How to season a cast iron skillet

[Brian Kent]

I just covered our cast iron skillets with vegetable oil and put them in the oven to season. My wife says that vegetable oil will not work. I am only going on my own experience and a couple of websites that say you can use shortening or oil. One website said shortening only - no oil.

What are your expert opinions?

[David Weaver]

I also like animal fats for it.

But I'd prefer to get the seasoning through use of the pan.

I think if you put the oven high enough, you'll smoke most of the vegetable oil, but you'll get enough rust protection on the pans for now and be able to get seasoning by use as you go along.

That is just my opinion from my own use, though, and people with a lot more experience might know better.

[Gary Hodgin]

I recently seasoned what I think is called a dutch oven. It's a caste iron pan with a caste iron lid. I used canola oil. Lightly coated and left in an oven preheated to 350 for about an hour. I did this twice and it seems to have turned out fine. With use it will only get better. This was something of my mom's and I'd had it in storage for about 12 years. Some rust which I removed with camellia oil and a white scotch pad.

I also have one of mom's caste iron skillets which we use every now and then. It's well-seasoned and I'm sure it was done through use, not the oil treatment. Caste iron is a bit inconvenient to clean and maintain but worth it.

P.S. I have no experience on this, just what I did.

[Belinda Barfield]

Brian, I have to side with your wife on this one. Vegetable oils, particularly the lighter ones, burn off to quickly to adequately "season" a pan. I prefer good old fashioned lard, with shortening as a second choice. For shortening I like Snowdrift but can't find it locally anymore. You aren't doing anything "wrong" by using vegetable oil, it just doesn't work as well. It can also tack up on the pan and cause sticking.

[Rod Sheridan]

Brian, my wife being English grew up with cast iron pans and continues to use them.

We haven't found a difference between lard, vegetable shortening and Virgin Olive Oil in use.

In fact the olive is more convenient as we tend to have it in a pump spray bottle on the counter.

The trick of course is to maintain the seasoning, and not to put them in dishwasher as my eldest daughter did once when we were away on vacation.........Rod.

[Rob Damon]

We seasoned ours outside on the gas grill. Turn all the burners on high, coat the skillet and leave it. That way the cast iron gets nice and hot and you don't have to worry about the smoke inside the house in the kitchen. Also after you cook with it and wash it, don't just dry it with a towel or let it air.

My grandmother would put it on the old wood stove for a few minutes to remove all of the moisture. We just put on the stove for a few minutes. We have ones that are great even after over 30 years of use. Rob

[Jim Rimmer]

Here's a link to some good info on cast iron cookware care:
http://www.lodgemfg.com/use-care-seasoned-cast-iron.asp#3

[John Lohmann]

After seasoning fry a lot of bacon, it helps to season & it's tasty

[Jay Maiers]

My wife used vegetable oil the last time she seasoned out dutch oven. It was a sticky mess less than a week later. Bleh. I had to strip it down and start over with peanut oil.

[ray hampton]

I season my skillet in the oven at 400 degrees with as many strips of salt that will fit in the skillet until the bacon are crisp

[Ben Hatcher]

You may be surprised to learn that the oil recommended by this scientist is the food grade equivelent of good old BLO! Flaxseed oil!

http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

[Ryan Mooney]

One of the main things I've found with reseasoning is - don't use to much grease! If the grease is excessively thick (especially with vegetable) the polymer layer will be rather to thick and end up in lumps (which is probably what Jay saw actually). The actual science behind all this is moderately interesting (and closely related to traditional rust bluing techniques used for steel/gun parts). Searching for "vegetable oil polymerization" I found a rather good explanation at:
http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/
(http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/)She recommends flax seed, but there is a very good discussion of alternatives and why in the comments section (actually the comments section there is quite an interesting read).
Perhaps even more interesting is her follow on discussion of what is effectively rust bluing (which I had never thought to apply to cast iron, but the principal is certainly sound and well understood)
http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/02/black-rust-and-cast-iron-seasoning/

[Ryan Mooney]

You may be surprised to learn that the oil recommended by this scientist is the food grade equivelent of good old BLO! Flaxseed oil!

http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

Hahah, I spent to much time reading the comments and you beat me to it :D

[Ben Hatcher]

Hahah, I spent to much time reading the comments and you beat me to it :D

That's one thing I love about people asking questions that they could just as easilly google themselves...I research them and learn a bunch of things about completely random topics.

[john lampros]

My experience with cast iron in the last 20 years is no mater which oil you use if it gets sticky you didnt bake it long enough. the oil has to " dry" thoroughly to season well. they never see soap and get rinsed immediately after use and dried. And I have to keep the DW away from them. I once found a pan "soaking " in the sink and she was banned from the kitchen for months. But most of the other cast iron in my house gets waxed so wood slides across it in a smooth sensual manner. She isnt allowed near them either.

[Roger Newby]

Another vote for lard or fatback or bacon....my skillet belonged to my Great Grandmother, is as black as a boot, and better than any teflon you will ever get. Only gets washed in hot water, no soap, and dried over heat. Wish I had a nickle for every pound of chicken that has gone through that thing in the last 100+ years.:eek::D

[Eric DeSilva]

+1, just fry a lotta bacon. :)

I tend to use crisco for touch ups--after a scrub with salt, for example--and just leave it on a burner for a little while.

[Brian Kent]

Ryan, I googled it and found contradictory answers. I trust you all to give answers from experience when the theories are inconsistent.

[ray hampton]

why wash the skillets ?, a good scraping will remove the food bits ther are stuck to the skillet

[Ryan Mooney]

Ryan, I googled it and found contradictory answers. I trust you all to give answers from experience when the theories are inconsistent.

Yeah, that's true - knowing what the basis is for making a judgement is often necessary for filtering the wheat from the chaff (and sometimes even then it gets pretty thick out there :D). The Sheryl Canter article meshed well with what I know from my little bit of metal working and culinary science experience, so it has a relatively high credibility in my book. It was pretty darn interesting to read so I'm certainly not complaining - I know more about cast iron seasoning myself than I did this morning (about 70% of that was actually seeing the parallels between that and other things, but the obvious is often the hardest to see...).

[Joel Goodman]

Most important is to have a skillet that smooth inside -- not like the Lodge stuff that's commonly available now. And season the clean skillet with a very thin coating -- then bake for a while. Olive oil and similar OK; lard excellent.

[Curt Harms]

My experience with cast iron in the last 20 years is no mater which oil you use if it gets sticky you didnt bake it long enough. the oil has to " dry" thoroughly to season well. they never see soap and get rinsed immediately after use and dried. And I have to keep the DW away from them. I once found a pan "soaking " in the sink and she was banned from the kitchen for months. But most of the other cast iron in my house gets waxed so wood slides across it in a smooth sensual manner. She isnt allowed near them either.

Did you ever consider that perhaps she did that on purpose? :cool: :D

[Belinda Barfield]

Another vote for lard or fatback or bacon....my skillet belonged to my Great Grandmother, is as black as a boot, and better than any teflon you will ever get. Only gets washed in hot water, no soap, and dried over heat. Wish I had a nickle for every pound of chicken that has gone through that thing in the last 100+ years.:eek::D

Mine belonged to my great grandmother as well. It was a wedding gift from her mother, and it wouldn't surprise me if my GG grandmother used it also.

I got a square skillet when another great grandmother passed away, but my dad turned it into a clock for me before I could get my hands on it. :(

[ray hampton]

I wonder how the cooks in the army and other service branches seasoned their skillets and what is the skillet sizes

[Jim Matthews]

I bought my Lodge 10.25 inch Dutch oven and also seasoned to their specs. I used Canola oil.
I think the fat of choice should be the one you most often use for cooking.

Get it hot enough to shimmer, not so hot as to smoke.
Let it cool on the burner.

I don't think of it as a "non-stick" application, it's more to keep the ARN from rusting.

[John A. Scott]

+1 for flaxseed oil. The folks at Benchcrafted.com have instructions on how to "season" their cast vice screw handles that would work well for a skillet.

[john lampros]

Just FYI, Canola oil was developed in Canada as a machine oil. Canola is a processed rapeseed oil which is inedible without processing. The name Canola means Canada oil low acid.

[Andrew DiLorenzo]

And turn the skillet upside down and put in the oven to bake. Consider doing this when one is baking something else anyhow, and let it bake all day if possoble.

[Russ Filtz]

I'd stick with lard or crisco for serious or initial seasoning (or even use paraffin). Something hard/opaque at room temps. The other oils will tend to varnish over (which means sticky) and/or go rancid on you.

Another tip for cleaning the caked gunk on the outside (or inside even) is to use a lye soak or oven cleaner and seal it in a plastic bag for a day or so. It's done when the gunk scrapes off easily. Good for old antiques that need deep cleaned. Any bad rust may still need treated by scrubbing w/ acid (like vinegar or lemon juice) & salt. Naturally re-season after all that.

[Belinda Barfield]

Thanks Russ! I always wondered how to clean the pans I see at antique stores and flea markets. Never would have thought of oven cleaner. . . which reminds me . . .

[Ryan Mooney]

I'd stick with lard or crisco for serious or initial seasoning (or even use paraffin). Something hard/opaque at room temps. The other oils will tend to varnish over (which means sticky) and/or go rancid on you.

Russ, that's what a lot of the folks are actually suggesting to do (varnish, not rancid :p). The idea is that you put them on in really thin layers and build a hard varnish on top of the iron and into the pores. That way it stays hard/slick even at stove temps. Sticky doesn't seem to be a problem if you a) put it on thin enough and b) use an oil that bakes on hard enough and c) cook it at the correct temp long enough.

[Russ Filtz]

I just keep using mine until they get a nice even black coating from cooking after the initial seasoning. Works fine with a single heavy soak of lard/crisco in hot oven. No need for the hassle of building the varnish. Once they go black (essentially a hard carbon coating) I've used soap, scrub pads, and metal utensils with no ill effects to the pan. You just can't go crazy and break through coating. I have a few pans that date from the '30's-'50's I got from my parents that are solid black inside & out.

[Brian Kent]

Despite all of the best advice, the cast iron pieces were already covered with vegetable oil and in the oven, so I turned the oven on and did the deed. Now I am ready to take all of the real advice and cook a lot of bacon.

Next time I need to do the same thing, I will use animal fats. More bacon. And then some bacon.

[ray hampton]

Kent, when you say animal fat, are you referring to bacon fat ? I hope that I feel like going to the store soon, for some reason I got craving for bacon that I can not explain

[Gary Hodgin]

Despite all of the best advice, the cast iron pieces were already covered with vegetable oil and in the oven, so I turned the oven on and did the deed. Now I am ready to take all of the real advice and cook a lot of bacon.

Next time I need to do the same thing, I will use animal fats. More bacon. And then some bacon.

The best answer to about any question is to eat more bacon. It's hard to be confused, sad, or mad with a mouthful of bacon.

[Belinda Barfield]

The best answer to about any question is to eat more bacon. It's hard to be confused, sad, or mad with a mouthful of bacon.

Ain't that the truth! Try bacon dipped in dark chocolate - a little mouthful of heaven.

[Jason Roehl]

Ain't that the truth! Try bacon dipped in dark chocolate - a little mouthful of heaven.

"Pigs in the mud"!

For best results, don't use cheap bacon--get a thick cut bacon.

Now, for another bacon-related question: how do you like yours cooked? Black, crumbly carbon or waved in the general vicinity of some heat (or somewhere in between). I prefer mine to be cooked to the point where the fat is cooked, but not crispy (a little crispiness around the edges is fine). My take is that it's meat, and meat should be tender and juicy, not crispy.

[Rod Sheridan]

Jason, I'm with you on how to cook bacon, I like to taste the meat, not some incinerated carbon object...........Regards, Rod.

[Gary Hodgin]

I'm with Jason and Rod. I like thicker bacon http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r127/dirtbuddy420/Stefans%20BBQ/P1000992.jpg and like it flexible, not cooked to were some cracks off when you move it around a bit.

[Gary Hodgin]

Belinda,
Sounds good, I'm not sure there's anything that a dip in chocolate would hurt. Right now I on a diet and my wife won't let me get near chocolate, or bacon for that matter. I've sneaked a little from MacDonald's but Mac's bacon is not that good, but even bad bacon is pretty good. I'll give it a try as soon as I can sneak it in.

[Belinda Barfield]

Belinda,
Sounds good, I'm not sure there's anything that a dip in chocolate would hurt. Right now I on a diet and my wife won't let me get near chocolate, or bacon for that matter. I've sneaked a little from MacDonald's but Mac's bacon is not that good, but even bad bacon is pretty good. I'll give it a try as soon as I can sneak it in.

Darn, how can you be on a diet during the holidays? That's just cruel! Actually, I'm supposed to be working on getting my cholesterol under control, but until they make a bacon flavored Cheerio there's probably not much hope of that. Speaking of, why don't they make bacon flavored Cheerios? I don't think they'd be very good with milk but they'd probably be pretty good straight out of the box. I think over the holidays I'll make some bacon flavored Bourbon . . . which will require me to cook up a mess of bacon . . . which I will then dip in chocolate . . . if y'all miss me I'll be comatose on the couch until the spring thaw. :D

Yep, I'm that dog on the commercial running around yelling BaconBaconBacon! Should we start new thread devoted to bacon? Did I mention that I like bacon?

[Van Huskey]

I always just use salt and pepper, maybe a little garlic... The problem is no matter how I cook them, low and slow or hot and fast they are always tough. Seriuosly, I have never used anything but lard, as that is what my grandmother taught me.

[ray hampton]

Ain't that the truth! Try bacon dipped in dark chocolate - a little mouthful of heaven.

come on Belinda , stop wasting the bacon and dip the pork rinds into the candy

[ray hampton]

"Pigs in the mud"!

For best results, don't use cheap bacon--get a thick cut bacon.

Now, for another bacon-related question: how do you like yours cooked? Black, crumbly carbon or waved in the general vicinity of some heat (or somewhere in between). I prefer mine to be cooked to the point where the fat is cooked, but not crispy (a little crispiness around the edges is fine). My take is that it's meat, and meat should be tender and juicy, not crispy.

I want my bacon cook down to charcoal , the best way to cook bacon is in the oven or layer on a plate with paper towel between layers and microwave it

[ray hampton]

I always just use salt and pepper, maybe a little garlic... The problem is no matter how I cook them, low and slow or hot and fast they are always tough. Seriuosly, I have never used anything but lard, as that is what my grandmother taught me.

are you using lean bacon or fat bacon ?

[ray hampton]

Darn, how can you be on a diet during the holidays? That's just cruel! Actually, I'm supposed to be working on getting my cholesterol under control, but until they make a bacon flavored Cheerio there's probably not much hope of that. Speaking of, why don't they make bacon flavored Cheerios? I don't think they'd be very good with milk but they'd probably be pretty good straight out of the box. I think over the holidays I'll make some bacon flavored Bourbon . . . which will require me to cook up a mess of bacon . . . which I will then dip in chocolate . . . if y'all miss me I'll be comatose on the couch until the spring thaw. :D


Yep, I'm that dog on the commercial running around yelling BaconBaconBacon! Should we start new thread devoted to bacon?
Did I mention that I like bacon?


bacon flavored Bourbon answered to the name SCOTCH

[Belinda Barfield]

bacon flavored Bourbon answered to the name SCOTCH

I'm an equal opportunity drinker, and easily bored, so I mix it up a bit.

[Van Huskey]

"Pigs in the mud"!

For best results, don't use cheap bacon--get a thick cut bacon.

Now, for another bacon-related question: how do you like yours cooked? Black, crumbly carbon or waved in the general vicinity of some heat (or somewhere in between). I prefer mine to be cooked to the point where the fat is cooked, but not crispy (a little crispiness around the edges is fine). My take is that it's meat, and meat should be tender and juicy, not crispy.

I agree. I like all meat cook less than the average person. For steak I want to start it from room temp then sear it quickly and finish it in the oven (or indirect heat). I want it RARE. For pork I cook it to 140 and let it rest ending about 145, I have been doing this most of my adult life and the USDA just caught up with me earlier this year. The old USDA temp was 160 which ruins a big thick chop.

[Jason Roehl]

are you using lean bacon or fat bacon ?


What's this "lean bacon" of which you speak? ;)

I can see that some of my brethren are at the Creek...I asked because I was the butt of a few jokes when a restaurant some of us were at served "crisp" bacon and "limp" bacon. I was the only one who chose the latter.

[ray hampton]

What's this "lean bacon" of which you speak? ;)

I can see that some of my brethren are at the Creek...I asked because I was the butt of a few jokes when a restaurant some of us were at served "crisp" bacon and "limp" bacon. I was the only one who chose the latter.



when I buy bacon , I pick the bacon with a lot of fat[white meat]
the lean meat [muscle ] is hard for me to eat but the fat will cook crisp, I prefer the fat meat to lean meat animal or fowl [ false teeth ]

[Van Huskey]

when I buy bacon , I pick the bacon with a lot of fat[white meat]
the lean meat [muscle ] is hard for me to eat but the fat will cook crisp, I prefer the fat meat to lean meat animal or fowl [ false teeth ]

Just go the full monty and get fat back aka salt pork.

[ray hampton]

Just go the full monty and get fat back aka salt pork.


sometime I find salt pork already sliced

[Brian Kent]

Umm. When we were in Russia we had raw salt-pork fat with Paprika! As the guest of honor our friends would give up their own to give us extra slices. We could hear our arteries clapping shut.

[Ryan Mooney]

http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Appreciation-Misunderstood-Ingredient-Recipes/dp/1580089356/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lardo

I don't think I need to expound on that except to maybe add

http://www.amazon.com/Charcuterie-Craft-Salting-Smoking-Curing/dp/0393058298/

[Steve knight]

here you go bourbon flavored bacon. and this is very good bacon too.
http://www.fatherscountryhams.com/Fathers-Bourbon-Flavored-Bacon/productinfo/CBBFS/

[Russ Filtz]

I go through every package in the store and get the leanest one I can find. More meat than fat for me, and I like it crispy. Everywhere. Even one bubble of unrendered fat on bacon gags me. I was in London in the 90's before their food revolution at it was almost impossible not to get served limp bacon, even when I asked for crispy.

[Ed Hazel]

Ok I have been using a Lodge cast iron skillet for about 6 months I have cooked many pounds of bacon in it but I am not close to a non stick pan yet. I can throw in some bacon and have it stick in spots. I am not sure if my cooking technique is at fault or the skillet.

Thinking about putting my big wire cup on on my 7 inch grinder and make it smooth and re season it.
Do you use a cooking spray "Pam"

[Ryan Mooney]

Ok I have been using a Lodge cast iron skillet for about 6 months I have cooked many pounds of bacon in it but I am not close to a non stick pan yet. I can throw in some bacon and have it stick in spots. I am not sure if my cooking technique is at fault or the skillet.

Thinking about putting my big wire cup on on my 7 inch grinder and make it smooth and re season it.
Do you use a cooking spray "Pam"

Possibly both. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the Lodge stuff (nor any of the more modern plain cast iron I've found) - its to rough/coarse and seems to be a real pain to season properly (at least compared to a couple of older pots I've inherited). Having said that I do have one larger lodge skillet we've mostly beaten into submission and there are a few things worth trying:

Make sure the pan is hot when you put the food in it. Not waaaay to hot, but fully to temperature. This will cause the proteins to retract and form a bit of a crust faster (commonly known as sear) and also protects against the food being to wet (which also causes sticking) by cooking off the surface water faster.
Don't try to move the meat (or eggs or steak or ...) until they've "released". Folks who are used to non-stick, etc.. tend to muck with the food to much in cast iron. It really likes you to put the food in and then leave it alone until its ready to let go (this is also true of stainless, you can cook fried eggs in straight stainless but the technique is fussy). You can gently "try" the piece and see if its happy. If its burning in place... well.. yeah.. then you have a problem scrape scrape and then re-season the pan.
I don't think simply cooking bacon in it is quite as likely to get it hot enough to polymerize the oils (especially in modern pig lard). Maybe through it in the oven upside down for an hour at ~400-450 for an hour or two after breakfast (wipe it out well with a paper towel or rag first but don't wash).
A little butter, lard or a high temp oil (peanut, grape seed, canola) can help, although with bacon it really shouldn't be needed. I haven't used "Pam" in years so I don't recall the base oil, I think? its just canola with a aerosoliizing agent. I actually find that the animal based fats (or interestingly hydrogenated veggie oils like crisco) tend to slide slightly better than the oils, I suspect that that translates to things like pam as well...

[Joel Goodman]

Ok I have been using a Lodge cast iron skillet for about 6 months I have cooked many pounds of bacon in it but I am not close to a non stick pan yet. I can throw in some bacon and have it stick in spots. I am not sure if my cooking technique is at fault or the skillet.

Thinking about putting my big wire cup on on my 7 inch grinder and make it smooth and re season it.
Do you use a cooking spray "Pam"

IMHO it's the rough surface that's the problem. They figured out that it's cheaper to leave out part of the manufacturing process. The old Wagner's are ground very smooth.

[Mike Meredith]

It may be a distinction without a difference but shortening is propably better. Shotening is any oil that is solid at room temperature, lard or otherwise. Solid at room temperature means a higher degree of saturation and therefore a higher boiling point. You can get a shortening hotter than a liquid oil. The difference may be that the higher temperature drives more of the water off the surface of the skillet, not bulk water but the water complexed to the iron, allowing an oil coat to form. This fills in the microscopic variation in the iron surface and reducing sticking to the surface. Personally, i like the bacon idea.

[Roger Newby]

What's this "lean bacon" of which you speak? ;)

I can see that some of my brethren are at the Creek...I asked because I was the butt of a few jokes when a restaurant some of us were at served "crisp" bacon and "limp" bacon. I was the only one who chose the latter.


When my kids were little, they called it slimy bacon. That was how their gramma cooked it.

[Belinda Barfield]

Just in time for Christmas, for all of my fellow bacon freaks . . .

http://www.baconfreak.com/bacon-novelties-gifts.html

[Rich Engelhardt]

Thinking about putting my big wire cup on on my 7 inch grinder and make it smooth and re season it.

Which may not be all that bad of an idea ;).
These newer CI skillets aren't as smooth as they could be.

I just had to reseason my 10" CI skillet.
*Somebody* in the house stuck it in the sink and it got covered up with dirty dishes and dirty detergent/water for a couple of days...grrrr,,,I won't tell you who she is,,,

Anyhow - after a half hour of scouring & three brillo pads, I started thinking real hard about the ROS and some coarse wet/dry.

Thankfully, it didn't come to that.
I smeared it with Criso after the ordeal of the scouring, stuck it in a 450 degree oven until it "smoked", then shut the oven off and let it cool down w/the pan inside.
A few batches of some oil fried stuff and it was ready to brown some ground beef - which it passsed that test w/flying colors.
I may give it the "hash brown" test today & if it does well there, I repeat the "hash brown" test a few time.

Then it's time for the ultimate test.
The "sunny side up egg" test.

[Gary Hodgin]

Just in time for Christmas, for all of my fellow bacon freaks . . .

http://www.baconfreak.com/bacon-novelties-gifts.html

I'll wait till after Christmas, but I really need a couple of those shirts. I really like the, "Bacon is a Vegetable" one.
Neat website.

[Mike Goetzke]

When I got a new grill with cast iron plates I just fired up our turkey fryer and soacked them in there for a while.

[Jim Newman]

I have been seasoning cast iron for many years, including dutch ovens. The best way is to get your gas grill (check temperature with a thermometer) up to 490-500 degrees F, rub on an even coat of vegetable oil or shortening, cook it for 1 hour at that temperature, then turn the grill off and let it cool until you can touch it with your hand. Repeat 3 times and you have a well-seasoned cast iron skillet or pot. Wagner-ware says to heat it at 500 degrees F for 1 hour. I try to clean it out right after use and only us a hot water soak for 15 minutes if I must to clean hard grime off the cast iron. Don't forget to dry it right after cleaning it and put a fresh coat of Crisco oil on it to keep it from rusting.

[Carl Beckett]

I always use Peanut oil on a new one. With use it will build its own, but the first time through the oven with a good coating of peanut oil (higher temps I believe, than veggie oil)