Cast Iron Seasoning

Since we were still in the process of starting our lives together and getting the kitchen set up, when my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas two years ago, the answer was an easy one: "A good set of cast iron pans, please". Growing up in a hillbilly household, I had watched my mom use cast iron many times. It was always for corn bread or bacon, and the pans always had to be re-seasoned with shortening. She couldn't wash them with soap, and they always had to be dried on the stove after cleaning. Well, after 20 years or so, what she had were some very sticky pans that weren't terribly useful. I did not want the same thing to happen to our pans, so I put them in the bottom drawer of the oven and promptly forgot about them. They were seasoned according to the manufacturers directions and I did make corn bread once in the largest pan, but I couldn't get rid of the ring that formed after. One day, Chad came across a very interesting article about using flax seed oil to season a cast iron pan for life. I was intrigued. We decided to give it a shot and bought some organic flax seed oil in the health food section at Meijer.

This is what the pans looked like before cleaning.

 And after going through the self-cleaning cycle on the oven for two hours.

 

After being wiped down with a wet cloth and dried in a warm oven for a few minutes.

First coat...

First coat, wiped off, before baking. 

Coat one after baking.

Coat two.

Three

Six (the final coat).

This process took several days, but the results were worth it. The pans have a beautiful hard, smooth "glass-like" coating on them, with no hint of stickiness. I have since used these pans for bacon, potatoes, and corn bread. I used metal utensils on them, and did not seem to harm the coating at all. I did rub a little vegetable oil in the pan after cooking the potatoes, but I don't know if it was necessary. I'm not sure if the coating will truly be lifetime, but I am looking forward to baking and cooking more things in these pans.