How I season Cast Iron

[DaQatz]

I wanted to do a "seasoning" post. And I had beat on this pan a little hard so I re-stripped it.
 

 
The first step to seasoning your pan is simple. Heat the pan up. Not too hot though only around 200°F. And the oil it(I used Crisco). You heat the pan to "open it's pores". Once it's oiled let the pan stand for a few hours to absorb a little of the oil.
 
Once the pan has sit a little while get a clean towel, and wipe as much of the grease off as you can. The pan should "feel dry" to the touch, and have no shine. I will explain why this is a little later.
 

 
Oil a towel LIGHTLY. Heat your pan slowly up to a medium heat, or just until it starts to smoke a little. Now grease the cooking surface of the pan in a circular pattern like shown with your towel.
You should continue doing this until the surface of the pan no longer "beads" and it feels dry. You may be able to see a "dry" streaking pattern on the pan at this point.
 

 
"Beads" are small droplets of oil that form as you heat the pan. Those are those tiny spots you see in this picture. If just left alone they would leave small "bumps" in your seasoning. Which makes for an inferior cooking surface. This is also why when we oiled the pan we wiped it dry. The thinner the oil, the smaller the beads.
 

 
As you heat the oil it starts to harden, or "coagulate" Wiping quickly in circles smears these bumps flat when they reach a "jelly like" texture. After this the oil stays flat, and the surface feels dry.
 

 
Pre-heat your oven to around 425°F. And bake it for about an hour. Turn off the oven, but DO NOT remove the pan. Let the oven go completely cool first.
 

 
 
Just a little color. This is because we had such a thin coat of oil. The pan did not darken very much. You will have to repeat the process 4 or 5 times to give the pan a thick enough layer of seasoning.
 

 
While I was repeating the process I managed to get a shot of larger "oil beads"
 

 
Seasoning porn.
 

 
Continued...
 

 

[Wustenfuchs]

Cool thread!

 

[DaQatz]

And some "no oil egg test" porn. Look at that reflection, and shine.
Youtube link for those who prefer them over gifs

The egg, rubbed into hot sauce of course.

 

[SciurusDoomus]

Nice! Going to do this with my mini skillet. Thank you.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Very nice vintage Wagner! They don't machine the bottoms anymore, and casting leaves bumps, the vintage pans are the way to go. Perfectly smooth cooking surface. Eggs are a dream on those things.

 

[DaQatz]

Very nice vintage Wagner! They don't machine the bottoms anymore, and casting leaves bumps, the vintage pans are the way to go. Perfectly smooth cooking surface. Eggs are a dream on those things.

Yeah, but it's so much rougher then my Griswolds. You can see the machining on Wagner's while Griswolds bottoms are perfectly smooth.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Post a pic. I did notice the swirls and some chopped peaks, not being perfectly machined flat, yes. I'd like to see your Griswold!
 
Either way, today's Lodge is no comparison. Those are cast and that's it.

 

[DaQatz]

 

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Oh yeah that's slick.

 

[Sarg3]

We've got 7 or so that have always been washed.  They're in bad shape and I believe they are all extremely old. I've always been leery of baking one with oil on it though so haven't done anything to them.  Few of them are rusty looking.

 

[salsalady]

Browning, I'd be happy to adopt your old rusty CI, I'll even pay for shipping.....(uh oh!  might be sorry I said that!!!!)   
 
I have a newer Lodge dutch oven and it's no comparison to the #8 Chicken Pan with lid, the Griswold waffle iron or the 10" un-branded fry pan. 
 
My Mom has some CI that's probably 70 years old.  Never seen a dishwasher or detergent.  She fried our eggs in those CI pans all the while we were at home.  It probably helped that she used generous portions of bacon grease...which she kept in a tin can next to the stove...for frying the eggs...but DAYM!  they tasted GUUD!!! 
 
 
A while ago, my parents were doing estate planning and asked if there was anything we kids had a particular interest in... My first thought was..."Keep the family jewelry, send me the Iron."  Add in the fact that neither of my sister-in-law's would know how to use or appreciate a good CI.... ;rolleyes: 
 
 
 
 
Thanks for sharing your technique, DaQatz.   This will help tons of CI for years to come.      There definitely is a difference in CI cookware as to how it's made and the Old -v- New pieces. 

 

[DaQatz]

Now SL don't swipe the good iron from under our noses. Yeah this pan was one of my grandmothers. It was the only thing I asked for when she died. And I was the only one who wanted them anyway. So i hear you there.
 
With the exception of a lodge honey moon set, a 16 inch lodge, and a dutch oven. All of my CI is 70 or older a few pieces are near 130.
 
And yes SL I am eyeing your waffle iron. I have been since that waffle throw down a few years back.

 

[Jeff H]

I wonder how many layers of seasoning it would take to get a new pan as slick as the old ones. It might not even be possible. 

 

[ArkansasJack]

Nice post

 

[DaQatz]

I wonder how many layers of seasoning it would take to get a new pan as slick as the old ones. It might not even be possible. 

It's unlikely that they will ever get as flat simply from seasoning. I have seen people sand them flat though. Mind you it's pretty easy to find inexpensive old flat iron.

 

[Jeff H]

It's unlikely that they will ever get as flat simply from seasoning. I have seen people sand them flat though. Mind you it's pretty easy to find inexpensive old flat iron.

 
 
Yeah, but I have this 9 or 10" one from Lodge that I really like because it ends up being the perfect size for several things that I make. It is getting slicker with the repeated seasoning attempts but the casting is still pretty rough. Sanding it might be a great idea to fix that. I'll have to do some research on that. 
 
 
How would you strip one? just use a ton of soap and scrub it?

 

[DaQatz]

while scrubbing it does work. If you check the link earlier in my post see that I used electrolysis to clean the pan. It's a lot easier on your arm and cleaned much better.

also 10 inch cast iron pans are very common. They are a number 8 sized pan. And should be especially easy to find from among the old pans.