How Does One Season (or Reseason) and Care for Cast Iron Skillets (Obvious Vanity)

Self | 12/20/02 | Enough_Deceit

[Enough_Deceit]

I got these wonderful skillets before my Mom passed away. I really want to use them, but do not know how to properly season/care for them. Can anyone out there give me some ideas? Thank you and Merry CHRISTmas!

[B-Chan]

Any of the oven/onion methods above work fine. Make sure you rinse and wipe the pans thoroughly with water (never use soap!) to get out all food particles and used fats, which will go rancid and rot if not removed. To sterilize the pan, put a little water in it, then put the pan on a burner set to high and allow the water in the pan to boil until the skillet is dry. Remove from heat and store in a cold oven.

An iron skillet holds heat better and more evenly than any alumnum pan ever could. There is no other way to prepare proper cornbread than to bake it in a skillet, and eggs fried in one take on a crispy, delicious flavor that can't be beat. Cook three over easy in bacon-greased skillet, slide 'em out into a tortilla toasted directly over the burner and serve 'em with Tabasco -- Mmmmmm...

[OKSooner]

As long as we're on the subject, does anyone know where to get quality cast iron cookware these days? I'm down to ONE good cast iron skillet. I'd like to have a couple more and a good dutch oven and maybe a few other things. The operative word here being "quality", obviously, rules out the one brand commonly seen in "Large Department Stores". The last QUALITY manufacturer I knew of was a company called Atlanta Stoveworks, which went out of business about 10 years ago.

Whomever makes this "Lodge" stuff ought to be whipped...

[RobFromGa]

Never, ever use detergent on cast iron, and of course NEVER in the dishwasher.

[LasVegasMac]

I have 3 Dutch Ovens and about a dozen or so pans of various sizes and shapes.

My wife has suggested that I buy stock in Lodge, Inc!

Ever do any sour dough bread in a DO? (insert Homer Simpson drool)

LVM

[Arkansawyer]

The one thing that I do differently is to heat the utensil at 350 F overnight or for several hours BEFORE oiling to insure that there is no moisture left in the iron. THEN I oil and leave in the oven to season. Lard is best, but any cooking oil or fat will do. I lightly oil and wipe after cleaning.

[Basil Duke]

After you've seasoned them, wash with warm water after use. Paper towels tend to leave gnarled, tough to remove bits of themselves on the iron, so I'd recommend going to Target or whatever and buying 9 or 10 cheapo cloth wash cloths to do your scrubbing. (Urgent note: DO NOT USE YOUR WIFE'S GOOD KITCHEN TOWELS FOR THIS TASK.)After the wash process, pop the skillet in the oven to dry at 300 degrees or so. Cast iron rusts very quickly, and the moisture from the washing has been known to leave rust spackles in a matter of hours.

[Aracelis]

Throwing in my 0.02 as an advocate of butter to season cast iron cookware. I have a lovely small skillet that I use only to prepare eggs, and nothing but butter ever touches it.

[LasVegasMac]

Why don't you like the Lodge stuff?

I've had some of it for years, no problems.

Once in awhile you can see a defect (lid does not seal, thin spot) but I always look close before I buy.

Just curious.

LVM

[Phantom Lord]

Lodge is the last company in America making cast iron cookware. I bought a cast iron cookware set at Sams Club about 2 years ago for some crazy price like $36. It had a dutch oven, a 12 pan, an 8 inch pan, a coal stand for the dutch oven, a hook for removing the dutch oven lid, and a big flat griddle. It all came with heavy cloth carrying and storage cases for each item and was all packed in a wood crate!

I can not remember the name of the manufacturer, but my local Sams in Cary NC is still selling them. So find someone with a Sams membership and head on over.

[r9etb]

As long as we're on the subject, does anyone know where to get quality cast iron cookware these days?

Have you tried a sporting goods store? Look in the camping section....

On the topic of care and feeding -- well, we've got a nice skillet that we use all the time. We seasoned it for the first time according to the manufactuter's instructions, and have ever since used it just like the regular frying pan that it is.

We cook everything in it, wash it with soap, and otherwise do all the wrong things. We do wipe the inside with vegetable oil after every washing, and use butter and/or oil when we cook in it.

And it works just fine.

[Fracas]

After the seasoning, you can clean the skillet by pouring in a generous amount of salt and scrubbing with paper towels. I have one skillet designated for cornbread, and this cleaning method works very well.

For the readers here, Robert Parker's 'Spenser' character uses this method on his cast iron skillets.

[Constitutional Patriot]

"Cast iron works great for some foods and poorly for others. You'll just have to learn which is which."

Awesome for venison tenderloins that have been marinating red wine, onion powder, salt, black pepper and a bay leave for about 30 minutes.

Put a little butter in the pan, get it really hot. The "medallions" cook-up in a few minutes. Warning: this is adictive.

[GOP_Proud]

"Cast iron works great for some foods and poorly for others. You'll just have to learn which is which."


It's the only way that cornbread should be baked.
Now, hand me the butter.

[OKSooner]

I've picked 'em up off the shelf to look at them and seen machine marks where they've been ground with a VERY coarse stone. They should be smooth. Also, I once bought a Lodge brand Hibachi cooker (Knockoff of the classic Atlanta piece) and took it home to cook with it. After seasoning the grill, I lit it up only to discover that the unusual gray finish on the piece was actually some kind of petroleum-based stuff that had been smeared all over it!

The only thing worse in comparison, obviously, would be the cheap-assed stuff from China. No telling WHAT kind of nasty stuff found its way into the foundry where it's made.

[RonF]

The methods cited here look good; clean it well, dry it so there's no rust, coat it with oil/lard, heat it up good.

However, one important caveat: DO NOT USE CORN OIL!!!! It leaves a gummy residue that doesn't season to the proper surface you want. It stays sticky. I did this once and had to re-clean and re-season the pan. My personal preference is lard, followed by Crisco. If you go with oil, peanut oil is the way to go.

[AppyPappy]

As long as we're on the subject, does anyone know where to get quality cast iron cookware these days?

yard sales and auctions.

[Focault's Pendulum]

What a nice thread. You ask an honest question and get answers. No smart ass comments. Nice change of pace.

Yes...but then again...I just logged in.

Give me a minute...I'll think of something.

[OKSooner]

The Lodge stuff is probably okay, but after the bad experience with the hibachi and the poor finish on the stuff that I've seen it's hard to accept that I can't find anything better SOMEWHERE. Maybe my nauseating experience with the hibachi has something to do with it. I would buy lodge before I'd buy the Chinese stuff that probably has nuclear waste leached into the cast iron.

The alternative, of course, is the French stuff that's coated with porcelain, which eliminates the nutritional benefit of cooking with cast iron.

[RonF]

I thought Scouts-L was bad. This comes up about once every 6 months there, and usually about a dozen people weigh in. How many of you folks are Scouters?

[Vic3O3]

Whadda ya got against Lodge cookware? I love mine!