Seasoning Cast Iron - My Way!

After cast iron cookware is cleaned (I'll go into cleaning in a future blog) it is time to season it. I have tried numerous methods I have found online and none of them worked properly until I discovered my method by accident! When I say they didn't work properly the seasoning failed regularly (wasn't non-stick) and/or it was that sickly brown color.

How I discovered this method is that I bought a dutch oven at a yard sale, it looked relatively well seasoned although it was that ugly brown seasoned color. I cleaned it up with soap and water then dried it up nicely. I bought the dutch oven to make Bittman's no knead bread and the dutch oven I had, Le Creuset was too big and the knob on top won't withstand the 500 degree temperature required by the recipe. I made my dough, coated the inside of the dutch oven with olive oil and cooked away. When the bread was done the inside of the dutch oven was the most beautiful black color.


Enough of the history, here is my method. I warm the cast iron in the oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes. Then take the pan out of the oven and coat it with melted Crisco using a basting brush so I don't get too much Crisco on the pan. Put the pan back in the oven at 350 degrees for another 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and wipe it down with a cloth. Put the pan back in the oven at 500 degrees for an hour and a half (you probably could use less time). When time is up turn off the oven and leave the pan in there to cool down. I double season each pan using this method. The final results should be a nice dry not sticky black color, the appearance will be dull black.

Visit my store and you can actually buy the dutch oven for $39.95 that made the no knead bread and helped me discover the proper way to season cast iron.