Backstory:
I have a 12 inch cast-iron skillet the was improperly seasoned by me. Only used it once to disastrous results to the meal I was trying to prepare.
I let it sit unused for almost a year afterwards, then had a 7 month hospital stay on top of that.
(This was not a cheapo skillet, sorry I can’t remember the brand offhand, but do remember proudly bringing it home).
Present day:
When I returned, there it was sitting in all its’ rusted glory. Mostly on the bottom cooking portion of the pan.
My impulse is to just throw into a campfire until it is glowing red and starting over.
So I sheepishly call upon the collective wisdom of the SDMB about what to do next.
Feel free to call me names. :o
Just scrub it down with a scouring pad until it’s clean and re-season:
Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Pour a tablespoon of oil into the pan. Pretty much any edible oil will work. Rub it all over the pan with a paper towel. Do the outside and bottom of the pan, too.
Put the entire thing upside-down on the center rack of your oven. Let it bake for 1 hour.
After 1 hour turn off the heat and let it cool.
Done!
I’d go easy on it at first. Just fry a few eggs in it or something like that.
I agree wiht DCnDC, though when it comes to seasoning, I’ve always just done a couple batches of bacon and then rinsed and wiped it clean and that works just fine.
If it’s actually rusty, not just dirty, you’ll want to get that rust off first. Steel wool if it’s not too bad, a small hand sander would be useful if it’s deep/extensive.
Thanks for all replies. I don’t want to discard the skillet during the annual fall clean-up. But the way the skillet looks now reminds me of vector diseases and cross contamination. Hence the trial-by-fire campfire idea. Besides, It is raining here today so that idea is out the window.
The bacon thing is out, much to my chargrin. My landlord/housemate is sensitive/allergic/WhoKnowsWhat to cooking bacon. Her house/her rules. I will try the other methods above. Wish me luck!
This. Some steel wool is probably enough, but if it’s not, then I’d start with sandpaper. After all the rust is gone (feel free to use plenty of soap and water to help this process along) THEN it’s time to season it.
I’d start by smearing oil on it and roasting it, as recommended above. Then I would use it for several batches of popcorn. (any lid that fit’s loosely is fine to keep the corn in.) My cast iron pan always looks happy after I make popcorn. Or cornbread. But I’d start with popcorn, which basically can’t stick, and work up to other foods.
Cast iron makes terrific popcorn. Use an oil you like. Olive is a little fussy due to the low smoke point, but tasty. Ghee or goose fat are terrific. Peanut oil isn’t as tasty, but it’s cheap and easy to use.
I just re-seasoned an old cast iron pan I found at my parents. It hadn’t been used in years and was very similar to what you describe.
I did the basically same as DCnDC suggests:
Used an SOS pad to scour the pan and remove the surface rust.
Dry the pan with paper towels then put the pan on a hot burner for a couple minutes to make sure 100% of the water is gone.
Once cooled down rub it down with about a TBSP or so of vegetable oil on a paper towel and wipe out all excess with a new paper towel.
Put in a preheated oven at 450F for 30 minutes
Repeat step 3 & 4, three or four times and you’re ready to go.
Repeating the wipe down and heating did an amazing job of building up the seasoning quickly. I just set a timer on my phone and left the oven on and went about reading SDMB or whatever while it I repeated things. Very easy.
Ha! I knew it. I was just going to reply and assure you it’s a Lodge. They are ALL Lodge’s. Except for mine, of course. Like a fool, I shelled out the additional $5 for a Calphalon. Or is it Calaphon? I can never remember.
You can run a cast iron pan through the self-clean cycle of a self cleaning oven to clean any old seasoning off the surface, although I doubt it will remove rust. You probably want to scrub the rust out as well as possible with steel wool first, then self-clean, then re-season.
Not mine, either. A neighbor picked it up for a buck at a rummage sale. It’s made in China, and doesn’t say the brand on it. But it’s a nice getting pan with a smooth (not lumpy) finish.
Take the skillet with you.
