Re surfacing a cast iron skillet

After you've cooked your steak:

let the pan cool slightly

Pour a couple of table spoons kosher salt into the pan and mix with some of the fat in the pan

Take tongs and a bunched up paper towel and scour the pan with the salt and fat mixture.

Then clean as you normally would.

I also wipe the cooking surface with some crisco before I put mine away.

rs3902 said:

So now that I've got this pan refinished, clean, and lightly seasoned. What is the best way to keep it in the best shape possible and get that great seasoning and nice black color without it getting all caked up and crusty like it was before? I know not to use soap, but what do I do when it needs some scrubbing?
So far I've cooked bacon, eggs, and a quesadilla and grilled cheese ( I was amazed at how nice and even everything cooked). And I just ran some hot water and wiped it down with paper towels. But I'm cooking a steak on it tonight and I think it's going to need a better cleaning after. So what's the best way to keep it in good shape?

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Continue doing what you're doing now plus once you're done cleaning it, put it on the stove and warm it up. Once it's completely dry, wipe it with a very thin layer of oil/crisco/lard on the cooking surface, elsewhere as needed.

Good luck!

I read a while back when I was trying to re-season a pan that you shouldn't use vegetable oil to season it as it goes rancid and gets sticky.

And at the time, that's what I was trying and it was in fact sticky.

So I would agree with that and use lard or Crisco instead.

throw that pan in a hot fire then let it cool, wire brush it, then work on reseasoning

krazydave said:

I read a while back when I was trying to re-season a pan that you shouldn't use vegetable oil to season it as it goes rancid and gets sticky.

And at the time, that's what I was trying and it was in fact sticky.

So I would agree with that and use lard or Crisco instead.

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Veggie oil, lard, crisco, it's all pretty much the same. If you have a sticky, rancid pan, then you a) used too much oil and b) you didn't get the oil hot enough.

The process of seasoning burns off most of the veggie oil/lard/crisco leaving only the hard carbon molecules behind. This is the hard black smooth non-stick surface you're looking for. Carbon can't go rancid like unburned oil.

You'll have to clean that sticky mess off the pan, use electrolysis, oven cleaner, lye, mechanical (sanding, flap paper etc.). Whatever you do, don't listen to the "throw it in a hot fire" types; note how they never tell you about the very real danger of permanently warping or worse, cracking your cast iron.

Then use very light and thin coats of your favorite oil/lard/crisco/whatever on slightly warm and dry cast iron, then heat it up in the oven to over 375 or so with the pan upside down so any oil doesn't collect on the surface. When I season or reseason my cast iron, I usually will take it up, in stages, to around 450-475 degrees or so. As I said, use very light and thin coats of oil; the surface of the CI should look almost dry.

Good luck.

my bad, its worked for hundreds of years. it was a fast reply and i should have said hot brush fire, so the fire has no big bed of coals and goes out fast... but they don't make cast iron like the used to.

deadfall said:

I usually throw my skillet in a camp fire for a while. I imagine you could put it in a grill of some sort and get okay results. A wood stove would be another option. I have also sand blasted one in the past and that worked pretty good.

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That's the best way IMO. Rust spots can be hit with fine sandpaper.