<story><title>Chemistry of Cast-Iron Seasoning (2010)</title><url>http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mdtusz</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve tried this a few times and none of the ovens I&amp;#x27;ve had over the years have been successful in removing seasoning with their self-cleaning, so at this point I&amp;#x27;m trying to find a machine shop that will be happy to bead blast it and mill the surface flat again. So far, most shops have given me quotes in the hundreds of dollars so I&amp;#x27;ve been waiting until I meet someone that has the capability to just do it in their garage.&lt;p&gt;Most new cast iron cookware now has a raw surface with lots of pits and bumps from the casting process as well, which doesn&amp;#x27;t seem to get nearly as smooth and non-stick as &amp;quot;vintage&amp;quot; cookware.</text></item><item><author>chongli</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Nothing short of steel wool is going to affect the patina.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Actually, if you throw it in the oven and set it to self-clean it&amp;#x27;ll strip the seasoning right off. I&amp;#x27;ve done it with my cast iron pan before. Washes completely clean and ends up gun-metal grey; a non-oxidized pure iron surface. This is a great way to start over with the seasoning process if you&amp;#x27;re unhappy with it.</text></item><item><author>stouset</author><text>Also, without washing, you end up with rough spots of non-sticky partially-polymerized bits. Wash it with soap and a scrub brush. Nothing short of steel wool is going to affect the patina.&lt;p&gt;For proof of this, check out your aluminum baking sheets. If they’ve been used, they’re almost certainly covered in a shiny black substance that’s a complete pain in the ass to remove, even with abrasives. That’s essentially what’s on your cast iron.</text></item><item><author>war1025</author><text>As someone who owns more cast iron than is reasonable, I just wanted to go a step beyond upvoting this and acknowledge in writing that this is the correct view of things.&lt;p&gt;You want oil soaked into the metal. This idea that you are trying to build a non-stick surface on top of the metal is just adding extra work that isn&amp;#x27;t needed.&lt;p&gt;Wash with soap, dry of the stove top, put in some oil (I use peanut), then take a paper towel and rub the oil around over everything and at the end the metal should look shiny but there shouldn&amp;#x27;t be any pooled oil left anywhere.&lt;p&gt;If you are cooking something that doesn&amp;#x27;t leave a residue or strong flavor, you can skip the washing all together and just leave it there to cook with next time.&lt;p&gt;If you try to go the whole &amp;quot;never wash this&amp;quot; route, you end up with unhappy results going from cooking something with onions and garlic to cooking something more neutral flavored. No one wants onion flavored pancakes.</text></item><item><author>kevinmchugh</author><text>You really shouldn&amp;#x27;t buy a special oil just got seasoning your cast iron and carbon steel. It&amp;#x27;s not necessary. Pick an oil with a high smoke point, a neutral taste, and plenty of easy availability. That&amp;#x27;s often peanut. Avocado is great if you&amp;#x27;re fancy.&lt;p&gt;Keep a squirt bottle of oil on hand and make sure you&amp;#x27;re using enough. Using soap to clean your pans will make maintaining your seasoning easier, as you use less effort to clean them. See this if you&amp;#x27;re skeptical: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.seriouseats.com&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;the-truth-about-cast-iron.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.seriouseats.com&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;the-truth-about-cast-iro...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I had friends dedicate years to flax seed oil. They&amp;#x27;re not happy about it, as they&amp;#x27;ve got flaking to deal with. I also had friends disbelieve me that soap was okay, and they&amp;#x27;ve mostly come around after hearing me swear by it for years.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>slacka</author><text>Since quarantine life, I&amp;#x27;ve been cooking multiple times a day. My oven&amp;#x27;s self-clean makes my pans look exactly like new. Takes all of the black off leaving them with a shiny, silvery shine. I then have to season them to regain a nonstick coating as good as any Ceramic&amp;#x2F;Teflon pan that I&amp;#x27;ve used.&lt;p&gt;As far soap. My experience is that it definitely damages the nonstick coating, depending on how much you use. You can get by with a soapy sponge, but putting detergent directly on it and the nonstick coating will be lost.&lt;p&gt;The best way to avoid need to avoid soap or scrubbing and re-seasoning is to put hot water in the pan while it&amp;#x27;s still hot and scrape. Meat is the worst for leaving a coating and this technique removes 99% of it.(If not blackened use that water for a delicious sauce with all the best flavors of your cooking).  This routine allows me to use the same pan for months without a deep cleaning.&lt;p&gt;I have tried to put cold oil on after heaving soaping, but I&amp;#x27;m not happy with the pan until I season it with high heat. The only reason I&amp;#x27;d do it for rust and still would pan on seasoning it properly later.</text></comment>
<story><title>Chemistry of Cast-Iron Seasoning (2010)</title><url>http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mdtusz</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve tried this a few times and none of the ovens I&amp;#x27;ve had over the years have been successful in removing seasoning with their self-cleaning, so at this point I&amp;#x27;m trying to find a machine shop that will be happy to bead blast it and mill the surface flat again. So far, most shops have given me quotes in the hundreds of dollars so I&amp;#x27;ve been waiting until I meet someone that has the capability to just do it in their garage.&lt;p&gt;Most new cast iron cookware now has a raw surface with lots of pits and bumps from the casting process as well, which doesn&amp;#x27;t seem to get nearly as smooth and non-stick as &amp;quot;vintage&amp;quot; cookware.</text></item><item><author>chongli</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Nothing short of steel wool is going to affect the patina.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Actually, if you throw it in the oven and set it to self-clean it&amp;#x27;ll strip the seasoning right off. I&amp;#x27;ve done it with my cast iron pan before. Washes completely clean and ends up gun-metal grey; a non-oxidized pure iron surface. This is a great way to start over with the seasoning process if you&amp;#x27;re unhappy with it.</text></item><item><author>stouset</author><text>Also, without washing, you end up with rough spots of non-sticky partially-polymerized bits. Wash it with soap and a scrub brush. Nothing short of steel wool is going to affect the patina.&lt;p&gt;For proof of this, check out your aluminum baking sheets. If they’ve been used, they’re almost certainly covered in a shiny black substance that’s a complete pain in the ass to remove, even with abrasives. That’s essentially what’s on your cast iron.</text></item><item><author>war1025</author><text>As someone who owns more cast iron than is reasonable, I just wanted to go a step beyond upvoting this and acknowledge in writing that this is the correct view of things.&lt;p&gt;You want oil soaked into the metal. This idea that you are trying to build a non-stick surface on top of the metal is just adding extra work that isn&amp;#x27;t needed.&lt;p&gt;Wash with soap, dry of the stove top, put in some oil (I use peanut), then take a paper towel and rub the oil around over everything and at the end the metal should look shiny but there shouldn&amp;#x27;t be any pooled oil left anywhere.&lt;p&gt;If you are cooking something that doesn&amp;#x27;t leave a residue or strong flavor, you can skip the washing all together and just leave it there to cook with next time.&lt;p&gt;If you try to go the whole &amp;quot;never wash this&amp;quot; route, you end up with unhappy results going from cooking something with onions and garlic to cooking something more neutral flavored. No one wants onion flavored pancakes.</text></item><item><author>kevinmchugh</author><text>You really shouldn&amp;#x27;t buy a special oil just got seasoning your cast iron and carbon steel. It&amp;#x27;s not necessary. Pick an oil with a high smoke point, a neutral taste, and plenty of easy availability. That&amp;#x27;s often peanut. Avocado is great if you&amp;#x27;re fancy.&lt;p&gt;Keep a squirt bottle of oil on hand and make sure you&amp;#x27;re using enough. Using soap to clean your pans will make maintaining your seasoning easier, as you use less effort to clean them. See this if you&amp;#x27;re skeptical: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.seriouseats.com&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;the-truth-about-cast-iron.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.seriouseats.com&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;the-truth-about-cast-iro...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I had friends dedicate years to flax seed oil. They&amp;#x27;re not happy about it, as they&amp;#x27;ve got flaking to deal with. I also had friends disbelieve me that soap was okay, and they&amp;#x27;ve mostly come around after hearing me swear by it for years.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>chipsa</author><text>Self cleaning should reach a high enough temp for it, because most of what you use the self-cleaning to take off is effectively seasoning. If it&amp;#x27;s not getting hot enough, use something else to get it hot enough (blowtorch, maybe).&lt;p&gt;For smoothing out the surface, you could just use a flapwheel. You can get them for angle grinders. This will also take off seasoning if necessary (but it&amp;#x27;s a bit worse for the pan if you&amp;#x27;re not also trying to smooth it out). Be sure to wear a respirator and googles if you&amp;#x27;re doing this.</text></comment>