. They were old when I inherited them. Like ‘in the will’ inherited them. They are some of my most prized possessions.
If you get your pans right they can last generations.
I may have accidentally summoned the spirits of a thousand grandmothers!
I put my sticky Lodge pan in the sink and sprayed it with Easy-Off. It’s crackling and popping loud enough that my dog was staring in the direction of the sink. :eek:
So uh, decided you wanted to redo them completely from scratch didja?
I made the cornbread. Vaderling, being the contrary little brat that he is, wanted to make chocolate pudding(of course).
Bob’s recipe wasn’t bad. Most definitely not the cornbread cupcakes you get at Cracker Barrel, not as sweet as Jiffy Mix either and much coarser. Used bacon fat on the pans. Made a double batch, one large pan, one small, so I could eat one tonight. My S/O are going to have her homemade chili with my cornbread tomorrow night(and Vaderling will to and with a smile or by dog so help me…:-))
I had a alternately gummy and flaked Lodge that gave me hours and hours of frustration. Eventually I gave up and stripped it down to the studs with a multi-day soak/scrub routine in lye. Eventually I ended up with a raw iron pan. I cleaned and dried it thoroughly and then seasoned it in many, many fine layers of organic flaxseed oil. It was a really long process, took over a week, but the end result is a really nice piece of cookware. It took another year or two before I’d say it became close to nonstick because of that stupid pebbled finish they use. Lots of people will say that cast iron is easy to prepare and use and that it’s pretty durable once it’s properly seasoned and that’s largely true, but the whole “properly seasoned” thing can’t be done in an afternoon. It takes months of constant, regular, careful use until it’s built up a really good base. Even after those first 3-4 seasonings in the oven you can’t just start using it to cook anything, all it takes is one sticky piece of protein to send you back to the starting line.