Cast Iron Care | 114 Hacks to Take Your Home Cooking to the Aliens Level | Part 2
In order to have a well-seasoned piece of cast iron cookware, it must be prepped and stripped of all existing seasoning. Any new piece of cast iron, regardless of the brand or purchase location, will need to be stripped. Even if your cast iron pot is “pre-seasoned,” it should be stripped before seasoning.
Easy Steps For Stripping
- Scrub cast iron with hot water and dish soap. Use 00 steel wool or chain mail for tough- to-remove spots. Allow to completely dry (about 24 hours).
- Place cast iron in oven upside down on oven rack. Place as many items that can fit on the racks. Try to avoid them from touching.
- Set oven to “Clean.” Keep in oven for 2–3 hours.
- Turn off oven and allow to cool completely.
- Carefully remove from the oven. The cast iron will be covered in the dust from the old seasoning baking out of the pieces. Dump the dust in the trash.
- Scrub your cast iron with warm water and dish soap. Use 00 steel wool or chain mail if necessary to remove difficult spots.
- If there are any raised areas that can’t be removed with the steel wool or chain mail, use a wire wheel attached to a drill if necessary.
- Make sure to wash thoroughly after using the wire wheel.
- Allow to completely dry (24–48 hours).
- The cast iron might have a silver appearance. That’s because any seasoning has been.
- completely removed from the steel (iron).
- Repeat stripping steps if necessary.
Seasoning is the job you should start now and here is how to do it -
Preheat the oven to 200o: It is very important to preheat the oven (especially a gas oven) before placing cast iron in the oven. The oven will give off condensation while it preheats. That condensation will absorb into the cast iron and could induce rust and prevent the seasoning from absorbing.
Then place your cast iron pan in oven upside down on oven rack. And don’t forget to allow to heat up for 15 minutes.
Now, carefully remove from the oven and coat with desired seasoning. I use lamb fat. Crisco is a good seasoning agent. Anyway, try not to use oil for initial seasoning. It can make a mess! Use lint-free paper towels. The blue ones from Lowes or Home Depot are ideal. Apply liberally, but evenly. Preheat oven to 300 o while coating with seasoning. And finally place cast iron back in the oven upside down on rack.
Extra Care for your Cast Iron
- Allow cast iron to season for 30 minutes once the oven reaches temp.
- Carefully remove cast iron from oven and wipe excess seasoning from pieces.
- Set oven to 400 o to preheat while you are wiping the excess seasoning.
- Place cast iron back in the oven upside down on rack.
- Allow cast iron to season for 1–1 ½ hours once the oven reaches temp.
- Turn off oven and allow to cool.
- Remove cast iron from oven.
- Repeat seasoning steps 2–4 times for additional seasoning. I seasoned my camp cookware 5–6 times before it is ready.
- Make sure to allow for ventilation. As the cast iron heats, the seasoning will give off fumes.
- The cast iron pieces will get darker the more seasoning that is applied.
Don’t you want to clean?
- Never use soap to clean seasoned cast iron. It will begin to remove the seasoning.
- For properly seasoned cast iron, use hot water and a plastic scraper or chain mail to clean cast iron.
- Once clean, allow to dry completely.
- Heat the cast iron. Place it upside down on the stovetop eye and set it to low (very low) for about
- 10 minutes to heat the cookware.
- Apply a thin coat of seasoning (vegetable oil is fine for this maintenance seasoning).
- Place over heat (upside down to season on a stove top) and allow to season for 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and wipe excess oil/grease from cast iron.
- Store with paper towel between pieces. Rust can form if pieces are stored touching in any humidity.
