Can you dump a load of cold eggs into your cast iron pan, slowly heat it up with no oil, then slide those cooked eggs right back out without a spot left behind? Because you can do that in Teflon. Yeah, didn't think so. That said, macho posturing aside, so long as your cast iron pan is well seasoned and you make sure to pre-heat it well before adding any food, you should have no problems whatsoever with sticking.
The Theory: Seasoning is a thin layer of oil that coats the inside of your skillet. Soap is designed to remove oil, therefore soap will damage your seasoning. The Reality: Seasoning is actually not a thin layer of oil, it's a thin layer of polymerized oil, a key distinction. In a properly seasoned cast iron pan, one that has been rubbed with oil and heated repeatedly, the oil has already broken down into a plastic-like substance that has bonded to the surface of the metal.
This is what gives well-seasoned cast iron its non-stick properties, and as the material is no longer actually an oil, the surfactants in dish soap should not affect it. Go ahead and soap it up and scrub it out. The one thing you shouldn't do? Let it soak in the sink.
Try to minimize the time it takes from when you start cleaning to when you dry and re-season your pan.
If that means letting it sit on the stovetop until dinner is done, so be it. The Theory: The seasoning in cast iron pans is delicate and can easily flake out or chip if you use metal.
Stick to wood or nylon utensils. The Reality: The seasoning in cast iron is actually remarkably resilient. It's not just stuck to the surface like tape, it's actually chemically bonded to the metal.
Scrape away with a metal spatula and unless you're actually gouging out the surface of the metal, you should be able to continue cooking in it with no issue. So you occasionally see flakes of black stuff chip out of the pan as you cook in it? It's possible that's seasoning, but unlikely. In order to get my cast iron pan's seasoning to flake off, I had to store it in the oven for a month's-worth of heating and drying cycles without re-seasoning it before I started to see some scaling.
More likely, those flakes of black stuff are probably carbonized bits of food that were stuck to the surface of the pan because you refused to scrub them out with soap last time you cooked. The Theory: Metal is metal, cast iron is cast iron, the new stuff is no different than the old Wagner and Griswold pans from early 20th century that people fetishize.
The Reality: The material may be the same, but the production methods have changed. In the old days, cast iron pans were produced by casting in sand-based molds, then polishing the resulting pebbly surfaces until smooth. Vintage cast iron tends to have a satiny smooth finish. By the s, as production scaled up and was streamlined, this final polishing step was dropped from the process. Bringing back its luster and protecting it from rusting is as easy as a scrub, oil, and bake.
Here's how to season your cast-iron skillet. By Marian Cooper Cairns. Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission. Save FB Tweet More. In a pan, thick layers of seasoning will scrape off with normal use. Only the thin layers, molecularly bonded to the pan and each other, will stand the test of time.
Factors like what and how you cook, hot spots on your stove, and even the exact angle of your stove will shape how initial coats of seasoning form. But patchy seasoning is actually a good thing—it allows layers of seasoning to interlock with and strengthen each other for a truly durable coat of seasoning. Seasoning a pan—as a verb—adds a thicker, more thorough coat of seasoning all over the entire pan, all at once.
Field Skillets are well-suited for either method. Our preferred method: cook with your skillet often, and apply Field Seasoning Oil after every use. Your ideal seasoning temperature is just below the smoke point of your oil, the point where it breaks down into carbon and short-chain polymers that can bond with iron. After testing dozens of seasoning methods with all kinds of fats, our favorites are organic grapeseed oil and sunflower oil — Field Seasoning Oil uses both.
These oils break down into tough but thin coats of seasoning that build well on each other over time. On the flipside, beware of drying oils that are very high in unsaturated fatty acids, such as flaxseed oil.
Just to degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, heat your clean pan on the stove for 5 minutes to evaporate any lingering moisture. Once the oven is up to temp, put the pan in for 10 minutes, then remove it and increase the heat to Add a dab of Seasoning Oil to your Field Skillet. Use a clean paper towel to rub the oil in concentric circles, then take a fresh paper towel and wipe up all the residue. Though it might not look it, plenty of oil will still be on the pan, just in a super-thin layer, which is exactly what you want.
Remember, your goal is to bake a layer of seasoning into the pan, not on top of it. Use a paper towel to coat the entire skillet with oil, wiping away any excess. Let it completely cool down and store away. You may still have a little food crusted on after using it, which is normal and it should wash out easily. Use some steel wool to scrub out the rust spots, then follow the regular seasoning steps of washing, drying, oiling and heating.
You can update your privacy settings to enable this content. Please enable all cookies to use this feature. While it does take a few extra steps, owning and caring for a cast iron skillet is incredibly easy and definitely worth the investment. So you finally bought a cast iron skillet, now what do you do with it? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about seasoning your cast iron skillet to make your food taste amazing.
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