Frying in particular seasons pretty fast. I do a whole pack of bacon and then collect the oil in mason jars for cooking later. But yea the answer will always be heat it, rub it down, and keep cooking. Bacon fat is better than any other oil for seasoning IMHO
That’s not a grand idea trust me. I work construction and Our customer had been putting candies out for us to have… then one day her dog pissed the floor and to help mask the smell she put out some espresso smelling small candy looking things that I tried to eat. It was soap. I ate the customers soap and had to explain to them that…I ate their soap. Not to mention it tasted awwwwwwful and was stuck in my teeth for the duration of the day. Don’t eat the bacon soap.
Bacon fat gets sticky and SMELLS if it's not polymerized EXACTLY right.
Start with a few layers of crisco to seal the pores in the bay iron or you're going to be stripping that skillet in a few months anyway
Uncured bacon isn't.
It isn't uncured, or it isn't bacon.
The stuff at the store is cured, they just use celery powder and/or sea salt, bit because they're not adding pure sodium nitrite, they can legally label it "uncured." It's cured.
The alternative would be plain pork belly, which I'm fine with, but that's sold as "pork belly."
This! The best way I've seen it described is lightly coat your pan in oil, then get paper towels and try to get as much off as if it were a terrible terrible mistake. Thats how much oil should be on it when you season it.
Your main question has already been answered so I’ll address the mentality side of this situation.
Definitely don’t get it in your head that you’re expecting to have a flawlessly uniform seasonings surface. If you try to achieve that you’ll only ever season the pan and never cook in it. Every “imperfection” in the seasoning surface is character.
Don’t take the seasoning too seriously, keep cooking, and you’re gonna have a great time.
You used too much oil. No worries, just keep cooking on it. Some tips:
* Oven seasoning is only for corrosion protection. To make it non-stick, cook on it (use a metal spatula with a straight front edge to keep the surface smooth).
* When cooking, don't crank the heat to High, use Med-Low heat and wait for the pan to come up to temperature.
* After cleaning (use hot water), dry it off, heat it on the stove for a few minutes, wipe with some Crisco, wait a few minutes, wipe again with a dry paper towel, then let it cool on the stove.
But again these things are fairly tough pieces of equipment. I do remember hearing that you trade some durability for having easy to use enamel though.
This! I cook steaks in my pan all the time and high heat leads to overcooked steak with a ton of frond burnt to the pan.
All you need for the maillard reaction is 300-350 degrees which is around the smoke point for oils anyway. I cook bacon at exactly 300 degrees. Less splatter, less smoke, easier cleanup, perfect bacon.
I only use high heat when boiling water or to bring the heat back up quickly after adding food.
If you're not getting a good sear when browning meat it's likely having too much moisture problem rather than a low heat problem.
It looks like you used too much oil (put it on and then try to get it all off- that's how thin a coat you want), and olive oil doesn't really work for seasoning because of it's low smoke point. Give it a little scrub with some steel wool and soap and the have another go with a very small amount of crisco/grapeseed/canola etc.
Ahhh ok, I definitely didn’t do it as if I was trying to get everything off.
Is there an oil that’s best for it or will any with a higher smoke point do?
lots of us here like crisco, canola will do fine and most people have it, grapeseed is apparently great - pretty flexible as long as it's not olive or flax
Crisco is my go-to, and my advice for seasoning is "put it on like lotion/sunscreen". Try to buff it/buff it off till there is almost no evidence it was there to begin with.
What do you use for this? Kitchen towel? I’m having a hard time with paper towel lint and it kills me. Sometimes I think I want one of those sanded down flat pans.. mine has the rougher finish.
I keep an oiled rag next to the stove (so it's easy to grab after drying the pan after cooking) for a month, then toss it and get a new one. Tea towels work great, I've heard of people cutting up old t-shirts to use
The rougher finish actually holds the season better, I have an old smooth GSW that I can't for the life of me keep the seasoning on. My 20$ Walmart special is slowly becoming glass smooth as the season builds up.
I use standard paper towel, but on a new pan with the rough finish you need to wipe gentle and turn frequently.
I use blue 'shop towels' that you would use to absorb grease when working in your garage.
Like these: https://www.lowes.com/pd/SELLARS-Paper-Towel/50324081?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-pnt-_-google-_-lia-_-133-_-paintsundries-_-50324081-_-0&placeholder=null&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dPWYCK1RcPWjcWxpEQeniAatnSDw8xuwH1Fhcr2U9SxhnsaMSWWvQoaAjbkEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
I just re did mine with grape seed oil. It was easy and worked well. I was able to fry an egg easily. Grape seed oil is also pretty cheap but my perspective may be skewed because I usually cook with avocado oil.
It doesn’t hold up well over time at all, it makes a really weak seasoning. All the internet articles capitalizing on the trend about ‘how to season your cast iron’ like it because it makes a really dark shiny seasoning but it doesn’t hold up when you actually use it
I remember an episode of [the 1980s American television show] Chips where one of the cops used a shortcut to polish his boots prior to an inspection, despite being told "that stuff will cause your boots to crack when you walk."
His response: "I'm just going to be standing there for the inspection."
When he was called forward for an unexpected award, the viewers got a close-up of his boots cracking like a candy shell as he walked.
Anyway, a hard surface will look shiny, but will also crack easily.
I prefer canola. But yes just about anything with a high smoke point will do. And cooking with it will get the seasoning built up. Cast iron doesn't have a magic formula it just takes a little patience.
grape seed. And i heat before oiling on high for 2.5 minutes bc it gets any moisture out. Then oil, as lightly as possible and place on high heat til it lightly smokes then push off heat and let cool.
For seasoning (obviously not cooking), you actually want a low smoke point, not high smoke point. Seasoning is formed when the oil polymerizes which occurs when it breaks down. Low smoke point oil breaks down easier and will form seasoning more easily.
Mine looked similar after my first seasoning attempt. After reading through comments with similar pics on this sub, I left it and continued to cook with it. Just cook some bacon and you’ll be fine.
Olive oil has a very low smoke point. It’s not the best oil to use for this purpose. Try avocado oil or crisco. Be sure to really wipe down the oil when you apply it so it doesn’t puddle and cause spots.
Shortening has roughly the same smokepoint as extra virgin olive oil lol
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/cooking-oils-and-smoke-points-what-to-know-and-how-to-choose#why-is-oil-smoke-point-important
Crisco is the reliable standby and works great. It was a game changer for me when I learned to really wipe in the oil. I just use paper towels, but it really makes a difference.
What's wrong with it? Seems like where the oil deposited and decided to stick... Keep cooking with it, send like to me whatever you are doing is working.
Others have stated you need to use steel wool, etc. - I disagree- it’s not pretty - but it will work and with regular use and a re season after, that will go away rather quickly.
Yeah. You’ll be fine. As it, it will still work. Think our grandparents or great grandparents cared about that? Probably not. They just used it again and used less oil the next time they wanted to season.
It may start flaking off into the food, had it happen with a wok I tried to speed season. You don’t want flakes of burnt oil in your food, it has a noticeable taste too.
That’s a fair point. OP: to avoid this problem, I’d cook a large batch of frozen veggie stir fry on medium heat with a bit of oil that you add in yourself. The flavors will be mixed enough and I really can’t imagine you’ll be burning the oil on medium heat.
They used olive oil for the seasoning, so it will burn at some point if they do a high heat sear and potentially flake since it was a thick initial amount. Maybe they’ll get lucky but I fucked up a wok doing this and had to scrape it off and start again.
Another tip is to turn your pans upside down in the oven when seasoning, it helps avoid some of the oil pooling. And as others mentioned, use less oil.
Apologies, of course.
Olive oil that i used kitchen roll to spread evenly and in the oven at 220 C upside down for half an hour, and then left to cool.
220 C is a bit low. Try 250 C (for a round number.) in Fahrenheit the good range is 475-500 F.
To be more exact, you need to know the smoke point of the oil you're using, and go about 10% higher than that. Because the oil is not going to polymerize into good seasoning unless you get over the smoke point. Where this can really mess you up is if you use something with a crazy high smoke point like processed avocado oil. Some of that stuff has a smoke point as high as 520 F.
It's actually heat over time. Oil will polymerize (very slowly) at even room temperatures. Many scientists have advised about 10-20 degrees _**below**_ the smoke point for a longer period of time because of this, as it will form more interlocked polymer chains without burning away the oil.
This is also why you are advised to leave the pan in the oven until it cools; the reactions continue.
That's interesting, and actually makes a lot of sense. But given the typical recommended timing of 1 hour at temp, I wonder if it still is better to be above the smoke point? Seems to me as long as it's not so crazy hot that the seasoning burns off (what's that, 600+ F?) then the typical 500 F for an hour still is a good rule of thumb.
EDIT: After re-reading the previous comment, I'd love to see more info about how longer times at a lower temp might create a harder polymer. That *might* mean that (picking random numbers) 350F for 3 hours might be better as your first seasoning cycle. I really wish someone would do legit lab work on this and publish it.
Harder isn't necessarily better, either, see, e.g. flax oil, which makes a beautiful, but brittle seasoning. I think it's more like the interlocking layers provide more resilience, but I only have anecdote and occasional discussion with scientist friends to cause me to think this. In my reasoning, though, this also explains why it's so beneficial to use a variety of oils and greases (forming different types of polymer chains, like a knife with a hard edge and a softer spine being an overall better, less brittle knife), and to cook starches, like potatoes, pancakes, breads; because those cook below smoke point for a _long time_ with _small amounts of oil_ (heat over time) and definitely seem to strengthen the seasoning.
For a second answer, because I love the actual scientific slant as well, I would love to get like the "perfect recipe", e.g.,
- One hour at 400°F with Canola Oil
- Three hours at 325°F with Non virgin Olive Oil
- Cook 10 flapjacks using the following recipe: ...
- One hour at 425°F with Flax Oil
- Two hours at 375°F using non-hydrogenated lard
- Bake one cornbread using the following recipe: ...
But I also know I'd never follow it, haha...
Are you me? I tried seasoning a pan last night and got this exact result. I was planning on asking this same question here too! Glad for all your responses!
I think it’s been said - you used too much oil, and maybe not the right kind. You can either use it, or scrub it down and start again. Use a higher burn point oil like flax seed, and use thinned coats (wipe with paper towel). Put it upside down in the oven (sheet pan or something catch any drips).
Also - don’t treat your pan like an fragile glass vase. Beat it up, scrub it, reseason it. They are very durable and you get to learn.
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Too much oil. Coat with oil then wipe it off. Start the heating process then about 15min in pull it out and wipe it off again. Like others said, its not a big deal, just not quite as pretty.
Future note, it’s okay to use more oil than needed when seasoning, but rub the pan with a rag or towel as it’s heating up. That way it doesn’t pool up and congeal in certain spots.
To pile on, this is what mine looked like as well the first time. After a couple days of cooking, those blotches will be gone and will look nice and uniform.
You have completely destroyed this pan...Please send to me immediately, so I can prepare a proper burial for the poor cast iron that you so willingly violated
It's fine, just left a little too much oil on it when you were seasoning. Keep cooking.
Keeping cooking is always the answer it seems, nice and easy!!
Frying in particular seasons pretty fast. I do a whole pack of bacon and then collect the oil in mason jars for cooking later. But yea the answer will always be heat it, rub it down, and keep cooking. Bacon fat is better than any other oil for seasoning IMHO
I strain any bacon fat I use in a coffee filter. It looks like Crisco when it solidifies. Retains bacony flavor.
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Bacon soap? Mine would have a bite taken out of it
That’s not a grand idea trust me. I work construction and Our customer had been putting candies out for us to have… then one day her dog pissed the floor and to help mask the smell she put out some espresso smelling small candy looking things that I tried to eat. It was soap. I ate the customers soap and had to explain to them that…I ate their soap. Not to mention it tasted awwwwwwful and was stuck in my teeth for the duration of the day. Don’t eat the bacon soap.
What if I just try a little bit?
Good luck but it was bad enough that talking about this is making taste it and remember how my stomach felt after lol.
Thanks! I needed that laugh.
/u/tyrannoroarus can have a little bacon soap…as a treat.
🥳👍👅
⅔z|
Words to live by! 🤣
Pasta is more reliable than soap
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Why cant you just let me have this dream
That’s called lard.
Bacon fat gets sticky and SMELLS if it's not polymerized EXACTLY right. Start with a few layers of crisco to seal the pores in the bay iron or you're going to be stripping that skillet in a few months anyway
Uncured bacon! The sugar content is always high in store bought bacon and that'll make a pan sticky. Make sure there's no added sugar in your bacon.
Trader Joe’s bacon
Uncured bacon isn't.
Isn't?
Isn’t…high in sugar content, I think is the context here.
Uncured bacon isn't. It isn't uncured, or it isn't bacon. The stuff at the store is cured, they just use celery powder and/or sea salt, bit because they're not adding pure sodium nitrite, they can legally label it "uncured." It's cured. The alternative would be plain pork belly, which I'm fine with, but that's sold as "pork belly."
This! The best way I've seen it described is lightly coat your pan in oil, then get paper towels and try to get as much off as if it were a terrible terrible mistake. Thats how much oil should be on it when you season it.
Your main question has already been answered so I’ll address the mentality side of this situation. Definitely don’t get it in your head that you’re expecting to have a flawlessly uniform seasonings surface. If you try to achieve that you’ll only ever season the pan and never cook in it. Every “imperfection” in the seasoning surface is character. Don’t take the seasoning too seriously, keep cooking, and you’re gonna have a great time.
To add to this, it’s possible to get that flawlessly uniform surface *once you start cooking with it*. It just takes time.
I will definitely be cooking in it! I won’t let this little issue get in my way and will soldier on with the cast iron lifestyle
You used too much oil. No worries, just keep cooking on it. Some tips: * Oven seasoning is only for corrosion protection. To make it non-stick, cook on it (use a metal spatula with a straight front edge to keep the surface smooth). * When cooking, don't crank the heat to High, use Med-Low heat and wait for the pan to come up to temperature. * After cleaning (use hot water), dry it off, heat it on the stove for a few minutes, wipe with some Crisco, wait a few minutes, wipe again with a dry paper towel, then let it cool on the stove.
Thank you. I will keep the tips in mind.
Why not high heat?
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Also with high heat it’s easy to scorch the seasoning off of the bottom and you can sometimes get a rusty bottom. Nobody wants a rusty bottom.
Ahh! Mine is enamled at the bottom but nice to know!
Im pretty sure its even more important to not blast heat at enamel.
Well shit!
But again these things are fairly tough pieces of equipment. I do remember hearing that you trade some durability for having easy to use enamel though.
Ehh, i’m not sure how it helps anything other than the looks of it
This! I cook steaks in my pan all the time and high heat leads to overcooked steak with a ton of frond burnt to the pan. All you need for the maillard reaction is 300-350 degrees which is around the smoke point for oils anyway. I cook bacon at exactly 300 degrees. Less splatter, less smoke, easier cleanup, perfect bacon. I only use high heat when boiling water or to bring the heat back up quickly after adding food. If you're not getting a good sear when browning meat it's likely having too much moisture problem rather than a low heat problem.
Food is more likely to stick when using high heat. Try Med-Low for a week and see how it works with eggs, beef, chicken, veggies
Thanks!
It looks like you used too much oil (put it on and then try to get it all off- that's how thin a coat you want), and olive oil doesn't really work for seasoning because of it's low smoke point. Give it a little scrub with some steel wool and soap and the have another go with a very small amount of crisco/grapeseed/canola etc.
Ahhh ok, I definitely didn’t do it as if I was trying to get everything off. Is there an oil that’s best for it or will any with a higher smoke point do?
lots of us here like crisco, canola will do fine and most people have it, grapeseed is apparently great - pretty flexible as long as it's not olive or flax
I’ll have a crack with the crisco, I really goofed with the olive oil, thanks for the help!
Crisco is my go-to, and my advice for seasoning is "put it on like lotion/sunscreen". Try to buff it/buff it off till there is almost no evidence it was there to begin with.
What do you use for this? Kitchen towel? I’m having a hard time with paper towel lint and it kills me. Sometimes I think I want one of those sanded down flat pans.. mine has the rougher finish.
I keep an oiled rag next to the stove (so it's easy to grab after drying the pan after cooking) for a month, then toss it and get a new one. Tea towels work great, I've heard of people cutting up old t-shirts to use
The rougher finish actually holds the season better, I have an old smooth GSW that I can't for the life of me keep the seasoning on. My 20$ Walmart special is slowly becoming glass smooth as the season builds up. I use standard paper towel, but on a new pan with the rough finish you need to wipe gentle and turn frequently.
I use blue 'shop towels' that you would use to absorb grease when working in your garage. Like these: https://www.lowes.com/pd/SELLARS-Paper-Towel/50324081?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-pnt-_-google-_-lia-_-133-_-paintsundries-_-50324081-_-0&placeholder=null&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dPWYCK1RcPWjcWxpEQeniAatnSDw8xuwH1Fhcr2U9SxhnsaMSWWvQoaAjbkEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
I second this
Buy cheaper paper towels. They aren't as "linty".
We use lint-free wipes. Pricier than paper towels but perfect for oiling pans and the grill.
Crisco is on order for the next attempt
Also, knowing the smoke point of the specific oil you are using is helpful. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Smoke_point_of_cooking_oils
Crisco is also cheap and doesn't stink up your house at all when you season.
I've done this with the olive oil and smoked out my house. I prefer avocado oil for seasoning.
I just re did mine with grape seed oil. It was easy and worked well. I was able to fry an egg easily. Grape seed oil is also pretty cheap but my perspective may be skewed because I usually cook with avocado oil.
I’ve had success with avocado oil, how does this sub feel about that?
I’ve used that too, worked well
I love crisco.i keep a small canister for season
Why not Flax? I’ve read it’s the best choice for seasoning…. [that is, organic food grade flaxseed oil].
It doesn’t hold up well over time at all, it makes a really weak seasoning. All the internet articles capitalizing on the trend about ‘how to season your cast iron’ like it because it makes a really dark shiny seasoning but it doesn’t hold up when you actually use it
I remember an episode of [the 1980s American television show] Chips where one of the cops used a shortcut to polish his boots prior to an inspection, despite being told "that stuff will cause your boots to crack when you walk." His response: "I'm just going to be standing there for the inspection." When he was called forward for an unexpected award, the viewers got a close-up of his boots cracking like a candy shell as he walked. Anyway, a hard surface will look shiny, but will also crack easily.
Flax is what I use and I like how it seasons the pan.
Not flax? I use it on mine and it works great.
I prefer canola. But yes just about anything with a high smoke point will do. And cooking with it will get the seasoning built up. Cast iron doesn't have a magic formula it just takes a little patience.
This is the key, wipe like you want it all off or you are storing it.
I always use grapeseed :)
grape seed. And i heat before oiling on high for 2.5 minutes bc it gets any moisture out. Then oil, as lightly as possible and place on high heat til it lightly smokes then push off heat and let cool.
General wisdom is: higher smoke point = better
For seasoning (obviously not cooking), you actually want a low smoke point, not high smoke point. Seasoning is formed when the oil polymerizes which occurs when it breaks down. Low smoke point oil breaks down easier and will form seasoning more easily.
Use this sub’s FAQ. So helpful! You’ll find great info on what to do/not do. And how to fix seasoning issues.
I will definitely check it out, I think I was a bit arrogant and just read a guide before fully understanding it and just cracked on.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s great that you were excited/eager (not arrogant) to get started.
We’ll go with that for sure haha Thanks for the kind words!
Nothing wrong. Cook in it and that goes away
Mine looked similar after my first seasoning attempt. After reading through comments with similar pics on this sub, I left it and continued to cook with it. Just cook some bacon and you’ll be fine.
Hey that looks exactly like my pan after my first crack at seasoning!
Hopefully I will learn quick enough!
Looks like you've gotten plenty of good tips in this thread already so you're heading in to the right direction!
It's fucking cast iron. Cook about 6 lbs of bacon in it and it will be good.
Hahaha good excuse to get the bacon in
It works on our cast iron.
Olive oil has a very low smoke point. It’s not the best oil to use for this purpose. Try avocado oil or crisco. Be sure to really wipe down the oil when you apply it so it doesn’t puddle and cause spots.
Shortening has roughly the same smokepoint as extra virgin olive oil lol https://www.masterclass.com/articles/cooking-oils-and-smoke-points-what-to-know-and-how-to-choose#why-is-oil-smoke-point-important
I’ll have a crack with crisco I think after cleaning my mistake up haha
Crisco is the reliable standby and works great. It was a game changer for me when I learned to really wipe in the oil. I just use paper towels, but it really makes a difference.
I wiped it in but I will definitely get the crisco in and try again.
What's wrong with it? Seems like where the oil deposited and decided to stick... Keep cooking with it, send like to me whatever you are doing is working.
It’s just a bit patchy and just not what I was expecting
Others have stated you need to use steel wool, etc. - I disagree- it’s not pretty - but it will work and with regular use and a re season after, that will go away rather quickly.
Steel wool seems a bit… extreme. I’ve got crisco on order to season and will be using regularly
Yeah. You’ll be fine. As it, it will still work. Think our grandparents or great grandparents cared about that? Probably not. They just used it again and used less oil the next time they wanted to season.
It may start flaking off into the food, had it happen with a wok I tried to speed season. You don’t want flakes of burnt oil in your food, it has a noticeable taste too.
That’s a fair point. OP: to avoid this problem, I’d cook a large batch of frozen veggie stir fry on medium heat with a bit of oil that you add in yourself. The flavors will be mixed enough and I really can’t imagine you’ll be burning the oil on medium heat.
They used olive oil for the seasoning, so it will burn at some point if they do a high heat sear and potentially flake since it was a thick initial amount. Maybe they’ll get lucky but I fucked up a wok doing this and had to scrape it off and start again.
Stop seasoning and just start cooking
Another tip is to turn your pans upside down in the oven when seasoning, it helps avoid some of the oil pooling. And as others mentioned, use less oil.
One of the things I actually did right was turn it upside down!!
TOO. MUCH. EARL.
I’d explain the process and oil you used
Apologies, of course. Olive oil that i used kitchen roll to spread evenly and in the oven at 220 C upside down for half an hour, and then left to cool.
220 C is a bit low. Try 250 C (for a round number.) in Fahrenheit the good range is 475-500 F. To be more exact, you need to know the smoke point of the oil you're using, and go about 10% higher than that. Because the oil is not going to polymerize into good seasoning unless you get over the smoke point. Where this can really mess you up is if you use something with a crazy high smoke point like processed avocado oil. Some of that stuff has a smoke point as high as 520 F.
It's actually heat over time. Oil will polymerize (very slowly) at even room temperatures. Many scientists have advised about 10-20 degrees _**below**_ the smoke point for a longer period of time because of this, as it will form more interlocked polymer chains without burning away the oil. This is also why you are advised to leave the pan in the oven until it cools; the reactions continue.
That's interesting, and actually makes a lot of sense. But given the typical recommended timing of 1 hour at temp, I wonder if it still is better to be above the smoke point? Seems to me as long as it's not so crazy hot that the seasoning burns off (what's that, 600+ F?) then the typical 500 F for an hour still is a good rule of thumb. EDIT: After re-reading the previous comment, I'd love to see more info about how longer times at a lower temp might create a harder polymer. That *might* mean that (picking random numbers) 350F for 3 hours might be better as your first seasoning cycle. I really wish someone would do legit lab work on this and publish it.
Harder isn't necessarily better, either, see, e.g. flax oil, which makes a beautiful, but brittle seasoning. I think it's more like the interlocking layers provide more resilience, but I only have anecdote and occasional discussion with scientist friends to cause me to think this. In my reasoning, though, this also explains why it's so beneficial to use a variety of oils and greases (forming different types of polymer chains, like a knife with a hard edge and a softer spine being an overall better, less brittle knife), and to cook starches, like potatoes, pancakes, breads; because those cook below smoke point for a _long time_ with _small amounts of oil_ (heat over time) and definitely seem to strengthen the seasoning.
For a second answer, because I love the actual scientific slant as well, I would love to get like the "perfect recipe", e.g., - One hour at 400°F with Canola Oil - Three hours at 325°F with Non virgin Olive Oil - Cook 10 flapjacks using the following recipe: ... - One hour at 425°F with Flax Oil - Two hours at 375°F using non-hydrogenated lard - Bake one cornbread using the following recipe: ... But I also know I'd never follow it, haha...
I’ll be using crisco in future, good tip about the 10% number
Use vegetable oil and less of it. Heat until it stops smoking
As others have pointed out it is fine!👍
Are you me? I tried seasoning a pan last night and got this exact result. I was planning on asking this same question here too! Glad for all your responses!
I think it’s been said - you used too much oil, and maybe not the right kind. You can either use it, or scrub it down and start again. Use a higher burn point oil like flax seed, and use thinned coats (wipe with paper towel). Put it upside down in the oven (sheet pan or something catch any drips). Also - don’t treat your pan like an fragile glass vase. Beat it up, scrub it, reseason it. They are very durable and you get to learn.
Bacon, Bacon, Bacon!
Way too much oil. You’re looking for microfilm levels of oil.
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You really shouldn’t use bacon to season your cast iron pan, it has salt and nitrates…
Ah the great killer, celery salt
Too much oil when seasoning, a quick cycle in the dishwasher will excess off 👍
Too much oil. Coat with oil then wipe it off. Start the heating process then about 15min in pull it out and wipe it off again. Like others said, its not a big deal, just not quite as pretty.
Absolutely nothing wrong with it, just keep cooking with it, use a flexible metal spatula and keep wiping down the excess oils and you are golden!
You just needed to wipe it out better. Fix it with BACON!!
Too much oil likely
Ghee is now my go to. I keep my oiled towel in a ziplock. I also throw my pan in the oven Everytime it's turned off
Too much oil. No biggie.
Too much oil I like to take the pan out after about 15 mins and give it another wipe down
Keep using it. You just used too much oil during your last seasoning.
You can wash it or burn it. It goes.
Make some cornbread in it. It'll even out.
Couple weeks of daily bacon should do the trick
Future note, it’s okay to use more oil than needed when seasoning, but rub the pan with a rag or towel as it’s heating up. That way it doesn’t pool up and congeal in certain spots.
Just cook as normal and clean gently with ball of foil and baking soda. The extra oil deposits will correct in time.
What did you use to apply the oil?
Bacon, cornbread, smash burgers use avacado oil to cook, grape seed oil to season
Mine looks similar and I can still make sunny side up or over easy eggs without anything sticking.
Looks just fine. Go ahead and cook in it and stop worrying.
I've done that a dozen times. Not an issue at all. Use it like you stole it.
To pile on, this is what mine looked like as well the first time. After a couple days of cooking, those blotches will be gone and will look nice and uniform.
You have completely destroyed this pan...Please send to me immediately, so I can prepare a proper burial for the poor cast iron that you so willingly violated
You completely ruined it! Please send it to me for proper recycling. 🤣🙃😆
Too much oil