What do you use to season your cast iron? (Page 1 of 2)
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Posted: 6/4/2012 11:16:38 AM EDT
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I've always used either bacon fat or crisco, but I've been doing some reading where people use spray-on PAM with pretty good success. What say you? Poll inbound. -Slice |
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| Bacon grease works great. Also, Coconut oil is a very high-temp oil and really does work the best in my experience. It's all I use on my cast iron griddle for pancakes and such. |
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Originally Posted By Ceddie:
olive oil or seseme oil Olive oil has a very low flashpoint. It smokes up quickly. Also, don't use an oil that will leave a sticky residue. I have found that with Grapeseed oil. |
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Lard gets you that black color very quickly and works well, but has a strong odor when seasoning. I use it as a "base coat".
Canola oil gives you a hard and much lighter color season, not sticky at all, and is reasonably low odor. I use it as a "top coat", and just for general use while cooking etc. Pam is canola oil in a spray form IIRC. If you're brave and very careful, the fast and easy way to season is to heat the item up on a gas grill - once the initial coat smokes off, you can apply additional coats which only take a couple minutes each to "set". Plus odor isn't a problem outside. I'd recommend one of those silicone oven mitts for hand protection. |
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I'm experimenting with this, recently. Very happy with the results so far.
http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/ |
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Originally Posted By Arkady:
I'm experimenting with this, recently. Very happy with the results so far. http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/ Fantastic link! I just took the patina off my cast iron this weekend because I noticed caking and I was looking for a good seasoning method. Thanks for the post. |
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Linseed (flax) oil gives the toughes finish. The pure stuff - not what you buy at the hardware store which has metals in it for drying. You can buy it from specialty stores, or as a health supplement for lots of bucks, but I use the stuff I use for my woodworking;
http://www.triedandtruewoodfinish.com/ |
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| After cleaning, I put skillets on the stove to dry and spray with store brand cooking spray. Then it's ready to go next time. Sometimes after cooking spaghetti with meat sauce, I clean, dry, spray, then coat with cooking oil and put in a 350* oven and turn the oven off. Next day cast iron is ready. If we are cooking hoe cakes, grilled cheese, french toast or pancakes, I'll fry some potatoes in cooking oil to get the stronger flavors out. The last new cast iron was about 15 years ago; couple dutch ovens and a griddle. Washed really well, dried in an oven, then coated with cooking oil. Did the start at 350* and turn off trick. All of our daily cast iron cookware are heirlooms and will be passed down again after we are gone. |
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I use Olive Oil, and I apply it about 6 or 7 times to cure it. I do this out doors on a cook stove.
I apply olive oil when the cast is very very hot, I then keep applying the oil as it cooks off. I get a very nice pantene and it does not smell so bad if I use the cast indoors to cook with later. My cast looks great and does not rust, I keep it stored in my garage. I have used different oils in the past and some of them leave the cast smelling rancid after its been stored awhile without use. I notice that with some oils that mice are attracted to the cast and can be seen licking the cast trying to get the taste off it. Olive oil does not attract mice, smell bad when cooking, does not allow rust to form of cast. For this reason I use Olive oil and have had great results with it. After I get thru cooking, I allow the cast to cool a little and then place it in scalding hot water, no soap. I rub it down with a scouring pad, I wipe it with a paper towel then I place it on the stove to dry even more. I take a paper towel with olive oil on it and apply a thin coat for storage. Here are pictures of my cast, it speaks for itself my method. 
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its not so much of what oil or fat you use its about how you do it.
seriously. in the end i use just plain veggie oil. i will use any of the oils mentioned so far. i used avacado oil once but it didnt do anything special and that shits expensive. |
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Originally Posted By Arkady:
I'm experimenting with this, recently. Very happy with the results so far. http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/ That explains what I've experienced so far very well. I'd never thought to try flax oil, will have to give it a shot. |
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Originally Posted By Arkady:
I'm experimenting with this, recently. Very happy with the results so far. http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/ Fantastic link! I just took the patina off my cast iron this weekend because I noticed caking and I was looking for a good seasoning method. Thanks for the post. |
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Originally Posted By Phlather:
its not so much of what oil or fat you use its about how you do it. seriously. in the end i use just plain veggie oil. i will use any of the oils mentioned so far. i used avacado oil once but it didnt do anything special and that shits expensive. This. Use a good oil, put a really, really, really thin layer on the CI, use enough temps to polymerize the oil. Pretty simple. |
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I would recommend either a Griswold or Wagner Ware cast iron skillet. (check on Ebay, since they don't make these anymore) I bought one about a year ago and love it, worth every penny. The surface is as smooth as glass. In my opinion, seasoning isnt' something you coat it with a few times, it's something that occurs over time the longer you use it. We normally use olive oil and keep the temperature low so it doesn't smoke. When I cook something like a steak I don't use anything. I guess if the pan was bone dry, like if I wanted to bake all the seasoning out and start over I'd probably start with bacon grease or just cook some greasy sausages in it or something with a lot of fat.
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Sheryl say's flaxseed is $1 an ounce! No thanks. For years, lard, bacon, and cooking oil worked fine. Next we'll be hearing: 'We are running only flaxseed oil on my Grissy' , 'my Griswold sips flaxseed', 'Our cast iron platform only gets flaxseed oil', 'all other oil will go rancid', 2 gallons of flaxseed oil is one and 1 gallon of flaxseed oil is none', 'midway has a 55 gallon drum for only $7000!', how much flaxseed oil to store', 'heads up everybody Bed, Bath, and Beyond has flaxseed oil', 'store some condoms so you can trade flaxseed oil for ammo', & 'if you dip your bird shot in flaxseed oil it will stop leather jacket wearing meth heads across a 75 foot wide living room. Bah! 
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Originally Posted By Gamma762:
That explains what I've experienced so far very well. I'd never thought to try flax oil, will have to give it a shot. Originally Posted By Gamma762:
Originally Posted By Arkady:
I'm experimenting with this, recently. Very happy with the results so far. http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/ That explains what I've experienced so far very well. I'd never thought to try flax oil, will have to give it a shot. In the intervening years I've seasoned two or three things with flax and it's done very well. Still use canola for pre and after use wipedowns etc, but the flax for a dedicated seasoning oil gave excellent results. |
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| As I was taught, Warm it up to 350 in the over. Wipe it down with canola inside and out while still hot. Throw a pound of bacon in and back in the oven till the bacon is done. Eat bacon let pan cool with grease still in it. Clean pan and repeat bacon treatment daily. |
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Originally Posted By Dokgaebi:
Fantastic link! I just took the patina off my cast iron this weekend because I noticed caking and I was looking for a good seasoning method. Thanks for the post. Originally Posted By Dokgaebi:
Originally Posted By Arkady:
I'm experimenting with this, recently. Very happy with the results so far. http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/ Fantastic link! I just took the patina off my cast iron this weekend because I noticed caking and I was looking for a good seasoning method. Thanks for the post. It's funny the guy is soooo worried about "natural this" and "organic that" - yet, he strips off the old patina with oven-cleaner! LOL Shouldn't the pan just be scoured with super-fine steel wool? |
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I just did this Lodge 10" skillet a couple weeks ago. The owner had been using it to as a dog food dish - outside.  No before pics, but I cleaned it up using a grinder with a wire cup; took about 20 minutes all told. After cleaning it off with hot water, I immediately dried it off, then sprayed a covering of Pam spray oil all over it. Put it in an oven at about 200-225 degrees to get rid of all the water and moisture. Wiped the pan dry, dry, dry, then put the wood to it - 350-400 degrees for an hour or so. After that, I used lard for the 2nd seasoning, same temps. This is after two seasonings and frying some fatback (salt pork) in it:  Same pan after frying some bacon and eggs:  Needless to say, the customer was very happy with the results!. |
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| In the intervening years of this thread I've gone almost exclusively to using grapeseed oil for seasoning. It's so aggressive at "drying" that you can actually season something without heat, just takes a long time. Put on successive very thin coats with say a month or so between coats. Of course the usual process of seasoning works very well with it. |
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