Cast Iron Skillets: Everything You Need To Know - How To 

As a man who’s used the same cast iron skillet and wok for the last 10 years, I can tell you my care and maintenance routine. You want to “season” a new pan with an oil that has a high smoking point. Simply coat the entire cold pan using a paper towel and oil. Then heat the pan slowly over med heat, then let it cool. Do this a few times over. This should provide a nice base coat and ensure nonstick quality. After cooking proteins (don’t cook acidic foods as they can ruin the pan) I simply take the hot pan and run it under HOT water and scrub out any excess residue with a brush as the water meets the pan and creates steam, it will help lift anything left in the pan or wok. Don’t run a hot pan under cold water, it will crack. If there’s any tough grime, use coarse salt and the brush and more hot water. Soap will remove the oils from your pan, which you don’t want to happen. After cleaning, wipe any water off the pan and reseason the ENTIRE pan inside and out with a little more oil and let it sit for the next use. Don’t leave water on it, it will rust and the oil will help prevent that from happening. Thanks for reading and “LIKE” this comment so others can see it too.

He sounds like even he is confused.

honestly this vid made me more confused than informed

He sounds like even he is not convinced of the quality of his pans

Whenever I need to 'clean' my cast iron pots, I use hot running water and a plastic 'scrub' without soap to eliminate any leftover debris. Works just fine.

Cowboy Kent Rollins ain’t none too happy about this.

Talks 4 minutes about cast-iron non stick features. Steak residue sticks all over the pan. "It's alright"

I use castiron because when the apocolyse comes, my cast iron will double as body armor lol

man everyone is giving him a hard time! I felt like this was extremely helpful - not in providing one straightforward simple routine but in helping you realize it's more chill than the internet can let on sometimes. Happy seasoning everyone! :)

multiple verified bruh moments encountered

How to clean after a steak: well...ummm...I guess... don't

One of the first things I bought when I moved out of my parents house. 12 years later I'm still using it and actually pride myself on my cast iron skillet. If I ever see one at someone else's house I'm always asking how long they have had it.

I inherited a cast iron pan that my grandparents and mom used almost daily. It was crusted on the outside but the inside appeared clean. Nothing sticks to this pan, however there were rules. Never cook foods that were acidic as in tomato sauce in this pan. Frying was fine and to keep it clean cook your veggies in it. Especially, after using it to cook proteins that stuck to it, giving the veggies “ grandma’s flavor”. I did wire brush the outside of the pan and soda blasted it and discovered it was a Wagner frying pan, it was from the mid thirties early forties. Now that I’m sixteen driving a sixty five year old car I’m making eggs for my grand kids with bacon telling them about two old women who used to do it for me when I was their age in this old pan!

Bro. You clean it with hot water and coarse sea salt. Get the pan wet then sprinkle coarse sea salt, scrub with a paper towel and rinse.

I inherited 2 (100+ year old!) cast irons. I would NOT let this man touch either of them!

Love this video. This is exactly what i do, and for the longest time i thought i was doing alot of things wrong. Just keep cooking and you'll find that sweet spot for each thing you create.

Just rewatched. I feel twice as dumb as before. Thank you me.

"I think of seasoning like how you grow like a strong, a strong tree. The the strongest trees are gonna be in not as much light, they're gonna be blowin all around, they're gonna uh-learn that they have to be strong. And then they're gonna build into that... that level... so I feel, same thing that's going on with seasoning."

My kids got me one of your 12 inch skillets for Christmas last year and it’s just now becoming that perfect non-stick, slick as glass cooking surface I have been waiting for. Just USE IT! Cook in it! Avoid scraping the snot out of it and I avoid soap if at all possible. Like he said, it’s a marathon but if you’re patient you will have a skillet your grandkids grandkids will fight over when you’re pushing-up daisies. Grape seed oil is the way to go and the little 12 ounce bottle I’ve had for the last year is still over half full. It doesn’t take much! There’s nothing confusing about any of it. Use it and wipe it out and keep it from drying out by putting super light coats of oil on it when you’re done with it! Cast iron was all our great grandparents used and it worked great then and it works great now! Plus, the folks at Field are making skillets that are about 1000 times smoother than those cheap 20 dollar skillets-although I have one of those too and it is also super non-stick. (Just took about 3 times as long to get there and it weighs five times more)

The taste of cooking in a cast iron is simply the best!

The one genuinely good piece of advice he gives is at the beginning, where he says to use unsaturated oil. I still have the basic $20 Lodge skillet I bought in college, and at the time I seasoned it with Crisco, as was the style at the time (I also wore an onion on my belt). It really never did have a good season on it until I re-seasoned it with peanut oil. Otherwise this is just confusing. Should you use soap on a cast-iron pan? Yes, you should, you don't want to taste the rancid remains of your steak dinner in your morning omelette 3 days later. Use a very small amount, don't soak it, don't use an abrasive scrub pad, rinse and dry thoroughly. It won't touch the seasoning.

"Do you want this flavor to carry over to your next meal?" Why would I want that?

As someone who’s spent hours researching online to try to find the perfect “how to” of cast iron, I’d say there’s a lot of useless information out there, and a lot of “tips and tricks” that are unnecessary. My method isn’t the “be all end all”, I’m sure some cast iron aficionados could poke holes in parts of my method cause it doesn’t follow their cast iron religion or beliefs. But in my opinion the method below is just a pretty failsafe way, and it just works. 1. You don’t need grape seed oil. Yes it has a higher smoke point than other oils, but who the hell wants to spend $30 on a tiny jizz bottle of that overpriced shit just to fry a goddamn single egg. Vegetable oil or crisco works perfectly fine. I personally use beef tallow (beef fat) or crisco since that’s what my grandma used. (Don’t worry, once you heat the shit out of these pans it’s impossible for it to go rancid or smell or stink, so don’t believe that bs.) To season a pan: You can do this as many times as you want. I’ve found repeating this entire process 5 times is a good average amount to get a good base seasoning on your pan. Place a sheet of tinfoil on the bottom rack of your oven to catch any oil drippings that may drip. Place second rack in middle of oven. Place pan in oven and turn oven on to 200 degrees F. Leave it in there for about 20 mins to warm up, it apparently opens the pours of the iron and the oil soaks in better. Take the pan out and turn oven to 500 degrees f. Use a lint free rag or those blue shop towels (they’re lint free) the guy is using in the video, you don’t want to season a bunch of cotton or paper towel fibers into the pan. Wipe the inside and outside or pan with a generous amount or oil, prob like a few tablespoons, but not a giant pool since you’re going to wipe it all off anyway. Make sure you get the handle as well. Wipe it all off top and bottom so it almost looks dry. Don’t be afraid that all the seasoning is wiped off, it’s still in there. Place the pan upside down into the oven (so if any excess oil is in there, it drips off onto the tinfoil instead of pools in the pan). If you seasoned correctly there shouldn’t be any drops on the foil. Leave the pan in the oven until it’s preheated to 500 degrees, once it hits 500, set a timer for an hour. (There’s a lot of times out there, I don’t fuck around with time, or the temp, the last thing you want is a pan that isn’t hot enough or doesn’t get enough time in the oven and it’s sticky splotchy mess. 1 hour/500 degrees is the failsafe method for any oil. Is it overkill? Who gives a shit, it just works. Why so high? As he sort of touched on, bringing the pan beyond its smoke point turns the oil into a polymer and sort of becomes one with the pan, which is what we’re going for. It won’t be greasy or oily after it’s cooked trust me that seasoning is just a part of the pan now. Turn the oven off, Leave the pan in the oven till it cools down and you can repeat the process once the pan is cool enough to handle without burning through your oven mit. (Back to around 200 degrees) To clean a cast iron after cooking use warm water, and a plastic scrubby, also a cloth, water, and some sea salt in the pan works well too since it’s abrasive and gets off stubborn stick on grease. Wipe it dry. And place in the oven for about 20 mins @ 250 to remove any hidden excess water in the pan. Others have just thrown it on the element to cook out any water in the pan. I just use the oven method. After that before you put your pan away you can repeat the process by coating with some oil and throwing in your oven for an hour at 500 again. I’m not sure if this step is completely needed, I’m sure you could go a few cooks without re seasoning, but my grandma did that shit every time and she’s had that pan since it’s was probably invented. Reviving a fucked pan: If you have a rusty ass pan. Throw it in your oven and turn on the self cleaning cycle and turn your hood fan and open your windows cause your house is going to stink. Make sure your cat didn’t sneak in the oven when you weren’t looking or he or she is 100% gonna be cremated. Once the cycle is done and the pans aren’t lava, throw it in the sink with warm water, some steel wool and some sea salt and scrub the shit out of it, you can use ‘00’ steel wool for a finer finish but the main point is to remove rust and get it back smooth. Any old seasoning should crumble off, and you’re gonna get your pan back to a gun metal looking grey. Try to get it so all the rust spots are removed, you shouldn’t see any left once your done. (Don’t forget the bottom and sides the pan.) I suggest watching some RU-vid videos on this, more fucked your pan is, the more methods you could use. Once this is done, dry it in the oven for 20-30 mins @ 200 to dry out the pan of water. Then you can start the seasoning process from scratch. Hope this helps people, hate that there’s no consensus with this type of shit, was the most annoying part of researching online. So this is my version which hasn’t given me any trouble and has worked every time. Cast iron is a pain in the ass to maintain but the more layers of seasoning you develop on the pan the better the pan will be and the more used to the process you’ll be. Oh yeah, last thing is apparently never cook acidic shit in cast iron, so no tomato sauces, or vinegar lemon juice type things since the acidity can eat away at the seasoning apparently. Happy seasoning people

Just bought my first field skillet, I have been using lodge for years, and I can say as a brand new skillet there's performs as well if not better than my old sanded down lodge skillets, the field skillet is amazingly smooth out of the box.

He seasoned the pan more than the steak! lololol

"Flavour migration" I want whatever this guys smoking

He sounds like a high school student giving a talk in class

My equipment is supposed to serve me. This pan just make it seem like I am gonna have to serve it

That is nice information to know about cast iron skillets and I have three of them in different sizes and use them when cooking certain dishes like breakfast, and also when making steaks, and other meat dishes. I got tired of using so called non stick pans and having to throw them away after two years of steady use or less.

I grew up in the 60s with a cast iron pan. My mother always used one.

lol never thought about the bottom... mine does rust at the bottom sometimes

Good vid, helpful. Thanks, guys!

Once I built up my seasoning enough and nothing stuck to it I was amazed. I have 3 different cast iron pans now lol Im obsessed

This is the most helpful video I've found. NO ONE else mentioned the difference between saturated and unsaturated fat on a cast iron pan. I've watched several videos and was left in confusion. This is the video I will keep on file. Martha Steward said to use Crisco (aka solid shortening) which I just looked up and it has some saturated fat in it.

This truly was the wrong person to ask for intelligent, insightful information for cast iron care.

Please don’t listen to this guy. “A sweet and a savory pan.” Run a warm skillet under hot water and wipe the residue from cooking off. Warm the skillet over the stove with a few tbsp of canola oil in it, until it’s smoking, and wipe it all around the whole skillet. Wipe all the excess off and let it cool. Done. Boom. Seasoned. If a wooden spoon scrapes off your seasoning, your seasoning sucks. Not using a stainless steel fish spatula would be a good start too.

Easy to understand video. Thanks ❤️

thanks, very informative, I'll be keeping the tips. I'm just in love with my iron cast pan!

Ohh, so now we have a new expression for being lazy and not clean our dishes :D Its called "flavor migration" :D :D :D

Wow a pan i never have to clean again! Thanks!

I never could get the hang of cast iron cooking, and when he said the clean pan doesn't need to be perfect, I knew my ptoblem. I always wanted it to clean up as perfectly as a stainless pan. I use enamel cast iron now, but I still have a pretty nice old cast iron pan I might give another shot at using.

How do you clean those towels? Thanks for the video!

simple talk but great knowledge and techniques

Excellent video. Demystify oil rags please. What do you use, how often do we clean it?

his pans are great! Similar to vintage cast iron because they’re ground smooth. however because they don’t have the bumps a Lodge pan would the seasoning has less to stick to and will will take more time to season right. In the end they will perform better and hurt your wrist less.

Best video explaining about cast iron!

I literally just watched a video on how to clean a bar skillet and then this notification pops up

I never realized how in depth working with a cast iron pan/skillet/etc was

I bought a 10$ experimental one a couple days ago waiting to get broken in on my new gas top stove. What are the chances. Awesome timing

How do you make a Cast Iron Skillet lighter outside of just making it thinner, which i would think in turn would make it less durable?

Thank you!

He seems like a sales rep that has only seen cast iron pans on sales sheets but was asked by the field company to do this video and this is his first time using them.

Thank you for sharing. Got a question. After it is cleaned up and stored for a few days to a week, wont the surface oil attract particles and dust in the air? If so, how do we clean it before cooking?

Avocado oil > grape seed oil

Got two old cast iron pans, into the fireplace to deep clean them. Worked great!

I use olive oil to season, covers nicely and works great, very even on the skillet! I've never seen grape seed oil in Canada. Peanut oil is the best for deep frying and cooking, no tastes added.

The moment he said he makes lightweight cast iron pans I knew something was off. I like my pans to have some heft so that it stays on the stove and to deflect bullets.

Just starting to use CI in my cooking Just refurbished some older Vollrath pieces Obviously you know far more me when it comes to CI cookware I know cast iron fittings Anyway @ 5:19 you used the residual butter to coat the out side of the pan I was under the impression fat such as in the butter was a no go on the outside stickiness and congealing Like that your product is made here going to have to get one to fill the voids in what I’ve got so far Thank you

And can I store these in a humid space in the summer? I have very limited kitchen space so I would have to store in my sunroom which gets very humid in the summer.

I think this guy must've suffered from several concussions throughout the making of this video. There's no reason to leave meat residue in your pan and cook over the top of it, just deglaze it while it's hot and clean the pan for god's sake.

Me: imma go and go to sleep Me at 1am: learning how to use/clean a pan

Can i use palm oil or other oil, beside grapeseed, tq

how often do you season a cast iron skillet?

Great job!!!

Thanks for keeping the tradition alive :)

next video: *how to build a strong tree*

Ever since I started cooking my bacon in the oven rather than the skillet, 400 degrees for 14 minutes, I have considerably fewer grease burns on my chest, thighs, and genitals.

Is that a wood handle holder that slides over the hot handle to pick it up?

Do more cast iron!

Agreed after this I will sell my stocks, but what works for me is to have the help clean them up and take care of the seasoning with a mixed battery of crisbee, avocado, flax...the whole gamut. Have them use the auxiliary kitchen so as to not be so underfoot. The cooking results are what all that hububs about!

I liked it. Thanks

To get out the burnt remnants of steak, use a bit of water and salt. Just use a wet sponge to basically scour the pan with the salt. It does wonders.

Oh. I never knew to season the outside as well.

What heat should be attained when searing steak on cast iron, a lot of people say High heat will cause a fire with oil, so my question is will medium-high heat be enough for a sear, or even a pan that has been set to medium for like 20 minutes just staying at medium

I use a cast iron skillet almost every day. I use crisco,and steel utensils. I abuse the hell out of them. I laugh at people who baby cast iron? It's cast iron clean it with running hot water and a really stiff brush. Put it on the stove to dry on low heat, wipe it down with shortnig, let it cool ready to go again. I even cook with tomatoes in mine. Do be afraid . I have a 10" pan that I make corn bread in and it never sticks.

Good video, I have my great grandmother's cast iron skillets from late 1800's and some Rena ware from the 50's. don't need all of these fancy culinary devices...just know how to use them. Thanks-

Seasoning is when liquid oils & fats are changed from a liquid to a solid. This is called polymerization. It starts at 350°F with most oils. Grapeseed, Canola, Sunflower, Safflower, Avocado, Crisco Shortening are all great options. You can choose your own temperature and length of time. Everyone should develop their own method.

At least we learned a non stick technique. That was new to me. Things always stuck no matter how much oil I used.

How do I buy one

My dad would clean his pan after a steak by de-glazing it! No bits stuck on the pan and a lovely sauce for the steak at the same time

Mine is sticky in some spots and like no seasoning in other spots. Help!

I love my iron cast pan more then my wife

So is lighter better for home use or restaurant use? It seems to me you would want a thicker pan for better heat distribution rather than thin, but there might be a reason that i am unaware of, maybe you might be too weak to pick up a normal pan?

that metaphor about the tree, i got that

Wait a sec… so I’m just supposed to leave food on a pan in the cabinet for my next meal? Yeah no thanks. I like mice outside not crawling around my house.

Does anyone recognize the brand & model of the pan he is using? I've been looking for something similar that's available in Europe, but can't seem to find anything other than brands like Lodge.

Love all the comments about this being confusing, but the thing that got me is that he said more than once the benefits of cast iron is how it retains heat, yet his company makes tiny thin light weight pans which probably hold less heat that a big fat non stick

You made this more complicated then it needs to be.

Do we need to wash a new cast iron pan first before we use it

i did not learn anything from this lol

I just use mine everyday, clean with running water scrub a lil bit to remove debris and just throw it back to stove top turn the fire on until it dry out as simple as that, works fine with me. I use it to fry eggs and make some fried rice it doesn't stick at all. I guess the best way to take care of your cast iron pan is to just use it as much as possible.

On the part about dealing with flavor-migration (from one meal to the next): This is why I have no less than FOUR cast iron pans. So, not just to mitigate flavor transfer, but also for the additional cooking surfaces, especially if I'm cooking for the whole family, and not just myself (less waiting).

This is ASMR

Just treat it like any other pan and wash it with soap and water after cooking. After the pan is dry, coat the inside and out with a little bit of oil to prevent rusting. That’s it.

I've had a small (8") cast iron pan for more than 30 years, and it's a hand-me-down from god knows where. It was a wreck so since I live in a city and don't have anywhere to make a hot fire to "cook" the pan for hours, I used Oven Off on it, took it down to the original metal and found the branding on the bottom (surprise!), then had to re-season it. I have other, slightly bigger cast iron pans too but they are really too heavy for me to do much cooking in and now they look pretty bad since I don't use them enough to keep them "alive." What I want to know is how do you store cast iron pans so they don't rust or get too dusty or the season surface doesn't get sticky and all that--small kitchen too and half my groceries have to sit in the hallway since there aren't many cabinets and cupboards (we also have earthquakes so I am skeptical about hanging heavy stuff on the walls, don't want to get hit with a cast iron pan). I inherited a small cast iron dutch oven with little legs from my grandmother but I have no idea how to use it. I always heard you shouldn't cook liquidy things in cast iron--like baked beans or stews. So what would I use a cast iron dutch oven for. I'm not sure my stove could handle that pot anyway since the little legs would have to fit between the spokes of the burner grills (whatever they're called). I also heard you shouldn't use metal utensils with cast iron but I detest the plastic/silicon things (and cowboys wouldn't have had those things).

If you sear a steak, put the oil on the steak and not in the pan. All of the unused oil in the pan has no purpose and just amplifies the smoke and smell 🤷🏼‍♂️

what is the size of that skillet?

when I am done with meat in the cast iron pan and there is stuff stuck. leave the pan hot add water, let it come to a boil. then lightly scape bottom of pan. pour it out. put back on heat to evaporate water. smear a touch of oil to hot dry pan. leave pan and turn off heat. let it cool down. been using mine daily for about 12 years

Many prefer linseed oil, and actually the process to make linoleum is a pretty similar thing (without heat but with oxidation, actually a form of epoxy). Linseed oil contains free fat acids, that's the good stuff here. I use the less expensive olive oil for the same reason.

Avacado oil is great for seasoning a cast iron pan as well..