3 ms·

Part of the "will outlive us" is not buying a new one every year. I know I've been trying to reduce the waste I produce lately and going with cast iron pans has

Part of the "will outlive us" is not buying a new one every year. I know I've been trying to reduce the waste I produce lately and going with cast iron pans has been a part of that plan. Buying one every year instead of taking the 1 minute to wipe it with oil and then throwing it in your oven for an hour is laziness. If you don't like the smell and you have an outdoor grill (preferably one where you can set a temperature) it's pretty easy to season your skillets in one of those and let the wind deal with the smell of polymerizing oil. There's been a lot of discussion in the cast iron fanatic circles about how terrible Lodge's pre-seasoning is and how it's better to build up your own. I own one Lodge and two other brands and I've noticed the other two I seasoned myself are basically as good as Teflon and the Lodge (which admittedly hasn't seen as much cooking) sticks like it doesn't have any seasoning at all. YMMV I guess but I feel like it's worth putting in the effort to season yourself and keep up the seasoning.

randallsquared 4y ago
One hour. Haha. There are a dozen mutually exclusive methods for seasoning cast iron. I’ve never found one that works as well or as simply as advertised. In a 1bd apartment, the seasoning process will make it difficult to breathe for nearly the full process unless you have incredible ventilation. Stripping the previous seasoning after burning something (only once, but it mentally scarred me, as you might be able to tell from the ranting… ;)) is incredibly difficult. So much steel wool. So much elbow grease. That was the final time for me, and I gave up after several weekends without being able to get the burnt odor to go away. There is a limit to how many hours I’m willing to invest in cookware, and it was not much higher than ten. You are welcome to call me lazy over it. :)

randallsquared 4y ago

One hour. Haha. There are a dozen mutually exclusive methods for seasoning cast iron. I’ve never found one that works as well or as simply as advertised. In a 1bd apartment, the seasoning process will make it difficult to breathe for nearly the full process unless you have incredible ventilation. Stripping the previous seasoning after burning something (only once, but it mentally scarred me, as you might be able to tell from the ranting… ;)) is incredibly difficult. So much steel wool. So much elbow grease. That was the final time for me, and I gave up after several weekends without being able to get the burnt odor to go away. There is a limit to how many hours I’m willing to invest in cookware, and it was not much higher than ten. You are welcome to call me lazy over it. :)