Why dry your cast iron? Well, the point of using a cast iron skillet or skillet is to have a cooking surface that heats evenly and doesn’t cause food to stick during the cooking process. Seasoning your cast iron cookware will make it happen.
Seasoning a cast iron skillet is a scientific process. It is much like blacksmithing: the combination of heat and metal, treated in a certain way, improves the quality of the final product. Cast iron skillets are fairly simple and fairly standard items, so the process shouldn’t deviate too much from what I’m about to describe.
First of all, when shopping for cast iron cookware, avoid anything that isn’t a solid piece of cast iron. You don’t want anything that screws into, nor do you want wood fixtures or weird coatings. Just 100 percent cast iron! When you’ve selected your cookware, also make sure you have food-grade peanut or coconut oil and a roll of paper towels. You may have read that lard or animal fat is appropriate for the task, but that is incorrect. You want a hard curing layer, not the soft layer that animal fat gives you! Remove all labels from the pan, rub by hand (never use a dishwasher on your cast iron) to remove any glues, and allow to air dry completely. Never season a wet pan!
Now lightly coat the entire inside of your pan. I can’t stress this enough – just use a light coat of oil! Using too much oil is not only wasteful, it will increase the amount of oil that needs to burn off, disrupting the seasoning process. Place a piece of aluminum foil (slightly larger than the main body of the pan) on a countertop that you can use for a couple of days. Flip the pan over (upside down, with the bottom of the pan pointing toward the sky) so the oil will run off and slowly dry over the next 36 to 48 hours. At the end of that period, remove the pan from the foil and examine it, but don’t touch the cooking surface! If you see stains that are still runny, gently blot them dry. The pan should now be ready for seasoning.
Set your oven to 500 degrees (Fahrenheit, of course) and cut another strip of aluminum foil, the same size as last time. Place that foil on your oven rack and place the pan upside down (bottom of pan once again pointing skyward) on top. Some people say you can do this process at lower temperatures… but that’s not science. Science says you need around 500 degrees to properly burn the oil in the pan. Leave the pan in the oven for a full hour. If you’re doing multiple pieces at once, leave them for about five more minutes.
Once you’ve started baking the pan, remember this important step: Turn on all the vents and open all the windows in the kitchen that you can! This process can be smoked, to say the least! Adequate ventilation is a must. Of course, be aware of fire hazards at all times and be prepared to deal with them.
When the time is up, remove the cookware from the oven with your best oven mitts; it’s going to be very hot. Let it cool on the stove, then examine the surface. Now, because you used good oils at high temperatures, you should see some darkening or blackening of the pan. If you are not satisfied, apply a very light coating of oil and season in the oven for another 60 minutes at 500 degrees. Since you let it cool first and you’re using such a light coating of oil, this shouldn’t be a problem for the pan (no need to let the oil get sticky for a couple of days on the second run). Either way, when you’re satisfied, let it cool to room temperature. Never use water to cool your cast iron skillet as it will undo all the hard work you just did!
Along those lines, a few tips for caring for your seasoned cast iron:
* Clean cast iron while it is hot. If you need to use water to clean it, please use only hot water and always clean by hand, do not use dishwasher!
* Most of the time, you have fried something oily in the pan, and you can just use a paper towel to gently wipe the pan.
* If you have to scrub (shame on using too much heat or not using enough oil!), use a bamboo or hard fiber brush to avoid damaging the cured surface. No wire, no steel wool! You can use modern soaps, but not “traditional” soaps with harsh chemicals. And remember: Hot water (wear rubber gloves if it’s too hot for you) when washing your cast iron!
*Over time, after you use your cast iron long enough, you will see it blacken. This coating is awesome, better than any commercial coating out there. You’ll have to use less and less oil, and pan care will get easier and easier.