Hi Kristin! When you wash your cast iron pan, kitchen dish soap will dramatically reduce the seasoning on it with each use. I had no idea that it took so much to take care of cast iron! Paper towel dry. Get some SOS pads and start scrubbing the rust off. Caring for cast iron. . 7 Dishes You Didn’t Know You Should Be Cooking in Your Cast Iron Skillet Hello, I recently stripped my Cabela's ( presumably made by Lodge) 10" cast iron pan down to bare metal and sanded the cooking surface down with an orbital sander down to a smooth 80grit. 1,040 8 8 silver badges 17 17 bronze badges. Hi Trey, I think your cleaning routine is a little too hardcore. It forms a natural, easy-release cooking surface and helps prevent rust. Cast iron is porous, meaning it traps moisture below the surface: the only way to completely drive off all lingering moisture is to heat up the pan and evaporate off all the water. Did I ruin it? Some cooks simply wipe the pan with a wet cloth. Soak for a few minutes if necessary, rinse with plain hot water, and wipe out with a paper towel or tea towel. It makes for the perfect piece of cookware to get that crispy sear on a salmon filet every time — without the smoke. Sure, they soak up oil quickly, but they also saturate quickly—and a saturated paper towel is useless. My cleaning process for the Iron Skillet has always been a layer of course salt at the bottom, then steel bristle brush, then sink for hot, scalding, rinsing. Your email address will not be published. I use a cast iron skillet or an All-Clad skillet, and either way the pan starts smoking like crazy before meat is done to temperature. Some cooks simply wipe the pan with a wet cloth. Spread the oil around with a paper towel. Cast iron pans are affordable, durable, and versatile. ). Turn the heat on high for 30 seconds to less than one minute. Ghee (clarified butter) has one of the hightest smoke points:  485 deg F.  It's easy to make at home from unsalted butter. Cast iron cooking the bane of many a chef. I also removed the embossed Cabela's logo so it would sit flat on my stove top. ). When finished you will have a piece of cookware that you will love, and wonder why you ever spent the money on a new high cost cast iron pan.. When finished you will have a piece of cookware that you will love, and wonder why you ever spent the money on a new high cost cast iron pan.. The popular line of Le Creuset cookware is simply cast iron that has been coated with enamel. After all, they are cast iron. Then, turn it down to medium heat. Maintaining Curing . Wish me luck. Finally, don’t oil the underside of your skillet unless it’s in really bad condition. Cast iron also retains heat, so as you cook, you might find that the pan keeps getting hotter and hotter, in which case you might want to turn the heat down further. The cast iron pans were usually on a, Location: Grand Valley of Colorado's Western Slope. If you have a black, seasoned cast iron skillet that smokes, the problem is that you have the heat up too high. This will loosen up the oil. I had the same problem as you, so I decided to do a little investigative research by picking up the phone and speaking to the experts at Lodge Manufacturing in Tennessee. The smoking point at 450 degrees Fahrenheit or 235 degrees Celsius. It has a very low smoke point — the temperature at which oil begins to polymerize to the pan — but it’s also one of very few food-safe “drying” oils, meaning it dries out naturally. I accidentally put my cast iron skillet in the dishwasher and now it’s all rusted. This will loosen up the oil. Also, clean your skillets with water. First, though, put down that bottle of coconut oil. If the meat breaks free, turn it over and put it back on the fire (the pan and steak that is) for 3 more minutes. The best cooking oil choices to re-season your cast iron skillet with are: There are others, but these all have really high smoke points, so try to stick with them. Great tips! Stephen Muscarella from The Field Company explains everything you need to know about using a cast iron skillet (but were afraid to ask). To season, just put a little oil on a paper towel and buff into the surface. 1,040 8 8 silver badges 17 17 bronze badges. Regardless of the smoke point of the oil that you use, beef tallow itself has a smoking point in the same area as a very hot skillet (based on my own use of an infra-red thermometer on my cast iron pans over high heat), so you're still likely to get some smoke just from that.