How to Care for and Season an Iron Skillet

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Many of my family members still cook with an iron skillet because they savor the taste of the food cooked in one. However, you have to know how to care for and season on in order to carry on the tradition. Keep reading to discover some of those secrets.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Steel wool pad
Lard or Crisco

Step1

Scrub your iron skillet with a steel wool pad if it has rust or other hard-to-remove debris. If you just bought your iron skillet new, all you should have to do is rinse it under warm water.

Step2

Put your new or used iron skillet on the stove top to dry it. Watch it closely and remove it from the burner once it begins to smoke.

Step3

Apply a generous amount of lard or Crisco all over the inside of your iron skillet.

Step4

Place your iron skillet back on the stove top and let it heat the oil until it starts smoking again. Alternatively, if you still use a wood stove, put your iron skillet inside the wood stove and leave it there all day.

Step5

Place your iron skillet inside the oven to cool. Leave it there until you're ready to prepare food in it.

Tips & Warnings

In addition to a steel wool pad, many have reported that oven cleaner works well for cleaning their iron skillets.
After you prepare food in your iron skillet, place it back in the oven until you're ready to use it again. You can rinse it out with warm water if you think you really need to wash it at that time. If you do wash your iron skillet, repeat the above steps.
Don't use soap on your iron skillet.