Cast Iron + Carbon Steel Seasoning Thread

[Canalien]

Right, screw all that non-stick teflon crap. I swear by my cast iron frypan, grill and carbon steel wok.

What unites these things? Seasoning.

No, not chucking some spice into food; seasoning the metal to create a shiny, black, naturally non-stick patina on the surface that food will glide off of with ease. The thing is, it's a fine art to get just right and can be a real slut to maintain well. Basically seasoning is a process of heating the metal to open the pores of the surface and then burning some form of fat into it and cooling the surface repeatedly.

I intially tried seasoning with peanut oil, which was recommended to me but have since had MUCH more success with good ol' Lard. Yeah it doesn't smell fantastic when you intially put it on, but it works a charm. I've found the best way to season cookware is in the oven, but this can be a problem if there are wooden handles that cannot be removed as things start oozing out of them and getting damaged when they're exposed to high heats. I found this out the hard way when, having trouble heating the entire surface of my wok on a stove burner I stuck it in the oven and tried it there. I removed the long handle, but the short one got a bit burned. I wouldn't recommend doing that as I've since realized you only really need to season the bottom of a wok. For cast iron frying pans though, I thoroughly recommend heating them in a hot oven for half an hour, coating the interior surface with lard (use paper towel) and putting it back in for about an hour. Pull it out and wipe away the excess then let it cool down to room temperature (will take ages) before doing it all again.

Most people who use cast iron or carbon steel will know about essential do's and don't in terms of cleaning (intial machine oil removal, no-soap rule), but feel free to share your tips or experiences here. I've never been 100% full satisfied with my seasoning... Perfection seems to be a very sought after hard to achieve goal. If it sounds like something you'd want to try out, it's fuckin' cheap (shouldn't have to spend more than thirty bucks on ANY piece of cookware) and can be a satisfying experience to know you're involved in cooking your meals further than actually the food aspect.

[royale]

As soon as you clean cast iron or carbon steel cookware dry it well (put back on heat if necessary) then spray the surface with canned oil and wipe off excess. Keeps em seasoned and rust free.

[Supreme_Cmdr]

It's all good having a nicely seasoned wok, with that lovely black look, until someone gets the idea that you're too lazy to clean the thing and they clean it back to a nice shiney silver.

/me shakes fist

[Canalien]

Oh dude... all that work.

[Supreme_Cmdr]

Yeah wasn't a happy camper at all.

But it is getting back to its former glory.
I found that peanut oil was pretty good, always rinse and dry out after cooking. And add a fair dash of peanut oil and put it back on the burner for a little to warm up.
I love my wok, best kitchen investment I have made.

[JumpinJez]

heh, happened to my wok too, the MIL had scrubbed through a patch and I'm like "WTF!!?!11!! Bad lady. leave my wok alone. Now I don't know whether to scrb it all off and season all of it, or just try to reseason that patch.

Who has set teh smoke alarm off while seasoning a pan? ;)

[Canalien]

I'd go with scrubbing the sucker down and redoing unfortunately... you'll find that you'll get uneven heating with a bare patch.

As for the smoke alarm... been there. I usually open up every door and window in the aprtment before I start doing it, otherwise I can't find my way out of the kitchen.

[royale]

Smoke alarm, and scrubbing...BTDT.

As per Canalien- scrub back and re-season for best results

[That Bloke]

spray the surface with canned oil and wipe off excess. Keeps em seasoned and rust free.
On cast iron dutch ovens I rub butter into them.

[pliskin]

i too prefer cast iron pans to not stick, if u have a well seasoned pan, nothing should stick to it anyway
another thing we do at work is heat the pan up till its real frigging hot , then cover the bottom of the pan in a good 5mm of salt, all over. leave the pan to keep heating up, keep moving the salt around .eventually the salt will start to go a metallic blue color. discard the salt, and give the pan a wipe out to remove any of the remaining salt, then lightly oil.
the salt acts as a sanitiser and abrasive ,it will remove the built up carbon that forms on the pans,very good if u have found the rust spots forming as well.
we do this to all our cast iropn pans every month.

never cook tomatos in your nice seasoned pan. the acid from the tomato will eat away at the surface u have worked so hard to maintain

[Canalien]

Interesting method with the salt.... does that hurt the patina at all?

[pliskin]

sorry what do u mean by "patina"??

[beowulf437]

I have found animal fats work better for seasoning than vegtable oils as well. I use bacon grease to season with and have had good results for nearly 30 years.

[Canalien]

The patina is the name for the shiny smooth black coating that develops

[Glompbot]

Hang on..... I don't get this.

I prefer cooking with non-teflon coated surfaces... but i've never heard of this....

Can someone jump back a few steps and explain it to me?

[pliskin]

The patina is the name for the shiny smooth black coating that develops

it doesnt damage it at all. it just reaffirms it, the salt allows u to keep heatin the pan till it gets very hot, for a longer period of time, while allowing the pores to open up .

[JumpinJez]

Hang on..... I don't get this.

I prefer cooking with non-teflon coated surfaces... but i've never heard of this....

Can someone jump back a few steps and explain it to me?

From my understanding, Seasoning is a way of pretty much burning a coating of oil onto the pan, so it goes non stick. And its a good non stick as it can be subjected to high temps and you can use metal implements.

[beowulf437]

Green cast iron has a dull gray colour and is unprotected from rust. Seasoning bonds a high carbon surface patina to the iron.

To season cast iron properly coat the pan with a heavy layer of lard or bacon grease and place in a hot oven at 115 degrees C for 15 minutes. Remove the pan and and pour out the excess grease and place back in the oven for 2 hours.

The first few times the pan is used it should be for high fat foods as this will strengthen the seasoning.

[Canalien]

If you're buying a new peice of cast iron or carbon steel, soak it in really hot soapy water and scrub the living shit out of it with a steel scourer, then rinse it well. This is to remove the coating of machine oil that manufactuers cover them with to prevent corrosion before they're bought. If you get second hand, or inherit it, do this as well to remove any other crap that might be on there (rust, dirt, etc), and this way you're starting your own new seasoning from scratch. This is the ONLY time soap or a scourer should ever ever touch your items (unless you're restarting the process at some stage). Once seasoning has begun, only ever use hot water and a sponge/cloth whatever to clean it with. Then dry it over a medium heat and cover it in a very thin layer of oil. I've foound peanut oil works the best. Don't use vegetable oil as it will leave the surface sticky. Olive Oil is also out because of the low smoke point (there will be heaps of smoke next time you heat up the pan. You can use lard or bacon fat the same way but it can be a little harder to spread and it doesn't leave the surface shining like Peanut Oil will. So generally I season it with Lard and then use peanut oil to store it.

Also, the more you do it, and care for it, the smoother and slicker the surface gets. After a few months of regular use it'll be smoother than teflon bloody wonderful to cook with.