Seasoning A Cast Iron Skillet

My mother decided the other day to let me "have" one of her many cast iron skillets that has been hanging out for show in her kitchen for the past decade.

And when I say "have" I really mean "hold".

One day, and that day may never come, (name that movie!) she'll ask me for it back.

I hope that day never comes.

It was The Godfather, by the way.

I've wanted a cast iron skillet for a while now.  (In fact, I even have one on my Amazon wishlist!).  The only thing that scares me about cast iron skillets (other than their massive weight) became a fear I had to face when taking my mother's: cleaning and seasoning.

In case you're completely new to the world of cast iron skillets (which puts you only one little hair below me), you cannot wash skillets like regular pans and they have to be seasoned.

Seems like they are a bunch of prima donnas if you ask me.

This is what I started with.

I convinced myself that this was just dust.  However, there were parts of my brain that were pretty convinced it might be more than dust.

Regardless, I started by rinsing the pan with lukewarm water and using the spongy side of my sponge to wipe it off.  I did not use any soap.

I patted it almost totally dry.  You want to do this whenever you rinse or put water on your skillet so that it doesn't rust.  If it rusts that's a whole different blog post I'm sure.

After patting it dry, I turned the flame on and put it on a medium high heat.  As the skillet warmed up, I rubbed it with vegetable oil.

I let it sit on the stove top over the medium high flame for about a half an hour.  One source told me this is sure to kill off any bacteria that might have been left on the skillet.

Boy, was it a fun and messy process.

Mostly just messy.

You can't tell from this picture, but there was smoke coming off the skillet reaching about three feet high.

Just imagine you see it.

Thanks.

After a half hour, it looked pretty good.  But of course, I wasn't satisfied.

I let the skillet cool for about ten minutes and then took the rough side of my sponge and put a very small amount of soap on it.

Yes, to all you cast iron skillet fanatics out there, I said soap.  I read about a million reviews of people who have been using these bad boys for years.  Many said they wash their skillet with soap upon every use.  So I think this one time won't hurt him too much.

Using hot water (and gripping the handle with a oven mitt) I washed the skillet to just settle my nerves that anything that shouldn't be there wasn't there any longer.

That made sense, I promise.

I then towel dried it again.

And oiled it again.  (This time my paper towels weren't quite as ugly).

Following Joy the Baker's advice, I put my skillet upside down in the stove over a baking sheet.  This would probably have made more sense if the skillet had previously had food in it and therefore had a chance that something might drip or drop from it.

I left it in the oven for 40 minutes.  It really should have gone longer (about an hour total) and I also could have repeated the process a few more times for kicks.

Actually, "they" do recommend repeating the process.

But, for a first go around I didn't think the skillet looked half that bad.

So I covered it with a kitchen towel and might continue this process tomorrow.

Or I might just try to cook in it and see how it turns out.

I guess it depends on my mood tomorrow.