Once you've made it and know what it's supposed to look and smell like, move to the oven.

Preheat your oven to 250. Pop anywhere from 1 to 3 pounds of unsalted butter in a dutch oven (an enameled cast iron is best for this, if for no other reason than having an off-white interior) and cook uncovered.

After a couple hours, check on it. If it's still bubbling a lot, that means there's still water in the oil, so continue to cook until the bubbling has subsided and you see those marvelous little browned bits at the bottom of your dutch oven.

Once it's where you want like it, take out of the oven and strain through a double layer of cheesecloth.

It'll keep in the fridge for several months.

I used the newly seasoned caldero for the first time last night, to make fried rice. It's not fully nonstick yet, and adding the egg meant that I had a bit more cleaning than I expected (I should have cooked it in a nonstick first and then added it), but the seasoning held and everything but the egg was free of any sticking. It's definitely going to need more seasoning, but I was thrilled with the first time performance. Thanks for the tip about the flax oil method. I'll definitely be using it for my larger caldero and my cast iron items.

FYI, I went with 8 applications instead of 6, because the pan had a couple of small pits in it. That seems to have been a good decision.

One time I was a dumb ass and grabbed my skillet to move it off of a burner. After taking it out of a 435 degree oven.... for 30 minutes. never again

did that once myself. then I bought a handle mitt...

Never happened to me

ever


well...maybe

They make good weapons.

Awesome. I need to do that flaxseed oil treatment to my 12-inch skillet...

I'll let you boys in on a little secret. If you start to check out 'antique malls' here in the midwest, you'll find a lot of used cast iron skillets - for not much money. Look 'em over carefully, you don't want one that's been used to melt lead for fishing sinkers. Assume they're in pretty good shape, but if you wipe your fingers in the pan and it comes out lead-grey, leave that one for a Raider fan.
You're all familiar w/Lodge cast iron, but there was another good cast iron making competitor in the olden days that made very good cast iron - the brand name was Griswold. If you find old Griswold skillets, you might just want to snatch 'em up, they're good stuff. My Dad used to compete in cast iron cookoff competitions in MO, OK, TX and he swore by Griswolds.
Another thing to keep an eye peeled for - square cast iron skillets. They're really for cornbread (despite what your math teacher said, pi are round, cornbread are square) I always put mine in the oven for 10-12 minutes w/a bit of butter before I add the cornbread batter. Love that batter-hits-the-hot-fat sizzle. Round skillets work fine, but the square one I inherited will always be a fave. The little 'corn sticks' molds are dandy too (watch 'em - the batter cooks up fast and you'll burn your cornbread if you follow advice/timing for a regular pan)

Pop was the cast iron king in the family, he had about 8 or 9 great big dutch ovens he used in said cookoff competitions. They got a good clean up at home - and he always stored the lid on the pan w/a peg of wood or a rolled up bit of paper towel under the lid, to let some air get in under the lid, keeps rust from forming was his explanation. I do it because he did it (and I suspect he did it that way because my grandmother did it that way.)

So I finally got my Lodge stripped and I'm on my second coat of seasoning oil. Will probably get through my third tonight. Finish up tomorrow night unless I decide to go with more than 6 coats. Depends on if the family can stand the smell.

Excited. I've been cooking more often lately, and can't wait for that flavor.

Also, I thought someone in this thread had applied too much oil and had a sticky finish in the bottom of their pan, but maybe I read that elsewhere while researching. Anyway, good tip I got researching was to heat the oiled pan upside down. That way any oil will drip off onto a pan or foil below. Nice smooth surface.

I did that with the caldero I seasoned (I'm doing the same with the larger caldero now). The area by the rim has the thickest seasoning and is the closest to being fully non-stick, as a result. :thumb:

I clean my cast iron with just a little salt. That's it.

I also just bought a set of stainless tonight. Trying to get rid of all that other Shit.

After first two seasonings I realized a flaw. The oil I'd put in pits would run out. So I did the third upright hoping for a more even finish over pits.

Are you saying you're getting rid of your cast iron in favor of stainless? Don't gwt mw wrong, I love some good stainless steel cookwarw. But there are some things I'll nevwr give up cast iron for. And to that point, there are some things you need a cheap non-stick skillet for (eggs are great and easy in a $15 Teflon pan).

My mom and her siblings just finished going through my grandma's place to figure out what all they wanted to keep vs. wanted to sell... Mom snagged me her two OLD Griswold cast irons... I. Am. Stoked.