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seasoning | |
October 19th, 2018 | |
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I recently acquired a pair of beautiful pans. You may already be | |
aware that I have a distinct preference for cast iron cookware, | |
and so it may surprise you to learn that these pans are different. | |
Instead of cast iron, these pans are wrought iron! | |
US-ION ran a kickstarter [0] for what they call "Solidteknics Iron | |
Skillets". They've developed a machining process allowing them to | |
mass produce wrought iron instead of cast iron. The result is | |
theoretically both lighter and more durable. Quite a claim! | |
[0] Solidteknics Iron Skillets | |
Cast iron (and now wrought iron) cookware is an heirloom item. | |
Rather than buy-it-for-life, it's buy-it-for-generations. That's | |
value I can get behind! This lifespan doesn't come without some | |
effort, though. You must care for your stuff if you want it to | |
last. This is true of pretty much everything, but it bears | |
repeating. My lovely leather shoes need polish. My knives need | |
sharpening and oil. Iron needs seasoning. | |
What is seasoning? In layman's terms, it's a coating of oil that | |
goes through a chemical bonding to the surface of your pan. It | |
protects the iron and makes it non-stick. It's safe! It won't | |
break down and poison you like other **coughTEFLONcough** | |
coatings. | |
Is it a lot of work? I don't think so, but others disagree. | |
There's also about 7,000 different opinions on how best to keep | |
a pan clean over time, "properly" season it, etc. Here's my | |
method; you can decide for yourself if it's too much work. | |
- - - - - - Initial Seasoning - - - - - - | |
Brand new iron is naked and fragile. If you buy an unseasoned pan | |
it may look like steel or it may be black already. Regardless, it | |
needs some extra special care right in the beginning to get things | |
off to the best start. Putting on the initial layers of oil is the | |
slowest part and requires the most effort. After this, upkeep is | |
extremely simple. | |
To season a cast iron (or wrought iron) you'll need the following: | |
- sandpaper, fine grit | |
- a clean cotton rag or old t-shirt | |
- a can/tub of vegetable shortening | |
- the pan/skillet/dutch oven/whatever | |
- an oven that can reach 480°F | |
1. Begin by thoroughly scouring the pan clean. It may have shipped | |
with beeswax coating to protect it in transit, or there may be | |
old layers of seasoning to work off. Hot water, scrub with | |
soap, do it to it. | |
2. Dry the pan by hand, and then in the oven under low heat until | |
you're sure there's no moisture on it at all. | |
3. Lightly scratch up everything with the sandpaper. Roughing the | |
surface will help the first layer of oil bonding. | |
4. Heat your oven to 480°F or there-abouts. | |
5. Dab your cloth into the shortening, then rub it over the whole | |
pan, inside and out. Make sure you get the handle too. Don't | |
leave anything untouched. You don't need a lot of shortening or | |
a thick coat. In fact, the thinner the better. Wipe it on and | |
then use a clean part of the rag to wipe it off again. | |
6. Place the pan upside down into the oven. Cook it for 90 | |
minutes. | |
7. Turn off the heat and allow the pan to cool completely. | |
8. This is the sucky part. Now that you've put a single coat on | |
your pan, it probably doesn't look too different. It may have | |
darkened slightly or maybe not. This initial process needs to | |
be done at least twice more. If you have the time over the next | |
couple days you should do it as much as you can. I usually do | |
five or six iterations. Go back and repeat steps 4-7. You don't | |
need the sandpaper on every round. You can use it a second time | |
after that first seasoning if you want, but I don't bother | |
after that. | |
9. Your pan is now mostly seasoned, but it can use a little extra | |
love in the cooking area still. For this secondary seasoning, | |
we'll use your stove top! Crank the heat on a burner to high | |
and get ready. | |
10. Add a thin layer of shortening to the inside of your pan and | |
also a bit to the base, but don't bother with the handle this | |
time. We're focused on the cooking area. | |
11. Place the pan on the burner, but get ready with your cotton | |
rag. Wrap it around a wooden spoon or grab it in some tongs so | |
you can use it on the pan while it's on the heat. | |
12. For the next minute or two, continuously wipe the cotton on | |
the pan while it heats up. This will cause it to smoke A LOT. | |
Open some windows, turn on a fan, etc. Let it smoke like this | |
for up to 30 seconds, then cut the heat. | |
13. Allow the pan to cool for 10 minutes, then repeat steps 9-13 | |
a few more times. | |
Your pan should be uniformly black. It should not feel sticky or | |
tacky to the touch. If it does, you have too much oil on it still | |
and it didn't fully bake in. Wipe it down with a clean cloth and | |
toss it in the oven at 480°F again for another 30 min to get | |
everything fully baked in. | |
You can use this thing to cook now! But cook on what? That's the | |
best part. You can cook on anything from an induction stove to an | |
open fire. It's so versitile! | |
You might notice a little sticking of delicate foods like eggs | |
& fish when you first start using it. That's because your | |
seasoning is just at its beginning. That effort may have seemed | |
like a little or a lot, but it's the start of the long road of | |
maintenance that will make your pan better and better with every | |
use. | |
- - - - - - Maintenance Seasoning - - - - - - | |
Every time you use the pan you need to clean it. This should also | |
go without saying, but people get really weird about cast iron and | |
logic seems to go out the window. Much conventional wisdom says | |
that you don't need soap, or SHOULD NEVER USE SOAP, with your pan. | |
I'm here to tell you that's a bunch of crap. Please use soap. | |
Clean your pan well. Stay healthy. Don't be gross. But how... | |
1. Clean of the physical bits from your pan with a hard plastic | |
scraper or metal that won't gouge the seasoning. I have a 6" | |
square of chainmail that I use. Don't press super hard, just | |
get all the stuff off the surface. | |
2. Soap and water and clean the thing like you would any other | |
pan. Seriously. It's fine. If you want to be extra cautious, | |
don't use a lemon based cleaner. Acids wear down seasoning (not | |
that fast). | |
3. THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP!!!! Dry the everliving shit out of that | |
pan. I hand dry mine and then immediately place them back on | |
a burner and crank it to medium heat to cook off any lingering | |
water. Soap doesn't harm anything, but it will if little bits | |
of it remain on the surface. Water will do much, much worse. | |
Rust sucks (though even that can be fixed). | |
4. While the pan is still warm from the drying heat, dab a bit of | |
vegetable shortening on a rag and do a quick surface rub on the | |
inside and base (don't do the handle unless you plan on putting | |
it back in the oven to bake). | |
5. Crank a burner to high heat and cook & smoke that shortening | |
for a minute or two. Then congratulate yourself on adding yet | |
another layer of seasoning to your awesome pan of awesome. This | |
is what will build up more and more over time and turn it into | |
the only pan you ever want to use for cooking anything ever. | |
Ever. | |
6. Let it cool, and put it away for 20 minutes until you can't | |
wait to use it again! | |
That's it. That's my routine with all my iron. The new wrought | |
iron pans are on seasoning #4 in the oven cooling. They'll get two | |
more rounds today before I start the stove top. Does that seem | |
like a lot of work to you? I bet my grand children will appreciate | |
it when they inherit the super skillets. | |
One final note: if you have cast iron that has rusted, it is | |
probably still fine as long as it hasn't created a pit or hole. | |
You can sand off the rust, or in extreme cases you can use some | |
home chemistry to remove all the rust through electrolysis [1]. | |
Once the rust is gone, go to the start of my initial seasoning | |
instructions and act like it's a new pan. A day or two later and | |
it's back to working order. If you're a thrifty person you can | |
pick up old cast iron from yard sales or flea markets for | |
a dollar, put in some elbow grease with your shortening, and have | |
a brilliant cookware set! | |
[1] Cleaning cast iron with electrolysis |