Coat your new cast iron pan inside and out with bacon grease or olive oil, I prefer bacon grease. Put the pan in the oven and set the temperature to 400 degrees. After an hour, turn the oven off and allow it to cool. Your pan is now seasoned. Never wash the pan with soap of any kind!
All cooking oils and fats can be used for seasoning cast iron, but based on availability, affordability, effectiveness, and having a high smoke point, Lodge recommends vegetable oil, melted shortening, or canola oil, like our Seasoning Spray.
Lightly coat the surface of the pan with a small amount (1t -- 1T) of oil or fat of choice. You don't want too much oil, so wipe any excess oil away with a paper towel. The entire pan should be lightly coated with oil or fat, but not dripping.
All in all, you'll want to do this oiling-and-heating process three to four times, to set down a good initial layer of your own seasoning. Once you're done, just let the pan cool down. It's now ready for cooking.
You need to reseason your cast iron only occasionally—the pans actually get better with age when cared for properly—but you should still apply a fine layer of oil after every use. Luckily, seasoning cast-iron cookware is incredibly easy, says Ross.
Set your clean and dry skillet in a 200° F oven for 15 minutes. Heat opens the pores of cast iron, so that it will easily accept the seasoning. Cast iron retains heat and the entire pan (including the handles) will get hot- so don't forget to use an oven mitt or potholder when you take the pan out of the oven.
Rinsing your skillet with cold water while cleaning off rust will help prevent new rust from forming quickly. After scrubbing and rinsing your skillet, make sure you dry it thoroughly by heating it for a few minutes on the stovetop. Once dry, coat the skillet all over in a thin layer of seasoning oil.
Oil, especially canola oil (bad, unhealthy oil), should not be used. If a quick oiling (not seasoning) in between is desired, it's best to use a high temperature oil like avocado. A quick rub can do the trick, if your pan looks a bit dry. I have one pan that is about 100 years old!
We get lots of questions about this, so we thought we'd share our guide on how to properly season a cast iron pan: Wash the pan well and rinse, then dry completely. Coat the interior of the pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil, lard or shortening. Avoid using butter or a low smoke point oil such as olive oil.
The oil or fat creates a barrier that prevents oxygen from coming into contact with the iron. Seasoning also gives your skillet a non-stick surface. This is because the fat fills in the pores of the cast iron.
I have a cast wok that I've been seasoning quarterly for 3 years now, and a skillet that's been seasoned at least a dozen times over the last few years. But really, try to shoot for at least 3–4 layers if you want to have a nice even layer of polymerized oil.
Lodge did this by suspending the cookware from hooks and dipping them into a vat of hot carnauba bean wax. The wax was water soluble and could be washed off at home, however people had to dry, oil, and bake their iron in the oven before they cooked with it so that food would not stick.
🤔 Myth: You can't use soap to clean cast iron. 🤯 Fact: You can use mild dish soap to clean cast iron. The seasoning on our cast iron is fairly resilient and can withstand a little bit of soap, water, and a good scrub with a brush.
You should only need to fully re-season your cast-iron cookware one to two times a year, but you may also want to give it some extra seasoning love anytime you cook something that requires a heavy-duty cleaning.
Common cooking oils like olive oil will gradually produce seasoning, but won't be as effective as grapeseed oil. Canola, other vegetable oils, and shortening are a little better.
Eggs fall into the category of sticky foods that are not ideal for cast iron skillets that haven't built up their seasoning yet. While cast iron can become non-stick with sufficient use over time, a newer skillet will almost certainly cause your eggs to stick to its porous surface.
The Cause: Occasionally food may stick to your cast iron cookware. This can happen for a variety of reasons, such as not using enough fat or oil when cooking, using cookware that isn't well seasoned, or when breaking in new cookware that hasn't built up additional layers of seasoning.
In many cases, you should avoid cooking acidic ingredients such as tomatoes, lemon juice, wine, and vinegar in your cast-iron skillet.
Bake upside down in the oven at 350 degrees F for 1 hour (line the rack below with foil to catch any oil drips). This will protect the surface and give it an almost nonstick quality.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the cast iron for about an hour, and let it cool entirely in the oven. If your skillet didn't come pre-seasoned, you may need to season it three or four times to get a good layer of seasoning before you start cooking with it.
Wash while it's still warm.
The water should be warm too, as you never want to shock cast iron with a sudden and drastic temperature change from cold water, since this could cause warping and even cracking. Wash with something that will scour but not scratch.