How To Season Your Carbon Steel or Cast Iron Skillet | What Removes Pan Seasoning?

did you just accidentally remove the seasoning on your favorite carbon steel skillet or maybe you just bought a new skillet and you're having a hard time getting that initial seasoning for that perfect non-stick coating well don't worry i got your back in this video i'm gonna show you guys my favorite two methods for re-seasoning a carbon steel or a cast iron skillet and we're gonna talk about why your seasoning was removed in the first place let's get started okay so if you guys are new to the whole carbon steel cookware cast iron cookware and you have no idea what i'm talking about let me take a few minutes to explain what i am referring to when i talk about the seasoning on a skillet this skillet right here is a carbon steel skillet it's actually a budget friendly skillet that i am testing out currently and it has been a couple of months but i do want to take my time and recommend a decent budget friendly carbon steel skillet so if you haven't already subscribe to my channel and look for that video in the very near future but if you do look at this skillet right here and you compare it to my mineral b de buyer skillet both are carbon steel skillets one of them is a beautiful shiny black and the other one well it's not quite there yet so when i do talk about the seasoning of a carbon steel skillet i'm not talking about salt and peppering your skillet the darker it is like my debuyer mineral bee here the better the seasoning is and ultimately the better performance you get so that's the differences in seasoning when i do talk about seasoning a carbon steel skillet so now let's talk about what are the actual causes of your seasoning being removed there's really three main fundamental reasons the first one being acidic food but let me clarify there's a huge myth out there that you can't cook any acidic foods in carbon steel or cast iron that's false when i talk about cooking acidic foods or cooking a lot of acidic foods i'm talking about something that's really acidic that's being cooked in your skillet for an hour plus so if you're making a quick tomato sauce or something on your skillet or you're roasting some tomatoes or some vegetables you're okay you're good to go i've never had a good carbon steel or cast iron skillet totally lose its seasoning by just frying up some tomatoes i've never seen that what i have seen is if you're making a acidic dish and then you're putting it in the oven for a few hours usually when you pull it out yes your your seasoning is completely stripped so yes the number one cause of your seasoning being removed is cooking acidic foods for a long time cast iron and carbon steel skillets are not designed to be cooking heavily acidic foods for a long period of time they just aren't it's just the nature of the beast i'll give you guys an example when i first bought a cast iron skillet long long time ago i was so excited to have it i seasoned it like three four times i cooked with it for months and months and months and then i made a sauce out of tomatillos the green spanish tomatoes and if you guys haven't used them in the past they're incredibly acidic they're also incredibly delicious i was putting some chicken in there and it was a it was a great dish and i put the entire thing in the oven i think it was in the oven for like 40 minutes or so 45 minutes when i pulled it out the seasoning was absolutely ruined so was the dish so that's what i mean by you know cooking acidic foods for a long period of time if you are going to be cooking heavily acidic foods for a long duration of time it's probably best that you invest in a stainless steel skill the next biggest reason for carbon steel or cast iron seasoning to accidentally be removed is and this might seem kind of obvious but over cleaning your skillets now there's a huge debate on the internet whether you should use soap and water to clean your carbon steel your cast iron skillets that's not what i'm talking about i think that's really overblown i always clean my skillets with a little bit of soap and water but what i mean is when you overly wash them for example here's a true funny story my buddy of mine who was just getting into cooking wanted a carbon steel skillet after using a cast iron skillet but when he started using the pan he got really confused by what the seasoning should actually look like and it was my fault i should have explained it to him because he was used to cast iron specifically lodge which comes preseason he was used to seeing this nice even dark black look throughout the entire pan and then he was expecting that when he seasoned it it would get darker and that's it it would just consistently be dark that's not what happens with carbon steel when you do season a carbon steel skillet it oftentimes looks just like this initially seasoning the pan from the start evenly right but as you use it as you cook with it more the pan will start developing seasoning kind of unevenly depending on how you're cooking and you know you're never cooking perfectly every time you're never shoving it in the oven you know for that perfect ambient temperature every time right so you will get uneven seasoning this is usually what it looks like you're not going to get this perfect black look oftentimes the outer edges are going to be darker than the inside and as you use it more and more the outer edges will start to come in more and then it will all start turning black just like this pad right here well he didn't know that so after a few cooks he thought something was wrong and he completely scrubbed the pan clean and he had like this frankenstein look where the outer surface was still kind of black and it was weird i was like hey man what's going on or did you cook something instead he's like oh no no no i don't know i don't know what's going on it wasn't seasoning right so i started over and i was like it doesn't work that way you can't just you know remove the bottom seasoning on the flat side and expect it all to just magically glue together and that's not the correct way to do it your pan was actually right on schedule seasoning beautifully you just ruined it so over cleaning your pan is another reason why you may lose your seasoning now using light detergent hot water even if you want to use a sponge you're okay you're good to go but there's no reason to like really scrub your pan clean that's just removing seasoning always dry your pan after washing it and i'm not talking about towel dry i'm talking about towel drying and putting it back on the stove top heating up your carbon steel or your cast iron skillet and making sure all that moisture has evaporated so you don't rust you don't want to develop any rust on these pans and then you can store it away but if you're taking scotch brite to your pan or a steel wool or bar keeper's friend or even like dawn power wash and you're letting it soak there of course your seasoning is going to get moving if you're letting it soak there you're probably developing rust don't over clean them you'll also notice that although the inside of this pan isn't fully seasoned yet the outside is pretty much there so you know naturally like we talked about the outside because this is exposed to the most heat and i only did the oven method once with this pan it's developing really good seasoning on the outside the inside's taking a little bit more time just natural as you cook with it it'll get there now the last reason for your seasoning being removed or not developing at all unfortunately you may have bought a cheap quality carbon steel or cast iron pan not all carbon steel and cast iron pans are made equally it's important that you buy a decent brand that has a good reputation if you're buying cast iron i highly recommend lodge the surface finish is a little rough you can sand it down and make it smooth for that vintage look and feel for carbon steel i highly recommend the buyers mineral b i love this pan it's thick it's a bit more heavier than a traditional carbon steel pan but my god does it work really well and i just absolutely love it i also highly recommend matford i have a 12 inch matte work that's treated me really really well those two brands right there are the leading brands for carbon steel they're amazing skillets i think they're both french company yeah they're both french companies and their quality speaks for itself so buy good quality that being said like i said i am testing out some budget-friendly carbon steel skills for you guys give me some time and i'll have that video up with my recommendations real soon i hope you guys are really liking this video if you haven't already check out my entire series on cookware from everything to cast iron carbon steel stainless steel roasting pans dutch oven sous-vide if you guys are wondering what the differences are between cast iron carbon steel and stainless steel and what the pros and cons are i have a video on that maybe you're looking for a budget-friendly stainless steel skillet and of course if you love italian food as much as i do and making pasta nothing beats making your own pasta so check out my video where i compare the two leading true italian pasta makers and the pros and cons of each okay now with that being out of the way let's talk about my two favorite methods for seasoning or re-seasoning a carbon steel skillet now full disclosure these two methods will work on either a carbon steel or a cast iron skillet it doesn't matter now there is a third method that i do want to mention and i don't recommend this method at all so we'll get to that later on but i do want to mention it because it has been circling in the dark corners of the internet and i just want to give you guys my two cents with that being said let's talk about the first method the potato peel method the potato peel method is actually the manufacturer's recommended method for seasoning a carbon steel skillet it's a really simple method it literally consists of grabbing some potatoes peeling them off getting those potato peels and sauteing them in your skillet with a heck of a lot of salt and oil until literally those potato peels are just burnt and crisp and they're done right you toss them away and you have this really good initial seasoning now there's pros and cons to this method the pros are it works really really really well and it works really well with an initial skillet or with a skillet that needs re-seasoning it's super simple to do and doesn't really take too much time you can kind of play with your skillet and you know take it for a test cook right there and then now the biggest cons to the potato peel method the first one being you're going to waste a lot of materials what do i mean by that well you have to use a lot of salt and a lot of oil and you're not going to eat the potato peels afterwards so that's all going in the trash you also kind of want to think about if you want to bake some potatoes or make some french fries afterwards because you're going to have like four or even five potatoes that are sitting there and peeled so yes it's a little bit wasteful but you can make the most out of it and honestly it is very effective the next biggest con to the potato peel method is yes you will have a smoky kitchen for a bit because you are trying to burn the potato peels you are trying to get them crispy and burnt and get your skillet to absorb all that starch and salt to clean out olive oil right that's why you put the salt in there the manufacturing grease and obviously soak in whatever oil you use i do also recommend that you use a high smoking point oil like grapeseed oil or sunflower seed oil stay away from the low smoking point stuff like extra virgin olive oil because you're gonna you're gonna smoke up your kitchen i mean if your oil can't handle it it's it's going to be a rough ride the next con to the potato pool method is it only seasons the inside of your pan right i mean you're adding salt oil and potato peels to the inside of your pan and you're stir-frying or sauteing or cooking them until they burn so the inside of your pan is getting incredibly seasoned the outside of your pan and the handle not so much right so if you're looking to protect your skillet and prevent it from rusting then the potato peel method probably isn't the best method but if that makes you feel uncomfortable you want to accelerate the process maybe you don't use your pan as often as you should then the potato peel method isn't the best method for that total protection which actually brings me to my next method the smoke point method the smoke point method commonly called the oven method is literally taking your favorite high smoke point oil and then coating your pan very lightly with that oil the outside the inside the handle the edges whatever it may be and then sticking that pan in the oven and setting the temperature of the oven the temperature of the smoking point for whatever oil you decide to use it's very important that you go past the smoking point and just make sure you have a catch pan or a japan in case the oil drips so you don't develop a lot of smoke it's very important to go past that smoking let's say the smoking point of grapeseed oil is 400 degrees fahrenheit 400 degrees fahrenheit you want your oven to be past 400 degrees i like to go 420 425 degrees because your oven isn't always consistent if you have a thermometer shove that baby in the oven and just kind of get a reading next to the skillet make sure you leave your skillet in the oven at that temperature for 45 minutes to an hour and then turn off your oven and allow the skillet to cool inside the oven so it's still going to be hot there for another hour or two and let that skillet and the oven cool down together once it's cool take it out put it on top of your stove top wipe off any excess of oil that might be left over and then store it away now let's talk about the pros and cons this method obviously the biggest pro is you are seasoning the entire skillet so if you're looking for protection against rust corrosion the elements whatever you got it this method is going to put a nice thin layer of protection on your skillet another big pro is it's literally a set it and forget it method now i highly recommend you keep an eye on things you don't want to go out for a jog or something and come back and you had way too much oil it dripped all over the place and you have a fire you don't want to do that keep an eye on it but generally it's a set and forget it if it's a really cold winter day hey you just killed two birds with one stone you had your carbon steel skillet developing a nice seasoning in the oven and you also heated your house for the next two hours or so a big con to this method is it will develop a lot of smoke i mean you're pushing the oil past its smoking point naturally you're gonna have some smoke it's pretty well contained as long as you keep a nice thin layer of oil occasionally if you go to check on things and you open up the door you might find you know a little bit of smoke coming out it's nothing to be afraid of now there's a lot of smoke then grab your fire extinguisher but you know some smoke is okay so in general it does kind of smoke up your kitchen and there is a burnt oil smell for the next couple hours or so another big con is it takes some time and you may have to do it several times depending on how well your skillet takes to this method i can tell you that when i do for example cast iron skillets i do it at least three times for my carbon steel skillets i usually only do it once now let me mention a third method and i wanted to get this out of the way but i've been hearing about this method for quite some time on the internet and it's sort of developed some traction i've never personally done this method but i know where it came from and it just sounds wrong but the third method which i do not recommend is overheating your skillet until it discolors i can't tell you how wrong that is i mean i know there's going to be a lot of people out there are going to say the method works extremely well for them and yada yada i don't think you should ever heat your skillet with nothing in it until it discolors and if you guys aren't familiar with this method but literally you take your carbon steel skillet you put it on your stovetop you crank your stove to the highest setting and you leave the pan there until it turns blue until it develops this like bluish look it's going to be smoking hot and then supposedly that begins the seasoning process the reason why i don't like this method and there's some people out there that'll say hey it's just like the other method you're taking the oil past the smoking point just do it on a stovetop what's the big deal right wrong in the oven you're getting this ambient temperature the oven temperature theoretically should be relatively even throughout the oven relatively and the entire pan is getting heated in a nice distributive way right where it's kind of being diffused to this one solid temperature you're also not overly exceeding this temperature you're maintaining above smoking point by roughly 20 degrees let's say when you put it on the stovetop and you're cranking the temperature up you are overheating the bottom of the pan right and you're gonna warp it you're just gonna you're gonna warp your pan it makes no sense to me you're not getting this distributive heat all around and you're not taking the oil past the smoking port you're taking it way past that smoking point that oil now is just absolutely decomposing it's also pretty dangerous if you're not cooking anything with the pan and you're taking it to this really extreme temperature you're really risking cracking it warping it i mean just damaging it so i don't see any reason to do the stovetop discoloration method i know where it came from i know where it developed from a lot of carbon steel woks were quickly seasoned that way in restaurants but that's a whole different story i mean we're talking about a restaurant that just got to walk in and they they have to start cooking with it and they're you know they don't have time to do the potato peel method or the you know oven method or whatever and we're talking about professionals that have a wok burner and a guy that's you know moving the wok around trying to get the most out of it with some light oil but then they're cooking with it immediately they're moving quickly they're not just sticking on a stovetop and going oh look at that beautiful blue finish right so i think people had good intentions i think the internet things got lost in translation and and you know it just got convoluted so i don't recommend that method okay now let's do the potato peel method together i like to use russet potatoes i feel like they have plenty of starch and i like to make french fries afterwards with them go ahead and wash your potatoes for any excess dirt or any other you know stuff that might contaminate this process and then you want to go ahead and peel them once you have all the potatoes peeled set the peels aside and go ahead and prepare your skillet now if this is a new skillet and you're doing the initial seasoning you need to wash the skillet thoroughly if you haven't already check out my video where i show you guys how to initially season a brand new carbon steel wok it's literally the same process for a new carbon steel skillet essentially you need to scrub off all the manufacturing wax and grease that was used to protect your skillet during transportation bar keeper's friend is an excellent tool to have in the kitchen or even don power wash now this is only applicable for a brand new skillet that you're doing the initial seasoning for other than that if you are re-seasoning your skillet go ahead and lightly wash it you want to lightly wash it to go ahead and remove any seasoning that might be flaking right that hasn't completely removed yet once you've lightly washed it put the skillet on stove top and go ahead and preheat it okay once your skillet has preheated you want to add your oil now use your favorite high smoking point oil i highly recommend grapeseed oil or sunflower seed oil whatever something that has a high smoking point and that's relatively cheap right because you're going to be throwing everything away afterwards how much oil should you use you want to make sure the entire skillet is coated in oil and has a generous amount of wood think of it as you're deep frying the potato peels in shallow oil then go ahead and add in your potato peels once you've added in your potato peels if this is a new skillet you want to add a quarter of a cup to a half cup of salt i know that sounds like an excess of amount of salt and it is but remember if this is the first time you've ever seasoned your new skillet the purpose of the salt is to remove all of the manufacturing wax and grease so the more salt that you have in there the better you're going to absorb those oils and clean off your skillet if you are re-seasoning your skillet you don't need that much salt if it makes you feel comfortable you can do half of that but in my personal opinion just salt the potato peels like you're cooking dinner but add a little bit more remember if you're re-seasoning your skillet there's no need for a whole bunch of salt because you've already removed the manufacturer's protective wax and grease you're trying to just reseason your skillet but i think it's beneficial because it helps loosen and break down those flaky bits that haven't adhered to your skillet entirely once you have your salt your oil and your cooking away make sure you are constantly stirring the entire thing get all the edges get the walls and just constantly keep rotating those potato pills keep flipping them you want to literally burn the potato peels i mean not totally right you don't want to start a fire but you know these things are going to be extra crispy and crunchy at the end of it so you're not looking for brown you're looking for like dark brown almost black on the potato peels turn off the stove top let everything cool down once everything has cooled down dump everything out of your skillet the potato peels the salt the oil be environmentally conscious don't you know dump them somewhere you shouldn't and definitely do not eat them or dump them down your drain or down your disposal whatever you will ruin whatever it is that you're dumping a touch throw them away in the trash you don't need to you know overthink it just throw it all away in the trash and you know definitely don't eat them but once you've done that go ahead and wash it with light dish soap and the soft side of your sponge and then completely dry it off with the towel put it back on the stove top heat it back up evaporate all of the moisture put a drop of oil back in your skillet and wipe the skillet down both the inside and the outside and let that oil heat up for a little bit just until you barely start seeing a little bit of smoke turn off your stove top and you're good to go let the skillet cool down and then store it away that's basically it that's the potato peel method okay my final thoughts and i want to close with this so what do i personally do how do i season everything i use both methods that's why my mineral bee is so well seasoned both the inside and the outside the pans always get a really good seasoning this pan is incredibly nonstick i mean literally everything slides off i love this pan i would say it probably took my mineral being like around six months to get that dark and i used it about three times a week something like that so that's a pretty good pace i mean don't expect it to be completely black right away but you can expect it to be pretty relatively nonstick almost immediately the cool thing about carbon steel is usually after the first seasoning you will notice a huge difference in performance right and the more you use it literally the better and better it gets i think after like the third cook it was incredibly nonstick after that it's really like you know just getting better and better so that's what you can expect but i personally use both methods i usually do the oven method first just to protect everything you know and then the next day i'll do the potato peel method and then so forth that's kind of my catch 22. both methods are actually really effective if you use them together so that's it for me guys as always i really do hope you found this video informative look for my budget friendly carbon steel recommendation coming out really really soon other than that i'll catch you guys in the next one take care everybody hey everybody how'd you guys like that last video hope you guys enjoyed it if you did please like subscribe and hit that notification bell so you get notified on my next video and if you can please share with your family and friends i would really appreciate it here's some more content that i think you guys are really going to enjoy check them out as always guys thanks for watching and i'll catch you guys on the next one take care

Channel: Tom's Kitchen

Views: 305,493

Keywords: How to Season a Cast iron skillet, How to season a Carbon Steel Skillet, What causes cast iron seasoning to be removed, What removes carbon steel seasoning, Can you cook acidic food in cast iron or carbon steel, how to re-seasons cast iron, how to re-season carbon a steel pan, Seasoning your skillet potato peel method, cooking oil smoke point method, seasoning your cast iron in the oven, carbon steel pan seasoning coming off, Carbon vs Cast Iron, how to make carbon steel non stick

Id: n3dcpQ9aTr4

Length: 25min 0sec (1500 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 28 2021