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Best way to season a griddle


How to season a griddle grill for the first time |

(Image credit: Morsø)

The start of spring sees many chefs dust down their grill in time for a food-filled garden party. However, if you've decided to invest in a new appliance – or you're an al-fresco amateur, then you may be wondering how to season a griddle grill for the first time. This is where the experts come in to help. 

While cleaning your grill is an important way to preserve your griddle before and after use, it is equally important to prepare your space for cooking by seasoning. But what does this process involve? These are five tips that the professionals are following this season. 

How to season a griddle grill for the first time – according to the experts

(Image credit: Morsø)

Before knowing how to season a griddle grill for the first time, you will need to brush up on how to clean grill grates, as this is the first step in the seasoning process. Here's what you need to know.  

1. Clean your griddle grill

(Image credit: Future)

Expert Shawn Hill has spent over 2.5 decades behind the grill, but every seasoning process starts the same way – with a clean. Shawn recommends using a washcloth, warm water, and soap to remove dust and pieces of styrofoam that stick to the surface of the griddle. 

'I like to start the seasoning process with a nice dry surface. So grab another washcloth or paper towel and wipe it down, so it's dry,' he says.

2. Season with heat 

(Image credit: Kate Anne Designs / Jeffrey Brian Riemer)

Once the griddle has dried, Shawn suggests turning on the heat to its highest setting. 

'After a few minutes, you'll notice that it is starting to turn colors – this is a good thing,' he says. 'As it turns brown, it'll start getting darker and darker.' The expert suggests keeping the heat on high for around 15 minutes. At this time, most of the griddle will be the same dark brown color, but likely not the whole griddle.  

3. Apply vegetable oil to your griddle 

(Image credit: Future / Colin Poole)

While it is tempting to use a lot of oil in this step, Shawn warns against making the layer too thick. 'If you go too thick, you'll end up creating areas that will flake off later and make using your new flat top grill a lot harder,' he says. 

Instead, you should use a paper towel with just enough oil to apply a thin coat over the entire cooking surface. This includes the side, as the food will touch these areas too. 

After oiling, you should turn your burners back to high 'After about 20 minutes; you'll notice the griddle is smoking and the surface is turning black. This is exactly what you want. You'll continue to let it smoke until it has completely stopped smoking,' he says. 

4. Repeat the oiling process 

(Image credit: Ikea)

Shawn recommends repeating the oiling and heating process again (or maybe a few more times, depending on your satisfaction).  

'You'll be even more tempted to do a thicker layer of oil now that you have to repeat it, but if you do it right, it'll last significantly longer,' he says. However, it is important to remember to let the griddle cool down before applying additional layers of oil. 'This is definitely a process, but it'll be worth it,' Shawn adds.

5. Prepare for cooking 

(Image credit: Henriette von Stockhausen)

Whether you're planning on cooking on your grill for the first time – or you're planning on storing your griddle until you're ready to cook – Shawn suggests applying a final coat of oil to the surface. This will help against rusting if storing and help against sticking if you're cooking. Because that all-important taste comes down to more than investing in one of the best grills – it comes down to the prep too. 

Now you know how to season a griddle grill for the first time; the only thing left to do is experiment with your BBQ favorites.

Megan is the News and Trends Editor at Homes & Gardens. She first joined Future Plc as a News Writer across their interiors titles, including Livingetc and Real Homes. As the News Editor, she often focuses on emerging microtrends, sleep and wellbeing stories, and celebrity-focused pieces. Before joining Future, Megan worked as a News Explainer at The Telegraph, following her MA in International Journalism at the University of Leeds. During her BA in English Literature and Creative Writing, she gained writing experience in the US while studying in New York. Megan also focused on travel writing during her time living in Paris, where she produced content for a French travel site. She currently lives in London with her antique typewriter and an expansive collection of houseplants. 

How to Season a Blackstone Griddle (Easy Step by Step Guide)

Learn how to season a Blackstone griddle in this easy step-by-step guide! Plus, get tips for maintaining the griddle seasoning for a perfect non-stick surface!

Seasoning a griddle or flat top grill can be one of the most intimidating parts of owning this awesome piece of outdoor cooking equipment. Most people are afraid that they’ll do it wrong and then their seasoning will just flake off or their griddle surface will be too sticky. Or maybe you’re jumping into the griddle game and you don’t even know that you have to season the griddle in the first place.

But don’t worry… in this post I’ll give you step-by-step instructions for how to season a Blackstone griddle, whether it’s brand new and you’re doing the initial seasoning or you’ve had it for years and you just need to do “maintenance seasoning”.

This guide will give you everything you ever wanted to know about seasoning a griddle, including what oil to use, when you need to season the griddle, and detailed steps for how to season a Blackstone griddle or other rolled steel flat top grill so that you get a nice and smooth non-stick finish… and be sure you check out this post for how to clean your flat top grill next!

What Does it Mean to Season a Griddle or Flat Top Grill?

Seasoning is the process of building up layers of baked-on oil or fat on the surface of your griddle, similar to seasoning a cast iron skillet. The “seasoning” on the griddle helps to protect it from rust and creates a nonstick cooking surface, and it naturally wears out over time, so it’s necessary to maintain and replace those layers with a re-seasoning process.

Seasoning a griddle actually occurs through a process called “polymerization”. Polymerization occurs when the right oil or fat is heated at high enough temperatures to form a hard black surface on your griddle.

Certain fats are better for polymerization, which is why it’s important to choose the right oil for seasoning your Blackstone griddle or Camp Chef flat top grill. (We’ll talk about which oils to use in a minute).

*This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click a link and make a purchase, I earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Read my full disclosure and terms of use for more info.

Why You Need to Season Your Griddle

When you’re cooking on a griddle, you’re constantly going through layers of seasoning… It’s just natural during the cooking process. You’ll notice that after a handful of cooks, the surface of your griddle will start to look discolored and you’ll see areas that are more bronze or brown in color instead of black. This is the breaking down of your layers of seasoning, and it’s nothing to worry about…

But, you should take the appropriate steps to build those layers of seasoning back up again. Here’s why:

To prevent rusting

A proper seasoning can help protect your griddle’s surface from rust by repelling water. The better seasoned your griddle is, the less chance you have of water penetrating the seasoning layers and reaching the metal surface.

To create a non-stick surface

Think of your griddle surface as a piece of styrofoam… Styrofoam has small cracks, crevices, and bumps, and if you were to pour some scrambled eggs on it, the eggs would seep into those cracks and get stuck there. The same thing goes with your flat top grill surface, except the unevenness on your griddle surface is microscopic.

Applying very thin layers of seasoning (or baked-on oil) helps to fill in those microscopic rough parts on the metal’s surface to create a non-stick, smooth, and glass-like surface. So instead of your food getting stuck in those small cracks and crevices, it just sits on top of the seasoning layers.

What is the Best Oil to Season a Blackstone Griddle?

Before you start the seasoning process, you need to make sure you have a good seasoning oil. Just like seasoning cast iron, high heat oils work best because they won’t burn and they create a nice, strong seasoning layer on your griddle. Solid vegetable shortening is also a great choice because it’s inexpensive and easy to find. Plus, it has a higher smoke point as well. Many cast iron enthusiasts also swear by shortening as a seasoning oil.

My favorite oil to season with is this avocado oil because of its high smoke point, mild flavor, and versatility in a variety of cooking methods… I like to season and cook with the same oil so that I don’t have excess bottles cluttering up my kitchen.

However, when I seasoned my brand new Blackstone griddle, I used solid Crisco shortening because it’s an inexpensive option and the price of avocado oil is a bit higher right now. Seasoning with Crisco gave me a great result as well, just as it has when I’ve used it to season my cast iron pans.

So, in my opinion, avocado oil and Crisco are best for seasoning a griddle, but here are some other oils you can use also:

You can also visit this post for an in-depth look at The Best Oils for Seasoning Cast Iron – Any of these oils would work well for your rolled steel flat top grill or griddle also!

What Oils Does Blackstone Recommend?

Some of Blackstone’s oil recommendations are similar to mine. Here’s their official recommendations:

You may have noticed that Blackstone’s recommended oils (from their website here) don’t include avocado oil. But I still think that avocado oil is a great choice. I’ve used my outdoor griddles about 4-5 times a week for over two years now, and I use avocado oil very frequently for cooking and maintenance seasonings.

Griddle Seasoning Tools

Besides the seasoning oil or shortening, you will also need a few other items when seasoning your griddle or flat top grill. Here are the seasoning tools that I use and recommend:

Paper Towels

You may have heard people suggest NOT to use paper towels on your griddle because they can leave little pieces of lint behind, but not all paper towels are created equally. I prefer to use the Costco brand of Kirkland paper towels because I find them to be more durable than other brands.

I have also used blue mechanic’s paper towels or “shop style” paper towels for applying oil to my griddle, and I have no complaints about those either.

Squirt Bottle

If you’re using a liquid seasoning oil instead of solid shortening, then you’ll probably want to add your oil to a squirt bottle first. I find that the squirt bottle helps to control the flow and amount of oil that you add to the griddle much more so than just pouring the oil from the bottle. And when seasoning a flat top grill, you definitely don’t want to apply too much oil at one time.

You can also have one squirt bottle full of water to clean your griddle before starting the seasoning process.

*You can check out some of my other favorite griddle accessories here!

Grill Brick or Sandpaper

If you’re seasoning a new griddle (that didn’t come pre-seasoned) or if your griddle seasoning is in bad shape and you need to even it out a bit to rebuild it back up, then you’ll need some sandpaper or a grill brick. I’ve used both with great success, so it’s really up to personal preference. If you’re using sandpaper to fix some flaking spots, I would recommend a fine grit.

You can find a large variety of grill bricks here… like the EarthStone Grill Cleaning Block that I recently used to restore my Camp Chef flat top grill.

Metal or High-Heat Tongs (optional)

You don’t NEED tongs to help with seasoning a flat top grill, but they do help to elevate your hand from the hot griddle surface. Most often when applying thin layers of oil to my griddle, I use long handled tongs to grab the wad of paper towels and distribute the oil across the surface, in the corners, and around the outer edges of my griddle.

When Should You Season Your Griddle or Flat Top Grill?

Going through the complete seasoning process every single time that you cook on your flat top grill is not necessary. Most of the time you’ll simply apply a thin layer of oil to the surface of your griddle after cooking and be done.

But occasionally, you’ll have to go through the full seasoning process:

After Cooking Acidic or High Sugar Foods

Acidic foods like marinara sauce, citrus, or birria style tacos (that are dipped in an enchilada and beef fat sauce) may be super tasty, but they don’t play well with the seasoning on your flat top grill.

The acids in these foods can break down the layers of seasoning on your grill more quickly than cooking something like pancakes or grilled cheese. That doesn’t mean that you can’t cook these foods on your griddle… but you should take the extra few minutes afterwards to re-season your grill.

Also, if you’re making super sugary foods like this Hawaiian Style Beef Teriyaki, then you may want to complete a full seasoning layer after you’re done cooking.

When Your Food Starts to Stick

If you notice that your food is starting to stick to your griddle surface, then that’s a tell-tale sign that it’s time to add another coat of seasoning. (Remember, this is different than just applying a thin coat of oil to your griddle, which should be done after you clean it each time).

Every 10-15 Cooks for Regular Maintenance

Just like you perform preventative maintenance on your vehicle, you can season your griddle BEFORE you start to have a problem. A good rule of thumb is to follow the seasoning process below after about 10-15 uses. If your griddle is already well seasoned, you’ll probably only need to apply one layer for maintenance.

Seasoning a Blackstone Griddle with Little Effort

If you’re worried about how to season a Blackstone griddle, then it could be easier than you think… As you’re cooking on your griddle, you could be seasoning it at the same time without even knowing it… it doesn’t get much easier than that, right?

*This is another reason why I pretty much exclusively cook with avocado oil.

When you start to cook on the griddle, you should already have a thin coat of oil applied from the last time that you used it… Remember, after every use of a traditional rolled steel griddle, you should clean it and apply a thin coat of oil with some paper towels.

So, when the griddle gets to a high enough temperature while you’re cooking, that leftover coat of oil will start to bond to the griddle surface and add to your seasoning layers… assuming that the griddle surface reaches the temperature of the smoke point of the oil.

That’s why many griddle users will tell you that the seasoning of your flat top grill will get darker over time as you cook on it more.

How to Season a Blackstone Griddle – Step by Step

Before we get into the full guide for how to season a Blackstone griddle, I want to make a distinction… Seasoning a brand new Blackstone griddle is different than seasoning your griddle for regular maintenance.

The Blackstone griddles do NOT come pre-seasoned right out of the box like the Camp Chef flat top grill or other griddle brands. So you’re starting from scratch and you need to build up multiple layers of seasoning before actually cooking on the griddle for the first time.

Because of that, there is one extra step listed below (the grill brick or sandpaper step). If you’re seasoning a brand new Blackstone griddle, then you will want to use the grill brick first, but if not, I would skip that step completely. The reason is that the grill brick or sandpaper is meant to scrape off the rough parts of the new griddle surface. If you were to use a grill brick on a well seasoned griddle for maintenance, then the abrasiveness of the brick would remove your seasoning layers that you worked so hard to build up and maintain. And that’s no good!

Step 1: For a brand new Blackstone griddle, use a grill brick or sandpaper to “knock off” the rough high points on the griddle.

IMPORTANT – Only do this step if you’re seasoning a brand new Blackstone griddle OR if your griddle seasoning is in really bad shape (like you have a lot of flaky areas that resemble paint chips) and you need to start from scratch.

Before you turn your griddle on, run your hand across the surface and you’ll probably feel some sharper, rougher high points. The goal is to knock those down a bit before you start the seasoning process.

Just rub the grill brick or sandpaper across the surface of your brand new Blackstone griddle to smooth those rough points out a bit… You shouldn’t need to bear down hard.

I used a 120 grit sandpaper to knock off the high points on my new Blackstone griddle. You should definitely notice a difference in the smoothness of the griddle surface before and after your rub it down with sandpaper or a griddle brick.

Step 2: Clean and dry the griddle surface.

Before you can apply fresh layers of seasoning, you need to be sure that the surface of your flat top grill or griddle is clean and dry. You can go here to see how to clean your flat top grill.

*Note – If you’re seasoning a brand new Blackstone griddle, then you will probably want to use hot soapy water for the initial cleaning before you start the seasoning process. However, if you’re only applying some seasoning layers for maintenance or re-seasoning, then you probably won’t need soap. You should be able to just squirt the griddle down with some water and use paper towels to wipe it clean.

For my brand new Blackstone griddle, I used an old rag to apply some hot soapy water to the cool griddle surface. Then, just wash it down well, being sure to get in the corners also.

*NOTE – I’m only using soap to clean the griddle because it’s brand new and it has not been seasoned yet. I wanted to make sure that I got all of the gunk, debris, sticker residue, dirt, etc. from the manufacturing and transit. If you’re seasoning a griddle that has already been used, you shouldn’t need to use soap to clean it. Instead, you can follow the tips here for how to clean your griddle.

After you’ve wiped it with soap, just use a squirt bottle of water to rinse the griddle surface. You may have to rinse it a few times to get all of the soap off. Then, use paper towels to dry the griddle off completely.

Step 3: Turn your griddle on low and allow it to preheat for about 10-15 minutes.

I always preheat ALL three of my griddles on low. These flat top grills can get super hot even on the low heat setting because they use propane, which is constantly on. It’s very different than cooking on an electric stove which regulates its own temperature by cutting on and off automatically to maintain a low temp.

Mainly, I recommend to preheat and cook on low to avoid warping of the griddle surface.

After about 15 minutes of preheating, this is what the surface of my brand new Blackstone looked like. You can see the darker black coloring in the center of the griddle:

Step 4: Apply a thin layer of seasoning oil to your flat top grill.

When the griddle is hot, squirt on the seasoning oil of your choice and rub it in to the surface with a wad of paper towels. You should focus on applying an even, thin layer of oil to the grill and make sure that there aren’t any areas of pooled oil. If the oil is too thick, it will become sticky after heating instead of completely curing on the surface. If you’re using Crisco shortening, then a good spoonful for each seasoning layer should be good.

*CAUTION – The oil will be VERY hot, so when you’re rubbing it into the griddle surface, be sure that it doesn’t splash up in the corners and burn your hands.

Seasoning my Camp Chef Flat Top Grill 600

And don’t forget about the sides, outside edges, and grease trough (if you have a Camp Chef flat top grill)! Wipe those down with the oiled paper towels also.

Seasoning my Brand New Blackstone Griddle

Step 5: Wait about 5-10 minutes until the smoke starts to slow down, then repeat as needed.

This is the most important step to seasoning a flat top grill, and it’s the step that most people never actually do. If you never heat your oil to its smoke point, then the polymerization process doesn’t happen, and the layers of oil never actually get baked on to the surface.

And while it DOES take a little extra time, this step is not difficult.

Once you have a thin layer of oil down, simply allow the heat to continue to build… You may turn your flat top grill up to low or medium heat if you wish. If you’re a seasoned flat top grill user, no pun intended, then you know that the griddle can get SUPER hot, even on the lower heat settings. In fact, all three of my outdoor griddles reach temps of about 475-500 degrees on the low setting after about 15-20 minutes of preheating.

Once your oil has been smoking for about 5 minutes, you should start to notice a decrease in the amount of smoke. Sparing you all of the chemistry speak, that’s because the oil is basically turning into the hard layer of seasoning. The smoke will start to slow down and the griddle will not be smoking as much as before. You should also notice that the surface of your griddle appears slightly darker than before.

If you’re seasoning a brand new Blackstone griddle, then the darker patch in the middle will start to grow wider with each seasoning layer. Don’t be surprised if after 5 seasonings, your corner areas are still bronze in color instead of solid black. The Blackstone griddle seasoning will continue to build as you cook on it.

After the smoke has dissipated, you can go ahead and apply another thin layer of oil or Crisco and repeat the process again, allowing the smoke to build and then eventually dissipate after a few minutes. Then applying another thin coat of oil. Here’s what my Blackstone griddle looked like after 3 seasonings:

The number of times that you need to repeat the process largely depends on the condition of your griddle surface.

I recently re-seasoned my brother-in-law’s Blackstone griddle for him, because it was in rough shape. He hadn’t used it or even lifted the lid in over 3 months, and it had started to rust. I went through the seasoning process about 4 times on his Blackstone, and then it was good as new and ready to cook on once again.

When I seasoned my brand new Blackstone griddle, I applied about 5 layers of seasoning to get it to this stage:

You’ll notice that the outer edges are more of a bronze or darker gold color… That’s completely fine! The griddle surface should still be well seasoned and non-stick at this stage, and the color will continue to darken as you cook more and more meals on it.

When you’re happy with your flat top grill seasoning, go ahead and turn off your griddle. Then, apply a final coat of seasoning oil or Crisco while the griddle is still warm. This final coat won’t actually burn off, but rather it will act as a protectant for the surface until you cook on it again.

Step 6: Maintain the Blackstone griddle seasoning by rubbing the surface down with an oiled paper towel after each use.

As I mentioned before, after each use you should clean the griddle surface (probably just with a good squirt of water and a wipe down), and then apply a thin coat of seasoning oil or Crisco.

Then, when your griddle preheats for the next cook, the surface should get hot enough to polymerize that thin layer of oil to create another layer of seasoning.

If you’re more of a visual learner, then you can watch the full video of How to Season a Blackstone Griddle here… I’ll walk you through the entire process start to finish:

I hope this guide helps you to be more confident when seasoning your griddle or flat top grill, whether it’s brand new or you just want to make sure that you’re keeping it in tip top shape.

And for more Blackstone griddle care and maintenance tips, or to get some general tips for griddle cooking, check out these posts:

What's the best way to spice up a cast iron skillet?

I just bought a new cast iron skillet. What's the best way to spice it up?

And if I need to re-season an old pan, is the process any different?

source

notpeter

2010-07-11 17:04:18 +0000

First, there is no difference between seasoning and reloading, unless you have to do some extra work to remove corrosion (see instructions below). In fact, for new cast iron, cleaning is also usually a good idea, as you need to remove any wax or protective oil that the manufacturer or seller may have put on the cookware. (They don't use cooking oil for things like this, trust me.)

  1. if you need to remove rust: Use a mixture of salt and oil and scrape so hard into rust, then rinse thoroughly in hot water. Use steel wool if necessary. nine0003

  2. Then rinse the pan completely under hot water. Do this for a few minutes or until the water runs clear. I have heard different things about whether soap or SOS stand is suitable at this stage. My personal opinion is that it's ok, but you must wash the soap completely before proceeding with seasoning, so your seasoning doesn't taste like soap!

  3. Grease or oil the pan (I do this with the entire pot, not just the surface, to reduce the possibility of external rust). Crisco, vegetable oil and lard all work well. Don't choose anything with a low smoke point or a strong flavor. Make sure it's a light coating... there shouldn't be pools of oil anywhere on the dishes. nine0003

  4. Bake skillet in 250-350°F oven for one hour. If you used thin oil, you may want to turn the pan over so that the excess oil drains off. But it's good to put a cookie sheet or something underneath the dish to catch the drops if you do!

  5. Let the cookware cool and wipe off excess oil.

  6. For best results, do this two or three times, although the pan may be satisfactory after one treatment. nine0003

Another trick sometimes used to season Chinese pots: rub Chinese over the surface of the dish while the oil is heating (this works best on the stovetop, not in the oven). Onion juice has sulfur compounds that help remove the remaining flavor from the previous dish coating. Keep in mind that this technique does call lot steam and smoke. I've never tried it on cast iron pans, but I'd be curious if anyone out there has done it.

A source

Owen S.

2011-02-28 06:30:02 +0000

See this excellent article on seasoning chemistry. You want flaxseed oil (which, by the way, has a low smoke point of ), but has a high iodine value of , which allows it to polymerize easily. nine0003

I've read so many blogs about oil "soaking cast iron", but it doesn't make any sense from a chemical standpoint. What happens is that the oil polymerizes and you want an oil that does it really well.

A source

Neil G

2010-07-27 12:59:21 +0000

According to Yahoo!7 :

To season the pot, preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Preheat the skillet on the stovetop. When heating, coat the inner surfaces of the pan with vegetable oil or lard. Continue heating until waves appear on the surface of the oil. At this point, drain the excess oil, quickly wipe it off with a folded paper towel held in a pair of kitchen tongs, and then place the pan in the oven for 45 to 60 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. nine0003

A source

AttilaNYC

2010-07-11 23:49:01 +0000

Personally, I just remake it by cleaning it well, covering the hob with a brazier and heating until it just starts to smoke. This has always worked very well for me, and has the advantage of being fast if you need to use this thing right away!

A source nine0002 Joel in Go

2010-07-27 16:47:36 +0000

The more important part might be how the unseason is panning. You can never, ever clean it with soap. Or scratch with a brillo. Just warm/hot water and a rag.

The season is literally the "lubrication" of the pan. And soap is the enemy of grease. Wash your hands well. Not good for cleaning cast iron.

This creates a small trap-22 as a poorly seasoned pan will require heavy cleaning. But once you get it right, it will last several months until you cancel the seasoning with soap or scratches. nine0003 A source

Ocaasi

2011-03-02 14:23:59 +0000

From the excellent Mike Saxon in Chef's Tales:

When we got a new, straight from the supplier, cast iron or honeycomb skillet, we first placed it on a hard top plate, empty with absolutely nothing inside, and brought it up to such a temperature that it was smoking.

We then put enough sea salt into the steaming hot pan to cover the entire cooking surface to a thickness of about 2 cm. We left the hot pot on the stove with the salt and slowly burned and boiled the pot with the salt inside. The salt will "cook" very slowly, smoke, burn and very slowly turn the salt to a dark brown color. nine0003

We then threw the salt into the wastebasket, took a piece of cloth (a towel, like an old bath towel or face cloth) dipped it in oil and rubbed or rubbed the pan until the hot metal absorbed the oil, which would make the pan shiny.

When the pan is hot, we would wipe the pan clean with another piece of kitchen towel and then continue the whole process again from the beginning.

After this, 2 or 3 times the metal will soak up the oil, making the metal very shiny, 'spiced' and have a no-stick home effect. When you have done this, you should try the pan by making an omelet, if the eggs stick, you should start over while the pan cooks the omelet without the eggs sticking. nine0003

The act of "seasoning" the pan may take a few days, a week more than a week, but it is definitely a loving care process.

A source

Gary

2010-07-11 16:26:57 +0000

Heat your oven to 350 pounds. Coat the pan with some fat (vegetable oil works well), bake for at least an hour, and rub through. You are done!

Re-seasoning is similar to seasoning, as you say. To reduce the need for re-seasoning, make sure you only clean with hot water (and possibly salt). nine0003 A source

Chris Simmons

2010-07-22 19:21:31 +0000

This doesn't directly answer your full overhaul question, but it has to do with seasoning.

When cooking with cast iron, I find it easiest to clean the pot immediately while it is still very hot, with very hot water (our faucet gets hot enough to scald if you're not careful).

Then I dry it thoroughly with a towel, then a paper towel (to get what the towel might have missed). nine0003

Then I immediately grease it (I use grape because of its cost compared to its smoke point, but used bacon grease, olive oil, or whatever else is around) and put it back on the hot burner.

Using this method, I haven't had to look after my cast iron pans yet.

A source

stephennmcdonald

2010-07-11 16:38:27 +0000

As long as you don't use soap or cleaning pads on a (seasoned) cast iron skillet, you won't have much to do with it. Just dry it thoroughly and rub it with a little vegetable oil after cleaning and before putting it away. Chris's answer is good for starting seasoning: Just "bake" a frying pan covered in butter. Most cast iron cookware comes with temperature and time instructions, and there are slight differences between brands, but 350°F for 1 hour is a good rule of thumb. nine0003 A source

Aaronut

2014-02-17 19:11:34 +0000

One tip to use on heavily crusted cast iron or burnt sugar residue is to burn it. I have done this twice with great success. On one occasion we made a large hot coal in an outdoor BBQ grill and buried the pot in the coals. Another was made in a similar way in the hearth of the fireplace, making sure that the inside and the outside were both in contact with the hot coals as much as possible. After the fire was out and pan-charcoal!, a small amount of residue had to be removed with sandpaper and/or a wire brush. The pan is now in brand new condition, except that it will look very rusty and will continue to rust if you don't treat it immediately. First wash it with a stainless steel gasket and some oil (actually I prefer mineral oil for this step) to remove any rust. Wipe thoroughly with old cloth towels and then season with one of the methods above. I prefer to do this several times before cooking in the pan. I have always used firm shortening of vegetables for seasoning with good results. nine0003 A source

Carl D

Do I need to season my hundredth pot with stainless steel?

Okay, I got a nice hundredth stainless steel pan for Christmas and looking around online there are people who say I need to spice it up. Most of the methods I have seen include oil and salt and cooking that for a while and then destroying it. It's necessary? Do I need to do this every time I use the pan? Are there other techniques that you use? I've never heard of such techniques for stainless steel, but I want to make sure I'm taking care of the pan the right way. nine0003

Thank you.

Source

Dante617

2010-12-26 15:23:04 +0000

I've never heard of doing anything other than giving it a good cleaning like you would with any new item before first use.

I have only heard of seasoning used for cast iron and carbon steel, not stainless steel. Looking online, I did find instructions for seasoning stainless steel, but I would be inclined to look at the documents that come with the pan - if the manufacturer recommends doing something, follow their instructions. If they don't, just give it a good wash.

A source

Joe

2010-12-27 01:19:01 +0000

Seasoning the pan will make it less prone to sticking but will also give it a brownish tint so it doesn't look "shiny and new". And if you ever brush it with steel wool, you will have to do it again and again.

Seasoning the pan basically creates a surface for the butter to bake on so your food will be on it instead of touching the metal directly so less sticking. It's brownish on stainless (I have a whole bunch of pots that look that annoys my wife, but since I'm doing cooking she lets it go) and subtle (other than a deeper black) on cast iron. Due to the porosity of cast iron, seasoning is an absolute must if you don't want to stick...or rust. Stainless metal does not have a rust problem, and metal, although it has a surface texture, is not as open as cast iron, so seasoning is optional. nine0003

If you use enough oil when you cook and get the oil hot first, you won't experience sticking problems in a stainless steel pan, but if you're trying to do low-fat cooking in a pan with just barely soaked in oil, proteins, in particular, will tend to stick.

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Doug Johnson-Cookloose

2010-12-29 22:11:22 +0000 nine0003

NO! You never stand stainless steel. The seasoning is the result of the carbon bonding to the cast iron surface, creating a natural non-stick layer. The chrome in the stainless steel doesn't allow this process to happen properly and/or evenly, which will most likely leave you with a badly colored and sticky pan.

You keep stainless steel clean and shiny.

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m0rec0wbell

nine0014 2014-05-31 10:50:59 +0000

No, do not age stainless steel unless the manufacturer recommends it. Check out the accepted answer here: Why does my food turn out badly when using a one-piece sweet stainless steel pan? . Here's how to best use and handle a "good stainless steel skillet". Also from the same thread, s_hewitt shares a great video on temperature testing. Bringing the pan to the right temperature before adding oil or food is the key to food not sticking to stainless steel. nine0003

Another important point about the care of the pot: Please never run it under water or put it in water while it is still hot. So even very good pans are deformed. You can and should fire up the pan while it's still hot by adding liquid and scraping off the tasty bits, that's the start of a great pan sauce and the bonus of a cleaner pan, but absolutely don't rinse or wash the pan until it's cool enough to touch.

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2016-08-19 16:28:50 +0000

I just poured maybe a shot of olive oil (I don't use salt, I'm not sure what that does for SS?), then heat it up, just before/as it smokes I remove it from the heat and wipe it clean thick dishes. It's the only thing that makes cooking on it a flawless breeze. Before that, I would say 80-90% non-stick issue with water alone - the Leidenfrost effect. I made an omelette just a few minutes ago on it (wasn't washed for 2 days, just wiped off after), heated it over medium heat for about 2 minutes, then tested with water, then added the eggs. They just glide around better than any other pan I've used. Omelette in 2 min and no stick, just rubbed off, shiny metal and perfect as new. nine0003 A source

tina

2011-01-03 23:07:06 +0000

There are some uses for seasoning a stainless steel pan to give it a legacy of non-stick properties. However, it should be noted that most people simply use Teflon.

EG: If you want to make a stainless steel omelet, you need to season the pot. Otherwise, all the mixing will cause the proteins to bypass the oil (it leaned on it) and touch the exposed metal. nine0003 A source

Zombies

2019-04-02 12:34:28 +0000

stainless steel pan seasoning is not as necessary as cast iron unless you are making something like pancake or crepe, and even then you may not need to! there is a trick to using the pan in such a way that nothing comes off even without seasoning one of them adds oil and the other heats the pan hard this method works on some foods more than others. how to cook meat if its something to lean you just need to add some oil and heat it up before adding your protein if its something fatty you might like a steak then you can heat a pan and once its hot enough just to make lard off the meat by sticking the fat side right on the pan until most of the fat is in the pan then just cook it normally in both cases just wait for the meat to cook on one side before flipping it will release on its own once it's ready

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Mukhtar Albahlani

2018-08-12 18:40:29 +0000

Anyone suggesting you don't season a stainless steel pan clearly has no experience in the professional cooking arena.

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