Do any of our Seniors know how to treat a new frying pan?

Wash them with hot water & dish soap of your choice. Dry them well, with a dish towel or paper towel. On a clean piece of paper towel, add a little bit of cooking oil to it, then wipe the insides of the skillets with the oil. (not too much) After using them in the future, clean them by wiping them out with clean paper towel. No need to wash them all the time. They will become well seasoned over time, by not washing them until they absolutely need it. Always make sure they are treated with a little bit of cooking oil, so they won't rust.

There is a huge amount of information on the internet about how to 'season' a new cast iron frying pan and it can be very complicated. Some involve using a lot of salt, some say never place the pan in water etc.

I chose an easy option. I heated the pan, poured in a little oil and, when that was hot I turned off the heat and allowed it to cool before wiping the pan with paper kitchen towel. I then gave it a good wash and repeated the process. I have never had any food stick to this pan.

Sometimes I think that instructions just try to blind us with science.

when new they come with directions and I'm sure those directions are on the internet under "how to" but when I got mine I remember it saying you'd have to oil it and bake it. I'm sure I used the wrong kind of oil because it made it sticky. I think you have to use the old kind of white crisco. And you do that to put a non-stick finish on it. My mom used to just wipe it out after every use, "never" wash it or it would remove the finish and then rust. Today people are such sticklers for cleanliness and say ewww but back in the day that was our teflon. I don't know how you'd wipe out dried egg off of there these days or if there is a concern for salmonela as you'd have to look that up to be sure it's ok to do. From time to time when the finish starts to wear down you can re-oil it and again it becomes non-stick. As I recall you can't put any food to cook in it that has water because that will rust the pan. They cast iron is really heavy. They used to say that the iron from the pan gets into your system so if you're in need of iron that's a plus. Over the years I've heard that if a person has too much iron in their system though that may cause a problem for them. So I'd assume the frying pan might be used like for sunday breakfast...just my thought.

Most modern Cast Iron pans made in the US are pre-seasoned. You should read the instructions that came with them. If they were not made in the US. I would wipe a small amount of oil ( I have used olive oil) on the inside of the pan covering the entire inside of it. Then place it in the oven at about 250 for about an hour, When it has cooled it should not feel sticky. It is does wipe it with a damp paper towel.

I have heard the the baking spray also works will, but I have not used it.

Once the pan is seasoned you should never "wash" it. You should be able to wipe it out. Washing it will only remove the seasoning and require it to be re-treated so it will not stick.

Scrub them well to remove the oils from manufacturing. Dry them. Coat them, inside and out, with lard. Rub it into the iron as mush as possible. Line the bottom of your oven with foil to catch the drips. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the skillets upside down on the oven racks and let them bake for at least 4 hours. Then, turn off the heat and let them cool slowly. When completely cool, wipe off the grease and use soft cloths to buff the iron to a soft glow. To keep your skillets in good shape, do the whole routine over again once a year. (I do it around Halloween, when the weather's cool. We usually haven't yet turned on the furnace at that time and the extra heat in the kitchen is welcome.)

After using, don't soak the pans for long. When possible, just wipe them out with paper towels. If you have to wash them, do it quickly and then spray with canola oil cooking spray or rub with a very little bit of lard.

I have 4 cast iron skillets and I use one or two of them almost every day. They are completely non-stick. One of them was given to my mother in 1927 -- and it was already old then! Cast iron is my favorite cookware.

Wipe with a small amount of oil on a piece of kitchen roll, heat and wipe again. Usually this is all you need to do. A warning: Don't use sunflower oil. It sets like toffee on everything it splashes onto. It might be O.K. for tossing salads but when heated it becomes a nightmare - i.m.o. I don't buy the stuff any more.

Don't place cast iron in water unless you absolutely need to do so because something has stuck to the pan. This rarely happens. If you do need to wash it then dry it thoroughly by heating it or it might develop rust patches.

You can take any types of cooking oil and rub the inside of the pots/pans

And I usually would place them in the lower level in the stove or inside the oven when not in use. When cooking place your heat on medium not on high because this will make your cast iron pan turn red and get to hot.

Do not put in dishwasher and wash by hand and treat it again with oil.

Nice to see you back!

wash them in hot water use a brush. no soap of anykind. when cool and dry, coat them with any vegetable oil put them in an oven at 500 degrees, for an hour take them out let them cool brush with the brush again repeat the process let them cool and wipe them out with a paper towel. put a light coat of oil on them use them they should be real hot when you put food in it before cooking, clean with hot water and a medium nylon brush cool coat with oil if the seem to get gunked up use oven cleaner heavy and put it in a sealed plastic bag you may have to use some light steel wool to remove the gunk . pepeat firing process. i have pans that are 100 years old and they cook better than any teflon, and they last forever. lot of sites on net to help...good cooking...dave...never ever use soap that is the key.

Well I know that it needs to be 'seasoned'. Full instructions on how to do this properly can be found through Google, sometimes it is written on the box of the new saucepan.

Apart from seasoning the new frying pan (which is done by using high heat and cooking oil and later simply wiping the oil away and NOT washing the pan) a fry pan should always be HEATED prior to spraying/adding the oil for cooking.

The only other bit of advice I can add is : keep expensive frying pans away from the husband and son, they are usually too impatient to heat the pan first before adding the oil, which of course leads to food getting stuck to the surface of the pan. Buy them their own cheap one, I did.

ADDITIONAL 6 HOURS LATER :

Just thought I'd add my fry pan and stock pot are Scanpan 'professional' stainless steel, if that makes a difference to seasoning the pan. Also I notice I have a Thumbs Down. Is that someone saying they disagree with my 'seasoning' instructions ? I did say follow instructions on your pans packaging in my first paragraph and/or look it up on Google. My second paragraph does not purport to be instructions, just a referral to what is basically required.

I do adore answering funny questions and understand if I receive a TD for misuse of TOS by the self-imposed YA police if I was to do so, but a TD for saying ?"don't let your husband near good quality cookware" or what ? When I answer factual questions such as this one I expect other YA members to be objective and reasonable like I am being. Indiscriminate use of thumbs and reporting for no reason will only make yourself unhappy. Just think what anthropologists will think of you when they study your cyber habits.

I guess Mr. Thrower beat me to it. My ex, who was always a lot better in the kitchen than I was, told me to rub generous amounts of any cooking oil all over new cast iron and then bake in the oven on moderate heat for several hours. And then don't scrub them too hard during washing. At least until several dozen uses.