Seasoning is simply the process of baking cooking oil onto the surface of a pan until it dries into a moisture and rust-proof layer (or “patina”). This semi-permanent meat claws layer protects cast iron from rust, but also bestows it with natural non-stick properties. Reinforcing layers of this patina develop every time you use it, so basically, the more you cook with it, the more non-stick it gets. Decades later, Lodge, as the only remaining maker of cast iron cookware in the US, introduced with much fanfare their Lodge Logic™ brand in 2002.

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  • So when choosing your oil think about what flavor you want, what temperature you will be cooking at and what is most convenient for you and your family.
  • If you aren’t convinced to try cast iron out by this time, I don’t know what else to do.
  • If you ever need to patch up your seasoning after, say, cooking with too much acid or finding a spot of surface rust, these instructions will get your pan back in top shape.
  • But it’s a process you only need to do a few times per year, and it’s really no big deal.
  • I use mine just like I would any other pan for cooking, white sauces, soups, stews, etc.

And it enhances your cooking experience greatly. Turns out, this is how you protect your Blackstone griddle from rusting. A simple process of regular seasoning can transform your griddle into a super-nonstick cooking surface. I just finished running an oven cleaning cycle and opened the oven to find all my cast iron in there covered in rust flakes .

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Turn the oven off and allow the skillet to stay in the oven until it completely cools down. “The interior base of the pan is very smooth, and did not need to be ‘broken in’ as my Lodge pans did,” a Williams Sonoma customer wrote. Professionals and home cooks both swear by their Le Creuset skillets. It boasts hundreds of five-star ratings on Amazon, with users praising the tool for its versatility and durability and saying it’s worth the investment.

How To Clean And Season An Old, Rusty Cast Iron Skillet With Salt And Oil

This certainly will work perfectly to season your cast iron, as it is specialized to do so. The downside is that it is quite pricey, and it does not serve another purpose. This is a good solution if you are seasoning cast iron often. Grapeseed oil is a very common oil for seasoning cast iron. The smoke point of grapeseed oil is fairly high, meaning it takes higher temperatures to break down the oil.

Let your skillet sit for a few minutes, and then give it one last wipe using a clean side of your rag to remove any excess oil that might still be sitting there. You’ve perfectly seasoned your cast iron skillet. You’ll notice a nice, slick finish which is perfect for cooking anything from a fried egg to a good old burger. Originally after the seasoning process the pan was sitting on the counter next to a cracked tomato .

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This stage requires you to use the propane flames to heat the crafted cold steel. Get the heat higher underneath the griddle and watch it become black. The grill pan will billow with smoke, which is referred to as “smoke point,” and takes about half an hour to get to this point. So grab a seat, relax and watch as an undulating mass of smoke fly by.

This will help any residual water molecules to evaporate. To keep your cast iron cookware protected and make it rust-proof, you have to coat it with a thin layer of cooking oil that has been hardened. To best season your cast iron, it needs to be baked at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Porous pans can be rusty, sticky, burn food and cause food to break. If they are not well-seasoned or broken in, frequently having to reseason the skillet can be a turnoff, as can needing to use a lot of oil to cook. We can all enjoy cast iron, but only if the pan is slippery enough, which means properly seasoned and broken in.