Cast iron Seasoning

R

Rick Hunter

Member
I am curious with all members here what the timing and temperature techniques you use when seasoning "stripped" cast Iron. I usually do the following with good success:

1) Pre heat the oven at 200 degrees than put the cast iron in for 15 minutes.
2) After 15 minutes coat with Crisco and wipe excess off and put back in the oven for 15 more minutes at 300 degrees .
3) after 15 minutes wipe excess oil off and cook for 2 hours at 400 degrees!

When I started doing this process I repeated this 10 times. Found that was overkill. Just do it three times. Anyone have a better way of seasoning?
 
I don't know if our way "is better" but it is working for us.
Warm/dry at 200. Wipe with Crisco.
300 for 45-60 minutes. Wipe with Crisco.
400 for 45-60 minutes.
The rest of the process is just to use and enjoy our cast iron.
 
1. Warm for 5 minutes in 200 degree oven.
2. Coat with grape seed oil using a microfiber towel (microfiber seems to allow you to "sponge" off excess by gently wiping, or lay down large amounts by pressing harder.)
3. Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees and hold for 15 minutes. (I usually fill the oven up with 6 or more pieces which keeps things from getting too hot too fast, if only doing one piece I would probably raise it in increments.
4. Turn off oven and allow to cool slowly.
Repeat if not evenly seasoned.
 
Can't say it's better, here's my way which has worked great over many years:

Start 5 lbs of briquettes in a Weber with the vents wide open. Spread. On a decent day this will hit about 400° F. Coat piece with lard (thinly on the cooking surface of a skillet which goes in upside down.) not too thick on all the rest. Add piece/s and let it burn itself out. You miss getting the smoke in the house. The pieces will be a rich mahogany brown.

Then bake it in an oven at 475° for one hour and let cool in closed oven. There will be more smoke, but not like the first burn. The piece will now be shiny coal black. Do not repeat.

Use it! Cook some bacon or make waffles. Even a dutch oven loves to cook a mess of bacon.

IMPORTANT! Verify your ovens temps. It's reported that they can vary as much as 75° from the setting by a service tech. Not abnormal in newer ovens. Set at 475° mine cycles between 450° and 485°. Few are this exact. Over 500° is the danger zone.

Note: If not used enough from the get go the piece may acquire a light coating of white mold in storage feeding on unburnt impurities. Not to worry. With the next preheat it disappears and after a couple of uses never returns. Also you can wash it off like flour. I've never experienced a rancid issue, even with CI tongs that never got heated up again.

Hilditch
 
Rick Hunter said:
I am curious with all members here what the timing and temperature techniques you use when seasoning "stripped" cast Iron. I usually do the following with good success:

1) Pre heat the oven at 200 degrees than put the cast iron in for 15 minutes.
2) After 15 minutes coat with Crisco and wipe excess off and put back in the oven for 15 more minutes at 300 degrees .
3) after 15 minutes wipe excess oil off and cook for 2 hours at 400 degrees!

When I started doing this process I repeated this 10 times. Found that was overkill. Just do it three times. Anyone have a better way of seasoning?
Click to expand...

This is the exact method I follow as well, though I'll only do it once or twice per piece before putting them in rotation. Conveniently, I have an oven that has a cook timer, so I can start a piece late in the evening and set it to cook for 2 hours at the end and turn off while I go to bed.
 
Rick Hunter said:
Thanks Shawn! Just wondering how many times you do the process?
Click to expand...
We have been doing this just once. But it would probably get a darker color if we did the process two or three times.

We bought a Favorite smiley logo skillet last week from a Facebook classified page. The skillet is dark rich brown to almost a satin black color. It looks great. We asked the seller about their seasoning process.
Response: After dried, wipe with Crisco and bake at 450 for an hour. Turn off oven and let it cool. Do this again 2-5 times until it has an even color. Then switch to lard at 450 a couple times.

That seams like a lot of oven time but the skillet sure turned out nice.
 
W. Hilditch said:
Cook some bacon or make waffles. Even a dutch oven loves to cook a mess of bacon.

W.Hilditch
Click to expand...

Exactly. Bacon grease works great for seasoning. Back in the day, my grandparents would keep a coffee can nearby to keep bacon grease in. They also used lard...and made great lard biscuits too in the skillets ..making myself hungry!! :glutton:
 
All those tips to season is waste time and global warming for nothing.i personally haven't seen any body season a gridle, so I think why don't do same as a gridle. If I buy skillet for home use it go to my e tank for 24 hrs then rinse then it goes to stove and cook a steak wipe oil out side while I'm cooking and that's it when I finish cooking the season out side it won't come off at all and the stake does the rest inside. If I buy a skillet for display or collect , I sit it on top burner on medium low only takes 2 minutes to dry out completely , then I wipe oil all over the skillet while is warm, let it sit on low heat for 15,20 minutes, turn stove off and let it sit to cold down when I go back and check it the oil is dry and won't comes off.i don't know how to do it on electrical stove I have gas.
 
I've been following the method for the first seasoning from the site.

1) Finish cleaning and put in the oven around 200 to completely dry for 10-15 minutes
2) Turn the oven up to 350 for about 15 minutes
3) Turn it up again to about 425
4) Take the pieces out and coat with oil (I've used vegetable). I try to coat it, and then wipe a much off as possible. It seems to do a good job of filling any pores.
5) Give pieces 15 more minutes when they've all been coated
6) Turn oven up to 500 for 15 minutes
7) Turn off oven and let everything inside cool


I've had success with this, but pieces always come out a flat black. What do I need to do to get the nice sheen?
 
You can make the pan shiny by oiling it. I don't like to oil after seasoning because it just causes the pan to gather dust quicker here in the desert southwest.
 
KFSchmidt said:
I've been following the method for the first seasoning from the site.

1) Finish cleaning and put in the oven around 200 to completely dry for 10-15 minutes
2) Turn the oven up to 350 for about 15 minutes
3) Turn it up again to about 425
4) Take the pieces out and coat with oil (I've used vegetable). I try to coat it, and then wipe a much off as possible. It seems to do a good job of filling any pores.
5) Give pieces 15 more minutes when they've all been coated
6) Turn oven up to 500 for 15 minutes
7) Turn off oven and let everything inside cool


I've had success with this, but pieces always come out a flat black. What do I need to do to get the nice sheen?
Click to expand...

Try only going up to about 460 degrees. Depending on what oil you are using it will turn from shiny to flat as it "burns" a little somewhere between 450 and 500 degrees. The 500 degree method is good if you want to get a nice black color.
 
So would I be able to use my method for a base, then take it up to 400 for the next runnings to get the shine? Or is my chance gone because of the initial seasoning?
 
The high heat has just carbonized your seasoning, but not ruined anything. Try the suggestion with another coat at lower temp. Cooking in a well seasoned pan and then washing it will often leave it dulled a bit. I just wipe a half teaspoon of canola all over with a paper towel and it shines right back up.
 
Bonnie Scott said:
You can make the pan shiny by oiling it. I don't like to oil after seasoning because it just causes the pan to gather dust quicker here in the desert southwest.
Click to expand...

I agree!! You are in the upper Southwest Bonnie...am in the lower where it is dry and extremely hot. After cooking in the cast iron I heat it up on the gas stove for a minute then coat it with Crisco...wipe it off and cook it upside down till I see smoke. Then I store it in a closet where I have the cast iron racked. Seems to work out here in the wild west!!
 
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