How do I season and use a cast-iron skillet?

Stainless steel and non-stick skillets are simple to use. Make sure you add butter or oil to a stainless steel skillet, and make sure you don’t use metal utensils in a non-stick skillet; otherwise, you’re ready to cook. Cast-iron skillets, however, require a little more care.

 

Before you use a cast-iron skillet for the first time, you will need to season your skillet. The term “seasoning” refers to a process by which you add oil to a skillet to prepare it for use. The oil adds an artificial protective layer to the skillet, sort of a “do it yourself” non-stick, because once you season your skillet, you never have to add oil or butter, exactly like a non-stick pan.

 

In preparation for seasoning your new skillet, use steel wool to thoroughly wash your skillet. Then, using fingers, a paper towel, or a cloth, coat the inside of your skillet with vegetable oil. After coating the skillet, place it uncovered in the oven for two hours, with your oven heated to 250 degrees. After two hours, your skillet is ready to use, and as long as you don’t have any cooking problems, don’t add oil or butter to your skillet. Once food begins to stick to your skillet again or when food cooked in the skillet begins to give off a metallic flavor, it’s time to reseason.

 

If you don’t season your cast-iron skillet, you can still use it, but you should add oil in order to keep foods from sticking. In addition, if you choose not to season your skillet, don’t cook foods, such as tomatoes, that have a high acidic content.

 

When you are ready to cook, preheat the skillet on medium heat for five minutes before adding ingredients. Once your skillet is ready for use, however, you can use it to cook just about anything you want. Put it in the oven to toast bread. Leave it on the stovetop and use it as a stir-fry pot. Take it with you on a camping trip and cook burgers over the fire. The food manufacturer Stouffer’s even offers “Skillet Sensations,” entire dishes for which all the work is done in your skillet. Of course, you can always use your skillet as a frying pan; frying is perhaps the most familiar use of a skillet, and you can use your skillet to fry eggs, bacon, chicken, and more. You will want to flip items that you place in the skillet and avoid overcrowding the skillet with ingredients so that everything can heat, but for the most part the skillet is an extremely simple and versatile piece of cookware.

 

Finally, make sure you know how to safely use your cast-iron skillet. Some skillets can weigh up to fifteen pounds, so be careful lifting and carrying yours. In addition, the handle will often heat up along with the base of the skillet, so you should use a hot pad when holding a cast-iron skillet.