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.

2 thoughts on “Monthly Science: Minimal-Woo Cast Iron Pan Seasoning

  1. 1) How do you measure 500F?

    2) That omelet looks delicious!

    1. 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!

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