Seasoning (Re-Seasoning) Cast Iron Skillets

Another dear blogger asked about rescuing an old, rusty cast iron skillet on her blog, so I thought others might be interested in my reply...

1st ~ was your skillet seasoned properly? It's really VERY easy. Pour about 1TB of oil (I use olive oil) into your skillet, bunch up a section (or 2) of a paper towel, rub the oil all over the inside of the skillet - bottom & sides - enough to make it 'shine' not so much as to run & drip. DO NOT RINSE! Let that sit until your next use. Do this in-between EVERY use. Obviously, if you've over-used the oil & it's dripping when tipped or tilted, you've used far too much. After a little while, you'll get the hang of how much your skillet absorbs. If this is the FIRST seasoning, bake in a 350* oven for 1 hour, let cool w/oven door open. ***"Baking" the skillet only has to happen before the 1st time you use it OR if you are 'rescuing' one that was misused.

2nd ~ DO NOT ~ EVER! ~ put your cast iron in the dish washer or completely submerge in dish water!!! To clean, srape out food remains w/a good NON-metal scraper - I like those brown plastic ones you get from Pampered Chef. Rinse out. Every-once-in-a-while, squirt just a little dish soap & use a wet dish cloth to clean it if you've cooked something particularly icky & dirty. :-) Dry w/a dish towel or paper towel. Oil as mentioned in #1 (w/o baking).

3rd ~ to simply get the rust off, scrub LIGHTLY w/steel wool & re-season as in #1. If it had been rusted badly on the outside, too, put a little oil on the outside when you re-season.I know this works b/c I lovingly use my gr-ma's old cast iron skillet almost everyday - it's probably older that me (I'm 50, that would make it ANTIQUE! lol). I rescued it from a relative who had repeatedly put it in her dishwasher & didn't know why it was looking so bad. (Scream!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><