2024-03-25
Cast iron skillet -How to Season a Cast Iron Pan
Online forums for the cooking-obsessed are a mixed blessing. On the one hand, they can be amazing resources, full of detailed information on all sorts of topics. But they can also expose just how little agreement there often is among experts when you get down to the nitty-gritty details. I've spent hours poring over cast iron cookware sites, only to see some swear that flaxseed oil is the best for seasoning, others throw down for Crisco or lard, and still others say that canola is their go-to. The oven temperatures they use are equally varied, and some advocate convoluted methods that involve repeatedly changing the oven temperature during the seasoning process.The thing is, we here at Serious Eats use our cast iron cookware all the time, and, after testing countless methods, we've found that most of the complex rules of cast iron are nothing more than superstition. Indeed, we don't do anything complicated to keep our pans in tip-top nonstick shape. Here's the short version of what you need to know: When you get a new cast iron pan, put it through one basic round of seasoning (I'll explain how below), then just...use your pan. Yeah, it really is that simple.