How do you season cast iron cookware?

[Jimandrod]

Originally Posted by DFord79

Lodge Manufacturing

Here is the instructions from LODGE CAST IRON COOKWARE. LODGE by the way is the accepted "airstream" of cookware if I may. It is the oldest, best selling cast iron in the business. I think they probably know best. It sure works for me.

Yup - this is THE definative way to season cast iron. I was looking for this on the Lodge web site but all I came up with was the use and care for Lodge Logic pre-seasoned cookware.

[53flyingcloud]

Greetings Stef. This appearance you spoke of on your cast iron is caused by NOT wiping the excess oil off before seasoning. A short outline of what I do is. Use virgin oil, preferably the FlaxSeed oil, as it has one of the highest smoke temp range. After cleaning the CI skillet (E-Tank, etc) I bake the CI in the oven for a few minutes, first to drive off all moisture then coat it lightly with virgin FlaxSeed oil. Thren take a drier cloth and wipe it dry again. (there will be oil on it, you just don't need to see it dripping or wet) Place in the top rack in the oven upside down. The lower rack, place a sheet of aluminum shiny side up. Turn on Oven to 300F for 30 minutes, then up the oven temp by 50 F for each 30 minutes..Finally at 450F to 500F, leave it for 2 hours..Turn off, and allow it to cool naturally for atleast 2 hours before removing. Many purist tht I know, will repeat this process 5 or 6 times to get that proper seasoning. First cook off use bacon. Nothing better~!

[bhayden]

I noticed the Lodge link no longer works. But you can go to this page and skip down to Refurbish Your Finish.

One thing I've found recently is that when I have some really stuck on gunk, like seems to happen with breakfast sausage, letting it soak with white vinegar or adding just a splash of vinegar to some water seems to do the trick. I'll caution that our cast iron is very old and has a base seasoning layer that's been built up over decades of use.

Lodge has been around for 120 years. But Wagner Ware had a small head start. They used to dominate the market and Wagner Ware Sidney accounts for about 1/2 of our collection.

Recently I've started using Avocado oil for cooking and have been very pleased.

[cameront120]

Originally Posted by bhayden

I noticed the Lodge link no longer works.

I suspect that's because it's an eight year old thread!

[OTRA15]

Ditto.

Here are the Lodge instructions:

https://www.lodgemfg.com/use-and-car...e-and-care.asp

FYI also -- a couple of newer threads about cast iron etc.:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f484...ing-64047.html
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f484...ing-40090.html

[Dingo Girl]

Stef, thanks for starting this thread. I've always wanted a cast iron skillet but never wanted to end up not using it because I could not season it properly.
Now I will try it.

[LY007]

My wife is a great cook, shops at four or five different grocery stores every week.

She swears that her $20 Lodge iron skillet is her best piece of cookware. She never puts soap on it; just wipes it thoroughly with paper towels and rinses it.

That skillet has made a lot of yummy stuff.

[Gearheart]

Bake corn bread in the skillet 'bout 100 batches should do it.

[OTRA15]

. . . and never scour the pan out with anything abrasive like brillo, etc.. Not even a rough scrub sponge IMO.

The best and oldest cast iron pans, the really used old ones, actually have a very thin layer of food coating the cast iron, which is baked on and in essence inert at this point.

"Seasoning" a new pan with oil simply starts a life-long process of coating the pan with a layer of oil/food on the microscopic level.

The pan should be hot with oil/butter before adding any food to it. Putting cold ingredients into a cold pan is a recipe for everything to stick together and make a real mess . . .



Have fun cooking!

Peter


PS -- The cast iron thread linked earlier has lots of hints like this in it:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f484...ing-64047.html

There is also a Lodge skillet thread I forgot to link earlier:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f484...et-145509.html

[cameront120]

If you haven't found it yet, check out Jeffrey Rogers YouTube channel. He's a cast iron collector and cook who shares loads of great info.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpD...pjAjdpqA5x6K6Q

[bhayden]

Originally Posted by cameront120

I suspect that's because it's an eight year old thread!

Let's get things back on track.
Mmmm, bacon

[OTRA15]

Putting the tow vehicle into the gear of Pork right now!

[SonOfAnder]

We recently picked up a new vintage cast iron and I did a Google search to figure out how the best way to get an a good hard finish on it. This article showed that Flax Seed oil is the best, but it is a process! Best suited for a cold winter day when you don't want to cook yourself out of the kitchen... I figured if I was doing one, I was doing them all at the same time!

https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how...ason-cast-iron

In summary, run your cast iron through the ovens Clean Cycle to burn off all of the old seasoning first! Let it cool for a day and scour it thoroughly. Then warm the pan, apply a very thin coat of good quality Flax seed oil, and put it upside down in a cool oven set to heat to 450-500 degrees. Cook for an hour after it preheats. Let it cool a few hours in the oven... Repeat five more times! Like I said, it is a process but it leaves a hard black surface that cleans off VERY easy.