Seasoning a Cast Iron Skillet

[HawgHeaven]

RR, you worked wonders with that iron... I never thought of using Crisco.

I've always used olive oil, bacon grease, or lard. I've salvaged a few rough looking skillets and a dutch oven or two from antique stores and flea markets. I cleaned them up with a sandblaster, washed them real good with soap and water, then treated them with the aforementioned goop, and baked them in the oven. It got very smokey... I like the outside grill idea.

Thanks for the tips!

[Fishawn]

My Big CI skillet needs to be reseasoned. I want to try the PAM method. Anyone have anymore tips on the PAM method?

[marz]

For the cast iron I restore I use lard (or crisco) PAM and veg oil never works well for me and I have ended up with the spots like shown in the original post or a sticky gooey type of coating that takes awhile to overcome.

I also will use some inexpensive bacon or some salt pork (fat back, streak o lean, etc.) as the maiden voyage to really get a through season before I use it for "real" cooking.

The best clean I have ever got was with a very old Wagner pan that before cleaning I couldn't even see any marking on it at all... it was rusty and crusty. I took it camping, set it near the fire (with about 2 feet of bailing wire through the handle hole to manipulate it) and as the night wore on, I would move it about 3" every 15 mins or so until it was in the fire. I left it in the fire for about 1/2 hr. and then slowly pulled it back out 3" at a time... let it sit fireside over night to slowly cool and the next morning I had the cleanest pan I have ever done. This is now my referred method. I know the campfire method is frowned upon as if not done gradual can cause warping or cracking.. it seems to work well for me (maybe I am just lucky).

[smokeguy]

Last week I decided that it was time to clean the oven since I could leave all the windows/doors open w/the good weather since it smokes so much the first hour of cleaning it (maybe I should do it more often!).
So I figure I might as well do another couple of grease/heat/cool cycles first on some skillets first since they'll do some dripping. They came out looking great and on I go to the cleaning cycle. Next day I open it up to wipe the ash and in the very back corner is my little baby skillet just big enough for a couple of eggs.

You want to take off all the old cooking "stuff" and seasoning you just need to put it through a cleaning cycle! Took every last bit of everything off of it and left a rusty powder in the bottom of the pan. I've got it dusted out and rubbed back down but haven't had a chance to re-season it yet.
I hope I didn't kill it!

[Walking Dude]

no pics?

[smokeguy]

I wish I had. At the time it was OMG it's ruined and so it's already nice and slick and black and not a rusty color.
Give me time though. The older I get the more I do stupid stuff like that and usually more than once!

[cajun_1]

I have plans to set up an electrolysis tank this weekend. I have some cast that I bought last year that needs some attention. I should also redo the cast that I haven't used in the past few years ... I have also bought a used electric stove so I can season them outside (and also use the stove for canning.)

[Alan R. McDaniel, jr.]

Some of the best cast iron I've got I found at garage sales and junk sales. It's usually sitting outside half full of water and has a bunch of nuts and bolts rusting in it. I take em out back and hit em hard with a wire wheel on the hand grinder. That takes all the rust and all the seasoning off. Then I wash the heck out of them with detergent and water. I dry them in a preheated over just enough to dry the water and then rub them with some vegetable oil. I rub the whole inside and outside well and then wipe it dry (to a thin film). Then they go in the oven at 300 degrees for around 30 minutes. Then I pull them and give them another dose of oil and back in they go for another 30 min. I pull them, wipe them down again and dry to a thin film and let them cool. I store them in a box that is reasonably airtight and wash them gently with mild soap and water before use. This method works well for me.

Alan

[Jimh]

my father -in law gave me a old wagner in yearly october and it had a little rust but that was about it. I scoured it out with a 3m scouring cloth and then heated it up on the stove top, dropped in about a teaspoon of bacon grease let it melt took some paper towel smeard it around. while i was doing this I pre heated the oven to 400, then I placed the pan in the oven upside down for an hour, after an hour I took it out let it cool and wipe it out ( there was afew small grease spots) and now it is a great pan.With maybe a half teaspoon of bacon grease it frys eggs like a nonstick pan. and thats my 2 cents worth