I was given a beautiful cast iron pan to cook steaks on in the oven. I was told that I must season it before I can use it. Why do I have to do this? And what is the best method for the seasoning?
Wipe some vegetable oil inside and out. Put in a very-low-heat oven for a few hours. If you have a gas oven with a pilot light, just put it inside without turning on the oven itself.
You need to reseason it regularly. Don’t use soap if you can at all avoid it when washing. Some people recommend not even using water but that’s a bit much for me. I use coarse salt and a little water and I usually oil it up again, lightly, before putting back inside the gas oven for storage.
Ditto what missbunny said, except every guide i’ve ever seen suggests somewhat higher temperatures than you get by simply using the gas pilot light. I generally use an oven temp of around 300, athough i’ve seen recommendations as low as 250, and as high as 350.
Also, some people recommend using only solid fats like lard or crisco to coat the pan before placing it in the oven, and say that vegetable oil doesn’t work very well. Personally, i’ve never had any trouble with vegetable oils, and as a vegetarian it’s what i prefer to use.
I generally leave my pan in the oven for about an hour when i season it, and i think it’s good to season your pan two or three times before you use it. Also, when you first use the pan, it’s preferable to cook high fat foods in it (meats, etc.), so that the seasoning is reinforced. Try not to cook high-acid foods like tomatoes in the pan until it is well worn in.
So if I want to use it tonight, I am essentially SOL if I do not get a chance to season it two to three times first? Simply 1 hour at 350 won’t be enough?
Here’s what I’ve done, and found it to work well… most of the comments above stand.
Liberally coat (the entire thing, top, sides, and bottom) with Vegetable shortening (use a folded paper towel to apply), and invert over a cookie sheet. Bake in your oven at about 350F for 1 hour. Let cool and repeat.
If you do not season your pan, no harm will come to you, but you will not have the “non-stick” component that is imparted by the seasoning, and you may have a bit of a “metallic” taste to the food cooked in it.
I also recommend not cooking high acid items in the pan (ever, in my opinion, but YMMV). Scour lightly with a plastic scrubber, without soap, and rinse with water. I dry completely by placing it on my stovetop to heat it, then spray with some cooking spray (Pam) before storing. (the heating prior to the spray will help the pan absorb some of the oil).
If treated correctly, this will quickly become one of your most favorite cooking pans.
-Butler
(still mourning the set that the wife threw away as they were “too rusty” :rolleyes: )
It does depend on what you’re cooking. If you’re thinking steak, I’d say go for it, if you’re thinking cornbread, maybe not… It’s really a sticking issue, and steak won’t stick like some other foods.
I clean mine with a nylon brush and hot water. If there’s anything stuck, just scrape a bit with a wooden/plastic spoon. Really stubborn stuff gets a salt/oil mix. The salt is a good abrasive, the oil lubricates it without dissolving the salt. Rub with paper towel, then rinse well.
Before you season it, I think you’re supposed to wash it in hot soapy water to remove whatever anti-rust compound they use (wax, oil, whatever) then dry thoroughly, oil and bake.
My favorite way to do steaks in a cast iron pan is to season and oil the steak, heat the pan dry and then put the oiled steak in the pan. That helps prevent getting heavy smoke from the oil. Cook on each side 2-3 minutes to get a nice crust, then finish off in the oven (400-500 deg) until done. Actual cooking time is highly dependant on the cut of meat and temps you use.
Welcome to the world of cast-iron cookery.
My mother has a cast-iron skillet that she uses every day. It was given to my great-grandmother as a wedding present and is over 100 years old. If you take care of it, you’ll be able to pass the pan on to your descendants.
Always make sure you dry a cast iron pan completely before putting it away. Giving it a light coating of oil is also a good option but can make for messy storage.
Here is what a Google Search tells us:
The last cast iron skillett I bought was just before a major scout campout. The first thing we fried in it was about 20 lbs of bacon over the course of an hour. No additional seasoning was needed for over a year.
Wow - cool post!
I snagged a few cast iron peices from my grandmother’s place after she died, including an awesome Dutch oven, complete with cover.
Unfortunately, many of these pieces have rust on them, or are generally “unsanitary” to my mind (my grandma was really sick in the years before she died and despite our hiring maids to clean up her house, it really went to hell).
So my question is, are there any ways to clean cast iron that retain the pan’s seasoning?
I’ve tried seasoning a few pans in my time and despite my best efforts, they always come out sticky and the oil on the pan goes rancid after a few days. I don’t know why this happens, as I’ve always followed the instructions to the letter, even going out any buying Crisco to use instead of vegetable oil. But seasoning is just something I can’t do very well.
Any ideas?
An old way to rescue a rusted skillet, if you have a fireplace, was to put it in the fire and keep it down in the hot coals all evening. Then you leave it there till the next day when you remove it. This removes all the old foodstuff, including cooked on grease. The next step goes contrary to common wisdom, but you scrub it thoroughly with an SOS pad (or steel wool and soap) and hot water. Rinse, rinse, rinse. You should end up with nice clean bare cast iron. Immediately grease it well, the old folks used Crisco IIRC, then season it in the oven as described above. Lard may go rancid. Repeat the seasoning a few times.
If the pans are rusted to the point of being severely pitted, you might want to give it up…
If you’re the experimenting type, Rex, I’ll bet that putting it in the oven and running the “self-clean” cycle would do the same as the coals in the fireplace.
Another question on the same theme: I’ve got a cast-iron grill pan that needs to be stored for a year. It’s soaking at the moment - what should I do tomorrow to keep it from rusting?
jjimm, I’ve found that if you dry your pan thouroughly, then give it a light coating of Pam or some other cooking spray, it will store quite handily.
I’ve had a cast iron chicken fryer that has been my “go-to” pot/pan for over 30 years. A yearly reseasoning and never letting soap touch it is the ticket! 
It’s probably going to rust, *jjimm. You can season it, dry it well and hope for the best, but the oils will eventually evaporate. I think that’s why the old folks had to occasionally use the method I described above. Back in the day, most pots and pans were cast iron, and they didn’t all get used a lot.
Loan it to someone who’ll use it?
Wow.
I got soap on mine. 
But the disgusting stuff I’ve had on it, soap is the only answer. Tomorrow I’ll scrub the bastard and lightly oil it ( we don’t have Pam here, whatever that is), then coat in kitchen roll and pack it. Thanks!
cast iron cookware is best suited for those who cook a lot. It just doesn’t do well sitting in a cupboard, unused. If it’s true, old time cast iron, it’ll eventually rust.
I gave all mine away because I’m single and didn’t cook all the time.
But, nothing’s better for cornbread. 
You don’t need to bake a pan in the over to season it. Just rub it down with an oil and put in on a fire or electric top oven until the oil just begins to smoke. Then turn off the heat.
Done.
Clean-up? Light soap and water rinse. I then put it back on the stove top heat to burn off water so as to prevent rusting.
Done.
The wonderful, wonderful thing about cast iron cookware (besides the nearly stick-free surface that comes from a seasoned coating) is its steelwoolableness.
Burnt food stuck on the pan? Rust? Scour it off with steel wool and re-season as above.
Done.
Peace.