Cast Iron Pan - Seasoning?

[moltar]

I got a cast iron pan and now reading up the seasoning part. Everyone suggest using either lard or vegetable shortening. So this makes me think that this is really a bad idea. They basically suggest coating the pan with trans fat and then never wash it - keeping even more trans fats from re-heating the pan every time. What do you think?

[Honeywith4bees]

Can you use canola or olive oil? I seem to think thats what I used to season my pans with although its been about ten years since I did it so I don't distinctly remember. And I wash mine, just not ever with soap.

[moltar]

But it doesn't matter. All oil after reaheating multiple times turns bad. Suppoedly the only oil that doesn't do that is coconut I think.

Basically reheating oils is bad, no matter what pan you use.

[WanderingOak]

If you are concerned about trans fats in cast iron seasoning, organic shortening is available, which is supposedly trans-fat free. It is made from palm kernel oil. I have used it for seasoning cast iron (it was the only shortening I had on hand) with good results. It only takes about a teaspoon to season the inside of a 12" cast iron pan.

[wellbeing]

Shortening is typically suggested by the manufacturers of cast iron cookware because it's readily available, relatively inexpensive, is easy to work with and (most importantly) has a very high smoke point. But it's not essential that you use the trans-fat variety.

As the previous response pointed out, there are organic, trans-fat free versions of shortening available, if you wish. But you can use any oil/fat that's clean and has a high smoke point. (My grandmother used to use lard which at the time was rendered properly so there weren't any "bits" in it--what I meant by "clean"--and didn't have trans-fat oils added to it.)

In addition to the (trans-fat free) palm kernel shortening, you can use canola, soy (or vegetable) oil or grape seed oil (different from rape seed oil, which is another name for canola oil), both of which have neutral flavors and high smoke points.

Do not use olive oil; it smokes too readily and sometimes can catch on fire before it has a chance to seal your cookware. Butter and bacon fat have solids in them that will burn and then impart an acrid flavor to your foods afterwards.

As you heat this oil/fat, it fills in the pores of and binds to the surface of your cookware. Eventually, you heat it high enough and long enough that this layer of oil/fat becomes solid and seals the surface of your cookware. A properly-seasoned (i.e., sealed) piece of cast-iron cookware will not interact with your foods or moisture from the air and should be virtually non-stick.

I personally have found it easier to work with the more solid fats as I can get a thick enough coating all over my cookware (oil, being a liquid, tends to pool down at the lowest points of the cookware, thanks to gravity). However, if you choose to use an oil, you may need to season it a few times to make sure that the layer has enough integrity to protect your food and your pan.

A hint that's worked for me: when seasoning any cast-iron cookware in the oven, I always put a baking sheet under the cookware to catch any drips. It's so much easier for me to clean the baking sheet than the oven afterwards.

Once you've properly seasoned your cast-iron cookware, by all means clean it, just avoid soap. Should there be some cooked-on bits, scrub them off with water, salt (kosher or table) and a dish rag. If you need to use soap to get your cookware clean, simply reseason it.

When I've used and cleaned my cast-iron cookware, I'll do a mini-seasoning (dry it thoroughly in a hot oven, coat it with a thin layer of oil and pop it back into the oven to reseason). But then I live in San Francisco and our fog is none to kind to my grandmother's cast-iron skillet.

Hope this helps.