Simple rules for cast iron care

Taking good care of your cast iron (or carbon steel!) cookware starts with understanding the chemistry it relies on.

𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 (𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲) 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀:

𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗵𝗼𝘄-𝘁𝗼𝘀:

𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿-𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰:
-Will Dichtel, Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University
-Michael Kessler, Dean & Professor at the College of Engineering at North Dakota State University

MinuteFood is created by Kate Yoshida, Arcadi Garcia & Bill Mead, and produced by Neptune Studios LLC.

[A_Casual_NPC]

As a chef I stand by this video completely. If you care for your cast iron pans like this, you'll enjoy them for the rest of your life.

[Wanderer_of_Sol]

Fun fact, this is the same way many blacksmiths, myself included, make our work weather resistant. Plant hangers, bird feeder hooks, door hinges and hardware, any metal work that's going to be outside can use the same technique of seasoning to prevent them from rusting from the elements. I'll often get a finished piece to a "black heat" by heating the metal to a cherry red color, and then allowing it to cool slightly until it's no longer glowing, but obviously still incredibly hot. Then I'll take a thick rag that's been dabbed in canola oil and gently rub the piece. This creates the same polymer layer as it would on a cast iron pan, and can let a piece of metal work last for years and years outside without much worry of damage.

It's still a good idea to occasionally clean and oil items that have been out in the rain, but my first scroll work plant hanger, which I made for my mother in law, has been up for about a decade without more than a couple small rust spots and next to no maintenance.

[AnonymousFreakYT]

Inherited a cast iron pan and dutch oven a few years ago. The previous owner had not taken care of them (they were stored in a shed with camping gear, ) so they were just completely rusted.

A couple hours of scouring with steel wool to remove the rust, thorough washing, then a couple hours of careful seasoning, and they've been perfect ever since.

[silentshadow]

I stopped worrying so much about using soap occasionally on my pan and using normal oil opposed to flax seed oil. Glad to see science backing up why it has been working so much better for me now.

[chandekam]

The biggest mistake people make with cast iron pans is throwing them away because they see rust. This is the most definite no-no. Most damage is fixable. Either fix them yourself or give the pans away to people who will fix them.

[charliedee]

I have 3 go to cast iron cooking pans, one being a square skillet. They all used to belong to my great grandmother. Needless to say the seasoning on them is incredible, I use soap and scour them all the time. I can cook bacon, scrape the bottom of the four inch putty knife, and fry eggs completely non stick in all of them. Nothing like a couple of fresh eggs fried in bacon grease in an over 100 year old cast iron skillet.

[StevenG.]

That’s really good to know, I watched an Adam Ragusea video on pans and he talked about seasoning cast iron pans, but didn’t go to deep on what the oil was doing when it became a seasoning, I liked how you explained how it almost turns into a plastic like material and that’s what gives it those properties.

[mirrikybird]

finally an answer that's backed up with a proper scientific explanation, I actually understand the process now instead of all these "this is how you do it because the person who told me was really confident about it"

[oldrvr]

I have a cast iron skillet that has to be at least 100 years old. It was passed down from my grandmother to my mother and then to me. Since I received this skillet as a young newlywed, and I am almost 80 now it could very well be even older. I do follow the rules in this video and still love my frying pan. It’s the best for frying meat!

[CortezEspartaco]

I found that ultra-fine steel wool helped a lot when initially getting my carbon steel pan seasoned. The first several uses are the hardest and having a quick way to smooth down rough spots without undoing all of my progress made it much easier. Now that it's evenly seasoned I rarely have to use it.

[mrsseasea]

I found 2 cast iron pans on the side of the road in boxes of stuff they were throwing away. My intro to cast iron began that was 1982, one pan was from the 1800s the other was a Griswold number 12, and I’m still using them today, my daughter talked me out of the big one since all the kids are grown and gone. Yep, 100% recycled cast iron! Got to love them.

[cherg]

Your explanation and illustrations are terrific. The procedure shown in other videos on simply seasoning a pan was so confusing. Now I understand what to do even more than the instructions of how to do it because I now know WHY. Thank you!

[LynneFarr]

I have a completely stick proof cast iron skillet. It has been in my husband's family over a hundred years with a great coating. Been washing with dish soap and drying in the oven for years. The seasoning hasn't been affected at all. Have bought more pans at garage and farm sales that often have great old pans too.

[TheMausera]

I have been bitten by the cast iron bug for years now. It's been a roller coaster ride. I have a nice collection, still working on creating the PAN CAVE in my MANCAVE, lol. Over time I have 3-4 favorite pans that I use on a regular basis. The seasoning is so nice the clean up is a piece of cake (excuse the pun). My 2 cents on seasoning is have patience ! I agree with the you tube channel owner about everything she said. Remember No one will fight over Teflon cook ware, but they will fight over well maintained castiron. I will get off my soapbox now. I have to get back to seasoning a late 1800s antique roaster given to me. Cheers TS

[turdferguson]

I clean and re-season cast iron for myself and two estate sale companies. It isn't uncommon to get a pan from the mid to late 1800s that can be made as good as new. They are not disposable pans if they've been cared for, that means no wire brushes, heat damage, or cracks. Medium rust can be dealt with, I've seen people give up on perfectly good pans and can't believe it when I finish grandma's old skillet. I enjoy seeing their face when they first see it. Priceless

[bartoscar]

I just discovered this channel and I love it so much. You combine two things I care deeply about. And thank you for debunking soap (and flax)! I can’t tell you how many people still believe that myth!

[chrisschultz]

Very true. We use an ERIE pan from 1896 almost everyday. Hadn't been used in almost 50 years, but it was taken care of and was almost ready to use right away.

[txterron]

Thank you for taking the time to explain why soap isn't a big deal when washing cast iron. I've done it with my twenty year old skillet and catch heck from anti-soap zealots.

[Tyriank]

As someone who has made a chemistry project about the aging of food oils with varying degrees of saturation to compare how quickly they age, I can attest that we could not get the seasoning out of the beakers we used any more, even when scrubbing with the rough side of a sponge in hot, soapy water. Things like acetone or alcohol had no visible effect on it, either, nor did scraping it with a metal spatula. In the end, we had to throw the beakers away.
Just for reference: We chose coconut oil as a mostly saturated oil, olive oil as a mostly singular unsaturated oil, sunflower oil as a mostly double unsaturated oil and linseed oil as a mostly triple unsaturated oil. Only the coconut oil did not create a polymer layer during our tests because it barely has any unsaturated fatty acids.

[kaydee]

I'm a guy and I have never been into kitchen stuff before, but since I bought my first cast iron pan last week, my sister is getting annoyed about how obsessed I have gotten in a short time over a cast iron pan 😂😂.

I truly want to master the art of seasoning the cast iron pan and its maintenance that keeps it brand new for generations to come. ✌🏼