About a year ago I bought a cast iron pan - a Lodge. From Target, I think.
I seasoned it well, and have since used it only for sauteeing or pan-frying. I clean it with cold water, sometimes a salt scrubbing, and re-season with oil and let it bake, oiled, in the stove for an hour or three after most cleanings.
But still, it tends to accumulate sticky cooking crud at times, and has never attained that hard, shiny patina that I associate with a really well-seasoned cast-iron pan. For the record, mostly I cook vegetables in olive oil. So it doesn’t get bathed in bacon grease or steak drippings very often.
Is there something else I should be doing? Am I under-seasoning? Over-seasoning and cleaning too often? Should I use it more for meat (mmmm, bacon)? Or does a really perfect, slick cast iron skillet start with a better product than a Lodge?
Couple things. If you really want a nice surface and quickly flax seed oil works really well. See this article which has been really well received.
Secondly, in general animal fat works better than vegetable oils, and more than anything you need time to get the seasoning even and solid. Lodge is a fine product, but it will take several years to get to what you are expecting.
I’ve read in the past cast iron skillets had smoother, machined cooking surfaces, which from a non-stick standpoint worked better than the rougher surface you find on something like a new Lodge (I have two, and also try to be careful with cleaning, (re)seasoning them etc - for me they’re just about more trouble than they’re worth, perhaps if I were frying chicken every day or something I’d think differently).
I have a skillet that was made in 1908 with a machined finish and while the surface is noticeably smoother, it isn’t noticeably more non stick than my newer Lodge skillet. It is significantly lighter and easier to cook with, but that’s a different issue.
Flaxseed oil is definitely the way to go. I hadn’t seen the particular article linked above, so I think I’ll do the extra layers of oil plus high temps to really lay down a nice base on top of what I’ve been creating on my newish pan.
NAF - thank you! Great link and I will use flax or animal-based fats going forward.
Ogre - yah. I looked used for a while but got turned off by people on eBay charging, literally, hundreds of dollars for cast iron cookware. Plus I simply couldn’t find used cast iron skilllets locally. Perhaps that is par for the course because demand is high, or worth it for cooking geeks.
zomby - I have read that too, and also that buying a higher-quality product (ie Griswold instead of Lodge) is worth the extra money.
People often note that flaxseed oil goes bad quickly.
Does this matter for seasoning pans? I mean, oil going rancid is basically oxidization, right? But once I put it in the oven at 500 degrees for a few hours, I imagine it’s pretty well oxidized. Shouldn’t make a difference, right?
They have, but I also read that the smooth, machined surface really don’t make them any more non-stick than the more grainy surfaces of today. I have some cast iron pans with no visible grain to them (like sheet metal smooth) and one Lodge (which has a “sandy” look to it), and, as long as you get them seasoned well, they both behave very well.
The flax seed oil method has worked well for me. I was skeptical at first, but it really does seem to get a nice, slick surface down a lot faster than more traditional methods like cooking lots of lard or bacon grease or whatnot. The key is when greasing the pan, regardless of your fat of choice, is not letting it pool up. You want a very thin layer. I remove excess oil with a paper towel and let it heat up until it smokes. To maintain, I find that a simple cooking spray like Pam works perfectly fine.
Once you get a good patina going–no matter your seasoning–it seems pretty to keep pretty well. I’ve used soap, cooked tomato sauces, and so forth on cast iron with a solid seasoning, and they’ve not been worse for wear. But you have to get a good base to begin with.
I agree with bacon grease or frying chicken or similar with vegetable oil. I’m still trying to get my wok seasoned well, but it’s getting there. My skillet is awesome and i love it.
A few years ago my in-laws… my in-laws… let’s just say they cheerfully helped me with the couple decades of seasoning I had on my cast iron. Takes time to get back to the kind of pan you want to use as a pillow.
And I no longer need to get there. A while back a Doper mentioned Olvida nickle-plated cast iron. We now have two of their pans and are never looking back.
They’re pricey, but so very worth it. All the benefits of cast iron. ALL the benefits, and then some: They can also take steel wool, a dishwasher, and any acidic sauce you want–and make the most delicate, non-pan-flavoured crepes two minutes later.