Smooth Your Cast Iron Skillet Surface

Did you get a new cast iron pan or want to re-season an existing one?

In this Instructable, I will show you my technique for cast iron care.

Cast iron pan

Grinding apparatus, i.e. an angle grinder, drill, your arms

Grinding wheel / pad

Sand paper

Heat source, i.e. the stove / grill

High smoke point kitchen oil like rice bran or canola

Lint-free rags or paper towels

Kitchen tongs

Hard bristle scrub brush

Oven mit(s)

Check out my video and see the process from start to finish.

If you purchased a new cast iron pan, chances are the manufacturer "preseasons" it. You could cook with this pan straight from the store but I like to take it a bit further with some modifications (more on that in a later step).

First let's focus on seasoning:

Don't use flavored cooking oils or something will a low smoke point like any olive oil.

Don't use Flax oil even though this has a high smoke point, your season will degrade over time. Trust me, I know.

Don't use a lot of oil for each coating. If your pan is getting sticky after seasoning, you likely used too much oil.

Don't season in the oven in summer, unless you like the heat.

The traditional method would be to add a little (VERY little) bit of oil to the pan, stick it in an oven at a high temperature, like 450 - 500F, and let it come up to temperature for an hour or so, kill the heat, leave the pan in the oven and let it come back to room temperature naturally. This is a very effective method but the downside is you need to repeat this process quite a few times (I go 6-7 times total). This could take you all day. Granted, this is a relatively hands off process but still.

The quicker method I use is to take the pan to the stove top (pic 1) but you could do this outside on the grill (which would probably be more beneficial in terms of your smoke detectors). Get the pan ripping hot to where is starts to look "discolored" (pic 1 again). Next, I use an old clean T-shirt or kitchen towel that doesn't have a lot of lint. Place a very small amount of oil on the rag (pic 2) and carefully (I bunch up the towel and use tongs) rub it on the metal pan. Be quick and thorough as the ripping heat will start to break down the oil and polymerize it (pic 3). This process will get you the non-stick surface you are pursuing. I feel this process is completed for each coating when the smoking stops in which case you will wait for the pan to come back up in temperature (this shouldn't take long) and repeat the coatings. Again, I do a total of 6-7 wipes with new oil until I am done. Pic 4 shows the pan when I have gone through all 7 coatings. Now you can cook something and the industry standard for this point is to cook an egg (pic 5).

Go very thin on each oil application to the point to where you feel like you added nothing. This is ideal which may seem counterintuitive but you want to slowly build your polymer chain. If you glob on the oil thinking more is better, it isn't. You won't get full polymerization and will likely just get a sticky residue (which is not what you are after).

The traditional oven seasoning generally takes me a day and in the sense of good BBQ, slow is the way to go. You want the season to penetrate all the imperfections on the pan's surface.

The quick method takes me maybe 1/2 an hour, max. This still gets the same results and I used this for my cast iron pans. I also used this on a carbon steel pan after I completely stripped off the original season.

How do you strip the old / bad season? Funny you should ask!

Why would you want to remove the full season? Maybe your pan isn't cooperating during cooking / cleaning, you bought if from a thrift shop and are not sure if it was used in a meth lab, it is getting rusty, or it was neglected in general.

If you want to start with a "fresh blank canvas," so to speak, you can strip the season in a couple of ways:

1. In the oven using the cleaning cycle (pic 1). This will blast the season coating off your pan so that you can rinse/scrub it off relatively easily and start a new seasoning process. This is how the oven does the self-cleaning cycle and can work for your pan, too.
2. Use an acid like common household vinegar (pic 2). Generally acid and iron don't play well but for this application, it is what you want. Clean the pan as much as you can. Let the acid "soak" into the cooking surface and the season will slowly start to lift away. Don't soak too long like overnight, however.

Once you're done cooking in your freshly seasoned pan, take the following steps to prolong the life of it.

1. Let it cool slightly but not to room temperature. Cooling helps "lift" the food stuffs off the surface.
2. Rinse and scrub with hot water, not cool & not warm. Hot.
3. Use a designated harder bristle brush. I use the one in pics 1 & 2 only on my cast iron / carbon steel pans and no others. Some folks like the chain mail scrubber, too.
4. Rarely use soap. My personal opinion is that a little bit of soap now and then is not going to destroy your season. Some people vehemently disapprove of soap on cast iron / carbon steel. I do it now and then to remove tough carbon deposits and haven't had any issues of instant regret.
5. Don't soak your pan and Don't put it in the dishwasher, ever!
6. Dry your pan thoroughly and put it back on the heat to evaporate any water. You don't have to blast it with heat but just let it heat up long enough to expel any water the towel didn't remove.
7. Apply a very super baby thin coat of oil and store it for next time. Again, don't glob on the oil.
8. Cook regularly. Your pan wants you to cook with it and doing so will help maintain and build that season you worked so hard for. Neglecting it will slowly degrade the seasoning.
9. Avoid acidic recipes. Steaks, roasted veggies, corn bread = yum and is good for your pan! Spaghetti sauce = also yum but the acid of the tomatoes isn't good for your pan. Stick to stainless steel or the like for acidic recipes like Bolognese and whatnot.
10. If you notice food sticking now and then or in certain spots, give it a quick coat to reseason. You don't have to start from scratch unless it is really bad or rusting all over the place.

In my supplies section, you may have wondered why I had power tools in this Instructable. When I get a brand new (even a "new to me") cast iron pan, my go to move is to smooth the surface as much as I can. Pic 1 shows the pan straight from the store. The surface is fine to start a season straight away (even with the common Lodge brand) but I like to mimic the surface of a Stargazer or Viking pan. I have heard great things about those brands since they are machined to a smooth surface, but they reflect that in the pricing, too. I don't want to pay that much for something I can do myself. I understand I won't get that type of precision but it is close enough for me. And I like it.

To start the smoothing process I take the grinding wheel I mentioned and start running over the entire cooking surface of the pan. The idea is to remove the high spots and that is where I usually stop (pics 2 - 4). I don't get a "mirror shine," but this is leaps and bounds better than where I started (pic 5). The idea is if the high spots increase the surface area of the pan, that is more places for potential sticking. Seasoning helps relieve sticking so this is more for building that season evenly and keeping old carbon deposits (i.e. old burnt up bits of food) at a minimum.

Removing the high peaks is sufficient to start seasoning. My opinion is that the valleys left over will get filled with the seasoning of the pan over time. If you want to make the entire surface smooth, peaks and valleys, you can absolutely do that, too.

Once I get to a relatively smooth surface with the grinding wheel, I start using sand paper of higher grit to get a better finish. I start with 80 grit and move up to 220. I feel that is good enough but if you are going full mirror shine, you can go up to 1000+ grit. I bet the season on those are absurdly beautiful! I know I am a cooking nerd :)

I hope you found these tips useful. If you give this a go, I would love to see your pictures of restored / re-seasoned pans. Also, If you have any other cast iron / carbon steel pan tips, tricks, precautions, hit me up in the comments.

Happy cooking!!