Zen and the Art of Cast Iron Maintenance

I can't think of anything better on a Saturday than curing my cast iron. When I moved into my current apartment I bought three cast iron skillets for $10. They proved to be not the highest quality so I'm taking the liberty to redo the "seasoning" myself and make my house unlivable for a short time. It has taken me a little while to get right so I thought I'd share my findings.

When you cure a piece of cast iron, you burn a lipid enamel onto the surface to protect it from rust and mold. Since it's made of oil, soap - especially strong dish soaps - will eat away or dissolve the cure. Because you never really wash it the seasoning grows and becomes strong over time.

Axiom: The hotter the metal gets, the more effective the cure will up to about 700F when it starts to burn off.
It will smoke no matter how you go about it. I recommend using a grill. If you do it in an oven you'd better have a powerful hood or a fan with serious horsepower and a well ventilated house. The most success I've had is to get the pan screaming hot ~600F and add the oil in stages by painting it on with a paper towel and a set of tongs. It burns very thin even, layers onto the surface almost immediately . I don't recommend this because it's really dangerous. For some reason hydrogenated fat or fat solid at room temp with the exception of butter work the best. Lard is traditional but vegetable shortening seems the popular choice.

1.Heat the Oven as hot as it will get or a grill to about 600F.
2.Scrub the pan aggressively with dish soap and steel wool until it's gray and lifeless.
3.Dry the pan with paper towels and put it on the grill or in the oven face down to dry it
4.apply add a thin, even layer of shortening or oil.
5.Place face down in oven/grill 15-20 minutes.
6.Apply more fat. Repeat at least 3 times.
7.Cool and enjoy.

If you want to skip the re-application process just add a single layer and leave in oven/grill 1-2 hours. The resulting surface is a beautiful jet-black. If there's nothing stuck to the pan all you need to do to clean it is rinse it in hot water and wipe it out with a paper towel. If something is stuck to it you need to use kosher salt to abrade it off the surface without

To Clean:
1.Rinse with hot water.
2.Pour in a good bit of kosher salt.
3.Scrub with a paper towel (the salt will abrade the crusted on stuff)

The most delicious way to cure your cast iron: If your cure is in need of a little mainentence, this recipe evens it out really nicely.