Cast iron is an amazing cooking surface. Heavy and thick, it acts as an amazing heat reservoir and is excellent for searing steaks and other fine meats at your disposal.
Many a time, an unskilled, forgetful, or uninformed aspiring chef will let the pan soak, leave it in a moist place, or even accidentally run it through the dishwasher. Lo! Ruin and shame! Avert thine eyes!
But no longer!
Bring out the maimed and sad pans from deep within your cabinets! Cast (iron) away your shame!
We can fix this. It'll take some elbow grease, and time. But you'll be back on the cast iron horse in no time.
(This particular pan met its rusty fate when a wet mixing bowl was left on top of it and ignored for a week or so. View my shame, and learn from my mistake!)
Many a time, an unskilled, forgetful, or uninformed aspiring chef will let the pan soak, leave it in a moist place, or even accidentally run it through the dishwasher. Lo! Ruin and shame! Avert thine eyes!
But no longer!
Bring out the maimed and sad pans from deep within your cabinets! Cast (iron) away your shame!
We can fix this. It'll take some elbow grease, and time. But you'll be back on the cast iron horse in no time.
(This particular pan met its rusty fate when a wet mixing bowl was left on top of it and ignored for a week or so. View my shame, and learn from my mistake!)
Step 1: What You'll Need
You'll need a solution to loosen the dirt/debris, something to buff away the portions where rust has eaten away at the metal, and something to restore the cast iron seasoning.
- Vinegar
- Lard or Shortening
- Scouring pad
- Cast iron pan in need of restoration
- Elbow grease (Now with 100% more elbow!)
Step 2: Soak
If you have a self cleaning oven, and a pan with some serious gunk or buildup, run your pan through the self clean cycle. Any debris will be annihilated, and you can continue on with the following steps to restore your pan to its former glory.
Depending on the extent of rust damage to your pan, you'll want to soak just the inside, or the whole pan in a vinegar solution. Anything from an hour to about six hours or so will work wonders to release any caked on muck and loosen the surface rust/damage. Leaving your pan in an acid soak for longer may start to eat away at your pan, so be careful. I used 50/50 vinegar to water, but I've seen solutions that go with a lower vinegar solution and a longer soak- I don't mind the smell, personally, so I went with the 50/50 solution.
Depending on the extent of rust damage to your pan, you'll want to soak just the inside, or the whole pan in a vinegar solution. Anything from an hour to about six hours or so will work wonders to release any caked on muck and loosen the surface rust/damage. Leaving your pan in an acid soak for longer may start to eat away at your pan, so be careful. I used 50/50 vinegar to water, but I've seen solutions that go with a lower vinegar solution and a longer soak- I don't mind the smell, personally, so I went with the 50/50 solution.
Step 3: Scrub
Let your pan dry before getting to this bit, or you can try scrubbing in the solution as well to pick up any debris. The main idea to this step is to get rid of ALL the rust that has eaten away at your pan. Scrub like mad, until you can't make out the region of damage on your pan. I used a copper scrubber, but depending on the severity of damage, you can use anything from rock salt for spot touches to a drill mounted metal scour for those heavy duty jobs. Try to be as thorough as possible- you've already lost the seasoning in those patches, so scrub to your heart's content.
Step 4: Grease
Time to fatten your baby up.
Get a nice thick and even coating of your fat of choice all over your pan. Since my pan only had damage on the inside, I didn't coat the bottom of my pan, but if it's necessary for your job, do one surface (inner/ outer) at a time. Pay attention to the smoking point of lard or the shortening you're using! Lard can stomach from 370ºF to 400ºF, while many vegetable based shortenings will only tolerate a lower range, say 350ºF to 370ºF. Use a higher smoking point fat if you can.
Get a nice thick and even coating of your fat of choice all over your pan. Since my pan only had damage on the inside, I didn't coat the bottom of my pan, but if it's necessary for your job, do one surface (inner/ outer) at a time. Pay attention to the smoking point of lard or the shortening you're using! Lard can stomach from 370ºF to 400ºF, while many vegetable based shortenings will only tolerate a lower range, say 350ºF to 370ºF. Use a higher smoking point fat if you can.
Step 5: Bake
Pre-heat your oven until about 275ºF, and place your pan in. Use a baking sheet to catch any drippings- you may find that flipping your pan upside down and putting the cast iron directly on your oven rack (dripping pan underneath) will work better, depending on the extent of lard-ification you sent your pan through. After letting your pan warm up for 10-15 minutes or so, crank up the heat up to near the smoking point of your fat. This gradual heating allows for the iron to slowly expand, preventing any cracks or fractures. Let your pan bake at full temperature for 45 minutes, and let cool.
Step 6: Repeat?
Depending on the appearance of your pan after this baking cycle, you may want to repeat the scrubbing process once again. Repeat the greasing and baking as needed. Ideally you'd repeat the re-seasoning step at least 4 times to let the seasoning take hold, but if you're feeling good about its appearance, it should be ready to go after one cycle. If food proceeds to stick to the bottom during use, you'll definitely know that the seasoning layer did not properly form and you'll have to repeat this process.
Restoring cast iron is a pain, but maintaining it is quite simple- remember to scrape any food debris away, dry, and coat with a layer of fat while still warm. Stay away from detergents, metal scrubbers, long soaks, and dishwashers and you'll have a great, heavy duty pan for all of your frying needs. Have fun!
Restoring cast iron is a pain, but maintaining it is quite simple- remember to scrape any food debris away, dry, and coat with a layer of fat while still warm. Stay away from detergents, metal scrubbers, long soaks, and dishwashers and you'll have a great, heavy duty pan for all of your frying needs. Have fun!
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I know from experience though I will claim it was not my fault: I was cleaning the kitchen at work and turned the oven on to it's self clean cycle not knowing that some idiot co-worker had decided to stash greasy cast iron pans in the oven instead of cleaning them properly and putting them away.
Of course there wasn't much I could do about the fire in the oven except let it burn out since the oven automatically locked when the cleaning cycle was running.
But some blame fool would open the oven to see how things are going and blister their face & frizz their hair. Gotta make 'em lawyer-proof.
Just in case there were any confusion.
That said, I enjoyed this instructable! I haven't yet ruined my cast iron pan, but I have been living in fear. Now fear no more!
But ya, usually top cooking heat is 450F, cleaning is 450-480C, 800-850F
That said, I've noticed that most of the advice online suggests that you open the oven and smother the fire with a lid, sand, or baking soda (don't use flour!). I suppose that approach could reduce damage to the oven, but it also exposes you to the fire. Does anyone have a definitive answer as to why one should or shouldn't open the door?
Compared to them, teflon-coated ones are cheap, easy to destroy and probably slowly poison your food with fluoride in trace quantities (that's only my guess).
I'm from Ukraine - a country with a long history of cast-iron kitchen utensils;
I think it's possible to use vegetable (sunflower) oil only for pre-coating, especially if the surface is porous enough (at least that's what was written in the instruction to my new frying pan, and it works well for several years now). The key here is to start nicely and further maintain the surface in a good condition.
A little word on how it works: Not quite sure, but IMHO molecules of fat get stuck in the metal pores as it expands from heating, and the final surface resembles a lipid monolayer (like that in the cell membrane, half of it), with the hydrophobic tails of molecules facing upward, creating a perfect non-sticking cooking surface. Please read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid_bilayer for more info ;)
but still, meanwhile avoid aluminum in your food, fluoride in your water,
and prefer cast iron pans (not teflon-coated).
Cheers ;)
When you first buy cast iron you need to take as much factory coating of as you can where the cooking surface is and do the seasoning before first use or you get it in your food
The coating is there so it doesn't rust before you buy it and should never be used straighr of the shelf
Congratulations on the PUNniest instructable. I love your style--combining humor and good advice. Keep up the good work!
You don't have to do this for old worn in pots and pans or brands that smooth out the sand texture after casting, but I do it depending on the individual pan.
I didn't expect that.
I don't like the sound of the spatula on the Lodge surface, so it's not quite the same user experience. But otherwise, I think they cook just fine like they are.
I also find that I don't have to repeat the seasoning process as many times to achieve that true non-stick surface with the smoother finish. It might just be perception, but that's what works for me.
I gave the Lodge to my kid, kept the Griswolds and Wagners for myself.
I flash soak my pans while they are still hot. I wash with detergents and then dry carefully. To me, the important regular care thing is to get off all of the food gunk.
I think if you cover it in grease and bake it in the oven, you're just baking on excess oil.
I don't leave mine coated in oil in the cabinet. I think the oil can go rancid, and I don't want it attracting any dust.
In my experience, if your pans are clean, just about any cooking you do in them with oil is going to season them nicely. Maybe you have to throw out that first pancake, but the next one should be perfect.
The seasoning is usually still good after a soapy wash, unless you were boiling liquid, like poaching an egg.
Please DON'T use oven cleaner on your items. Not good for you or the environment. Instead use your gas grill. So easy & it's outside! No indoor fumes or heat. Crank it up to HIGH, wait 5 mins & put your cast iron in upside down. Takes about 5-10 min. & it will be cleaned of all grease based crap. Let it cool & scrub with steel wool or a nylon scrubbie. Coat with a thin layer of lard, put into the preheated gas grill & wait about 10-15 min. & turn off the grill. After this 1st treatment you may want to do a 2nd. Depends on the user. I do a couple coats, to a very BLACK thick coating to achieve a truly non-stick surface. A non-toxic non-stick surface at that! Eggs don't stick to my fry pan! I LOVE my cast iron! (even though it does weigh a bit! LOL) Hope this helps.
Love your instructable. Thanks
Also, I do this outside on my grill as the temperatures might make some smoke and we want that outside not inside.