Iron Skillet Seasoning tip

Any of you that cook with an iron skillet will like this. The "seasoning" on an iron skillet is actually carbon from burned oil that fills up the pores in the cast iron making the skillet smooth. To really get this to build up, you need to burn a thin layer of oil onto the skillet. Too much oil won't burn.

Use Crisco or bacon grease. Warm up the skillet so the grease melts when you rub it on, and coat the skillet inside and out. Drain any excess liquid. Place the skillet upside down (you don't want grease pooling or it gets too thick) on your gas grill, and heat it to around 450-500 degrees for an hour. Shut the grill off and let the skillet cool. Repeat as needed. Three thin layers burned on is way better than one thick layer.

The 250 to 300 degree instructions that come with new a skillet don't burn the grease like it needs to be done. It can be done in an oven, but it stinks up the house, and you need to put foil under the skillet to catch any drips.

I had tried for a long time to get a skillet right, and I tried this process once, and the skillet was way better than it had ever been, and no smell of hot grease in the house.

The way I did mine was this...My neighbor was have a bon fire...So I took my iron pots and pans over there...Greased them up and put them in the bon fire...I have never had any trouble with them....No smell in house and they are seasoned...:D

Bought three or four pans new followed instructions and never got a good pan, went to a flea market to 'the pots and pans lady' found a good #8 griswold pan with a mirror finish worked so well i got another #7 love them both and WORK to keep season going, have a 10" that needs some help so it will join the chicken next time the grill is hot. Thanks for the info--shu

This reminds me of what a buddy of mine did during college to season a skillet....his dad has his own shop where he welds cast iron cylinder heads. In that shop, he has a furnace to heat the cylinder heads, so my buddy rubbed the skillet down with crisco, and put that sucker in his dad's cylinder head furnace and fired it up....worked right nicely!!!

Thanks for the tip, The grill is just the ticket - I'm tired of filling the house with smoke when I season a pan.

Alway's remember not to use soapy detergent water to clean after using or you'll have to start over.

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Originally Posted by Slipped Cork

Alway's remember not to use soapy detergent water to clean after using or you'll have to start over.

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So, just use hot water and scrub?

The detergent will eat away the oil.I alway's use cool water and rince and wipe clean right after using.If your skillet is good and slick it will wipe clean very easy.

The more you use it the more you will choose it...........:D.....

I like my iron skillets & dutch ovens but have heard that you aren't supposed to use them on the flat, glass top stoves like I have now. Anyone have any experience or opinions on this?

Not me hawkman.I have also heard not to use them.I dont know why,but Im sure someone will let us know.

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Originally Posted by hawkman

I like my iron skillets & dutch ovens but have heard that you aren't supposed to use them on the flat, glass top stoves like I have now. Anyone have any experience or opinions on this?

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I have a stove top like that and still use my cast iron on it. They heat just fine.

Just DON'T scrub your iron stuff w/ "Comet"!

Not long after we were married my lovely wife scrubbed "all that black stuff" off my old skillets and dutch oven! :eek:

16 years later, she knows better now! LOL!!!


Tommy

It's ironic that this thread recently came up, M1 I had an experience similar to yours yesterday. Night before last I cooked dinner with my cast iron skillet, usually I do the dishes and always wash the skillet myself. My wife told me to go take it easy and she would do the dishes, well, last night I opened the dishwasher and there was my cast iron, it had almost all the black stuff washed off, I immediatly got it out and got it cleaned up and oiled up and started seasoning it up again. My wife will also know better next time.

My mother has cooked with cast iron on a glass stove top for YEARS with no problems.

It took you 16 years to teach her????? im glad i married a good ole southern girl from arkansas, she even came with some cast iron her moma gave her already seasoned from yrs of use. she cant hardly use it now cause its to heavy for her to handle but when im home i help her out.

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Originally Posted by M1Tommy

Just DON'T scrub your iron stuff w/ "Comet"!

Not long after we were married my lovely wife scrubbed "all that black stuff" off my old skillets and dutch oven! :eek:

16 years later, she knows better now! LOL!!!


Tommy

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I use my cast iron on a glass top or flat surface, too, and haven't noticed any problems.

The main reason for not using cast iron pots on glass tops is that if you drop it, it can bust the glass top and then your stove is ruined! It isn't a good ideal to kneel on them to get stuff out of a cabinet either, I have an uncle that broke one like that. As for seasoning the pots, I do like crappiequeen does and throw them in a bon fire.

My wife once helped me out by put a cast iron skillet into the dishwasher, also one stored a damp sponge in my dutch oven. Didn't find out until a couple months later. Ended up using a wire brush on a power drill to get all the "stuff" out of it, then reseasoned it. I used a fish cooker for heat outside.

As for cleaning, as soon as you take the food out, pour in some water and turn the burner down to low and let it simmer. Take it to the sink and with a plastic scrubbie give it a quick rinse, be careful the water will be hot. Pop it back onto the burner to dry out the water and wipe on a coating of crisco or even Olive Oil if thats what you have, let it heat up good and cool down, wipe out any excess. I usuallys store them in the oven, out of the way and always close by. Lots of county health departments are currently putting out information about how cooking in cast iron is good for you, it helps you get elemental iron into your system. I like to get elemental taters and onions and bacon into mine along with the iron.

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Originally Posted by MOPanfisher

My wife once helped me out by put a cast iron skillet into the dishwasher, also one stored a damp sponge in my dutch oven. Didn't find out until a couple months later. Ended up using a wire brush on a power drill to get all the "stuff" out of it, then reseasoned it. I used a fish cooker for heat outside.

As for cleaning, as soon as you take the food out, pour in some water and turn the burner down to low and let it simmer. Take it to the sink and with a plastic scrubbie give it a quick rinse, be careful the water will be hot. Pop it back onto the burner to dry out the water and wipe on a coating of crisco or even Olive Oil if thats what you have, let it heat up good and cool down, wipe out any excess. I usuallys store them in the oven, out of the way and always close by. Lots of county health departments are currently putting out information about how cooking in cast iron is good for you, it helps you get elemental iron into your system. I like to get elemental taters and onions and bacon into mine along with the iron.

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Throw in a few slices of deer tenderloin, or even pork if you don't have deer, that will really "season" it up.:D

Its ironic this post resurfaced....I spent a good while yesterday....cleaning up an old dutch oven with lid I had at the cabin, that my wife had sprayed painted black. I sanded it down...greased it up and placed it on the grill for a couple of hours. I have a couple of more frying pans I am going to re-season also. The other 30 or 40 frying pans and dutch ovens I have...just going to wait until I need them to re-season them. I would love to find me a good 20 gallon cast iron pot with lid for brunsick stew.

pop pop that reminded me 35yrs or so ago we were doing a job in king. we always stopped at the same little country store but one day thay had the biggest pot of brunsick stew i ever seen out back cooking stirred it with a boat paddel. been so long ago ill be afraid to guess how many gals. it was i do remember it sure was good

I had some brunswick stew a while back at a function....I have found several pots, most are 20 or 30 gallon sizes...its just hard to find a lid.... (come to think of it, do the large pots even have a lid. I have never seen one with a lid to my knowledge.)

I've got a nice sized cast iron dutch oven, but some how I've let the bottom side of the lid get rusty. Does any one have any suggestions how to get that rust off?

i bet that pot or whatever it was held maybe 100 gal or more this thing didnt have a lid

blairarnold you could take it somewhere and get it sand blasted might be the best. dont know much about it but theres a product sold in paint stores called rust converter supposed to turn rust back into metel

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Originally Posted by hawkman

I like my iron skillets & dutch ovens but have heard that you aren't supposed to use them on the flat, glass top stoves like I have now. Anyone have any experience or opinions on this?

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Yea, gonna make a mess on that glass top!:eek: We just got a glass top stove this summer and that's enough to make us wish we'd went back with a conventional stove top. Now we're using thin stainless pots and pans.:( They just dont cook like the iron pots and pans do.:(

When I was a newlywed I had this neighbor guy across the street that became one of my best hunting and fishing buddies before he passed on a few yars back. Anyway, he was always doing something outdoors. One particular night he was buning this big stump in his yard and after a few drinks he presuaded me into getting my new pot (dutch oven) and tossing it into the fire (that burned all night long). Well, long story short, some of the steel is still a red color from all the heat. This is the pot I have used for the past 30 odd years frying fish (and other things) and is absolutely the best cooking utinsel in my house.;) The inside of this pot is as slick as a well oiled baby's rear end!:eek::D

Every time our iron skillets/pots are used they are washed like any other greasey dish, dried, re-oiled, then wiped out with a paper towel and put away until next time.

I just use a wire brush on a drill...to take the rust off....slick it up with oil, put it on the grill....then slick it up again for a total of three times.

Crappiequeennc..... how long did you leave your cast iron in the bon fire? Did you put them in the fire or on the hot coals? Did you repeat this process and if so how many times? Thanks for your tips.

I am known to have a small bon in my back yard every now and then. I would like to take advantaged of it by seasoning my new Dutch ovens and reseason my skillets. I agree with Catfan about the higher temperatures. I had seasoned my skillets with instructions from a boy scout web site. They never seemed to be right. Eggs will stick in them.

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Originally Posted by slab-happy

Crappiequeennc..... how long did you leave your cast iron in the bon fire? Did you put them in the fire or on the hot coals? Did you repeat this process and if so how many times? Thanks for your tips.

I am known to have a small bon in my back yard every now and then. I would like to take advantaged of it by seasoning my new Dutch ovens and reseason my skillets. I agree with Catfan about the higher temperatures. I had seasoned my skillets with instructions from a boy scout web site. They never seemed to be right. Eggs will stick in them.

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