Jeepers! I’ve been to six sites so far, and gotten six conflicting results. Use bacon fat or beef tallow. For God’s sake, DON’T use bacon fat or beef tallow!! Use inexpensive olive oil. Don’t use olive oil, it doesn’t oxidise properly, use canola or corn oil. NEVER use canola oil as it is semi-permiable and imparts a metallic taste. Sheesh! I just want to fry up some chicken like Gramma Magic-Gro used to make.
For the record, Gramma M seemed to use alot of peanut oil in her cooking, but I haven’t seen anybody recommend it for seasoning cast iron (and some specifically say not to).
My sis is one of those cast-iron skillet fanatics(never even uses soap when washing her’s) and said that a regular extra-virgin olive oil works just fine. Says she, using soap to wash it is the worst thing you can do.
CRISCO, and I soap the hell out of it to clean it. not really sure how that works but I never have to crisco it again. I am not sure what seasoning does.
I would think it depends on how you plan to cook. If you use high heat stay away from oils such as olive that can breakdown at high temp (use penut or canola) - usually during seasoning you want a heat resistant oil or you have to season at a lower temp.
I love beef talow and IMHO you should that whenever practable.
for the iqnorant, cast iron cooking is the way to go. get a cookbook for it though. and a cast iron lid. funny thing is that the lid cost as much as the skillet.
No magic, just use an oil with a high smoke point. I would use peanut oil despite the link. Olive oil smokes at a low temerature and there is no reason to use extra virgin to season a pan is just a waste of money. Extra virgin olive oil has “impurities” in it (which is why it tastes so good).
Beef fat would work as well. I’d avoid bacon fat unless you have strained it to eliminate any solids. Otherwise it will probably smoke.
Avoid cooking anything acidic or especially watery until the pan is very well seasoned. Tomato sauce would not be a good idea.
I usually season it every 10 uses or so, less often if I don’t use it much.
Seasoning closes the pores in the iron and makes the pan non-stick. If you’ve seen Grandma’s (or my Aunt Mary’s), they’re going to be shiny-black from use. This is what seasoning helps accomplish.
I tried to use Pam spray as a shortcut once. Bad move. It turned to a sticky mess that I thought I was going to have to sandblast off. Finally got it off with a pressure washer and simple green.
I only re-season if I cook something acidic or something like beans, rice or gravy that leaves a sticky film.
I never ever use any detergent tho, only salt as a scrubbing agent and hot water, 'cause that’s the way that I was told it was done*
*I have some hierloom cast iron ware that are 85-90 years old, and beyond a doubt are the best cooking utensils in my kitchen.
I’ve got a fifth-generation cast-iron skillet, and lemme tell ya, this sucker wasn’t seasoned with anything from a can. Bacon, bacon, bacon. Fry a pound of bacon in it, drain the excess grease, use a paper towel to smear the rest around, and leave it in the oven on low overnight. There is no other proper way to season cast iron.
To clean: pour in a tablespoon or so of table salt (kosher salt doesn’t have the edges to the crystals), take a paper towel, and scrub the hell out of it.
I’ve always used Crisco if I am actually seasoning it i.e. greasing it up and putting it in the oven to bake for an hour or so. I would never put a skillet in the dishpan to soak but if it needs it, I’ll wash in soapy water, dry throughly and then just put a light coat of Crisco on. If your pan is well seasoned it rarely needs scrubbing.
I really don’t think it matters what kind of grease you use, just use it. And go easy on the scrubbing.
When my daughter Missy moved out I gave her two skillets that had been my grandmother’s. Missy’s college roomates used to put these cherished heirlooms in the dishwasher–the equivilent of death to an iron skillet–until she threatened to smack someone upside da head with it if she found it in there again. They never did understand what all the fuss was about.
Peanut oil. It has a higher flash point, so it won’t smoke. I use my skillet for baking, it makes killer oven fried chicken. It lives in the oven, cause it’s too big to put anywhere else. After I clean it, with soap, I smear a small amount of oil all over the inside, and put it back in the oven, which is usually still hot, and it stays perfectly seasoned. I love my Cast Iron Skillet, I use it almost every day.
If you have to strip an iron pan down any strong base will do. Oven cleaner works great it you want to clean all traces of oil. Steel only as it will attack aluminum including hard anodized.
Have you bothered to look at the instruction book? or is it second hand?
The Lodge (brand) that I’ve got says use Crisco.
I cheated. I smeared it all over, inside & out (I had notions of smearing…oh…never mind) and put it on the grill, at a relatively low temp. It’s been black as soot ever since. The only thing I do with it to clean it is a plastic ‘bun’.
Maybe so, but I know an even better way to season a cast iron pan.
Lard. Lots of lard. A pan full of yummy, hot, lard.
Then, as long as you’ve got a pan full of hot lard, make a batch of donuts. Best way to season a pan…make donuts.
The first few times you use it after the initial seasoning, it will not be non-stick. It takes time to build up that carbon coating. You can keep sticking to a minimum if you first heat the pan, then add the oil, and immediately add the food. For cleaning, hot water only and your scouring method of choice…salt, a ScotchBrite, a Dobie…but no soap or detergent. I usually wipe down the inside with some canola oil on a paper towel between uses.
To keep the pan seasoned, use it and use it often. My 80 year old 22" Griswold pan is black, shiny, and smooth as silk on the inside. Cooked some parmesan garlic potatoes in it on the grill for supper. If I’m making bacon or sausage, I put the pan in a cold oven and preheat it to 400º and fry it in the oven. My newer Wagner pans aren’t quite up to par yet, but they’re getting there.
If you’ve got older pans with a rough carbon buildup on the outside you need to get that off. It can cause uneven heating, and it takes longer to get the pan up to temp. The easiest and most painless way it to bury the pan in the hot coals of your next bonfire or campfire. When the coals have cooled, scrub it inside and out with salt and hot water to remove the soot, and reseason.
The real problem is that older, GOOD cast iron was ground smooth on the inside before being sold. Newer cast iron is left unfinshed, with the basic sand-cast surface left as it came from the mold.
In fact, a good place to find cast iron pans is at a thrift shop or second hand store.
I conditioned the new skillet I bought a few weeks ago by sanding the living hell out of it first, with a coarse wet paper, then seasoning it with Crisco. Been about a month now and it’s just starting to get good.
As a experienced cast Iron cooker, I know there is nothing better to use than plain, old fashioned LARD. Vegetable oil works, but it doesnt hold up to the use that lard will. Olive oil…it might work, but, then, the american pioneers didnt exactly have an abundance of olive trees. Bear fat will also work, but it leaves a taste only for those whos desire to be authentic is overkill
<for the health consious…you dont have to use lard to cook, just to season.>
Sheesh, trust yuppies “experts” to complicate something as simple as cooking with a good, black iron skillet.
Seasoning seals the pan against rust while providing a permeable barrier while cooking. A well seasoned skillet will be almost non-stick (with some sensible temperature handling*) while still providing nutritional iron.
Still using my grandmother’s cast iron skillets, btw.
Yes, you can wash it–with soap. Do NOT leave crusty food bits in there! It’s yucky and causes future sticking problems. Get it clean, dry it out w/ a towel and put the pan over a low flame to dry thoroughly. Dab a little oil/Crisco/whatever on a paper towel and swab a VERY thin film over the entire cooking surface. Swab again w/ clean towel to remove excess. Return pan to heat until very hot. Allow to cool. Store uncovered.
Use whatever oil suits how you usually use the pan and what you have handy. It will impart a bit of taste and effect the preheating. (I’m getting to that.) Bacon grease, etc. are fine but can smoke easily. Crisco, canola, olive oil, and especially safflower and peanuts oils are less tricky at high temps.
To keep a cast iron skillet almost non-stick: Preheat it! Put it–dry–over the burner until hot. THEN add your lube of choice. With a little care food won’t stick. But you’ll need to get the pan hot enough without the seasoning to get funky.
