How do you "season"' a cast iron pan?

Your cast iron pan must be seasoned after each use by rubbing it with an oil then heating the pan. Use an oil with a high smoking point. Canola oil has a higher smoking point than olive oil and also has less flavor.

If this is an old cast iron pan that needs a good cleaning or a new cast iron that will be seasoned for the first time, you might want to take a look at this link.

http://www.wikihow.com/Season-Cast-Iron-Cookware -

and this a Youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THgcMtxecvE

Don't use olive oil or lard. You need a good high heat oil. I've had great success with sesame oil. You will want to scrub your cast iron with a scrubbie and soap before your first season. Don't use soap again unless you need to start over. Lard will become rancid unless you use the pan on a regular basis, like daily, and it has a very low smoke point. With sesame oil you don't need to use it daily. What I do is heat the oven to 140 degrees. You will want to line a pan that the pan can fit in with foil. Place that on the bottom rack. After you scrub your pan dry it then put a thin layer all over the pan, including the handle and bottom. Place the pan upside down on the top rack to prevent pooling of the oil. Bake for 1 hour, turn off the oven and let it sit in there till it's completely cooled. You can repeat this step one more time to build up more of a protective barrier.

After you do that cook things like fish and meats in the pan for the first few uses. I experienced some sticking even after the first few seasons but I didn't cook meat first. After I cooked meat in it it became less sticky. You always want to cook with the cast iron on medium, DO NOT COOK ON HIGH. This can cause the pan to warp and the food to burn.

When you are done let the pan cool some then wipe off the food particles with a soap free sponge or scrubbie(not steel wool), with warm water. Dry the pan then put it on the burner and heat the pan up till it's bone dry. While it's on the burner put some oil in the pan and wipe a thin layer in the pan, then take it off the heat and wipe the oil on the rest of the pan. Store in a dry area and don't lay it on pans. Best place to store cast iron pans is on a rack.

Also don't worry if your cast iron is not the dark black color right away. That can take years to build up. For the first few months my cast iron had a good dark shine but it was and still is slightly discolored. This is normal and nothing is wrong with it. Do not put cold water on it when it's hot. It can cause the pan to crack.

Don't use lard! I used it for my first seasoning and it filled my house with smoke! Plus 300 degrees is not hot enough to really season a pan. After my 'oops' I did a ton of research and pretty much do what Miaka does with the exception of oil. I'm primal and sesame oil isn't very primal friendly so I use coconut oil. It works well but it's more expensive and I've heard good reviews with sesame oil. That's what my granny used on her cast irons before my brother inherited them. Also you don't ever want to wash your pan with soap again after your first season unless you wore of the season somehow or it is rusted. I always season my pan in the oven and then do daily upkeep on the stove.

Because ordinary cookware cleaning techniques like scouring or washing in a dishwasher can remove or damage the seasoning on a bare cast iron pan, these pans should not be cleaned like most other cookware. Some cast iron aficionados advocate never cleaning cast iron pans at all, simply wiping them out after use, or washing them with hot water and a stiff brush.[7] Others advocate washing with mild soap and water, and then re-applying a thin layer of fat or oil.[8] A third approach, advocated by television chef Alton Brown, is to scrub with coarse salt and a paper towel or clean rag.

Dune

If cast iron needs to be re-seasoned it's best to do it more than once. We use lard and do it three times. Of course that's three days we can't use it for cooking in. :)

Make sure the pan is completely clean and VERY dry. Melt a bit of lard and coat both the insides and outsides of the pan. Place it upside down in your oven for a few hours on about 300 degrees more or less. Turn the oven off and let it cool by itself inside. A pan beneath it is a good idea to catch any dripping that may occur. We do this for three days in a row. The pan will usually last several months before we have to really scrub it out and do it again.

You can use oils but animal fats seem to work best for us. Some times we use lard and sometimes tallow depending on what we've made recently and have on hand.

I've got seven cast iron pans in various sizes. All but three came pre-seasoned. For the older ones that were hand-me-downs and seasoned by relatives, I just occasionally re-season them after I've washed them in hot running water and scrubbed them with a stiff brush. I dry them with a paper towel and heat them up on the stove or in the oven. This opens the pores. Then I add a little vegetable oil and brush it all around and let them stand until cool. I wipe out the excess oil and I'm done. This keeps them nice and almost like non-stick cookware.

I found the pre-seasoned ones still need a little work. They can feel gummy and sticky. I wash them in hot water and mild detergent, rinse, and dry with a paper towel. I then season them as above. I do leave them in a slow oven for a few hours. Then wipe dry. If they are still sticky, I repeat the process. After that, I treat them as I would the older ones and they do fine. I've seldom had to wash them in detergent, but if I do, I season them well as above. I don' t keep lard in the house, and I've found oil works better than shortening as it can be sticky. I looked this up online just to compare how I do it with what overs recommend, including manufacturers. This site says to use lard, but Canola oil works just fine for me.

Hmmm...I've never used a cast iron pan. My idiot brother injured himself in a refrigerator accident and now we're not allowed to own anything that attracts magnets.

I love cooking though! And bet there are a lot of great seasoning recipes!

Some ideas:

-What about coating a sesame seed bagel with Smart Balance spray and then stick the bagel on the pan for 25 minutes?

-If you have a sweet tooth like me, you could take 15 jellybeans and mash them together in your fist and then shred the wad with a cheese gratter.

-NUTELLA!!!! I don't know if it's technically a seasoning, but holy crap, it's SO GOOD!!!!! Rub it all over the pan and then lick the pan clean!

-If you're looking for a healthy option, you could just take a head of lettuce and put it in the pan. If you don't have a pan though, you could just microwave the lettuce.

Rub it out with a grainy mix of half salt/half canola oil to remove and dirt or oxidation. Cast iron tends to chip and flake iron, and usually the paper towel or rag used for this comes out grayish or even blue with iron dust. Then you rub it with clean canola oil removing as much of the dirty salt as possible while doing so. If you cook up a hot mess and can't wipe it clean, just fill it halfway with salt (it takes like half a box of Morton's to clean a large skillet) and cook it over high heat, scraping the bottom with a wooden spatula to free up the charred mess. That's how I "burn" my skillet clean. It does get a bit smokey, so open a window.

If you have purchased a cast iron pan, skillet or Dutch oven within the past two years, it most likely came pre-seasoned from the factory. Read the label it came with.

what i have looked up it sounds like all you have to do is put "lard" in it and spread it around ill put the link below for you to check out.