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Cast-iron pans are a home chef's best friend—and for good reason. The hard-wearing, versatile pans can be used anywhere from ovens to grills, and even on an open flame.
Seasoning is the process of coating the surface of cookware with fat which is heated in order to produce a corrosion resistant layer of polymerized fat. [1] [2] It is required for raw cast-iron cookware [3] and carbon steel, which otherwise rust rapidly in use, but is also used for many other types of cookware.
The good news is the best way to maintain seasoning is to put your cast-iron pan to work. Cooking anything with fat (meaning oil, shortening, or butter) will help bake layers into the pan ...
Even a newly made cast-iron pan is somehow imbued with history. It was shaped and forged in the hottest fire, the heat giving it life. A beautiful, nearly immortal life—if you treat it right.
Cooking pots and pans with legless, flat bottoms came into use when cooking stoves became popular; this period of the late 19th century saw the introduction of the flat cast-iron skillet. Cast-iron cookware was especially popular among homemakers during the first half of the 20th century. It was a cheap, yet durable cookware. Most American ...
(Many cast iron aficionados say soap is a no-no and insist pans should be rubbed down only with salt after cooking.) The best oil to season your cast iron, according to Ross, is Crisco.
The other effect that the seasoning oil has is to make the surface of a cast-iron pan hydrophobic. This makes the pan non-stick during cooking, since the food will combine with the oil and not the pan. It also makes the pan easier to clean, but eventually the polymerized oil layer which seasons it comes off and it needs to be re-seasoned. [1]
If your cast-iron skillet didn't come pre-seasoned, do it yourself and follow the steps outlined by Stubblefield below. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash the skillet with warm soapy ...