Properly seasoning a cast-iron frypan

[old honda rider]

Greetings, all, glad to be here amongst the chosen few.

Some time ago in a moment of sheer stupidity I ended up leaving my cast-iron frypan on a hot burner for an extended period.

After clearing the smoke out of my house it was pretty clear that the seasoned pan wasn't, well, seasoned anymore.

I've tried re-seasoning using the instructions outlined here:

Quote: You season a cast iron pan by rubbing it with a relatively thin coat of neutral oil (I stress a light coat of oil). NOTE: Use vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, etc.), shortening (like Crisco shortening) or lard for seasoning your cast iron pans. I recently experimented and found out that food-grade coconut oil/butter also works great.

Place the cast iron pan, upside down, in the oven, with a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom to catch any drips. Heat the pan for 30 to 60 minutes in a 300 to 500 degree oven. Once done, let the pan cool to room temperature. Repeating this process several times is recommended as it will help create a stronger "seasoning" bond.

Alas, despite my best efforts, it just doesn't seem to work. Stuff sticks and burns and for the life of me I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Any ideas? Suggestions? Sure, I could go buy another one, but dammit I happen to like this one.

[Entre Nous]

Greetings, old honda rider!

I'm a rescuer of old CI, and I love the site below for all things CI-related. I first found it when trying to remove the waxy "seasoning" from a new Lodge frying pan, after finding it didn't work the way I liked. They have a very active forum and are friendly and helpful.

I've had very good luck with the method that begins by baking your pan in your oven on the self-cleaning cycle LOL Briefly, it sounds like you've partially burned off the old seasoning, and need to get it fully clean before reseasoning...

Good luck! Your pan will be good as new with a bit more work ;-)

http://www.griswoldandwagner.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl

[Datura]

Salt is a mild abrasive and may help. I have also heard that you can use oven cleaner. Put the pan in a bag, cover with the oven cleaner, then seal it up, and wait a couple of days. Clean and season as you normally would. The oven cleaner method may work if it is grease that is burned onto the pan.

[old honda rider]

Thanks, everyone. My particular oven isn't a self-cleaning model, so I'll give the spray oven cleaner a try and let you know how it turns out.

[2Beers]

I had gotten a fully painted(yes, black spray paint) older cast iron pan at a rummage sale. My Hubby took it to work were they have a sand blasting cabinet that uses plastic beads and cleaned back to the original cast iron. I was told to properly season your pans that you rub them with a good coating of Crisco, place them into a cold oven on your rack. The second rack should be underneath covered in tin foil to catch drips and turn the oven on to 350 degrees and bake for 1-2 hours(after it reaches that temp). Turn the oven off and allow the pan to become cool. So if you know of someone with those types of tools maybe try that to re-clean your cast iron.

[swedething]

I used the oil version too. It helped me just fine, but what I learned from my mom and my grandma was this: NEVER use any kind of detergent on a cast iron pan, just cold water! Brush the pan under flowing water, till all residue of your delicious meal is gone, put the pan back on the stove, dry it by using the rest-heat, or on a very low setting. Don't forget to turn the darn thing off, though! Really, this the best way to maintain your favorite CI-pan. I have one that I got from my mother, it was old when I was born. I still have it, it has never seen any suds at all in 45+ years. And I make killer sunny side ups in that pan!!!

[old honda rider]

(04-25-2010 01:29 PM)swedething Wrote:  Don't forget to turn the darn thing off, though!

Yea, that's exactly what happened; I put it on the stove for a bit after rinsing it off and promptly forgot about it.

As I type this it's in a plastic bag saturated in oven cleaner spray. I'll let it sit overnight and have at it tomorrow. Will keep you all posted.

[ePhilosopher9]

my grandmother lived to 95, no shit. her cast iron lives on.

[old honda rider]

A quick update:

I cleaned the thing to within an inch of its proverbial life by saturating it (if it can be called that, since I don't imagine CI gets literally saturated) in oven cleaner for a couple of days. Cleaned it off in the sink (no soap, just hot water and some elbow grease), then repeated the process.

This method took it right down to the bare iron.

Then, three times over three days, I coated the inside with basic vegetable oil and heated it in the oven at about 350 for an hour, then let it sit in the oven after I turned the oven off.

Using it last night, it seemed to work pretty well though there was still some light scorching and sticking. But at least the thing is usable now, whereas before it was worse than useless.

I'll re-season it at least twice more before I try to use it again.

Thanks, everyone, for all your input. What a world of information stored in our collective wisdom!