Seasoning a cast iron dutch oven

[pirkfan]

I personally prefer aluminum dutch ovens over cast iron. Way lighter, very simple to use, no seasoning necessary. I use a 12 (has legs) and a 10 which nests inside the twelve for transport. Galvanized oil drain pan for a fire pan. Charcoal briquettes for a heat source (just easier to regulate than coals). The 10 incher sits on a stand on top of the 12. 12 briquettes under the 12, 8 on the lid, and 8 on the lid of the ten does the trick.

[nagantguy]

Beef tallow good deer tallow good flax seed oil real good, cooking meat and stew an sich in it fer a spell is even better.

[country gent]

I did my dutch oven for cooking with crisco vegtable shortening. I wiped a very thick layer ( 1/4-1/2: thick all the way around and covering the inside of pot and lid. Started a low charcoal fire going and set 8-10 burning coal of to the side I set the pot on the fire added a ring of briqettes around the outside to burn and help heat sides then the 8-10 set aside went around on top of the lid. Let "cook" occasionally wiping down the inside with a clean barbeque brush. You want to open the pores in the cast iron so the oils can soak into it thus curing it. The rough finish of cast iron is what allows this to hapen and the hills and valleys also prevent sticking as it provides a lower surface area. Sanding or polishing the surface negates this effect

[bob208]

bacon. fry some bacon in it. that is what my iron gets. in fact i just picked up a griswold duch oven and pan got to clean them up go and fry some bacon.

[gwpercle]

I have read and tried all those "seasoning" instructions involving oil/lard and baking in the oven and I never had satisfactory results. Always a residue left on the surface that was sticky and/or gummy, not the surface I wanted.
Best way to season, cook in it. Fry some chicken , fish, shrimp, potatoes , make cornbread, whatever. You can even just heat some oil to 450 or so then let it cool in the pan. that oven method just doesn't work for me.
Gary

[big bore 99]

Thanks to everyone for the tips. After smoking up the whole house, I did make a good oak fire in the pit outside and after I got some coals going, I kept wiping the pot and lid with lard. I kept it propped up next to the coals. the next day I did the same with the coals and fried up some bacon, drained out most of the grease, then chopped up an onion and a bell pepper. Fried that up then dumped in some hash browns and then about 8 eggs. It came out real good. Some cheese on top would have been even better. Was surprised, anything stuck to the bottom came off very easily with only a wooden spoon. Washed it out with only clear water then dried in the oven @ 200. Breakfast turned out to be dinner, but was good.

[RidgerunnerAk]

To properly season cast iron you need to use a very saturated fat, not oil...of any kind. It won't do it right. Get some suet from a butcher shop - kidney fat, heart fat, mutton fat - something 'waxy'; the more saturated the better. You can either grind and render it, which is best, or just use it in pcs. If you render it keep in frozen in the freezer and sacrifice a small brush with natural fibers vs nylon and just leave it in the container, something metal you can put on the wood stove to warm it up. Brush it all over the pan, inside and out and put it in a preheated 425deg oven for about 15minutes. If you do a pan with a lid, DO THEM SEPARATELY or you'll glue the lid on good. Pull it out and you'll notice 'bare' spots; just recoat it all and do it again. The third time coat it inside but not outside and do it again. Keep repeating the process until you're happy. You'll smoke up the neighborhood but that's life. If you're married, do it when the wife isn't home. If you have pcs of fat, just rub it on for each coat; you can't overdo it; the season coat will just get thicker. When you're done it will look like it has a couple of coats of spar varnish on it and will work well. I use rendered bear fat, which is the best I've found by far. Deer fat works very well also, as would mutton fat, I'm sure. I even used wolf fat once, which worked well. When you cook with the iron stuff don't over heat it; limit it to 300 or 350deg max and don't put it over a high flame on a propane stove or it will warp the pan and burn the seasoning off. I have a #8 Griswold dutch oven that someone put either on a hot campfire or on a gas range on high and warped the bottom down in the center, rendering it useless on any stove now, but it's fine for camp fire baking. Main lesson here: forget oil, get some real fat.

[C.F.Plinker]

When I'm finished cooling I take the now empty skillet off the burner or fire, put a half inch or so of water in it and let it soak while we're eating. Then when doing the dishes, I pour out the soak water, scrub the skillet with hot water and a plastic scrubber, dry it good, and put it back on the burner. When it is "pancake hot" it gets sprayed with a very light coating of peanut oil or canola oil and taken off the heat. After it has cooled down wipe any excess oil out and you're ready to go for the next meal.

[firefly1957]

I like to season cast iron with hard Crisco when frying in it i find the best oil to use is coconut oil really seam to keep it nonstick.

[SeabeeMan]

I'm with firefly on this one. My reset button is the grill at 700-800 degrees until it quits smoking, let it cool, then sand out any remaining rough spots. Wipe it down liberally with Crisco or coconut oil and it goes back in the grill at 350 for a few hours. I have several items that I've taken from rusted piles to almost daily usage with this. My wife almost refused to let me take the things home when we found them and now she takes better care of them than I do. My daughter refuses to eat grilled cheese at Nana's house because it's not made on "daddy's black pan."

[gbrown]

I've resurrected a bunch of cast iron stuff--skillets, dutch ovens, kettles, etc. Takes time, all I can say. Just depends on how much you value and love that stuff. LLS is kinda like the subject area expert in this area. I'd listen to him. He's done it, he knows. Lot of good info on this thread. However, it's about the 5th or 6th one covering the same subject. My cast iron cooks like teflon--clean with hot water and paper towels--season as needed. Just like my 2 grandmothers did it. Only, they didn't have paper towels--they used old newspapers. I used my mother's Wagner today and yesterday, also. Nothing to it.