I keep destroying my seasoning! Help please!

D

DeLaneJenkins

New member
Hey guys, this is my first post. I've been following the site and several other cast iron sites for a while and trying to figure out things by reading and following the advice but I've finally come to the point I'm out of answers! I bought an old #8 griswold a couple of years ago to begin my collection for cooking. I stripped it down using Easy Off to bare metal. Scrubbed it with steel wool and soaked it in vinegar/water. It's a beautiful piece! After a ton of reading I decided to use the flax seed oil method by Sheryl Canter. I followed instructions to a T and spent a couple of days applying 6-7 coats. The skillet came out beautiful but in no time the seasoning began to flake. I stripped the pan again, followed the steps again and ended up with the same result not long after. I finally decided I was going to go with the tried and true method of crisco. I stripped the pan again, and followed the instructions on this website (http://www.castironcollector.com/seasoning.php) exactly and put on about 3 coats. Just to mention, I'm extremely meticulous when I do stuff and a stickler for every detail. Since then I have only cooked eggs a few times in the skillet, each time spraying it with the canola spray and cleaning it after with water only. I dry it, warm it back up in the oven to make sure it's completely dry, wipe it down with crisco again, wipe off the excess and let it cool in the oven. Tonight I decided I was going to do some cast iron burgers. I preheated the skillet to medium heat and threw a little dab of crisco in it because I was out of canola oil. It immediately started smoking and turning black so I used a paper towel in attempt to dab some of it up and to coat the skillet with the crisco. As I did, it looked like the seasoning was coming off completely down to bare metal. This picture shows what I ended up with. What am I doing wrong? Could it be the new crisco being primarily soybean oil instead of the old canola? If so should I switch to seasoning from the start with canola? Is there something else I could be doing wrong or missing? I'm assuming I'm going to have to strip the pan back down and start over. I don't know what else to do at this point!:headpop:
 

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If your Crisco immediately started smoking and turning black your heat is way too high. Back it off. Also, no need to preheat the skillet and then put your Crisco or canola oil in. Start your preheat with the canola or Crisco already in the skillet.
 
KevinE said:
If your Crisco immediately started smoking and turning black your heat is way too high. Back it off. Also, no need to preheat the skillet and then put your Crisco or canola oil in. Start your preheat with the canola or Crisco already in the skillet.
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Thanks for the reply. I literally only had the skillet on medium heat. Is it that I added the crisco after the pan was already preheated?
 
That would certainly factor into it. Medium heat should be fine for cooking burgers, but "medium" from one stove to the next isn't all the same.
 
KevinE said:
That would certainly factor into it. Medium heat should be fine for cooking burgers, but "medium" from one stove to the next isn't all the same.
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I definitely agree temps vary between stoves/ovens and I'll make a point to add my oil before preheating my pan from now on. My next question is this though, if I'm scorching and losing my seasoning at "medium" heat, how can I ever bring my skillet to high heat for searing steaks etc without losing my seasoning?
 
By the time you get oil or crisco to 400° F it will be smoking. You can sear steaks at 400 - 425° just fine. A little over 500° you start to break down the seasoning. At 600° most seasoning will peel. Yes, it can get to 600° on medium with no food in the skillet. You can get to 500° on medium low with an empty skillet. Preheat slowly on low, go to med-lo and when it starts smoking add food and adjust from there. The sides of the pan stayed under 500° but the bottom appears to have hit 600°. Too hot!

After putting food in the skillet it will be absorbing some heat & then you may want to turn it up a bit, but high is seldom necessary no matter what the recipe says.

Hilditch
 
The extremely smooth cooking surface can be both a blessing and a curse. the blessing part is obvious, but the curse part is it can make it much more difficult for the initial seasoning to stick. I feel your pain, been there.

Regarding the earlier comments, CI will continue to get hotter the longer it's heated, so even at medium it can get too hot if left preheating too long. I wouldn't be afraid of getting your pan searing-hot, though; you just need to establish your seasoning better first and learn how to balance burner setting with preheat time.

There's really no shortcuts or ways to expedite the process, I've tried and tried. You just have to cook on it. Don't worry about perfect aesthetics on the clean pan after every cook, just clean off food residue and carbonization like normal. Avoid acidic foods, do a lot of high oil/fat cooking like frying or sautéing with some extra lube. Don't rush it.

Don't start over with every setback, just keep using it. One trick that actually is useful (thanks Hilditch) is every so often (1 - 3 months, depending on usage) put it in the oven for a seasoning cycle without coating it with oil first. This will "firm up" the existing seasoning and polymerize any residue that's accumulated on the pan that hasn't seasoned. It's worked wonders with a couple of my problematic pans.

But in general, good seasoning takes time and patience. Trying to rush it will just set you back. Use the pan. Realize, back in the old days, using it was pretty much the only method they had, and it worked.

Good luck.
 
I don't cook a lot of meat. Would you guys say CI is better for people who are big meat-eaters? I've been accumulating some pans and am beginning to wonder if they're right for the kind of food I mostly cook..... :|
 
I’d say yes. Good seasoning does not live by vegetable oils alone. However, if you are going through a few sticks of real butter a week that can work. Cooking meat is where my cast iron and seasoning shines.

Hilditch
 
Donna if don't cook meat a lot I often roast brussel sprouts, cauliflower or cubed up potatoes or whatever sound good in a skillet in the oven. And if you have bacon grease it's a win win. Most of that cooks in 25-30 at 350* there is many times I have more than one skillet going at same time.
 
W. Hilditch said:
As it is not a plant, fish falls on the meat side of the line for me.

Hilditch
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I would agree, animal = meat, but there are some meatless religious practices that exempt fish and, not knowing where Donna's coming from with her dietary preferences, I was wondering where fish fell in her diet. Because cooking fish is another good use for CI.

And Donna, baking sweet or savory pies and bread is another good use for CI that doesn't need meat.

But anyway, this is getting off-topic...
 
Maybe it's just the lighting in your photo , but that skillet doesn't look very dark to me . Are you sure it's not plated ? That would certainly explain why it doesn't take the seasoning well .

I have had 2 nickel plated Griswold #8 skillets . One was only plated on the outside (so the cooking surface could be seasoned) , but the other was nickel plated on BOTH the outside and the inside . So that would be kind of like trying to season a stainless pan .
 
EricC said:
I would agree, animal = meat, but there are some meatless religious practices that exempt fish and, not knowing where Donna's coming from with her dietary preferences, I was wondering where fish fell in her diet. Because cooking fish is another good use for CI.

And Donna, baking sweet or savory pies and bread is another good use for CI that doesn't need meat.

But anyway, this is getting off-topic...
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Eric, I minimize animal protein in my cooking; it's just a preference, not a dietary requirement for me. Thanks for your ideas!
 
The pic in post 1 looks odd to me. I'm a newb but my guess is too hot, or too thick a coating while seasoning.
I have an old electric stove and the burners go 1-7. I never use CI over about 2.4. It takes a few minutes to warm up, so I just turn on the burner and leave things alone for ~10 minutes.
 
Thanks for the input everyone! I think think my biggest mistake was not realizing how hot my skillet will get only on medium heat. I never realized that! I'll definitely dial it back! My stove eye goes from 1-9 and I never go over 4 but that's obviously too hot which caused this result and probably my issues before as well. In reply to the member who asked about the skillet being plated, it's not. My seasoning never got dark which I think is related to only heating to 350 during my initial seasoning according to the instructions here instead of at 500 or higher. I'm going to crank up the heat for at least an hour or more for each thin layer of initial seasoning with crisco this next time until I get it dark!
 
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I think the last part is a waste of time and electricity just to achieve a cosmetic effect that will develop in time on its own just by cooking.
 
Doug D. said:
I think the last part is a waste of time and electricity just to achieve a cosmetic effect that will develop in time on its own just by cooking.
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Ok, I'm definitely not worried about cosmetics. I thought the darkness was a sign the oil has gone beyond it's smoke point and cooked on harder. Although I know the more you cook with CI it will get darker as well.

Also, do you think the fact crisco has changed it's ingredients from primarily canola oil to soybean and palm will make a difference?
 
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