How do you properly season cast iron cookware?

Answer 1

Seasoning, Cleaning & Caring for Cast Iron Pans

When the pan has cooled after use, wipe it clean with paper towels. Wash the pan in hot water quickly without soaking or soap, then rinse. Dry thoroughly and apply a thin coating of fat or oil.

Stubborn cooked-on or burned-on food is best removed by soaking in hot water. Use a plastic scouring pad if necessary. If that doesn't get it clean, soak the pan in a solution of 3 tablespoons of baking soda per 1 quart of water to remove burned-on food or grease. Do not scour off the seasoned finish built up on cast iron over long use. This necessitates reseasoning of the pan.

Rust may be scoured with fine steel wool or scouring powder but reseasoning of the utensil will be necessary.

More advice from Wiki s Contributors:

• Exfoliate your iron pans. This is good for getting the little burnt bits off the bottom of the pan. You will need kosher salt, paper towels, and vegetable oil. Set the pan on the stove on low heat. Add only enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Heat pan until warm to the touch but not hot, then add a generous amount of kosher salt. "Scour" the pan with the paper towels and kosher salt until the burnt bits are removed. Wipe away excess oil and salt with a clean paper towel and rinse with water only. Dry immediately.

• If the pots have a lot of buildup from age, get a good fire going in the fireplace or outside, remove any wooden handles, and throw in the pot. Carefully remove after about 30 minutes, cool, wash with hot water, dry, rub with unsalted oil, and bake at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 3 hours to reseason it.

• If you find rust on the pan even though it is dried thoroughly after use, try this additional drying method: Put the pan on the stove and let it heat until any water left in the pan has evaporated.

• Soap or other cleaning agents should not be used on cast iron. After it's properly seasoned, all you need to clean it is hot water and a little oil. If you need more than that, then it's not properly seasoned.

• To clean rust from an abused, garage-sale cast iron skillet, try soaking the it for 24 hours in a bath of 1 part molasses and 3 parts water. Clean with a bit of steel wool. Season the pan when finished.

• The best way to really clean an iron pan is with a rotary wire brush. You can buy a stiff wire brush to mount on a power drill, preferably one that plugs in. You can remove the entire carbon coating and any rust with ease before reseasoning.

Another Suggestion:

In addition to the fine information presented by previous contributors, I would like to share a couple of little known secrets to cleaning & caring for cast iron.

First, any challenging, cooked-on mess on a piece of cast iron can be done simply with white vinegar--or other kinds, I suspect, in a pinch--and paper towels or (and yes, I realize this is grave sacrilege) a metal scrubbie. In fact, straight vinegar is unmatched in its ability to easily clean food where water is not available. I learned this from a kind woman when I was a food demonstrator and I had to cook sausages all day in a skillet with little (or unfriendly) access to water. Amazing. And the vinegar & paper towels trick works on any cooking surface that I have tried.

As for the complete prohibition of soap & water: nonsense. A very well-seasoned pan can tolerate gentle cleaning in the sink, if that is your preference. Just place your thoroughly cleaned & rinsed piece immediately on a hot stove, wipe lightly with oil, turn off the stove & you're done. So now there's no need to kill or curse well-intentioned friends or family members who try to help out by washing your skillets. And my cast iron pans are unmatched for their non-stick surfaces. So there. :>)

Second, don't make the mistake of using too much oil when you season your pan (like I had numerous times over the years). Now I start with a clean, dry, hot pan, and just wipe it with a cooking oil, carefully wiping out any excess that appears as it heats & cools. And any time I use my oven, I will put any cast-iron-seasoning-in-progress items in as well, to take advantage of the heat; again, making sure that the surface of my piece stays very lightly & evenly oiled.

Finally--and I am loathe to share this, as I fear it will leave a significant dearth in the availability of cast iron pieces at garage sales & flea markets --but the very best way to renew a piece of cast iron that appears completely & hopelessly encrusted with God-knows-what, is to simply put it in your self-cleaning oven--or a friend's who is willing). It is important to place your piece in the center of one of the racks--assuming the racks are tolerant of the process (some manufacturers warn of self-cleaning the racks at all). I have done this numerous times over the years, and I never fail to be amazed at the results. Very often I do not even recognize the piece that comes out.

Another method. Experienced cast iron collectors/restorers will often use a lye bath to clean old cruddy pieces. Of course, there are safety issues involved here. I recommend reading the WAGS article;

http://www.wag-society.org/Electrolysis/lye.php

Answer 2

Answer:A link can be found below for information on seasoning and caring for cast iron. Thoroughly clean and dry the new cast iron. Cover it THOROUGHLY with a film of FLAXSEED OIL using a paper towel or whatever you prefer. Put the cast iron pot in the oven at 425 degrees for about 1-1/2 hours, upside down (so that excess grease will drain out) and on a cookie sheet or other flat surfact that will catch the grease. Turn off the oven and let the cast iron cool completely, probably for a couple of hours. Repeat this process 5 times.

Once cast iron cookware is properly seasoned it should never be washed with soap or put into a dishwasher. Just lightly clean off any residue. Some never even use water, they just scrape it clean, put the pot back on the fire and cook off any left-over food.

NOTE: If you are reseasoning a pan that isn't new, first remove whatever seasoning is left with oven cleaner. Then wash with soap and hot water and dry thoroughly! Then begin the process of seasoning as above with flaxseed oil. Flaxseed oil is superior to any other oil you can use, and will last the longest.

Answer 3

1) Clean the pan thoroughly with soap and hot water. Make sure that any protective coating put on by the manufacturer is gone. Dry the pan on a heated burner until All water has evaporated. You do not want even One drop of water on the pan. Let it cool completely. 2) Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Oil the pan with a light coating of vegetable oil. Put the pan upside down in the preheated oven for at least 1/2 hour. (You can put a cookie sheet on a lower rack to catch any oil drips). Let it cool completely. Repeat step 2 at least three times. Four times is better. This "seasoning" process should be repeated every so often throughout the life of the pan. You can also restore a rusted pan to life by "seasoning". Cast iron pans never die; your pans should give your family good wear as long as you want them. I have some pans that belonged to my Grandma. She got them from Her Grandma. Nobody Knows how old they are. Happy cooking!

Answer 4

1. Wash a new iron skillet in warm water with mild soap.

2. Dry thoroughly (Heat on stove and allow to cool to be sure.)

3. Apply a liberal coating of lard or vegetable shortening to entire skillet, except for bottom.

4. Heat oven to 200o and place skillet in oven for 3 hours.

5. Remove skillet and allow to cool until it can be handled.

6. Remove nearly all lard or shortening with a paper towel.

7. Wipe down again in about an hour.

8. Allow to cool completely.

Answer 5

One can season a cast iron saucepan using a number of steps. First, place the saucepan in a self cleaning oven and run for one cycle. Next wash the pan with soap and warm water. After drying, coat the pan with fat or lard and place in the oven at a high temperature for one hour.

Answer 6

They way I've always done it is to take and put just a tad of butter on the skillet then turn the stove top on. Once the butter has melted you turn the stove top off then wipe, with a paper towel, the skillet till it looks good. Voila! It's seasoned.

Answer 7

Cast iron dutch ovens are excellent investments for both beginner and experienced cooks, and they can be used to prepare a variety of meals and dishes. Cast iron dutch ovens are also very durable, and they can last for years if they are properly cared for. The first step to taking proper care of your cast iron dutch oven is to season it correctly before using it.

Before cooking with a cast iron dutch oven for the first time, it is important to season it correctly. Seasoning a cast iron dutch oven helps to protect its iron, and it prepares it for use. After you have seasoned your cast iron dutch oven, you can then use it to cook both indoors and outdoors, making a cast iron dutch oven a very versatile cooking essential.

First, you should heat your cast iron dutch oven a burner that is set to medium low heat. After the cast iron dutch oven has gotten hot, you should remove its inner sticker while making sure to handle the hot dutch oven carefully. Next, you should allow your cast iron dutch oven to cool completely before washing it thoroughly with warm, soapy water.

After your cast iron dutch oven has been thoroughly cleaned, you should place about a tablespoon of cooking oil in it -- vegetable oil, olive oil, canola oil or whatever you have on hand will be fine. Using a paper towel, you should carefully coat the entire inside of the cast iron dutch oven. After placing on a hot stove, you should then add additional cooking oil until the entire bottom of the cast iron dutch oven is completely covered.

Turning your burner onto medium high heat, you should heat the oil while swishing it around the cast iron dutch oven until the entire interior of the cast iron dutch oven has been coated in oil. Last, you should rub the cooled oil all over the interior and exterior of the oven before placing your cast iron dutch oven upside down on a preheated cookie sheet in a 250 degree oven. After allowing your cast iron dutch oven to bake for an hour, you should turn off the oven and allow the cast iron dutch oven to cool completely before removing it.

Answer 8

If it is rusty or molded you must scrape off and use steel wool to remove to rust. Then you apply lard and place it in an oven or on a grill and heat it until it quits smoking.

Answer 9

1. Heat the pan to 400 degrees

2. Rub it with Crysco shortening while it is still hot

3. Let it cool, the Crysco will be absorbed into the metal pores.