How do you re-season your cast iron after intensive rehab?

Kent Rollins once said flax seed oil. Now he's backed off and advocates avocado oil.

Black fella on youboob rubs Crisco all over, top and bottom.

Thanks good folks.

Avocado oil is what I typically cook with when I need to use oil, so yeah. That.

Lard. Have used vegetable oil, either will work, but prefer lard.

I like avocado oil for sure. Clean it up, oil it (not too thick!), and oven-bake for 1 hour at 450º. I also use Avocado oil for cooking, except like eggs and such, where the temp doesn't get hot enough to smoke EVOO.

Grapeseed or avocado oil.

Cook bacon in it and leave the grease over night warm it up in the morning, wipe out the grease and cook more bacon,then 3 eggs over easy,put em on the grits ,biscuits and jelly and you got breakfast

On his missus?

This. Both have high smoke points. Anything fat will work, but you can run the heat up with these two.

Use it a lot

I’ve got a bottle of flax seed oil for this now. In the past just used crisco or vegetable oil. They all work fine.

I’ve used Crisco and canola, both work well.

Been Using Grapeseed Oil, works well. It has a smoke point of 420F

I use grapeseed oil and make sure to get the high heat label.

Cook 2 strips bacon. Remove.
While bacon cooks beat 3 eggs add 1/2 c water 3 tablespoons bisquick.
Pour mixture in hot pan add grated cheese and crumble in bacon.
Bake in fast oven for 15 min or until done.

Whatever oil you cook with

Been using an old Griswold cast iron skillet for ten or fifteen years now. It's what I make my breakfast with every day, and sometimes for pan roasting in the oven or searing a steak.

Once you have the primary season on it, maintaining it is simple. First of all, don't expose it to soap. Not even a little.

When you are done cooking, let it cool down to room temperature, then into the sink and pour hot water into it. Use a dish brush to brush off any bits that are sticking to the cooking surface. Pour out the hot water and rinse with cold water. Now wipe dry with a paper towel.

If you feel a slight slickness or oiliness on the cooking surface (you likely will), you are good for the next step. If not, apply a light coat of bacon grease to the cooking surface with a dry paper towel. Now put it on the stove top on high till it starts to smoke (one or two minutes, usually). As soon as it starts to smoke, turn off the heat source (It will continue to smoke a bit) and leave it there to cool down to room temperature. It's now ready to use again.

That smoking part is what adds the replacement layer of season (polymerized oil/fat) to the cooking surface, some of which you might have lost from using it last.

6.5 Avocreedo is the new flavor.

I use ol' trusty Canolester 308 or 30-06 Crisfield.

Lard or Bacon Grease is how I do ours.

Lard is on my shopping list for the first time ever.

Not sure why everyone wants to use such a high smoke point oil when the "seasoning" is carbon left over from the oil burning off.


I use oil with a lower smoke point than the extreme high temps.


Every time i use a skillet or a flat top...I am seasoning it.

Crisco 4-5 hours at 200F-- then turn up the heat and fry your doughnuts in it.

Look up heart disease rates by ethnicity.

Goyslop being involved in your food is bad news no matter the method.

Yep, 300-350 in a lightly greased pan will season a pan just fine. After that I just cook with them, scrape them out, wipe with a dry paper towel. Rarely have to re-season, and when I do it's more a matter of what I've cooked in it than how many times I've used it since seasoning.

There might be better things now, the various seed oils, but folks been curing with rendered fat or regular animal grease of some sort for decades with satisfactory results long before any seed extracts were around I suspect.

Lard. Case closed.

Friend of mine divorced his wife because she put his favorite cast iron pot in the dishwasher despite many warnings! True story.

It takes a full year to actually get a non stick cast iron. with heavy use. other wise, you will need to cook with more oil than preferred by most to keep the food "floating." seasoning and believing it can be done over night is a boomer bullshit. YMMV

Bacon grease. I have a cast iron skillet I found at the farm. I have cleaned it and have so far used bacon grease on it. It's a bit rough so it will take some time. Using a stainless steel spatula flipping food in my opinion helps to take out the rough cooking surface. It will take some time but in short order it will be a great egg cooking skillet.

kwg

Use it all the time. Have for many, many years. Wife and I both eat eggs every morning, always cooked in a pan greased with lard. I'm 53, blood pressure is always around 120 over 80. Real fats like lard, real butter, etc are good in your diet if not in excess.

Since Egyptians were using flaxseed oil when preparing mummies I suggest your suspicion is off by a several millenia...

I restored a Griswold skillet recently and used avocado oil to season it.

Talking about Cast Iron Pan Maintenance, do any of you guys own one of these?

I bought it from Amazon a month ago, they are FANTASTIC!!! I highly reccomend them

Most all our cast iron is enameled but my wife uses one of those on pretty much all our pans.

Regular tub of Crisco , very light coat on a warm skillet it spreads easier. Turn it upside down In a 450-475 degree oven for an hour. When the hour is up cut the oven off and let it cool. Used to restore and sell cast iron as a hobby

No, but my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great Grandfather used a shirt like that when in battle.

You married well Stickfight!

I'll bet it worked great hehehe

Absolutely. Many times healthier than vegetable oils. Until fairly recently in history, no one cooked with vegetable oil. In fact, other than olive oil, it wasn't even a thing.

Grain producers needed a way to get rid of their vegetable oils, which were a byproduct of processing vegetables and grains for consumption, so they hired "scientists" to perform studies blaming heart attacks on the use of animal fats in cooking and for spreading on toast, then offered to the public various "healthy" alternative to it. The medical establishment bought into this BS completely, and sales of lard, tallow, and butter plummeted. Folks switched over in mass to vegetable oils for cooking, and replaced butter with margarine.

Ouch, bit by early history, thanks for learning me something. But, I did say decades, not millenia. LOL Just joking around. Though my grandmother & probably great & great great didn't likely know or have access to seed oils,,, they got by, well. Some beautiful, extremely useable cast skillets seen all over before the post war aluminum & teflon craze.

What is it??

It makes the best beans.

No detergent necessary.

Cast Iron Cleaner with Durable Plastic Pan Grill Scrapers, SENHAI 7 x7 inch Stainless Steel Chainmail Scrubber for Skillets, Griddles, Pans or Woks and More

Wow, beautiful cast iron, Troutnut.

Thank you

. Lard works perfectly. Y’all think your great grandma had avocado oil? 🙄

Nope. She also didn't have a rifle that could reliably kill game at 600 yds. Stuff gets better.

Coconut Oil, Lard/Bacon Grease.

Avocado Oil is expensive, Grapeseed Oil is too sticky, Crisco aint good for you.

I just use a wire wheel on my 6" grinder after every meal

Unless you sand blasted it it should be no problem.

Use what you have handy,olive,Crisco,lard or bacon.

Just remember to do it several times to really get it right.

Dang. That's hardcore. I weep for the children.

Dammit, Jim!

This here is rocket sugary!!

Sheesh.

I use the Blackstone seasoning

What?!?! You are not offended?

I cook more on cast iron than anything else and have run into some amazing stuff over the years. Like most things, the more adamant the proponent the less
I accept.

MMDV...

LOL

butter works too.

.
I think any cooking type oil works.
I have seen where the purists/collectors use flax seed oil.
We clean with salt, cooking oil and paper towel.
No soap and water.

And then be smart about what you cook in your cast iron.
Don't be like the ol' man and make spaghetti sauce or casserole in your cast iron if you want to keep your seasoning intact.

https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/study-finds-82-percent-avocado-oil-rancid-or-mixed-other-oils

That lard sitting on the shelf at the grocery store is as bad as the bullxhhit seed oils.

We use cast iron often. I wash it. Dry it, heat up a little on the stove and squirt enough olive oil in to coat and spread it with a paper towel all over inside. Most of mine is 30 to 40 years old.
My wife has two pans that belonged to her grandmother those are 70 or so and are like slick black glass.

Pam.

Get it hot. Spray liberally. Heat to smoke. Turn off. When cool enough I wipe it out with a paper towel.

Other than Okra, we cook most everything in cast iron.

Lot's of good suggestions here. Not gonna argue with folks of what or how to care for cast iron.

I have re-seasoned an 80 year old iron scotch bowl for my son in law now 5 times. Kid is determined to clean the damn pot with salt. Apparently folks from Georgia clean cast iron with salt.

Down here in Louisiana, we clean cast with elbow grease and hot water.

Any ways..............check into some of the newer products like CrissBEE.

It's beeswax and oil base, goes on easy, VERY little goes a long way.

I have cast that literally is in my last will and testament.

Break out the pitchforks and tar and feathers for what I'm about to say.....

Soap will not turn your cast iron into a pile of rust and disappear into oblivion. Soap will not strip off the precious seasoning.

Oil is not "Seasoning".

Oil is used in the creation of the seasoning.

Soap can be used in the cleaning of cast iron. I usually just use hot water and a dish brush, but there are times when soap came in handy.

All followed up with a heated dry, application of an oil, and then a heat to smoke.

Haha!

I am sorry.

I keep some corn or peanut oil outside in my cooking cabinet next to my camp chef flattop.


Clean the surface, oil it down. Burn off liquid.
Oil again and burn it off.

Seasoning so tough a cat couldn't scratch it.

A-greed

For your perusal:

https://tiredtexanbbq.com/blog/hard-nitriding-cast-iron/

Same.

Because the dogs do the preclean cycle, our CI is always cleaned w Dawn and scotchbrite sponge.

We can share the incoming fire!

Yep, soap is just fine if the pan is fully seasoned. I use it and a bristled brush for cleaning. Chainmail scrubber if needed. Just don't use lye as it will strip the seasoning.

this is how the old timers seasoned their cast iron skillets except i used the indoor oven. 1st on the grade shelf you plan on setting the skillet on wrap aluminum foil on that shelf , then with a clean skillet take a paper towel wipe on a decent layer of bacon fat on both sides of the skillet including handle , then put skillet on the aluminum foil shelf upside down ,turn oven to 400 degrees for 3 - 4 hrs. , repeat this process once a day for 4-6 days , 6 days does the best job , only use hot water to clean your skillet ,never ever use soap in a seasoned skillet ! enjoy your season skillet. if you have a old rusty skillet check out the internet for how to refinish your old skillet. Pete53

Generally use olive oil because that is what my wife keeps in the cupboard.

The old timers I knew just used to cook with them.

Yep……….if you are only cooking cornbread in your cast iron every two months………maybe you shouldn’t own cast iron. Cooking in them is what makes the magic

This morning's breakfast on my old Griswold cast iron skillet. Perfect bacon and two perfect, over easy, eggs.

A perfect over easy egg does not exist.

Nope. Don't wash my cast iron. If it's properly seasoned, just let it cool down then wipe it out with paper towels.

Wash cast iron!? You bunch of heathens! 😉

Lard or Crisco.

I had them for breakfast, so yes they do.

You want a slippery cast iron skillet?
Ghee/rendered pork fat.
Eggs slide out so fast, you better have a good hold on yer plate!

Uh that's not over easy. More like over medium.

You could have eaten a golden egg for all it matters.

Over easy is over done.

Dead'ern Kelcys nuts is what we in the industry call those eggs.


Might as well have scrambled them.

This is the 24hourcampfire, I'm a bit dismayed that somebody isn't using bear grease or buffler fat.....

How do ya figure big Jim?

How are the cows?

Short of breaking it open and seeing the yolk ooze out all over the plate, you’d really have no way of knowing that.

I doubt the old timers would look at you and say, "season...what the hell you talking about"? Grandma's CI got season by being used. All the burnt bits left on the skillet was what seasoned the CI. Bet if I ask granny how she season her CI, she'd had probably said, "I season everything with salt and pepper"? NOW GO OUT SIDE AND GET OUT OF MY WAY".

The lard you buy in tubs at the grocery store has chemical to solidify the lard. I buy my Leaf Lard from Flo and Fanny's. Real lard will be almost liquid at room temp. It keeps in freezer for months.

Your whites are set. Over medium is right. That’s the way I likes em. Non runny yolk is over hard.

Valsdad posted a beautiful plate of over-easy eggs down in the cooking branch.

I can see that yolk.

Hahaha!

MacDonnell has the best egg biskwiks.

His look more like sunny side to me.

Geeeeno!
😎

You egg snobs would cringe at my morning version.


Well done and not that good.

I don’t know all the fancy foody verbiage. I like them dippy. The edges of the whites all crispy and the yolks runny.

Fat City , Valsdad, Savage99 all know how to cook eggs over easy.

Crispy edges is a major egg frying faux pas. Too hot and too fast. Patience, grasshopper.

That’s alright Hawkeye. That’s the way I like mine if I don’t scramble them. Looks damn good to me.

Used to like em real runny when I was a kiddo, and sop em up with my toast. Not any more.

I do prefer my bacon almost burnt, though. 😬

LOL. Calling Kaywoodie!!!

Looks well done

That's how I like em, and crispy bacon.

All you see is the part that's holding the rest in. You're talking about sunny side up, not over easy.

You probably like your sashimi cooked.

Fried eggs done with nothing runny. Bacon barely crisp, not burnt. Biscuit crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. To each his/her own, but to me a runny yolk is just nasty. My wife loves 'em runny. She calls them "soppy". I call them "sloppy". Enjoy it the way you like it.

You don't deserve an egg if you like them overcooked.

It's a smiteable offense.

I seem to recall from something read long ago that our government was involved in this mis-information during WWII, because they wanted lard and butter to go to the troops, during the war. miles

I ate in a lot of resturants scattered all across Arkansas during my working career. Ate out five mornings a week for most of it. Ordering eggs over easy resulted with some runny white in probably 90% of them. I went to over medium and things got right. miles

I like my eggs any way they come.

THIS ^^^^^

BASTED is about the only way I order eggs, BASTED Medium, whites must NOT be runny.

A NOTE: If you wait till they're 'ready' before you take them out of the pan, they will be overdone by the time you eat them.....

Basted, if you don't know, is an egg in a puddle of bacon grease, you then splash the grease on top of the egg with your spatula.....

They should then be served, not beside your potatoes or grits, but ON TOP!!!

YMMV

Yes, that's the way I like it, too, regardless of that being mislabeled as over medium at some diners. Fully cooked whites, and runny yolk, is perfect over easy. If the yolk isn't runny at all when broken, that's over well. If it's just a little runny, that's over medium.

I should have taken a second shot of those eggs, too, to demonstrate that the yolks, once broken, spread out over the plate (I never imagined, however, that I'd get pushback on whether or not they were over easy). That's not technically over medium. Over medium would be a yolk that just barely oozes out when broken. Over well is when there's no oozing out at all, once broken.

All that is beside the point, however, of my posted image, which was that cast iron is a great way to cook bacon and eggs.

I want my whites crispy and yolks runny, for dipping my buttered wheat toast in.

Beef tallow

Hawkeye, you can plainly see that overdone yolk. LOL

Those who are asserting that there shouldn't be a thin layer of cooked yolk on what was (before the flip) the sunny side are confusing over-easy with sunny-side-up. There has to be a thin layer of cooked yolk on what had been (before the flip) the sunny side to keep the yolk from breaking upon transition to the plate. Done properly, when you cut open the yolk on your plate (through that thin layer of cooked yolk), the yolk oozes out, and spreads all over. If that doesn't happen, then you have over medium or over well.

Overdone is overdone , brother

I made them again today in exactly the same way, but this time made sure to take a shot after splitting them open, for the doubters.

How they land in the plate when they are slid from the pan is random. In the previous shot, one happened to land with what had been the sunny side facing up. In this shot, they happened to both land with what had been the sunny side facing down, but they were cooked in exactly the same way, for the exact same amount of time, at exactly the same heat. My formula never varies.

Right after sliding them into the plate from the cast iron skillet:



Right after slicing them down the middle:



Perfect over-easy every time.

Over cooked.

For those in the know, they are not over easy, nor sunny side the way I learned it.

Those were cooked in the grease from the bacon (or oil if it was the sausage day eggs), with the meat removed from the pan and the hot grease spooned over the tops, while the edges get all crispy...............as it only proper for a good egg.

The way I learned it, over easy involves flipping and sunny side usually involves placing a cover over the pan so the tops of the whites cook.

I'm not fussy, I can eat them with runny whites, as I usually like them when eating poached eggs or soft boiled. My wife hates them that way.

For me, over easy is overcooked.

Preach it brother.

Discriminating epicures know.

Use the spray cans of PAM from Sam's Club for seasoning... 2 cans' for about $6. Never wash, sits covered on the stove top ready for use continually. Both a 2-burner griddle on one side and a 12" skillet on the other. Nothing better than cornmeal hot cakes fried in bacon grease topped with maple syrup, a pound of bacon, and a half dozen sunny side up eggs.


Phil

In bygone days, they used to call it "build a fence around em".

Damn! Beautiful job and awesome collection.

Did you drop 'em on the floor? My eggs don't have black spots.

my eggs are always sunside up and my thick butcher shop bacon is always cooked wiggly , no potato chip bacon for me . my beef steaks always butter fried Pittsburg blue about 2 minutes or less a side on the thick steak , rested 5-6 minutes with those butter fried mushrooms dump on top my steak too.

LOL. That's what happens when you cook bacon first, and eggs second.

Those are some fine looking fried eggs, Hawkeye. Cooked just the way they should be.

I’ll give you that and the second batch of eggs looks better than the hard yellow yolk ones.

Thanks. I get enough practice, LOL. I pretty much make them every morning, and have for as long as I can remember. It's just not really breakfast without a couple of eggs.

I remember my vacation in Italy, and no one there ever heard of eggs for breakfast. Drove me crazy. Breakfast there was cold cuts and pastry.

Ewww. Gross

To clarify; I'd eat your eggs Hawkeye. I get the bacon about done and put the eggs in. All comes out together. Also prefer non crispy bacon. Heat gets turned down before the eggs go in.

Very nice, indeed.

One I revitalized.

Lookin' good, as always............bro

Sure...if you don't like eggs.

stfu already, Pill.

Phyllis loves the runny whites......

Just finished repairing one that got dropped.

Good work.

Cast iron ain't just for cooking breakfast