There are few things on the internet guaranteeed to pull out every crappy opinion like a discussion on cast iron seasoning. Why? Because nothing is at stake and people can be jerks without repercussion.
Other topics include (but are not limited to: Whether premium gas is worth it; synthetic oil versus dinosaur oil; vaccines; craft beer versus anything.
I’m going to state my opinions here (you may think they’re crappy), but they’re mine.
I would never, for instance, pay for vintage cast iron. Nor premium cast iron. Lodge is my go-to. Whether it be enamel Dutch ovens,frying pans, griddles, whatever… You want to pay umpteen dollars or a Griswold #4 or whatever that has “history”? Go for it. Your seaks won’t know the difference.
I would also, for instance never buy Lodge seasoning spray. It’s $10 per oz (approximately) and when you look at the contents, it’s vegetable oil.
I would also, however, not buy cast iron from Temu. Get cast iron rom a company with a bit of history. someplace other than Rachel Ray or Pioneer Woman. If it’s endorsed by a clebrity, you’re throwing your money in their pocket.
So…you got your cast iron out of the box, and it came pre-seasoned. People will you to strip it. Don’t bother. Lodge uses vegetable oil, which is perfectly fine for seasoning your cast iron.
What is seasoning?
Seasoning is polymerized oils and fats. Grandma’s casserole dish with the brown spots on the edges that you scrub off? That’s seasoning. Bad for Grandma’s casserole dish but perfect for cast iron.
You’ll notice that new cast iron has a rough texture. That’s from the sand-casting. Smooth cast iron (the kind you can cook eggs on without leaving little burnt pieces everywhere) can be achieved two ways:
Angle grinding until smooth, and then seasoning
Seasoning through use until the pits are filled in.
People will often refer to these pits as “pores.” I hate that term. They’re neither porous nor part of skin, but there is something to it in that people tend to treat cast iron as a living thing, like a sourdough starter. It needs to be fed, used, maintained, and whatnot.
Of the two methods for achieving a smooth finish, I strongly recommend the latter. The former may be quicker but I believe that the rougher surface offers more surface area (and thus grip) for the seasoning to adhere to, and less possibility of flaky seasoning in the long run.
So how do you season?
You season by cooking with lots of non-dairy fat (at first).
Why non-dairy? Well, because until the pits are filled in, the fat or oil you are cooking with will become part of the seasoning, and should that contain milk solids, then your seasoning will be full of encapsulated milk solids that will rot.
My favorite methods of seasoning involve cooking with bacon fat, vegetable oil, or Crisco. Once a smooth (or mostly smooth) finish has been achieved over time, butter is fine. But at first I recommend against it.
If you want to speed up the seasoning process, you can wipe the cast iron down with a THIN layer of oil or fat, and cook it in the oven at 500 degrees upside down for an hour. Cooking upside down prevents the fats from pooling in the pan. Pooled fats don’t all polymerize at the same rate, and the result is shiny, goopy spots of seasoning. You don’t have to do this, but it can make it go faster, and is also good to know for re-seasoning a stripped pan.
You don’t have to use vegetable oil, but whatever oil you choose (many like grapeseed), make sure that it is food-derived (no mineral oils) and that when seasoning or cooking with it that you get the temperature of the pan above the smoke point of the oil.
This will, of course vary by oil, but polymerization occurs above the smoke point.
How do you clean?
Well, truthfully, any method that does not scratch the seasoning or otherwise strip it is fine. Many will tell you that you should avoid soap, but modern soaps are gentle, and that recommendation comes from a time when soaps were lye-based (stripping methods frequently involve a lye-based cleaner).
My personal recommendation is to:
Scrape the pan with a wooden utensil and or plastic scraper to remove any loose debris
If anything remains stuck in the pan, fill it with water and bring it to a low boil for a minute or two.
Scrub the pan in the sink with a nylon sponge or a chainmail scrubber. Some people use olive il and sea salt for the abrasive properties. I do too, occasionally, but that gets expensive for no reason. People camping use sand.
Rinse the pan thoroughly and dry it by heating on the stove.
When dry (and hot) take a paper towel and put a few DROPS of oil (not too much), and wipe until the pan looks dark and slightly shiny. The paper towel may look dirty. It doesn’t matter. You’re picking up what will become seasoning.
With new pans, the paper towel will leave little crumbles everywhere. Just brush them out. It’s fine.
Where does the soap come in? When you don’t use your pan for a while the oil you use may go rancid or get sticky. Break out the soap. If you can’t get something out of the pan (little stuck bits or stains), Break out the soap. Don’t make a habit out of it because you’re stripping anything that may become seasoning later, but once in a while is fine. I frequently put mine in the sink after the rest of the dishes are done and give it a quick wipe out in hot water (but I don’t add additional soap).
What if you need to strip your cast iron?
You’ll decide when you need to strip it, there are many varying opinions as to when and whether it’s ever necessary (for a rough analogue, look up motor oil arguments in car forums. This is the same).
My rules for stripping cast iron are:
Is the seasoning damaged beyond repair? Then strip.
Did the seasoning not go right, and you have a goopy mess? Then strip.
Anything else should be fixable.
How do you strip cast iron?
Oven cleaner in a garbage bag overnight
Get drunk and leave it on the stove drying for 12 hours on low (do not recommend, I won’t do it again)
Electrolysis (only for seriously damaged pans or those with WAAAAY too much time and money on their hands)
Put it in the oven on a cleaning cycle (my personal preference)
What about after it’s stripped?
After it’s stripped, you’re dealing with bare iron. It will be grey and will need to be thoroughly rinsed and cleaned with soap and water.
Then it will rust instantly.
Wipe out any rust you can, and seal the rest away by creating an oxygen barrier with a layer of oil and a seasoning method above. Do the seasoning twice, and you will get it back to how it looked out of the box.
This seems like a lot to know, why should I bother?
Well, you should bother because…
Teflon scrapes away and enters the bloodstream.
This pan can last generations and is CHEAPER than almost any other cookware.
It can go from the stove to the oven to the grill seamlessly and perform there excellently.
It heats up to higher than most pans can stand and holds head for ridiculous amounts of time.
A lot of the stuff above rarely comes up except for the cleaning. I don’t season mine in the oven, I just use the damned thing. I don’t strip my pan because I’m constantly using the damned thing and it’s built up a beautiful seasoning.
But when this comes up, you’ll have this for reference.
There. Those are my crappy opinions.
I’d likely try the get drunk method for stripping the pan although I understand it’s the least recommended method. Heh.