So I have a new cast iron pan. It says it’s “preconditioned.” Is there anything else I need to do or just start cooking?
There’s no standard meaning to that. I would assume it’s at least been cleaned of machining oils and debris. No matter what it says I would follow standard seasoning procedures that you’ll find a number of threads about, or someone with a little more time right now will provide some links.
It may have a rough surface which has been discussed in some threads also, you might go to the extent of smoothing that surface before you start.
Or you could just use it. The CIPP* are unlikely to raid your kitchen, and even if they do they might show some ‘professional courtesy’.
*CIPP - Cast Iron Pan Police
Just cook a pound or two of bacon in it.
This may help: Q&A: What is pre-seasoned cookware?
xkcd has some advice.
Give it a proper scrub, get some flaxseed oil and season it correctly the first time.
While there is a lot of debate (seriously you can spend days reading the back and forth) on the right way to season, I have tried a bunch of different methods and flaxseed works best.
This from cooks illustrated has a decent set of instructions.
Here’s the thing though, even with a proper base seasoning, you are going to have to cook in it, a lot, to really get it set. Don’t expect to fry eggs in it next week. Expect stuff to stick, even with proper seasoning, for a good bit of time. Part of that is going to be on you not knowing how to use it correctly yet. Part of that is just the process. Don’t worry about it too much, cook in it often and it will be fine. Unless you drop it its sort of hard to ruin it. Don’t put it in the diswasher. Don’t let soap touch it for at least a year of regular use. But go ahead and rinse it with water. Just be sure to dry it off.
I use crisco to wipe it down after I use it because flaxseed oil is expensive and I find crisco maintains the surface better than olive oil or vegetable oil.
What brand? I assume Lodge?
Fresh Australian Kitchen
My Mom wasn’t a good cook (we grew up on beans and vienna sausage, etc) but she took good care of cast iron, she’d wipe it out and rinse it with hot water then put it on the stove over medium flame to dry, then she’d wipe it with vegetable oil and heat it just to smoke point, cool it, wipe it down, store it. I’ve abused my big cast iron skillet for 25 years on the grill and in campfires but it looks and works great following Mom’s ritual. After you mess with cast iron a while buy one of those real nice ceramic and iron dutch ovens like Creuset, whole different world.
Interesting. I use Crisco in the oven to season. I just use light oil to wipe down. I bet there are 100s of ways to do this.
There really are. It’s actually stupid.
Flaxseed oil really does give a remarkably slick surface though. It’s worth giving a shot if you ever think of it.
Just use it.
I do everything you’re not supposed to do to cast iron pans and yet, they are still my first choice pans to cook with.
Seconded. I don’t do anything special either, and my cast iron pan is still my top choice for lots of cooking. I just use oil when cooking, clean with water and a stiff nylon brush, and dry and oil it after cleaning. Sometimes a little bit of the seasoning flakes off, but underneath there’s more seasoning, and any slight pits are filled with new layers of seasoning. Really, the most remarkable thing about cast iron is that it is a self-healing surface.
Admittedly, I can’t fry an egg in my cast iron pan. But for that I have a cheapass nonstick pan, which costs less than a bottle of flaxseed oil, and it works for cooking eggs with zero preparation or maintenance.
Since I got a cast iron pizza pan, the only thing I use my cast iron for pan for is cooking a steak in the broiler. Well, occasionally I’ll make a Yorkshire pudding.
I also got one of those supposedly miraculous red copper pans. It’s not miraculous, but it’s easier to clean than teflon and less of a hassle than cast iron.
For years I had great difficulty keeping my cast iron pans seasoned properly. Nothing ruins the seasoning faster than washing the pans with water, but sometimes there just wasn’t any other way to clean them. Finally I found some pan scrapers sold specifically as cast-iron scrapers, and they did the trick. They’re made of a plastic just hard enough to remove any stuck-on food residue without damaging the seasoning. And the best part is that once you can get the feedback going the right way- the better the seasoning is, the less food sticks in the first place, so the less you have to scrape- the pans almost take care of themselves.
Washing a cast iron pan with water isn’t going to do anything to the seasoning, which is almost a kind of plastic.
After I’ve cooked with mine, I run it under water and give it a quick scrub with gentle soap. The water beads away from the seasoning and the pan’s surface barely needs to be dried.
People tend to think that cast iron is old and therefore it needs to be babied. Nothing could be further from the truth. A lot of families in very tough conditions used cast iron daily, and I promise that they weren’t overly concerned about maintaining the seasoning. The beauty of the stuff is that it self-regulates so long as you cook with some sort of oil on a semi-regular basis.
tl;dr: Water won’t hurt your cast iron unless you’re trying soak it to air dry it.
Or. Or air dry it. Soaking something to air dry it would be pretty ineffectual.