Seasoning cast iron question

[4LovesMom]

So now the follow-up to the pots & pans question is... how do you season cast iron? Sounds like a few of us want to know.

[boonpnutsmom]

I just use a corn oil and rub a little in everytime after it has been used before putting it away.

[2sunshines]

The easiest way is to buy them pre-seasoned. :giggle

But if you buy them unseasoned, I know there is a way to do it. I can't remember it now because I bought mine pre-seasoned. :shrug

I did a search online and came across a few links:

http://www.kitchenemporium.com/info/castiron.html

http://www.nwta.com/couriers/11-96/castiron.html

http://antiques.about.com/cs/miscellaneous/ht/CleanCastiron.htm

Hope that helps...

[Oliveshoots]

This advice was from both my grandmother's who cooked almost EVERYTHING in cast iron (skillets, dutch ovens, frying pans, you name it):

When you first get it, rub it all over with shortening or lard (I think lard is ideal, correct me someone if this is wrong), and place it in your oven on about 200 or 250 for a couple hours. Remove, wipe off excess oil, cook something really greasy in it (like bacon or fried chicken, again using shortening or lard). You can do the first step over and over until you have it like you want it.

NEVER scour it.
NEVER use bleach on it.
Towel dry it if you wash it (mine rusted on the bottom really bad one time when I rinsed it and put it in the dish drain.)

I personally don't like using any kind of "fake" oils in mine, like Pam or cooking spray, or those watery butter subsitutes like Promise or something. It gets all sticky and smelly. And anything acidic like tomatoes shouldn't be used in it until it's really good and seasoned.

I'm reading back over this and realize it sounds very unhealthy, and not do-able for vegetarians, so I'm sure there is some room in what kind of oil you can use. But I think the more fatty it is, the better. And you're going to wipe off the excess anyway. This is how my family has always done it, and they have the smoothest, darkest, most even-cooking cast iron I have ever seen.

One more thing, my grandmother never "washed" her cast iron pans. She just wiped them out with a dry cloth or paper towel. :shrug Works for us. But if the pan is well-seasoned, dipping it in a dishpan of soapy water and rinsing shouldn't hurt the seasoning.

HTH.

[doubleblessings]

:nak
To wash them salt is a good scrubber instead of using soap. (Although I do sometimes use some soap). I dry mine in the warm oven or on the stove and then put a light film of oil in it.

[Punkie]

I bought mine pre-seasoned, although I've seasoned woks before.

For cast iron, I think bacon fat really is the best. Its super seasoned after that! Its not very vegetarian though...

Each time I use it, I take my scrubby brush (no soap) and lightly scrub it out with warm water. Then I wipe it out with a towel and spray olive oil in there. It works great and I've never had any problems :) My smaller ones have never had any meat fat in them, and they are still very well seasoned. I just do the olive oil spray in there and sometimes have to scrub a little harder :)

[Boys and Angels]

OK, my grandma rubbed them with thick green olive oil and put them in the oven for about and hour. Took them out, rubbed them all off, poured in fresh olive oil, put them back in the oven for a longer period of time, maybe the whole afternoon, took them out, rubbed them off and declared them "pronta" (ready).

She never actually washed them, rubbed them clean with a cloth. no soap, no bleach, and reseasoned them every now and then. I have them now, and they are thickly coated. Nothing like a cast iron frying pan. In our culture, they're called the "Father in law." If a woman has no father, she gets a set of cast iron frying pans for her bridal shower. The old legend is if her husband beats her and she has no one to defend her (like a father - -- hence the "father in law") she can use the frying pan on him! LOL!

[4LovesMom]

Nothing like a cast iron frying pan. In our culture, they're called the "Father in law." If a woman has no father, she gets a set of cast iron frying pans for her bridal shower. The old legend is if her husband beats her and she has no one to defend her (like a father - -- hence the "father in law") she can use the frying pan on him! LOL!

I love it! Great background along with the seasoning tip. :)