How to Season a Rusty Cast Iron Skillet | How to Fix, Clean and Restore Cast Iron
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- How to Season a Rusty Cast Iron Skillet
How to Fix and Clean a Cast Iron Pan
In this video I restored an old 50 year old cast iron skillet.
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Thanks for watching!
There's something soothing about watching cleaning videos. Am I right?
100% soothing and educational lol
Thanks so much for this video ya awsome I’m going to have a crack at it lol cheers heaps mate
Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!
No comment
@@RBNZ-lg9cy good luck!
I cannot tell you how many videos I watched that were 20 to 30 minutes long on cleaning cast iron skillets, and it was just so difficult to figure out what they were talking about cuz they were going on and on about different points and it was just difficult for me, but yours was straight to the point, concise, and I really appreciated that, very simple, thank you.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
Well it doesn't work so you still wasted your time.
@@pamelarattan6064 I'm sorry it didn't work for you, but according to hundreds of others in the comments section it worked for them, myself included.
Yes exactly! This video was JUST what I was looking for. Trying to save a family heirloom pot I have! 😩
Me too! Didn't have a 5 minute intro or any other fluff. Appreciate his approach. 😊
I just followed your instructions on a very old Fried Chicken Frying Pan, it even says Chicken Pan on the bottom, it has the high sides to it with a nice lid, it was much worse than the one in your video and came out perfect, I thought it was beyond repair until I tried this. Thank you!
That's awesome! I glad that you were able to bring it back to life!
Nice job! Thanks.
Thank you!
Excellent, u have a new subscriber.
Awesome, thank you!
Thank you
You're welcome!
Great video.
Thanks!
Do you do 20mins between each coat of oil? awesome video btw, thank you!
Yes, 20 minutes each coat. Thanks!!!
Thanks it helps
Glad it helped!
You can 100% use soap to clean your cast iron pan. I’ve been collecting for years, and that saying came from when soap was made with lye, which would damage the seasoning. Nowadays, you can use light strength dawn dish soap or something similar and it won’t do anything to the seasoning. If this was the 1930s, he’d be correct in saying not to use soap.
I drop a single drop of Dawn concentrated dish soap--the smallest drop that I can get to drop from the bottle--onto the center of the hot pan, pour a little bit of hot water, quickly scrub the whole pan with a brush, and immediately rinse it out with more hot water, and dry it off. That's my compromise between the people who say not to use soap and the people who say to use it. It works pretty well.
Agreed, I use dawn and a blue scotch scrubber on my pans then warm on stove to dry then wipe down w super thin coat of oil
@@kcburmeister ditto
I use dawn and dry it in the oven when done washing it.
Never had a rust problem
Trying this. But does other oil work or it has to be canola? Thanks.
You can use other oils to season the pans. They just need to have a smoke point over 400F.
For the record, modern dish soap is fine for cast iron. Soap back in the old days had lye in it, which is what destroyed seasoning. Modern dish soap does not contain lye.
Can you any kind of oil to season the pan? And I’m wondering you said don’t clean it with soap. What do you use to clean it?
For the oil, you want to use something with a high smoke point at least 400F. I generally just wipe my pan with hot water and a paper towel. If there is build up then I will use soap and water, but that is rare.
@@achefandhisspoon awesome thanks for the advice 😊
Thumbs up for getting straight to the point 👍
Thanks. I try to do that with all my videos
Amen!
@@achefandhisspoon I really liked your video! You got right down to business and I appreciate it! I hate long videos!
@@achefandhisspoon Some other 'restorer' took almost 15-minutes to throw acid, electrolysis, filing, then finally sand blasting at his rusty skillet. . .while providing remarkably little information about the process or why.
Even watching 2-times speed it was slow and boring.
So. like the others, I say Thanks!
Straight to the point... bottom-line info!!! So much appreciated! But most important is that it worked like a charm! It REALLY worked exactly like in the video. Thanks so much. My 70+ year old large skillet with a lid looks absolutely GREAT! It's beautiful! I am so amazed! Thanks again!
Thank you! I happy to hear that another pan was saved! Happy cooking!
This is the perfect video for those of us living with adult ADHD. I loved that it was descriptive and straight to the point, yet you didn’t lose me 😆😍😆 This worked perfectly!
Thanks for your help with the old family hand me down. The only thing is how to wash it after uses?
@@davidhughes2622 I rinse mine in hot water and wipe with a soft rag very soon after I use it. Then wipe it down good with a very small amount of cooking oil.
My husband bought two very rusted cast iron skillets at a garage sale for a dollar. Thank you for providing an instructional video on how to bring these beauties back to life.
That is awesome! If they are really rusty I would let the baking soda and vinegar sit for a little while. You might have to do the process a few times depending on how bad the rust is.
@@achefandhisspoon Thank you!
One important note is you must season the iron immediately post the baking soda/ vinegar cleaning method. Or it will rust again within minutes even if left dry and exposed to oxygen.
Thanks for the info!
Yep, you could even see that happening in the video. Metal oxidizes immediately when exposed to O2, so it’s best to be quick.
@@Painted_Owl
OMG you're correct.. just before he wipes with canola oil skillet is rusty again
Thank you!!!
Thank you! I was doing 2 at once and wondered wtf happened.
Short and to the point. Good video man. I've restored about a dozen pieces, never thought to use vinegar. I'll def try that next time.
Thanks!
Soda and lye (caustic, so be careful) are best to remove seasoning and food residues without harming the metal. Acids like vinegar are best to remove rust but they also dissolve the iron. Therefore use a lower concentration (water + white vinegar mixed 1:1) and don't soak the skillet longer than necessary. Electrolysis is the best way to get rid of everything (while preserving the maximum amount of iron), but it also requires some equipment.
@@achefandhisspoon yes thank you for getting right to the point. A lot of youtubers get it so very wrong when they talk in great detail about which ever task they are talking about. I think less words are always best.
@@ArianaAlina Thank you!
Finally get done my same size skillet restored after looking at so many tutorials!
Thanks boss Chef for making things so easy to understand and not feeling overwhelmed.
You really helped me get over the fear of getting all of the rust off of my cast iron skillet! It’s ready to ROCK again! Thank you!
That's awesome! Happy cooking!
After watching, I think this is the best cleaning method I've ever seen
I agree.
I agree I never knew how to get rid of the rust , I'm 66 I knew how to season but not to get rid of the rust, this is fantastic cuz I have six pans that were donated to me that sure need this done 😀 👍
I don't do much commenting so please understand - you need to know how *relieving* it was to find a video (for this topic especially) where we weren't being condescended to, just given to the point, helpful information. I hope you have many more videos to come!
Thank you! I appreciate your comment :) I try to upload a video every Sunday!
Just wanted to do everybody a favor here in the comments and let you know it's been debunked for awhile now that YOU CAN USE SOAP on cast iron. It's damn near indestructible, it can tolerate a little soap as long as seasoning is still done, and you don't let it sit in the soap.
It’s not the cast iron, it’s the seasoning. Scrubbing a cast iron pan with dish soap, that’s been seasoned, will break down the seasoning. It’s oil. Dish soap breaks down oil.
@@Knate1104Hogwash, soap has no effect on polymerized oil. As long as the skillet has been seasoned, and not merely coated with oil, the soap won’t affect the seasoning.
@@Knate1104also been debunked. Soap does NOT break down the seasoning lmao, don’t soak it in soap and let it sit in it lmao, a dab of soap and a scrub daddy and my cast iron that’s been in my family for 4 generations is still running good and hasn’t been ‘re seasoned’ in 3 generations lmao
Also agree, washing a seasoned cast-iron with dish soap, won’t do anything to the seasoning. Look up “Smithy ironware.”, they tell you right in the care instructions to use soap to clean them.
@@Knate1104this was true when soap had lye in it. Modern dish soap does not have lye in it.
Thank you so much for sharing this simple video! I have been afraid of restoring my cast iron skillets for years and they've been sitting on a shelf in my laundry room forever. But after watching your video I got enough courage to do it and it is in the oven right now after doing all the steps that you showed in the video. Thank you for helping me conquer my fear!. :-)
Glad it was helpful!
Same!!
Thank you sooooo much!!!. I'm going to start this first thing in the AM. I have a skillet that was my Granny's. I'm sure it is over 100 years old. You have given me hope.❤
@@achefandhisspoon I was told that I could use Dawn and fine steel wool
Should wanr of the extremely potent smell oven baking cast iron to season it produces. It's some nasty stuff.
Amazing!!! I'm going to start
Buying old cast iron at yard
Sales!!
Great idea!
Thank you so much. I just used my cast iron for the first time in years after restoring it with this method. I almost threw it away because of rust.
Awesome!
Tried it, twice on the same rusted skillet & it helps but it won't do what this guy claims. Only thing that's going to work is steal wool & hours of scrubbing, I gave up and used my drill.
Thanks for the video. I read so many contradictions in the comments, its hard to know what is what. Use soap, don't use soap. Use vegetable oil, never use vegetable oil. I've been using cast iron for over 10 years. I have 6 different pots and pans. I've seasoned them all, with canola oil, like you did, but I wash them with soap and water and dry them with a towel. After, I warm them up a bit on the stove, then apply another VERY thin layer of oil before I let them cool down and put away. That last bit was just another thing someone else told me when I first got into cast iron. I haven't had a problem yet.
Yea, people are very passionate about their cast irons 😂 Thanks for the tips! I agree !
You've got it right. Modern dish soap is not a problem. Canola oil or other vegetable oil is the right oil to use. After use, wash with warm water and dish soap if needed (or scrub with kosher salt and water instead). Dry completely on the stove, apply a very very very thin layer of canola oil, then let it cool.
Sounds like you're doing everything right. I do the same.
No soap on cast iron is an old wives tale. It comes from when soap used to have lye and that eats through cast-iron like termites and wood and will crack it. I use normal dish soap which no longer contains lye and my cast iron is still very well seasoned. I've had my pan for 10 years now and I have had no problems with normal dish soap. Just make sure to towel dry the hell out of it when you're done cleaning or even put it on the stove at max heat for 10 minutes to make sure all the water is out. Moisture is the part that will ruin the pan.
A small tip of preference (everyone does it different) I find it personally better to start on a lower temp and after 15 minutes bump it up to your desired temp, and in between the lower (220) temp and the higher (450) I like to pull it out and wipe the excess off. It bubbles up and forms a bumpy texture otherwise that will flake eventually from being too thick. Less is more, and you want your seasoning smooth, even if it takes longer. Again, just my preference, so take it with a grain of salt.
@@stm5258 I'm not allowed to give constructive criticism to help someone potentially improve? Or at least try another method to see if it works for them? Sorry, didn't realize I had to make a video in order to have any helpful insight on a subject. I guess all books are null and void since they're not in video format.
Thank you for this super easy to follow method! And well done on saving the 50 year old pan!
You are so welcome! Thanks!
Nope not how to do this. 60 minutes back per layer. Fully cool in between
This is why so many of them end up at Goodwill ,Salvation Army and garage sales for a very cheap price you can potentially find a nice old Griswold or BSR cast iron skillet or Dutch oven and restore it and have something that's many times better than anything you can buy new short of paying two or three hundred dollars for a professional chef quality cast iron it's much better to repurpose and resurrect these skillets and use them as they were intended to be used
more fun watching then doing lol
This is so helpful! My dad has inherited some skillets and really large pots. When I asked for 2 he said the only condition is if I can restore them and I have to use then since he doesnt know how to restore them. Will try this! Thank you! Just in time before Christmas.
That's great! Let me know how it turns out!
@@achefandhisspoon It turned out great! The only thing I struggled with is oiling while the pan was hot! But it's so worth it. My parents challenged me to do all the pots now so I'll be doing that for them for the holidays remaining. Thank you!
My mother would have gave me a good talking to if she would have caught me washing one of her iron skillets in the dish water. Most of the time just take a paper towel and wipe it out instead of giving it a full wash. If you have to wash your iron skillet turn the flame on top of the stove or put in the oven to fully dry it
Just got 3 rusty cast iron skillets from a neighbor that was going to throw them away. Thanks for the tutorial and sick tatts dude
Thanks! Let me know how they turn out!
I found a skillet under the porch deck at a house I bought that was full of water & mosquito larvae; I kid you not the rust on the inside was thick as a dime. I gave it electrolysis in a caustic bath, then reseasoned it. Other than a little pitting it's fine now.
amazing! great work!
Hello Rust meet Baking soda and Vinegar
Yeah it's not as simple as that. This video is misleading.
A couple of questions: what are you using to rub the soda paste on and is it 20 minutes each time in the oven?
Thank you for the straight forward & easy to follow video! Am eager to try this out on some forgotten & forlorn skillets that are verrrry rusted.
Thanks for watching!
I just use a paper towel to rub it on the pan. Yes, 20 minutes each time in the oven.
Let me know how the pans turn out!
The rust layer is largely a cosmetic detail that's inconsequential. You can get rid of it by any means.
The real restoring happens when you let cooking oil carbonize in your pan. That's going to lay down the protective layers of carbon that will prevent oxygen from reaching the iron, producing rust. You don't need lots of oil, a thin layer is perfectly fine. The magic happens when you repeat the process, until you are done. You can do this step on a stove top. Just make sure the oil is smoking.
I am 66 years old and never saw this type of process to get rid of the rust I knew how to season but I didn't know how to get rid of the rust this is freaking awesome 😊💖😚
Thank you!
Fantastic! Great, easy tip. Never would have thought such a messy pan could be fixed!!
I appreciate your knowledge and lack of ego in just showing us how to do this. I looked at several others, and yours is WITHOUT QUESTION, the best both for content as well as how efficient the video was. I like it, and I'm a new subscriber !
Awesome! Thank you for the kind words!
I just tried your restoration tips and the results were great! Only downside is that my pan started to really smoke when placed back into the oven for it's second coat of oil, and it set off my fire alarms in my apartment. After clearing the area of smoke, I lowered the oven's temperature from 500 degrees to 375, and add two more coats of oil (I used both avocado oil and coconut oil) and it worked out fine. Thanks for sharing this! I'll be saving your video for future reference.
Great to hear! Sounds like you made the right adjustments for your cast iron. Sometimes we need to make adjustments and do what works for us. 👍
Coconut oil has about 100 degrees Fahrenheit lower smoke point than canola oil (350 F vs. 450 F), so that may be why you were experiencing significant smoke at those temperatures.
@@inpraiseoflifeitself Noted, thanks the tip 👍 I remember reading that coconut oil didn't have a high smoke point. That's why I mixed it with avocado in the next time I did it (avocado oil has a smoke point of 500) and had no problem after that.
That smoke means it's working. :) The oils are breaking down and polymerizing; forming long hard chains of hydrocarbons. But yeah, avocado isn't bad, but coconut oil has a very low smoke point.
Nice job... one thing most don't realize is when cast is heated it generates it's own lubricaty, when it's good and clean. the cleaning instructions in this tutorial were very good.
Thanks for the info!
Mine is about 200 years old. Neglected, rusted, spent some time outside by the looks of it. No warping or cracks that I can see so far. Will this method work for super rusted really old pieces?
It should work. You might need to do a few rounds (baking soda, vinegar, scrub, rinse, repeat) to get everything off. But once you get to down to bare cast iron, just follow the seasoning process.
I’ve only watched one of your videos but I noticed you had 999 subscribers and I just had to, the screenshots are so satisfying haha
were you 1,000? 😃
AChefandHisSpoon I was 😄 and having now watched a bunch of your videos I’m glad!
@@DistrustingToaster Awesome! Thanks so much! 😃
Thank you! This was super helpful and quick to watch! :) I’m cleaning up 6 old cast iron skillets that my grandma just gave me:) We will be using them in some upcoming homesteading videos on our RUclips channel.
The old cast irons were just made better than the new one cast irons.
Your Grandma said to donate them to me🤔😜🙏🙏🙏
I have a rusty cast iron pan that has been in my family for generations. This video is helpful, so now I can restore my cast iron pan!
Glad it was helpful! Would love to hear how it turned out!
Do more research first. Getting rid of rust is nowhere near as easy as this guy makes it out to be.
@@SagebrushRambles or get real copper cookware.... cast iron is a culinary joke..
@@SagebrushRambles I would just grind out the rust with grit paper. This guy made it too complicated.
Thank you for this video, my roommate bought me a cast iron pan at a thrift store. It wasn’t rusted but it needed a little TLC so thank you for your video the pan came out beautiful.
My Dad showed me how to season the pan (with an already clean and rust free pan)
He put a coating of table salt on inside the pan then cooked the salt, on the burner till the salt browns a bit, dumps out the hot salt, then he wipes a thin coat of oil inside the pan with a paper towel.The oil should smoke.
Be careful, hot!
I'll try your way next.
Thanks
Thank you for sharing your story!
You can find cast iron skillets (all type of sizes) with great affordable prices at T.J Maxx, Marshall's retail stores/chain store etc. that sells them. Extremely Recommended! 😀 Use it for anything.. stovetops or ovens. Great investment!
Thanks for the tip!
@@achefandhisspoon No problem! You are very welcome!
@@achefandhisspoon You are very welcome!
too bad i didnt watch this before i threw ours away, it looks like the same as yours but it had a bunch of rust and i didnt know how to clean it
Bummer. At least you'll know for the future.
Just keep your new cast iron pan outside in the backyard for the next 50 years and tell your great grand kids to watch that YT video! Just one problem! In 50 years we'll be eating pills for "0ur meals"! No cast iron pans or non stick pans, no induction ovens/stoves. Maybe only the upper class will have access to some form of foods! Dehydrated it will be and you'll jus have to boil water somehow!
I use Crisco lard on my pans seems to work much better than canola Just like my grandma
The best part about cast iron pan videos is no one seems to agree on the proper way to clean and season them. I’ve used a wire brush on my drill to clean the rust and old seasoning off and then season it with vegetable oil at around 450 degrees. But I’ve seen dozens of videos that make it seem like there is some sort of voodoo involved and you have to do it some special way. This way looks pretty good too
Thank you! And yes, people are very passionate about their cast irons! haha
I use lard, love cast iron.
If your skillet is crusty you can put it in your self-cleaning electric oven for a cycle. Crust is gone, season with oil & you’re back in business. I did this with a pan that dates from the late 1920s, with no troubles. It does take the shine off of your oven shelves, but I don’t care. Love my Erie frying pan.
Thanks for sharing your tips! Wow 100yr old pan!
Sorry but what does cycle mean ?
I wouldn’t do it because of over heating and warping the pan.
I wouldn’t suggest the self cleaning oven method. There are much better ways. I have 75+ pieces that I’ve refurbished, and none have been through that process. Not only could it ruin your pan, but might burn your house down.
@@emm6155 my oven has a cleaning setting. You turn it on & leave it until it is turns itself off. Sort of like the wash cycle for laundry.
Ooops! I did it wrong! Let me try this again...
I was walking out of my front door with rusted cast iron skillet in a plastic bag in hand walking to the dumpster to toss the skillet out. It’s my first and only iron skillet. I found it in a dumpster. I found it in bad shape. I’ve never used it. I figured it’s hopeless to save it.
But today as I’m about to walk out my iron in one hand phone in the other. My screen on I’m fumbling as always. I open RUclips app unexpectedly. I’m talking to the skillet saying good by and a video begins playing. Your video!!
Yeah, trippy to say the least.
Weird day already
Thanks for the advice Skillie (that’s her name now. I think she’s earned ) is gonna look so amazing and she’s makes some excellent food. Now if only she can buy and pickup the food.
Work in progress!!
That's great to hear it's saved!
What type of cloth/sponge do you recommend using to clean the cast iron pan after normal use?
I just use the spongey side of a kitchen sponge
While still pretty warm, scrape it with a flat wooden spatula or wire mesh and remove debris. Then rub in some veg oil with a cloth that produces as little lint as possible. I use a bandanna-style fabric. Nothing is perfect but it will do the trick and keep it shiny until next time. Don't put too much oil, just enough to coat.
Not sure if that's the best way, but it works for me.
I use a piece of chain mail I got from Walmart it doesn’t leave any cloth fibers and works great for taking everything off
Never wash the pan with dish soap?
Great video! I bought my first carbon steel pan (needs the same maintenance as cast iron). After one layer of seasoning, my pancakes were sliding around in the pan.
Carbon steel are great pans too!
My cast iron dutch oven has raised rust that I am having problems getting rid of. I have soaked it in 1/2 water vinegar mix and tried your baking soda method. Any advise
I would try using 320 grit sandpaper to get the raise rust off.
I found this oddly satisfying and hit the like button.😂
Thanks!
My pan is rust was heavily scoured with a knife to get off all the gooed on food stuck over decades of use with oil (never seasoned properly I'm guessing). I've gotten my hopes up about restoring it...but is there any point since I (yep I did it) scraped off the baked in oil/food as a brillo pad etc wouldn't work? crossing my fingers
It will be more work to fix it, but it's possible. To get the baked on stuff off, you need to burn it off. The best way is to put it over a burner on an outdoor grill and let it stay over fire until the baked on stuff flakers off. If you have deep scratches, you will need to sand them down until the surface is smooth again. Then you just need to go through the seasoning process. Hope this helps!
OMG Thank you so much for the home chemistry! Every video was like "scrub with your elbow grease" and that is not realistic for me. Such a good video with great results! Thank you again!
You're so welcome!
Question...
Do you have to use Canola Oil or is Vegetable Oil ok?
You can use vegetable oil, but it has a smoke point of 400F, ideally you want to be have a smoke point over 450F.
Make sure when you put the oil on that it isn't too thick as it becomes small bumps if it is. Live and learn
Now I know...I have only used mine 3 times and it's a total mess.
Would the existing rust completely go away this way ? I always thought preparing food in your cast iron utensils once rusted is highly hazardous from health perspective.
If there is no longer rust there shouldn't be a problem.
The video was quick , easy to follow and to the point. Thank you
Clear, concise and to the point! Thank you! Good job!
Exgelent video , I was able to restore my cast iron pan !!! Thank you !!!
Wonderful! Glad to hear! Thanks for stopping by!
I still use our cast iron since 1980s...I seasoned it once probably un 2018. Have always used dish soap with no issues. NOT the dishwasher though
👍
I have a pan 3 years old that looks like that lol
😂
you need to decrease the volume of that horrible background music by about 99% so i can actually hear what you are saying lol.
also you should have put a very thin coat of butter on it and dont use *****ANYTHING***** but butter to fry in it - guarantee that will maintain and improve its seasoning better than ANYTHING else.
Closed caption is an option 🙂
I just found my cast iron pan a few days ago and it was covered in rust and I was hoping it wasn't too far gone. Thankfully I randomly stumbled upon this video. I will clean and restore it next weekend. Thanks for sharing!
Let me know how it turns out!
@@achefandhisspoon will do! 👍
Can you use other oils besides canola oil? Thanks for the video. Also, with a seasoned cast iron pan, you shouldn't have to add butter to make it nonstick right? Thanks!
Yes you can use other oils, you just need to make sure the smoke point is above 400F degrees and that it is neutral in flavor. Stay away from extra virgin olive oil.
No, you will still need to add some fat or oil to the pan so it won't stick.
you are awesome, i love my cast iron skillet, recently i left it 1/2 full of water and forgot about it while i was visiting family out of state for a few days. when i returned it was rusted, not as bad as yours, but bad enough that i havent cooked on since. I will do this in the morning and hope it comes out as good as yours. Thanks a million
Thank you!
Maybe I would dry it out first after washing. Then start seasoning
I'm trying to restore one now. I have used a wire brush on my drill and everytime I try to dry it off (in the hot oven) it comes out with a thin layer of rust.
Are you wiping it down before putting it in the oven? It can't have any moisture before you put it in the oven.
Don’t fry it off in the oven. Use a dry cloth to immediately wipe off all the moisture after cleaning it, because since it takes awhile for the cast iron to heat up in the oven, that leaves a large window of time for rust to form
Remove all rust with a mixture of water and white vinegar. It will dissolve any flash rust. Then rinse the skillet with lots of cold (!) water. You may also use some Soda or soap to neutralize the vinegar. But cold water is the key. The lower temperature means a slower chemical reaction between the iron, water and oxygen. Then quickly wipe the skillet as dry as possible and put it into the pre-heated oven to get rid of any remaining moisture.
If it's completely dry, wipe the whole skillet with a generous amount of oil so it gets everywhere. Then completely wipe it off again with a dry towel. Wipe it as if you want to completely remove the oil again. Don't worry, there will be a microscopic thin layer of oil left. The skillet should not look wet, it should only have a silky, matte shine and feel dry to the touch. Then put it into the oven for one hour at 450-550°F. Turn the oven off and let the skillet cool down slowly in the closed oven.
That's your perfect first layer of seasoning. Apply two more layers with the same oven method and the skillet will be like brand new.
Good seasoning oils are canola oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil and olive oil.
Awesome video, thank you! Quick question, after cooking in the skillet how should I clean it?
You can just wipe it clean with a paper towel. If it has some crusty soap and water, make sure its completely dry and rub with a light coat of oil.
I liked this video. Apparently baking soda was too much of a challenge for 11 other people...
hahahaha! 😂 I guess you can't please everyone.
Thanks for the support!
If not rusted but just caked with old grease or food, place the pan inside a very hot wood or charcoal fire, If will come out beautiful and the carbon will have seasoned the pan.
I do something similar when I re season my pans. I just burn off everything until it becomes powder, cool it down, scrub them and re season.
Wow, thank you! This was super helpful! I just got a couple of cast iron pans/skillets and stupidly, left them outside and then it rained. I didn't realize what I did until I saw all the rust! Can't wait to go to the store tomorrow to get some baking soda!
Fantastic! Let me know how they turn out!
Seasoning your pan is so important to make it non-stick. Same as a wok. But they gave us Teflon pans. Toxic as hell !!
I agree 100%
Thanks, my mom just gave me 2 cast iron skillets that have literally been in her kitchen cabinet for longer than I’ve been alive, which is 51+ years.😂
That is awesome!
I used your baking soda and vinegar scrub...it took it right down to the steel and I'm having trouble with the seasoning process. It seems the steel showing areas is soaking up the oil and always looks like bare steel. Any advise? I dont use soap to clean it but sometimes it smells like rust when I cook meat with it and end up switching pans. Any advise?
You can try and season it a few more times.
Also, soap is okay in a well-seasoned pan. That saying came from when lye was still used in soaps. It no longer is, just do not use a very abrasive scrubber when you clean.
Just an FYI. The only way to make soap is to combine oil with lye. The truth is we have way better regulation and standards to ensure nothing is lye heavy which was a the original issue. Source, I’ve been making my own soap for years.
@@aimeehintz8245 you make your own dish soap? Because that’s what is normally used, not bars of soap
@@sundstrom193 lye is still one of two main ingredients. I make both bar and liquid soap.
I very rarely if ever use soap in my cast iron skillet. I usually just scrub with a nylon dish brush and the hottest possible sink water. If the gunk is built up enough I just use steel wool to get the gunk that doesn't come off with the brush.
@Max Power very good sir. Straight from mamasuds! But like she said those are not soaps. By definition soap contains lye
Thank you I've been reading several different things but none like this & I need to strip old seasoning off as well, thank you thank you🎉😊
soaking a rusted pan or any steel object in Coca Cola for several hours eliminates a lot of scrubbing. (and people drink that stuff!!)
But that's a couple of hours we would have to have it sit in our mouth for hours and our stomach acid is way worst than coca cola
It's the phosphoric acid in Coke that does that.
how else am i supposed to clean the rust outta my tummy
Good thing my stomach is not made of metal
Easy tutorial thank you 🙏🏾 ❤
Just restored an antique cast iron pan that was in bad shape using your video!
Wow! very impressive work you've done on that skillet. Thank you for these wonderful tips.
My pleasure 😊
What kind of cloth did you use to clean the pan. You did an amazing job.
Thank you! I just used regular paper towels.
Thank you, this is the simplest method and yet your skillet looks amazing.. Thanks for sharing
Thanks!
Just curious, did those seasoning processes @ 500 degrees smoke up your house.
It smoked a little bit, but not enough to really notice. If it is really smokey than you put too much oil on. It should be a very thin coat of oil.
I have 3 frying pans I'm about to restore. And so i'm going to try this way. Thanks.
Let me know how it turns out!
I tried this method and the rust stains started appearing back when I seasoned it, do you know what I'm doing wrong? Thanks for the great video!!
You might need to scrub it some more. Also, once you are done washing it, put it on the stove over medium heat to dry it all the way. Then start the seasoning process.
Thank you for sharing.
I now know that I've been doing it all wrong 🤣.
Your method is a great idea.
Thanks again 😊
Happy to help!
I'm not even sure how I got here, but I'm glad I did. Watching the transformation was awesome! I actually have a rusty cast iron grill under my stove. Project!
Awesome! Thank you!