Flaxseed oil results in test kitchen

S

SpurgeonH

Active member
I saw this article this morning and thought y'all might find it interesting. Well, it's the pictures of two skillets put through a dishwasher, one seasoned with flaxseed oil and the other with vegetable oil, that I found interesting.

BTW - I disagree with the comment in the article about using a self-cleaning oven to strip the pan. After seeing the fire damage on that Griswold roasting pan and reading other comments in this forum, I would never use a high heat "burn it off" method.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed....2015/06/the-ultimate-way-to-season-cast-iron/
 
It's a shame that ATK sometimes only scratches the surface of a subject before pronouncing something "the best", or in this case, "the ultimate". Many of the comments below the article echo what the cast iron collecting community has known about flaxseed oil for years now. But, as often happens on the internet, everything old will be re-discovered by someone who also doesn't go any further than one article before touting it as the new best thing since sliced bread.

Since I wouldn't put my vegetable oil seasoned skillet through the dishwasher, I wouldn't call that a deficiency in using it as a seasoning method.

The reasons to avoid the SCO as a cleaning method are these:

Older, thinner vintage (and valuable) pans may crack or warp. Not "will", "may". I'm not testing with my Erie skillet to see if it's true or not. The type of scaly red damage possible in a fire should not occur in a SCO, though.

Steel bail and coil handles are at risk of losing their tempering. Skillets are not tempered, so the blog comment about that happening and the handle breaking off is incorrect.

SCO cycles put wear and tear on your oven. Side effects can be chrome oven racks which blue or become harder to slide, and premature failure of oven light bulbs. And probably shorter oven element life.
 
I ran across that article before I ran across the info on this forum, unfortunately. As a result I have a few pans seasoned with flaxseed oil. Really, it's been working fine so far, but I understand the biggest question is its durability over time so I'll see firsthand how that works. And that's one of the benefits of cast iron seasoning, if something doesn't work you can always strip and start over.

Regardless of the results I end up getting, by no means am I trying to promote any methodology that differs from this forums' conventional wisdom.

Regarding the "impressive" dishwasher test in that article, here's a couple of points that (later) stuck out for me:

- It wasn't a normal cycle, he ran it with just a "squirt of degreaser".

- The "traditionally seasoned" pan was seasoned using the stovetop method, not the oven method with a traditional oil. Personally I haven't found stovetop-method manual seasoning as durable as oven method results, so that might skew the comparative results.
 
I saw that article too earlier this year. I tested one piece of my CI using this flax seed oil method, which was a new production Lodge 10.5 inch skillet. I have used the SCO method in the past, but I am reluctant to use it for reasons DougD mentioned. I use the lye bath method. Anyway, it was a lengthy process of seasoning of 5 coats...took up most of my day. But so, far it works for me. I have had no issues of peeling or cracking off or leaching of odor into food while cooking. Would I do it for all of my CI collection? No, b/c it takes too long and my electric bill would go through the roof. But, in the future, I may use the flax seed oil method occasionally on a piece. I have a buttermilk and lard biscuit recipe that calls for oven temperature of 500F and I usually use that new Lodge with flax seed oil season to bake the biscuits.:glutton:
 
Since my earlier post, I've switched to grapeseed oil.

Another problem with that article is it only does that "dishwasher" test, it doesn't test the durability in cooking situations. I haven't had any problems with cracking or peeling but it does seem to "wear" more easily, though that opinion's subjective. But is that from the flaxseed oil; will grapeseed oil, etc do better? I'm comparing now.

But overall there doesn't appear to be any compelling reason or advantage in using flaxseed oil over the traditional (and better smelling in the oven) choices. The best thing I've found about it is it gives a very aesthetically attractive initial seasoning, which matters little for user pieces.
 
EricC said:
Since my earlier post, I've switched to grapeseed oil.
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How do you like grape seed oil? Yea the dishwasher test did not make sense because ya just don't do it and the weight will rub off the vinyl coating on the dishwasher rack very quickly. And yes there not a real compelling reason to use it for me for reasons I mentioned. But, I tested flax seed oil method to verify the naysayers of it. I heard it all...flaking, peeling, leaching odor into food. So far, I am satisfied with my results and those claims were not borne out in my test and evaluation. BTW, the "smoking" problem in my test was the first cycle of seasoning probably because bare CI with first coat...just a guess. After that, the "smoking" (evaporation of oil is what I think it is) problem was not an issue. Let us know how the grape seed seasoning turns out.
 
So far I've been liking the grapeseed oil. I did the flaxseed oil initially at 500 then switched to 550, the oven's max, which seemed to work better with that particular oil. But with grapeseed I went back down to the recommended 500 degrees and it's been working fine.

The flaxseed oil has a nutty flavor with a bitter aftertaste, and the smell of it baking was similar. I grew to kinda like it but The Wife hated that smell. The smell from baking grapeseed oil is much more user-friendly.

I need more time/use to properly compare its durability.
 
EdP said:
Meant to ask, is it readily available like other mainstay oils, i.e. corn, canola, etc.? Or do ya have to shop a specialty market like Whole Foods?
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I can't speak for wherever you are but my local grocery store has multiple grapeseed oil options shelved with the other standard cooking oils. It's not a specialty store but it is a "plus" version compared to their older formats.
 
Grapeseed oil is popular enough these days that most "better" supermarkets stock it, sometimes even in a store brand. Look for refined, though.
 
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