After cooking with your cast iron, wait for it to cool down. While it's slightly warm, clear off any debris with a little bit of soap, warm water, and a sponge or soft-bristled brush. Apply the fresh layer of oil with a cloth or paper towel, then wipe off the excess.
After an hour, the cast iron should have a dark matte finish. Let the pan cool in the oven overnight; or, if you need to use your oven, carefully remove it and set it on a heat-proof surface, like a stovetop or trivet, before rubbing another very light coat of oil all over, buffing the excess.
Put the oiled pan in a preheated 450°F oven, and leave it there for 30 minutes. It may get a little smoky, so keep your kitchen well ventilated. It's during this time that the oil will polymerize and form the first of several hard, plastic-like coatings you'll be laying down.
In a nutshell, here is how to season your cast-iron skillet: Apply a thin coat of any kind of vegetable oil to the entire pan (inside and outside and the handle too) Place the pan inverted in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for an hour. Turn off oven and allow pan to cool inside the oven.
To clean a cast iron skillet, wait for it to cool down and then run hot water over it in the sink. Do not let the pan soak in water.
If the food is really cooked on, you can always let the pan soak for a bit. But don't let cast iron sit in water too long or it will start to rust. Now, if you wash your cast iron with water, it is imperative that you dry it as soon as possible. Otherwise it will rust, especially if it's a newer pan.
Cast-iron cookware is porous, and the oil works to fill those pores and create a smooth, nonstick surface. Enough oil soaks into those pores during the initial coating, so you can go ahead and wipe off as much as you can. Leaving too much oil on is a common mistake that will leave your skillet sticky.
Newly seasoned cast iron may have a brownish tint to it. It's not rust, it's just the initial patina baking in. It can take a few coats of seasoning and some use to get a black finish. Don't worry about the brownish colour - go right ahead and use the pan.
The most common reason cast iron cookware looks splotchy is due to using too much oil during the seasoning process. Only a very thin coating of oil is required to properly season a pan, and it's easy to use too much.
If the seasoning in your pan is sticky, this is a sign of excess oil built up on the cookware. The Fix: To remedy stickiness, place the cookware upside down on the top rack of the oven and bake at 450-500 degrees F for one hour. Allow to cool and repeat if necessary.
You're going to have to give your skillet at least six coats of oil and baking to create a hardwearing non stick base. Basically, new cast iron needs some intense TLC for the first year or so of it's life.
Preheat your oven
Once the oven is up to temp, put the pan in for 10 minutes, then remove it and increase the heat to 300. Pre-heating the pan this way ensures it's completely dry and opens the iron's pores to better soak up seasoning.
A well-seasoned skillet will have a dark, semiglossy finish and won't be sticky or greasy to the touch. It won't have any rust or any dull or dry patches. An easy way to test a skillet's seasoning is to fry an egg (heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes, then add egg).
Lodge cast iron is seasoned and ready to use.
The easiest way to maintain this layer of seasoning is to use your cast iron pan. Whenever you cook an egg, grill a steak, or bake a pie, you're adding layers of baked-on fat and oil that enhance your seasoning for a natural, easy-release finish that gets better over time.
You'll be able to tell if your cast iron is losing its seasoning because the glossy surface will turn matte and food will start stick to the pan. But thankfully, it's never too late to restore your seasoning!
Cooking acidic foods or following improper cleaning procedures can damage the seasoning on your pan, creating spots of dull, patchy, dry-looking metal on the inside of the pan instead of the smooth, rich black of well-seasoned cast iron.
While oil is essential to the seasoning process, if you apply too much oil when you are seasoning or when you are cooking, this can create a sticky surface. It's a fine art, and it can take patience and experience to really learn how to clean a sticky iron!
Completely unseasoned cast-iron pans are light gray in color, and preseasoned pans are typically black. Until the 21st century, people bought unseasoned pans, scrubbed off the protective wax they were coated in, and seasoned them at home (just as we do now with most carbon-steel cookware).
The black stuff in your cast iron skillet is carbon residue and burnt food, and excess oil.
WD-40 can be used to remove rust from your cast-iron stovetop depending on how much you use and how long you leave it there. If you want to get rid of it quickly, you can try adding more WD-40 or applying the same layer over again.
All cooking oils and fats can be used for seasoning cast iron, but based on availability, affordability, effectiveness, and having a high smoke point, Lodge recommends vegetable oil, melted shortening, or canola oil, like our Seasoning Spray.
CLEAN CAST-IRON SKILLET AFTER EVERY USE
Wipe interior surface of still-warm skillet with paper towels to remove any excess food and oil. Rinse under hot running water, scrubbing with nonmetal brush or nonabrasive scrub pad to remove any traces of food. (Use small amount of soap if you like; rinse well.)
Cast iron pans can leach a sizeable amount of iron into your food, exceeding dietary intake in some cases. Acidic foods will contribute to much more leaching while an old, heavily-seasoned pan will leach much less iron than a newer one.
If your skillet didn't come pre-seasoned, you may need to season it three or four times to get a good layer of seasoning before you start cooking. Repeat this process whenever you remove a bit of seasoning, which can happen if you cook with acidic foods or at very high heat.