I mentioned last week how dear my cast iron skillet is to me.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. When I’m not eating the ridiculous baked goods that come out of my oven, I’m eating eggs. Eggs inside of fried corn tortillas. I eat eggs because, as a baker, I always have eggs in the fridge and they’re super easy to fry up and call dinner. Eggs, always eggs, with salt, pepper and tortillas. There, now you know.
I cook my eggs and fry my tortillas in the same cast iron skillet day after day. This skillet is always riddled with the evidence of some sort of cooked egg. But with a little hot oil, some salt and a paper towel, it’s as good as clean.
If you have a cast iron skillet that could use some love, here’s how to season and care for that bad boy. Cast iron skillets are too bad ass to waste away in your cupboard. Get to it!
Cast iron, in all of its natural cast iron goodness is a not a nonstick pan. It becomes a nonstick delight through a process called seasoning. Seasoning is basically oiling and baking your cast iron skillet. I’ve seen some cast iron pans sold pre-seasoned in stores. These pans already have their shiny black seasoned finish and you can cook in them immediately. You still may need to re-season these beauties as they go. You may also need to re-season your cast iron if you burn something into the pan and have to scrub it out with soap and water. It’s certainly not the end of the world. A bit of oil and a hot oven will bring your cast iron right back to life.
How to Season Cast Iron
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Position one rack in the top third of the oven. Position another rack in the bottom third of the oven and place an empty foil lined backing sheet on the bottom rack. This sheet will catch any dripping from the cast iron.
2. Open your windows or turn on your stove hood fan. There may be some smoke, but I’ve never had this issue.
3. Over a medium flame, rub a thin layer (about 1 Tablespoon) of vegetable shortening, like Crisco, or oil—bacon grease works great, too—all over the inner bottom and sides of the pan with a paper towel and tongs.
4. Place the oiled pan upside down in the heated oven over the foil lined baking sheet.
5. Bake the cast iron for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and allow the cast iron to cool to room temperature in the oven. Repeat this process 3 or 4 times for best results.
When the pan is perfectly seasoned, the inside with be smooth and shiny. Sometimes after seasoning my pans come out a bit sticky. This usually clears up with a bit of cooking. I usually make sure that the first few things I cook in a newly seasoned cast iron are either fried or sauteed in a bit of oil.
Note: Never cook tomatoes in cast iron. The acid from the tomatoes will break down the seasoned pan.
Another Note: Hardcore cast iron people have different cast iron for different purposes. For example, they season their dessert cast iron with vegetable oil, but their savory cast iron with bacon grease. They have certain cast irons they use for cornbread and other they use for fish dishes. I stay safe and just season all of my cast iron with a tasteless oil so they can go either way.
How to Clean Cast Iron
1. When you’re finished cooking in cast iron, scrape out the pan, while still warm, with a wooden spoon. Wipe it down with a bit of oil on a paper towel. I usually use the canola oil I have on hand.
2. If scraping the pan with a spoon doesn’t get off all the grime, melt a tablespoon of vegetable shortening in the pan, turn off the flame and add a tablespoon of salt. Use a paper towel in tongs to scrub the pan. Wipe salt out with clean paper towel. Run under hot water, dry it well, and follow the re-seasoning directions above.
3. If the wooden spoon and the salt technique weren’t to your liking you can use a mild, diluted soap and a soft sponge to clean the pan. You just want to avoid strong soaps and super scrub pads. Dry the pan with a clean dry dish towel and set in a warm oven to dry completely. Follow the seasoning directions above to re-season cast iron.
Note: Never put your screamin’ hot cast iron skillet into water. It could crack.
Another Note: Yes, all this work to season and re-season your cast iron is totally worth it!
Johanne Christmas
And those cast iron pots are very, very, healthy! It has been long known that folks who cook with cast iron have more iron in their diet than those who do not. Why? Well you guessed it, trace amounts of the iron seem to leach into food as it cooks and is readily absorbed with that food when it is eaten! Johanne C.
lil Joshu
I worked as a historic interpreter at one point… one old idea that was used a lot for cast iron (and that I still love) is curing cast iron with honeycomb. Get a thick enough layer of honeycomb in there, hot enough to melt it smooth, pour out the honey, and let the molten honeywax stay (swish around so it coats the sides). It looks a little messy, but works VERY well, makes the food taste better, only needs recured every month or so, and acts like the 1800’s equivalent of Teflon.
Maxie
Late, but just wanted to say, I season my cast iron on the covered grill outside at about 450°. No smoke problems, except for neighbors wondering what the heck I’m cooking.
vicky
I only use hot water to clean my pans but once I forgot and left the water in too long. Now the pan has what looks like flakes peeling off the inside. Is that the old seasoning or actually parts of the pan itself? How can I fix it?
Matt
Does Coconut Oil (or other oils for that matter) work? Or does it have to be exclusively bacon grease/vegetable oil?
Thanks!
Eve Bedingfield
I have two cast iron skillets that I simply adore cooking in. Both pans were extravagant purchases for me but worth every penny. I have a small one I bought when I was single and it was perfect for everything. I bought a 10 inch skillet about seven years ago. I had good advice from my mom on how to season the first one so, I did the same to the second one. For the past year or so a crust has begun to form around the inner sides of the pan. I know scrubbing and scouring is not good, so I have just worked at it gently. It seems like you would have to remove it with a flat blade or a steel puddy knife. I don’t like the sound of either one of those!!!! I have followed the tips above which by the way, were my mother in laws exact advice, but I still can’t slide anything out of it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Noah Binder
If the salt doesn’t work, and putting it through your oven’s “clean” cycle doesn’t work, you are going to have to scrub and re-season. First try a plastic/nylon scrubber and if that doesn’t work, sigh heavily, grab some steel wool and give it hell man! Then go back to step one of this nice lady’s excellent instructions and get seasoning again.
Ron
This is quite a popular post, Joy! Thank you for this! Good info on how to season and just as critical, how to MAINTAIN cast-iron pans. I love mine. I had to source them halfway around the world, since they’re not too common hereabouts.
I use mine for Aebleskivers – so fun to do! Last batch stuck horribly – so I went back to re-seasoning the pan. It was so much worth it. I paid 40 dollars on postage alone for that heavy baby!
I’m gonna look over your recipes to find out what else I can cook in iron, Joy! Keep up the most excellent work on your beautiful blog!
R.
Vicky
I never tried the cleaning method suggested here but I will. My pan is in desperate need of re-seasoning! my experience has been that it is not the cast iron pan that causes problems, but the people around who can’t resist using soap and elbow grease!
I am a nurse-midwife and although it is not good for the pan, I often recommend that my clients cook acid foods in cast irons because it can actually add a daily dose of iron to the diet!
Shaun Somers
My skillet has been starting to stick. I vastly prefer cooking in it to my other frying pans, so I’m going to re-season as soon as possible. Luckily I have been saving my bacon grease (best thing to fry eggs with!).
Thanks for the great tips.