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Monthly Science: Minimal-Woo Cast Iron Pan Seasoning

After trying several variations on a theme, our daily-use pan now looks like this:

Cast Iron Pan - after weekly seasoning
Cast Iron Pan – after weekly seasoning

Those obvious wiping marks come from an oily rag in a hot pan. What could go wrong?

The reflected light bar comes from the under-cabinet LED strip.

The surface withstands stainless utensils, cooks omelets with aplomb, and requires no fussy KP:

Omelet in cast-iron pan
Omelet in cast-iron pan

The low-woo seasoning recipe, done maybe once a week when the bottom has more gunk than usual:

  • Clean the pan as usual, wipe dry
  • Begin heating on medium burner set to High
  • Add 0.2 ml = 10 drops = 1 squirt of flaxseed oil
  • Wipe around pan interior with small cotton cloth
  • Continue heating to 500 °F, about four minutes
  • Carefully wipe oily cloth around pan again
  • Let cool

Works for us and doesn’t involve any magic.

Comments

2 responses to “Monthly Science: Minimal-Woo Cast Iron Pan Seasoning”

  1. Daniel B. Martin Avatar
    Daniel B. Martin

    1) How do you measure 500F?

    2) That omelet looks delicious!

    1. Ed Avatar
      Ed

      The bottom of an iron pan is pretty much a black body radiator: an IR thermometer lets us cook with unprecedented precision. [grin]

      And, yup, that’s a tasty pile of nutrition for the two of us!