Great! I have some nicely unseasoned pans (that were OLD and grungy) - so I put them in my oven on the self-cleaning cycle. They came out like brand-new.
But needed seasoning, badly. Using Crisco and baking in the oven for the numerous times I’ve seen instructed hasn’t worked all that well. They were pretty....but not as nonstick as I would’ve liked.
Did you need to heat the pan with lard in the oven to a high temp to get whatever the reaction is that creates the nonstick black surface to happen - or just cooked with the pan? I never could figure out why cooking with the pan wouldn’t get hot enough - when the pan surface is in direct contact with the heat source!
So here’s my step-by-step instructions... :-)
1. Heat the clean pan with about 1/4 C lard in it on high heat for ten minutes. Rotate the pan a few times to make sure it’s nicely coated.
2. While still hot, pour out the extra lard. Allow to cool completely.
3. The next day, preheat with about a tablespoon of lard, then cook a pork product in the pan. Sausage... bratwurst... something greasy.
4. When done cooking, dump out anything that’s in the pan, wipe it out, then add a tablespoon of lard and heat the pan on high again. (Repeat steps one and two)
5. Go through the cycles about four or five times.
Now you should have a decent season by this point. Time to get a little daring.
6. Hubs cooked corn beef hash the first time that we were ready to get risky. It did stick a bit. After breakfast, I added about a tablespoon of lard and 1/4 C water, reheated the pan and gently scraped the bottom and sides with a plastic spatula until everything was loose, then dumped it out.
7. Back to steps one and two.
8. The next thing I tried was the cut up chicken breast followed by the gravy. This time nothing stuck. To clean it, I just added a bit of lard and water, scraped, then dumped it out. Wiped out the last bit with some paper towel and repeated steps one and two.
That’s it! Once I got a good season, it’s been really easy.
I’m working on the small pan now.
The tricks are - use lard, don’t wash it, get it HOT when applying the next layer of lard, let it cool completely before cooking, preheat it before cooking, and stick with meat-only dishes for the first half dozen uses or more.