Seasoning a Dutch Oven

[Scoutfish]

I need some advice.

For my birthday, I asked for a dutch oven.

 

I got two.

 

One is a Sam's Club special. It's a 8" round red ceramic coated cast iron dutch oven with a nice pretty rounded lid. The inside is a very pretty white ceramic lined. Yeah, it's for the house. The edge of the lid and top edge of the sides are un coated.

 

The other DO is the real McCoy. A 12'' oval raw cast iron with the 2" legs on the bottom and flat lid witha 1" lip/rim above the flat part of the lid.

 

Soanyways... I turned my oven to 350 degrees and coated the edges of the lid of the "pretty" Do and the inside of the "REAL" DO with coking oil , and let them bake for about 20 minutes.

 

 

That about right? Did I cook them long enough? Hot enough?(This message has been edited by scoutfish)

[HobcawChaos]

The Lodge website (IMHO the authority on all things cast iron) recommends baking at 350-400 for at least 1 hour.

 

http://www.lodgemfg.com/use-care-seasoned-cast-iron.asp#3

[red feather]

Old or new I like to burn out the previous seasoning by filling the bottem and the inner top with campfire coals. If you have a quality iron oven this will open up the iron and release the seasoning. Once burned out start seasoning with your favorite (crisco is what I use normally but am trying olive oil). It will take some time to get a proper seasoned dutch oven. I like to do a couple or three fried chickins meals in mine to get them going.

 

If you know the history of an older dutch oven then the burn out may not be needed. Good luck and have fun.

 

yis

 

[Stosh]

If one wishes to clean up cast iron, DO or pans, one can toss them into their self-cleaning oven and run the cycle. Take a wire bush to them, reseason them and you're ready to go, just like brand-new.

 

For those items which will be stored for extended periods of time, there is alway the possibility of the oils going rancid. If you do not wish to take that risk, use bees wax instead of oil. You can store the item for years and the "oil" will never go rancid. I bought a brick of the wax and have used it for years. Just remember that the wax needs to go on while the item is hot/warm. Oil can go on when the item is cold.

 

Stosh

[nldscout]

you can also get Food grade silicone spray. It won't go rancid and will wipe right out with a paper towel

[John-in-KC]

I was getting ready for a District event, and had borrowed about five DO's from various units. Gad, they were rustbuckets ... had not been stored properly.

 

Thank heaven it was early fall.

 

Over about two weeks leading up to the event, on night one, I put the Dutch and its lid in my household oven, heated the thing to 550F, maintained temp for 90 minutes on the clock, then let it cool overnight to stone cold. Day 2, steel-wooled both parts, then on went canola oil. back in the oven it went, set the thing to 450F and maintained temp for a clock hour.

 

I got good solid coatings.

 

I tried one oven at 350F. Oil was still tacky after an hour in curing.

 

Lodge is generally right, but know how the heat you are applying actually works in the wild.

[CalicoPenn]

You can't really go wrong following Lodge's instructions. Keys to remember are to put to oven's, pan's, etc. on your oven rack with the openings facing down not up. Put a baking sheet underneath to catch any drips. Let the utensil cool down somewhat in the oven - but no more than about 30 minutes - you just need it cool enough to handle but warm enough that any excess oil hasn't started to harden - use paper towels and remove as much excess oil as possible. If excess oil is left to harden it can turn into a polymer (basically a plastic) that is near impossible to remove - even reheating the utensil might not work. Of course this is a bigger risk if you use more oil than you really need.

 

Once the initial seasoning is complete, it should be a rare occurrence to have to re-season the pans. I know some sources say they should be re-done every year but I've never had to do so - the "secret" is to care for it properly in the first place - that means no soaking the pan in water for an hour, no scrubbing the pan with aluminium or steel (I use a bundle of tightly wrapped thin sticks as my scrubber), no using soap (soap breaks down oil), and wiping down the pan with a thin layer of oil or beeswax after every use while the pan is still warm. I usually clean my cast iron cookware before I eat - most foods should "rest" a few minutes before eating anyway to allow for a better melding of flavors anyway (obviouls exceptions - eggs - they just get too cold too fast) so I'm usually cleaning my cast iron as soon as I've taken the food out of it.

 

I usually use spray cooking oil (something like pam) because it's quick - a very light spritzing, then wipe out with paper towels and you'll get a good coat. If I'm using bulk oil, I oil the paper towels, not the pan, and "wipe out" the pan. If I use beeswax, it's a very quick wipe down with the block of wa (and only is the pan is warm enough to melt the wax) then wipe/spread out with paper towel. I then put the pot/pan upside down on a towel to cool.

 

 

 

[Brian85]

You did melt the protective coating off, I assume? My first real DO and the wax was sealed until a good burning over a campfire.

I have two of my Grandmothers cast iron tools. One is a 10 inch fry pan from 1922 and the other is a Dutch Oven, rounded cover, from 1927. I know the dates, because they were cast on the bottom.

The most important part of the seasoning is to continue using it until you get that good hard black imbedded color. Your pretty DO sounds like it has an enamel coating, so the seasoning is not so much an issue, but the other one is a gem.

When you cook for the first time, try to stay away from acidic foods and cook meat. The grease from the meat will seal the pores of the DO and 'burn' a non-stick seal onto the surface. One of my friends has been 'seasoning' his DO for about three years, so it is a continuous process.

My friend uses his BBQ grill to season his cast iron cookware. He uses bacon grease drippings and burns it until it is smoking. The smoke outside usually keeps his wife calm, and he can really get the temp to near the 500 deg mark.

Don't forget to season the inside of the lid on your 12 inch DO. When turned over and heated over a fire, it makes a great surface for fried eggs.

ENJOY!!!

[dg98adams]

CalicoPenn

I like the idea of green sticks tied in a bundle as a scrubber if needed.

 

I would not advocate "steel wool" on cast iron. A Plastic scrubber pad (or scotch brite) is what we have in the Troop Patrol box.

 

A Scotch pad on a cast iron pot/skillet after it has burned out old food or rust has always worked for us.

 

I think we have cheapie D.O.'s, so there is some effort every year getting them ready.

[John-in-KC]

Cast iron is cast iron. How Troop Quartermasters store it is what matters.

 

As I said earlier, mine had been at best ridden hard and put away wet. Frankly, they were well rusted. Granted, Flyover Country USA is humid, but not as much as the South.

 

If the youth take care of their DOs, they should, as Calico said, very rarely require re-seasoning. The ones I borrowed were dregs when I got them, and returned in better condition than I found them.

[John-in-KC]

Cast iron is cast iron. How Troop Quartermasters store it is what matters.

 

As I said earlier, mine had been at best ridden hard and put away wet. Frankly, they were well rusted. Granted, Flyover Country USA is humid, but not as much as the South.

 

If the youth take care of their DOs, they should, as Calico said, very rarely require re-seasoning. The ones I borrowed were dregs when I got them, and returned in better condition than I found them.