Re-seasoning cast iron?

I have a cast iron pan from Lodge Logic that after it was bought was repeatedly oiled and baked to season it (I know they are pre-seasoned but COMNAVWIFEPAC thought it was a good idea, while she is normally dead on in the kitchen, we all have our lapses of reason).

What ended up happening was a rather thick baked on patina of oil that worked fine for a while but much like too much shoe polish at once, it has started to chip off and flake, rather irregularly at that. Does anyone have any tips for breaking this pan down and starting over again?

Set it on a gas grill with the grill on high for an hour or so. It will burn all the old seasoning off. Let it cool and then reseason as you would new.
A self cleaning oven will do the same thing, but may smoke up the house.
I've read of folks sanding them down by hand or with a wire attachment on a drill, but I've never tried that method.
You may find that once you've cleaned the pan down to the bare iron, it takes the seasoning better than before. Remember to use light coats of oil. Sometimes flaking is caused by leaving too much oil on the pan. It should be black, smooth and dry. If brown and sticky, then too much grease has been used.
Good luck with it.

I fortunately have never had to re-season my goto skillet but I did jack up my friends that wasnt apparently seasoned well at all... Cook eggs in it....and oh my god what a mess!!!! But mine in oven on clean and it eventually chipped off and re seasoned. I unlike many use bacon grease to season. I actually fill with about half inch of grease and either but on stove and swirl around or stick in oven at 300 for about a hour and still try to swirl the grease. Many people dont approve of the bacon grease for whatever reason but it works for me. And honestly alot of times...it is the bacon grease that ultimately seasons the pan in the first place! Good luck!

I have the same Lodge Logic pan, and the "pre-seasoning" is there mainly to keep it looking shiny and new while its on the shelf in the store. I went ahead and fully seasoned mine before I cooked in it the first time.

As for stripping it down and starting over, I give it this treatment 3 or 4 times a year:

Use a wire brush and paper towels to scrape out as much oil off the surface as you can.

Fill the pan up to about an inch from the top with clean, cold water. (Use filtered water, or get a couple bottles of distilled water from the store.) Set it on the stove and crank the burner on max. As the water boils, it will bring all the oil out of the pan and it floats on the surface in a brown, goopy mess. Leave it there for about 10~15 minutes on a rolling boil. Then dump the oily water in the sink (BE CAREFUL !!!) and repeat the process.

Repeat this three times. The first time, the water will boil up brown. The second time, the water will boil up white. The third time, it will boil up clear.

I've tried adding things to the water like vinegar and/or salt ... it doesn't seem to help any ... I get the best results by using just plain water.

Once you go through this process, your pan will be stripped of oil inside, and you can go through the re-seasoning process.

I have my great grandmother's cast iron skillet (~150 years of continuous use), and one thing has made all the difference for me.

As others have said, when re-seasoning, use very light coats of oil when baking the pan in the oven. I find it works better crank the oven to 500°, instead of the usual 350°. It will smoke up the house, so turn on your vent fan, and open a few windows.

I usually do this once a year or so, just for personal peace of mind. The combo of the age of the pan and this added seasoning coating allows me to fry or scramble eggs that actually fall out of the pan. I'd even venture as much to say that it is a better non-stick surface than teflon pans, which I never use.

Damn! My goto skillet is also 100 years plus. But the water treatment is a very good idea! I will try it on my newer skillets that dont have that good seasoning yet

homebrewer said:

I have my great grandmother's cast iron skillet (~150 years of continuous use), and one thing has made all the difference for me.

As others have said, when re-seasoning, use very light coats of oil when baking the pan in the oven. I find it works better crank the oven to 500°, instead of the usual 350°. It will smoke up the house, so turn on your vent fan, and open a few windows.

I usually do this once a year or so, just for personal peace of mind. The combo of the age of the pan and this added seasoning coating allows me to fry or scramble eggs that actually fall out of the pan. I'd even venture as much to say that it is a better non-stick surface than teflon pans, which I never use.

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+1...... This is exactly what I do to mine and it works great. It was my grandma's as well but I think its closer to the 100 year mark. It is my favorite pan in the kitchen, out on the grill or over an open flame/coals when camping.
I also have her Dutch oven and do the same treatment....

I use lard (Crisco) to season my cast-iron skillet, but I bet bacon grease would work just fine. Then, I never wash it. After each use I just wipe it out with paper towels. If your wife washes your skillet with soap or detergent when you are not looking, you have to season it again. The Lodge website has instructions on how to do it. I have a twelve-inch iron skillet with a self-basting lid...I can cook anything in that sucker and nothing ever sticks.

Roman414 said:

I use lard (Crisco) to season my cast-iron skillet, but I bet bacon grease would work just fine. Then, I never wash it. After each use I just wipe it out with paper towels. If your wife washes your skillet with soap or detergent when you are not looking, you have to season it again. The Lodge website has instructions on how to do it. I have a twelve-inch iron skillet with a self-basting lid...I can cook anything in that sucker and nothing ever sticks.

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Good point, I did not mention this. I was tought never to wash a cast iron pan...just wipe and go....

Eggs are my greatest enemy when it comes to cooking with cast iron. I've always ended up re-seasoning the pan after I cook eggs, because I can't seem to clean the pan without water. It's become the number one reason why I tend not to eat eggs at home.

So, what is your general care and feeding of cast iron skillets on a day-to-day basis? I find that I've been wiping an oiled cloth across the surface every few times I cook with a pan, and I'm not sure if that's normal. If I don't do that, the seasoning seems to degrade down to that dull gray of the iron really fast.

--
Josh

Hazy said:

Set it on a gas grill with the grill on high for an hour or so. It will burn all the old seasoning off. Let it cool and then reseason as you would new.
A self cleaning oven will do the same thing, but may smoke up the house.
I've read of folks sanding them down by hand or with a wire attachment on a drill, but I've never tried that method.
You may find that once you've cleaned the pan down to the bare iron, it takes the seasoning better than before. Remember to use light coats of oil. Sometimes flaking is caused by leaving too much oil on the pan. It should be black, smooth and dry. If brown and sticky, then too much grease has been used.
Good luck with it.

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the bbq is what I'd use. I would just put the pan on the grill and let the old oil burn off. I have also put my lodge directly on the coals to remove the old season. To re season I generally coat the pan with a swipe of grape seed oil and set it on the Q grate, over the coals after a bbq. leave it on all night, cook up some bacon in the morning and your good to go.

I have had my skillets go for years without needing to be reseasoned. The trick is to be careful what you cook in them. Sauces can be murder on the coating, so I use the skillets exclusively for frying and baking.

If a cast iron skillet needs a goo scrubbing to get stuck food out, then use one of those plastic scrub pads with a good dose of table salt. The salt helps to scrub out the bits and also helps seal the surface.

What? OK what am I missing here?
What is reseasoning? and why you guys are not washing your skillets?

Thanks everyone! Once I get back I think it is going to be a cross between the grill incineration and the water treatment.

Hazy said:

Sometimes flaking is caused by leaving too much oil on the pan. It should be black, smooth and dry. If brown and sticky, then too much grease has been used.

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That describes it exactly!

1969Fatboy said:

I actually fill with about half inch of grease and either but on stove and swirl around or stick in oven at 300 for about a hour and still try to swirl the grease. Many people dont approve of the bacon grease for whatever reason but it works for me.

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It may not be the bacon grease itself but the baking at 300 for an hour part that makes folks squeamish

Isaias said:

What? OK what am I missing here?
What is reseasoning? and why you guys are not washing your skillets?

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The quick version is that cast iron pans are porous and absorb a small amount of oil to fill in the pores both protecting it form rusting and making for a less adhesive cooking surface, over time with proper care this can come to rival most nonstick pans in performance. Seasoning a cast iron pan is the process of making this coating. Regular detergents break down this protective layer exposing the pan to corrosion and just make it a bear to cook with. As far as the hygienics of this goes I have no evidence outside of my own well being. You do wash cast iron but you only use clean water and a stiff brush, (I also use salt and a paper towel to get anything I missed/sop up any last bit of moisture before I oil the pan). After this treatment there shouldn’t be anything left to encourage substantial growth and what little may survive should be killed once you heat the pan back up.

You may have the fire too high when you fry your eggs. I fry mine in vegetable oil or olive oil or butter, with a low fire, not too hot, and they don't stick.

I treat my cast iron like my carbon steel wok: clean only with hot water and a brush, start with a hot pan and swish around a bit of cold oil at the start of cooking. My cast iron skillet is almost 100 years old and gets more beautiful to use with each year.

Wayne

I addition to previous posts, I find that a slight re-coat of oil after cleaning helps. Usually, not always, after I clean out the pan I'll heat it back up on the stove, and wipe in a small amount of veggie oil on a paper towel. Turn off the heat, leave the pan on the burner. It will smoke a bit, but this extra little coat almost acts as a miniature seasoning, that only adds to the final cure. But just as before, the key is to keep the amount of oil to a bare minimum. Use just enough to make it shine, but not enough to make it "wet".

After I dry the pan I rub about a dimes size of vegi oil into it before I put it up for protection against any other moisture. Force of habit from my time as a Boy Scout where our cast iron was stowed in less then ideal conditions.

I've got this Pampered Chef skillet that never needs seasoning. If the coating ever comes off I just send it back and they send me a new one, (did this once already).

I've gotten rid of most of my cast iron as I prefer copper. It looks way cooler in the kitchen and causes guests to think I am a good cook even before I start.

royalcrown said:

After I dry the pan I rub about a dimes size of vegi oil into it before I put it up for protection against any other moisture. Force of habit from my time as a Boy Scout where our cast iron was stowed in less then ideal conditions.

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Vegi-Oil is good for cooking, but for seasoning the pan, an oil with a high smoke point is better. I'm currently using Canola oil, but even better than that is Peanut or Grapeseed.

One thing you don't want to use in a cast-iron pan is EVOO ... it has an extremely low smoke point, and if it gets too hot, the oil will scorch and turn rancid. If that happens, you need to strip it and start all over.

How do you tell when the oil has reached the right temp? Watch the reflection off the surface, when it starts to shimmer, the oil is ready.