Just reading the answers on previous cast iron question, and made me wonder....doesn't the oil in the crevices of the pan get rancid?

-- Sue Landress (Sulandherb@aol.com), November 08, 1999

Answers

no it doesn't get rancid......you don't put in or leave enough grease in the pan to get rancid.....after washing and drying the pan, put on a very light coating of oil, wipe it around well, and don't leave an excess standing.

my personal method, well it works for me anyway, is after i wash my cast iron skillet or dutch oven/whatever, i dry it well with a few paper towels, then i put it back on the oven to let it get warmed back up again, nice and warm but NOT hot, and i then apply a thin coating of oil inside and all around, and wiped down again with paper towel. and i leave it on the oven/range/stove (whatever appliance you are using) so it stays warm and dry. a cast iron utensil, kept warm and dry, cannot rust, due to no moisture standing on it. also, if your cast iron utensil has a lid, such as a dutch oven, keep it when not in use with the lid off or ajar, you want air to flow, if air is blocked that could cause problems.

oh by the way, be sure to use some sort of regular cooking oil, not butter or a fat like butter. a pretty good site is www.lodgemfg.com, good source of information, and you can even call lodge on 800# and ask a few questions if necessary.

good luck, i hope this helped.

gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), November 09, 1999.

I mistakenly bought a NEW cast iron pan (used are best) and had a lot of trouble seasoning it. It never seemed to turn black and slick like my old ones, so I stopped using it. On our next camping trip, I took it with me because I figure if I messed it up, no big deal, I'd just pitch the thing. I figured I'd give it a good seasoning before using it again. I poured some oil in it and all over the ouside of it and turned it upside down over the camp fire. My husband figured it was a great place to place his coffee pot. I never did end up cooking in the pan, it became a sort of grill surface for a week of camping. Needless to say, I now have a perfectly seasoned pan! On top of that, I never smelled the smoking oil.

-- Willow (adkins@webbernet.net), November 10, 1999.

I grew up on cast iron and have been slowly building up my "collection" of pots and pans. Whenever we got a new (new to us anyway) item we cleaned it thouroughly in multiple changes of very hot water (no soap) , rinsed it off and placed it damp and warm onto a lit stove. The heat from the pot and the stove dryed the iron out and at this point we rubbed it down with peanut oil (Lodge cast iron recommends this-before we had always used whatever oil was handy). It takes but a small amount to cover a large pot. This cleaning ritual was used every time the pot/pan was used. Started to get away from my point. The "extra mile" we went with a new iron was to heat up a large amount of oil in it and fry up some homemade donuts. The extra oil and all of the sugar & spices did a decent job kickstarting a pan's seasoning, and it worked as a great excuse to make donuts...hope this helps.

-- Chris Stogdill (stogdill@vvm.com), November 20, 1999.