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Cast iron seasoning

art1985_66418

After a turbulent relationship with my teflon pan - now totally banged up and destroyed after only a year, I have fallen in love with my cast iron pan. Strong, sturdy, but alas - food stuck to it. I read up on seasoning - and during the weekend i went through five to six cycles with rapeseed oil - baking it in my oven at 250 c for an hour. The pan turned out beautifully, and yesterday i was able to fry four eggs without dem sticking at all. Afterwards, I did another baking of the pan, and it had been cooling for about an hour when my girlfriend wanted to make scrambled eggs. Being confident with my "new" pan, i convinced her to use it, scraping with a iron spatula. To my horror, it left huge scrapes in the coating, essentially ruining the smooth surface. I thought that a well seasoned pan would stand up to such abuse, but apparently i was wrong. What do i do now? I'm not at all tempted to do the process all over again; but reading about the success people have had with flaxeseed oil, I probably will.

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Comments

James_Orr_20336

Hi everyone

I actually had the same experience as Art, only using flaxseed oil to season rather than grapeseed. I followed the protocol in 4-Hour Chef, though I don't remember the specifics off the top of my head. Our apartment smelled like we were finishing furniture with wiping oil, then the film came off after the first or second use. Total bummer. Maybe I'll give it another go with Sheryl's routine.

Matt_67991

I think that pan seasoning might make a nice video down the road. Just like the knife videos, it falls under the umbrella of kitchen tool maintenance. Obviously they have no shortage of things to shoot though.

lfmichaud

I was under the impression that seasoning was done at a much lower temperature. Most of the references that I find use the self cleaning oven to remove and clean bad seasoning and do the seasoning at much lower temperatures...

Chris_Young_80640

Only two steps are truly crucial when seasoning cast iron or high-carbon steel: first you must oxidize the iron content at the surface into the black oxide known as magnetite (Fe3O4 ), instead of the more common red oxide hematite (Fe2O3 ), also known as rust.

The second step is to form a durable, waterproof film made from oxidized fat that is bound electrochemically to the metal.

You accomplish both steps by coating the wok with animal fats or vegetable oils, then heating it to very high temperatures, more than 480 °C / 900 °F. At these temperatures, the fats decompose into an assortment of molecules, including fatty acids. These acids provide the caustic conditions necessary for high temperatures to oxidize iron into magnetite. The other thing that happens is that the fat degrades and polymerizes into a class of molecules known as esters that form a strong and durable film bound to the metal that repels water and protects the wok from the food. With proper use and care, the patina becomes thicker and more durable over time. It’s this patina that makes a wok or a skillet nonstick.

timdebnyc

Carbon steel needs to be seasoned like cast iron, and I use the method linked above on my wok and steel pans.

seijoed

Or a pizza steel!

You can "heat oil" and get it slippery but it won't stay on the stainless, so usually a little more oil and higher temp.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

It'll work on regular or high carbon steel just fine.

I have some cheap run-of-the-mill steel cookie sheets that have a nice nonstick coating just like on my cast iron.

seijoed

If you are thinking stainless steel, that cannot be seasoned in the same way.

ejf12009

It seems like this process creates a distinct layer of hardened oil; in particular, the food is no longer coming into contact with the iron.

Is there a reason such a process could not be applied to a pan of a different material? Are heat and oxygen alone insufficient for the drying process? If iron is needed, wouldn't the process not work after the first few layers?

crimsonfancy

Excellent article. Who'd like to suggest an online source for flaxseed oil?
The stuff I'm finding at Amazon seems marketed to the health conscious and vitamin folks. I bet we can find it for less $...

edit: Nevermind. It looks like the cost is gonna be more expensive.

I found this source for a buy one get one and free shipping: http://bit.ly/1edAEHy

Dean_41768

Fantastic! Thank you @chrisyoung for the guidance.

matthew.snyder77

@Michael Natkin, thanks for that flaxseed article share. I just got some cast iron grates for my grills, and I think I'll follow that method for seasoning them prior to use.

Chris_Young_80640

Yes. Scrub the affected parts of the pan to remove the rust. Re-season with oil and heat.

Dean_41768

I botched the seasoning of my Kuhn rikon Cast iron pan which resulted to some areas where it was partially seasoned and the rest weren't properly coated. The result was light rusting in some parts of the pan. Could I restart and save my pan by re-seasoning with the right oil and the right technique?

michaelnatkin

@art1985 best to strip the old seasoning if you are up for the job. I tried several different methods and had best luck with oven cleaner. Carefully! More info here: http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/perfect-popovers-and-how-to-clean-reseason-cast-iron/

Mason_Perry_34060

I avoid metal spatulas on my cast iron and of course on non stick. I have some silicone ones that are good to 500F and don't ever scratch the surface. They are also easier to clean.

art1985_66418

@Michael Natkin; thanks. Is stumbled upon that article a couple of days ago.

Should i remove the remaining seasoning in the pan, or leave it in and hope that the flaxseed fill in the scrapes?

Brendan_Lee_56950

And really the more you use it the better that seasoning will become.

michaelnatkin

Yep, flaxseed oil is the way to go. Follow all the instructions in this fantastic article: http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/ - you'll end up with a rock hard, super slick surface.