No Southern kitchen is complete without a cast iron skillet for cooking cornbread and another for frying chicken. Cast iron just works better it cooks slower when you need it to and it gets hotter for frying. The key point here is food taste a lot better when ever it’s cooked in a properly seasoned cast iron skillet or pan.
I remember my mother curing skillets when I was little. I also remember the house heating up like an oven when she did it in the summer time. My mother would bake those pans for hours and sometimes if they didn’t come out just right she’d take them out wash them and start all over.
I like to think that I have become a much thriftier and more frugal person than my mother was back then. I don’t know what the power bill was back then, but I can imagine what it would be now. So I have devised a new way to season my cast iron cookware that allows me to save time, energy, and money.
Determine The Degrees Of Damage Then Get To Work
People have been cooking on cast iron for hundreds of years and today if you could get your hands on one of the very first cast iron pans made it’s highly possible that you could pick it up and fry an egg on it. That is if it hasn’t been stored away to rust in an attic or under someone’s porch for 100 years. If it has you’d have to season it first.
I call the three degrees of damage 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree damage going from not bad at all to paint it with black spray paint and call it a flower pot or wall hanging.
1st Degree Damage – The pan still looks okay, but is beginning to stick in places and may have a dull appearance on the inside.
- ·.
- · More serious damage caused by putting the pan away wet, storing it in a moist place, lack of use, not greasing the pan from time to time, needs curing now to avoid permanent damage.
3rd Degree Damage – The pan is totally rusted over, but not rusted through. Most likely this pan has been left untreated for years. However, it is totally savable with a little TLC and elbow grease.
Any cast iron pan that has rusted through to the point that it has deep pits in it is unsalable for cooking, but they make awesome wall décor or flower pots. When I find cast iron pans in this condition I restore them in a totally different way. I spray paint them with gloss black Rust-Oleum spray paint and hang them on my kitchen wall.
Preparation Directions
Getting your pans ready to cook is the hardest part the seasoning is easy and it’s the same no matter how damaged your pan is or isn’t.
1st and 2nd Degree Damage Preparation Directions
You’ll need:
- · Brillo, S.O.S or some type of steel wool pad
- · Paper towels or old rags
- · Cooking oil
This is the easiest degree to cure.
Wash your pan using the steel wool pads, rinse it good and set it on a stove eye. Turn the eye on and let the pan get hot. This will dry the pan and burn away any left on food particles that you may have missed.
After the pan has had a few minutes to cool wipe it out with a paper towel. Pour about a tablespoon of cooking oil into the bottom of the pan and use a paper towel to spread the oil all over the inside of the pan. You want the entire inside of the pan covered so it is shinny black, but not runny with oil. Hold the pan up on its side if you see oil running down wipe it out.
Last of all you’ll need to cure the pan by placing it in the oven. Directions for doing this are at the bottom of this page as they are the same for all degrees of damage.
3rd Degree Damage Preparation Directions
You’ll Need:
- · Brillo, S.O.S or some type of steel wool pad
- · Paper towels or old rags
- · Cooking oil
- · 120 Grid sandpaper for metal
- · Electric Palm sander or a mouse sander
- · Dust mask
This is process can take a while depending on how bad the pan is and how determined you are. You don’t have to bother with washing your pan right away; the rust comes off better if it’s dry. You’ll want to do the sanding outdoors and away from others, it’s going to be messy.
Use the sander to remove as much rust as you possibly can from your pan. Then wipe it out with a damp cloth and inspect the pan for more rust and sand again. Repeat this process several times until at least 80 percent of the rust has been removed from the inside and outside of the pan.
Wipe the pan clean one final time there will likely still be rust on your towel, but don’t worry. Use cooking oil and old rag or paper towel to wash as much of the rust away as you can. Now place your pan in the oven on 450 degrees for about an hour, let it cool in the oven.
You may want to wait until later to finish. If so that’s fine just leave your pan in the oven and cook as usual. When you are ready to finish curing your pan take it out of the oven and inspect it for rust, sticky spots, or dull spots.
Chances are good that you found some rust, sticky spots or dull spots after the first treatment that was to be expected. What you need to do is wash your pan with hot soapy water and steel wool pads to remove the rust or spots.
Set your pan on a stove eye and turn it on high to dry it completely, wipe it out with a paper towel. Pour about a tablespoon of cooking oil into the bottom of the pan and use a paper towel to spread the oil all over the inside of the pan. You want the entire inside of the pan covered so it is shinny black, but not runny with oil. Hold the pan up on its side if you see oil running down wipe it out.
Last of all you’ll need to cure the pan by placing it in the oven. Directions for doing this are at the bottom of this page as they are the same for all degrees of damage.
The Seasoning Of The Pan
You Have Three Options:
- 1. You can do an old fashion cure which is build a fire outside and put your pan in it until it is cured.
- 2. My mother’s way was to cook her pans for 4 to 5 hours at 350 degrees.
- 3. You can put your pan in the oven and leave it there for several days while you use your oven as usual. This is the method that I prefer because when you finally take the pan out it has a sheen like a brand new penny and the seasoning seems to last longer.
It seems like a lot of work when you read about how to cure your pans, but it’s really not. I cure my pans about once a year and because always do it by just putting them in the oven for a day or two it’s never any work at all. Happy Seasoning!
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