How To Season A Cast Iron Skillet

More than just a bit of salt and pepper

Have you ever wondered why food at your grandparent's house tasted so good? One reason I'll bet is the pan that was used to make those burgers, eggs and gravy. The secret of most old school chefs is there use of the seasoned cast iron skillet.

How To Obtain The Best Cooking Surface

1. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees.

2. The first and last time to use a dishwasher to clean your cast iron skillet is after it is first purchased. The cast iron skillet will come with a protective coating when it is new, this needs to be scrubbed off before the pan can be properly seasoned. Make sure to dry completely so that the pan will not rust and will absorb the coating you will apply.

3. After the skillet is completely cleaned and dried you will want to apply the oil or fat to be used to form the coating that will season your pan. Bacon grease, lard or for vegetarians coconut oil should be used. You will want to avoid vegetable or corn oils because they will form a sticky shellac on the skillet surface. Proceed to coat the pan throughout with your oil or fat with a paper towel.

4. You will then want to place the coated skillet in the oven for 2 hours.

5. It may be necessary to repeat steps three and four again to create the proper surface.

6. Cook high fat foods your first couple of uses. Foods such as burgers or bacon are ideal.

How to clean your new skillet

Avoid using soap and water to make sure that you do not clean off your well seasoned surface. You will want to simply use a damp cloth to wipe out the pan and then leave it alone.

If there is still food stuck to the bottom of the pan you may want to use a more aggressive cleaning regimen. You can do this by using a paper towel and salt as an abrasive. If it is especially burned on you can also boil a little water in the skillet to loosen the food particles dramatically. Make sure to apply a bit of oil or lard afterwards.

If you tend not to cook much in the way of high fat foods you will find that food may start to stick again. If this is so you will want to reseason the pan.

More information on skillets