Caring for Cast Iron

So you finally broke down and bought your first cast iron pan but you're not sure what to do with it. It said on the package "preseasoned" but is it really? You want to use it but you're not sure about cleaning it. Well this is the place for you because I am going to tell you how I take care of my cast iron. You might find people that will argue with my methods but I can tell you I don't have any problems with food sticking to my pans and they are as easy to clean as any other pan you can buy.



I have used preseasoned cast iron pans out of the box and they perform fine but if you want to go up one more notch and make your cast iron pan truly non stick then read on.

First of all take a good look at the pan straight out of the box.



Run your finger across the bottom of the pan, feel that? Feel the roughness of the surface and some areas may even feel like a sharp point? That's because the finishing process in the factory isn't perfect. When they break the cast iron pans out of the sand molds they were formed in they then either sand blast them or roll rocks around them (or something like that I'm not really sure) to get a "smooth" surface before they preseason the pan. I like the idea of buying my cast iron pans already preseasoned but I don't like the roughness of the surface from the factory so what do I do?



I sand the surface of the pan. Yeah I know it ruins the preseasoning of the pan but I would rather reseason the pan myself and have a truly non stick cast iron pan then put up with the possible struggles of cleaning the pan straight from the factory. And trust me it makes a big difference.



I start with a medium grit sand paper or like you see in the above photo scotch brite pad. I sand all the rough peaks off and then I switch to a very fine sand paper or scotch brite pad.



Now run your finger across the pan and feel how much smoother it is, big difference huh? I only sand the inside of the pan not the entire pan. There is no reason to since you only cook with the inside portion of the pan.

At this point since you have taken the seasoning off the pan you can wash it with soap and water you want hurt anything. Make sure you get the pan clean because there will be a lot of cast iron dust left behind from the sanding process.

Now we can reseason the pan and I will explain how I do mine.



I use vegetable oil for seasoning my cast iron. This is where you might find some arguments with other people on what is the best thing to use for seasoning cast iron. I have read where all you should use is vegetable shortening and other articles that say you should use bacon grease or lard. I guess I am not really sure what is best but I can tell you I have had extremely good luck using vegetable oil so I stick with it, and it's easy.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees........



.....and get ready for a long day.

Next coat the pan with vegetable oil and place the pan upside down in the oven for one hour at 350 degrees. You may want to place a piece of aluminum foil on the bottom rack to catch any oil that may drip off the pan. After one hour turn the oven off and let the pan cool off in the oven for about 2 hours. Once cool coat the pan with oil again ,only this time with a thin coat, and repeat until you have done this for three times. The last time for me is normally at night so I let the pan sit in the oven over night to cool off.



When you pull the pan out of the stove the next morning you will have a pan with a rock hard smooth finish and a pan that is ready to cook with.

Let's take another look.



Remember what we started with?



Even in the photos you can see the difference.

The next question is how do I clean the pan after I use it? You may be surprise how easy it is to care for cast iron after you clean one a couple of times. Here is how I do it. I clean the pan right after I use it because it is easy and fast. First put the pan back on the stove so it remains hot. Next pour a little water in the bottom, I normally use about 1/2" or so in the bottom. The water will boil right away and at this time I use a soft nylon brush and quickly scrub the pan being careful not to burn myself. Then I dump the water down the drain and put the pan back on the stove and most times I will repeat this step a second time as a rinse for the pan. After the "rinse" cycle it is back on the burner again to dry. I will normally wipe the pan out with a towel and then pour 1 teaspoon of oil in the pan and wipe it all around the bottom while the pan is hot. From here I just leave the pan on the stove until cool. Once the pan is cool if I see any oil laying on the bottom of the pan I will wipe it out before I put it away.

There you have it how I take care of my cast iron pans. If you follow these directions you will end up with a pan equally at home over an open camp fire or cooking your most elegant meals. I will guarantee you once you have the cast iron pan mastered you won't want to go back to your coated non stick pans plus you will have a pan you can hand down to the next generation.