How to Season Cast Iron

Caring for your cast iron cookware can be difficult. Cast iron skillets and pans get hot and food tends to stick to them. Once that happens, cast iron pans start to rust and can be become hard to clean. There is a way to keep this from happening to your cookware. You should season your cast iron appliances once a month.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. 
    

   To season your cast iron cookware properly, you should preheat your oven to 250 - 300 degrees. You should coat your pan with bacon grease or lard before sticking it in the oven. Remember not to use a liquid vegetable oil because it will leave it sticky and food will stick it it even more.

2. 
    

   Next, you should stick your pan in the oven for 15 minutes. Let the grease bake into the cast iron. Take it out, and let it cool. Add more grease or lard into the pan after it has cooled down. Stick it back in the oven for about an hour. Let it bake.

3. 
    

   After another hour, take your cast iron skillet out of the oven and let it cool. Pour all excess grease out of the pan. Let it dry and cool for 3 - 4 hours. Place in a cabinet, and use next time you need it.
   
   Repeat this process as much as you need. It doesn't hurt your cookware at all. It actually will preserve the life of your cast iron cookware.

Tips & Warnings

• It is best to use your cast iron cookware for fatty foods such as bacon, eggs, beef, and other high end fatty foods.

[texasparky]

on 5/18/2009 Wow, just like Grandma...I love cast iron--it's so old school!

[informationcs]

on 5/17/2009 awsome! i love my cast iron but i allwaysed used liquid oil to season and yes they came out sticky!!! now i know thanks!

[kristara]

on 5/17/2009 Great tips! I have a cast iron skillet and I never knew what to use to season it..until now! 5*

[Anai]

on 5/17/2009 Thanks for the informative tips on how to season an iron skillet.

[blingaling]

on 5/16/2009 Excellent article. What you describe is something of a lost art, but vital to cooking with cast iron. My husband and I spent a fortune on ingredients for a French-Canadian dish called a "bouille" many years ago, and it turned out to be inedible. We use a new, unseasoned pan. According to my French-Canadian relatives, the unseasoned pan was the reason the meal flopped.