Baking cast iron cookware. How to properly season a cast iron skillet before use

Annealing is simply necessary if you plan to use a cast-iron skillet often. This process creates a non-stick film.

It is necessary to fire immediately after purchase and periodically during use. A cast iron pan is unpretentious in care, but it is still worth following some recommendations so that it lasts longer.

How to season a cast iron skillet before first use? Every hostess should know about this.

What for?

After the dishes are made, they are treated with industrial oil; if it enters the body, it can cause not only serious poisoning, but also other complications.

Therefore, it is recommended to bake a cast-iron pan. For the first use, it must be properly prepared, and not just washed in soapy water. Unfortunately, washing will not help, it does not burn the remnants of the production oil.

Calcining a cast-iron pan must be carried out in order to create protective film on the surface of the product.

Why is it needed?

The protective film protects the pores of the product from the penetration of food. Due to which corrosion does not appear, food does not burn.

Also, the cast-iron pan should be calcined to remove the smell that comes from the production oil.

If you have any kitchen utensils in a cast iron house, you need to familiarize yourself with this process. Ducklings, cauldrons and pans need to be burned sometimes.

It is necessary to ignite not only a new cast-iron pan, but also an old one. Such operation will not only harden the product, but also extend its service life.

Butter

Preparing your cast iron skillet for use is an important part of cookware care.In order not to harm the surface and not to get into trouble, it is necessary to use only proven methods. One of these methods is the use of oil.

During the procedure, the pores expand as much as possible and are filled with oil. When the pan cools down, they will become narrower again. That is, the oil remains inside, this is the protective film.

This technology is dangerous. The oil may ignite, causing a fire. Therefore, carefully monitor the entire process.

How to ignite at home:

First you need to wash the kitchen utensils with a sponge and soapy water. Rub the surface of the product and look at the rag. It instantly turns black, this is machine or industrial oil. After washing, the sponge will have to be thrown away; it cannot be used to wash other dishes.
Then you need to wipe dry. If water droplets remain, the oil will shoot out after adding the oil, resulting in burns. Only then can you start calcining the cast-iron pan at home.
The maximum amount of oil is poured into the product. Then it is put on the stove and heated with a medium fire. Make sure that the oil does not start to boil strongly, as soon as it starts, immediately set the smallest gas supply mode.
How much time is required? To properly ignite a cast-iron pan, it is necessary to devote at least 35 minutes to the procedure.
The fire is turned off, the oil is carefully poured out and the dishes are left to cool. Then it is washed, wiped dry and lubricated with new oil. Use a silicone brush to make the layer as thin as possible.

Can be used vegetable oil or olive. The latter is better, it does not leave a smell.

Salt

At home, you can burn the pan with salt. The technology is slightly different, but not as dangerous as the use of oil.

How to prepare a cast iron skillet for first use:

Immediately after purchase, it is necessary to wash the kitchen utensils in soapy water. Dry well in . Put it in the oven and wait until the temperature reaches 180 degrees. Then wait for the cast iron to cool before proceeding to the next step.
Next, you need to put the product on fire. You don't need to add anything. Just turn the stove on medium. The pan will begin to smoke, which means that the production one is slowly burning out. You need to keep it on the stove until the smoke stops coming.
The hot pan is then placed under cold water. Be careful, steam will be released, which can burn your skin. Wait until it cools down and rinse with water and a sponge. If after such an event the cast iron cracked or deformed, throw away the pan without regret. This is a poor quality product.
We wipe the pan dry and place it on the stove again. Pour enough salt, turn on the fire. For cast iron cookware, this one is very good. In the same way, you can burn a pan made of such material.
The salt should turn yellow. The frying time with this product is 10 minutes. If the salt starts to shoot, you need to make the fire smaller. It draws industrial oil and dirt from the pores of the cast iron.
After calcining with salt, rinse the pan again with water and dry.

At the end of the processing of a new cast-iron pan, it is necessary to lubricate it olive oil. The layer is applied small.

Salt after such a procedure becomes unusable. She is thrown out. She is useless because she has absorbed everything harmful substances located in the pores of the product.

Oven

You can also do this in the oven. You won't need to spend a lot of time on manipulation. During this time, you can do your own thing.

How to properly ignite:

First you need to wash the pan, then remove the plastic handles. Plastic does not withstand high temperatures, it can melt.
The temperature in the oven is set to 250 degrees.
While the oven is preheating, grease the product with vegetable oil inside and out. Wipe with a dry cloth. Oil must not drip from the walls.
Place the pan in the oven upside down for 1 hour.
When the time allotted for the procedure is over, the product is left to cool.
For better calcination, manufacturers recommend performing such a manipulation 2-3 more times in a row. Only next time you do not need to use oil.

The heat-resistant material is wiped with a sponge and put away in a cabinet for storage. Ignition should not be carried out too often.

The cast iron skillet is now ready for the first use. You can safely cook your favorite dishes and not be afraid of getting industrial oil into the body.

Without such manipulation, cast iron and aluminum kitchen utensils cannot be used for cooking. These tips will help keep appearance and functionality of dishes.

After calcining, the food will not burn, and the dishes will be juicy, beautiful and fragrant.

« How to heat a cast iron skillet?"- such a question can be asked, having old kitchen utensils, as well as acquiring new dishes. A cast iron pan has all the necessary qualities to cook most dishes on it. If everything is done correctly, the food will not stick to the bottom of the pan and the cooking process will be more pleasant.. In the article, we will analyze several effective ways to independently ignite a cast iron pan at home. We will also look at the reasons why this should be done.

Why do you need to do this?

Before you start calcining the pan, you need to find out why you need to do this at all? Few people know, but a cast-iron pan must be prepared before the first use, and also periodically processed during operation.

The first reason is the need to protect yourself and loved ones from the consequences of factory production. The fact is that after casting, the cast iron is treated with engine oil: this allows you to protect the cast iron from external influences. However, eating food with residues of machine oil is dangerous to health, therefore, before the first use, the cast iron pan must be calcined.

Another reason for this preparation of cast iron is to check the quality of the metal. The calcination process takes place at a very high temperature. If at the same time even slight cracks or changes in shape form on the kitchen utensils, then the pan can be returned to the store. Such dishes are unusable, as the pan will not last long.

If the pan is not heated periodically, the porous structure of the cast iron will accumulate small parts of the food, even if it is invisible to the human eye. Gradually, the remains of food will decompose, causing corrosion of the metal. Also, food remains will not allow a protective layer to form on the surface of the pan. This is a good reason for calcining kitchen utensils.

The final, but not the least important, is the fact that if you periodically ignite the pan, and also use it for cooking as often as possible, the food will completely stop sticking to the cast-iron surface. This is very helpful if you love to cook. thin pancakes and pancakes.

We heat the cast-iron skillet correctly

Having dealt with the reasons for calcining the pan, you can begin to analyze how to do it at home simply, quickly and efficiently. In fact, there are not many ways to prepare cast iron kitchen utensils for use. Below we will consider the most popular of them.

On a plate with salt and oil

One of the most simple ways- this is calcining a cast-iron pan on the stove. Moreover, in this way it is possible to additionally harden cast iron to make it even stronger and last longer. In order to carry out the procedure correctly, follow the following step-by-step instructions:

First, let's deal with a new cast iron pan, which must be processed before the first use. To do this, put the dry dishes on the fire and wait until the color of the cast iron changes from black to grayish. After that, immediately substitute the cast iron under running cold water. Get ready for a large number steam, as well as the unpleasant smell of engine oil.
Now you need to thoroughly wash the cast iron pan with dish detergent, rinse and allow to dry completely. Again we put the kitchen utensils on the stove, but this time we fill the bottom of the pan with plenty table salt coarse grind. Make sure the salt layer is about one centimeter high. It is very important that the salt is dry, so it is best to use a new container of the product.
Heat the salt over medium heat. During the calcination process, the salt should never be stirred or disturbed in any other way. The denser and thicker the product layer, the more efficient the process of preparing cast iron for use will be. The smell during metal processing will also be very unpleasant, so carry out the procedure at a time when you can ventilate the room.
Many people ask how long it takes to ignite the pan with salt. However, it is difficult to name the exact time, because for each pan this figure will be individual. You can navigate by the color of the crystals: if the salt does not darken for 15 minutes or more, the roasting of the pan is completed. Salt can be changed periodically when the crystals become very dark.
At the end of the procedure, the salt should be discarded, and the pan should be wiped with a clean, dry cloth. However, this alone will not be enough. As an additional protection, the surface of the cast iron must be rubbed with vegetable oil. To do this, you can additionally slightly warm the dishes on the stove, and then in a circular motion rub the bottom of the pan with a cotton cloth dipped in vegetable oil.
As soon as the oil is distributed evenly over the bottom of the cast iron pan, we send the dishes to the stove and heat again. This additional action will protect the cast iron from corrosion..

In fact, cast iron can be calcined without the use of salt, by pouring vegetable oil on the bottom and heating the liquid. Such a process will also prepare the cast-iron container for use. Most housewives use this method, and all because it is easy to perform, besides, there is a stove in every house.

Step by step in the oven

You can also ignite a cast-iron pan yourself in an oven. This method is even simpler, as it does not require constant presence in the kitchen and control over the process. For convenience, we have prepared a table with step by step, in which the calcination process is described in detail.

	Process description
Training	The first step is to prepare the pan and oven. If you want to ignite an old cast iron pan, the dishes must first be thoroughly washed to remove grease and food debris. This can be done using soapy water or dishwashing detergent. You also need to preheat the oven to about 180 degrees.
Installing the pan	Make sure the cast iron is completely dry before putting the pan in the oven. Then rub the surfaces of the kitchen utensils with fresh, odorless vegetable oil, soaking an old cotton rag in the liquid. Additionally, you need to remove the remaining oil with a clean waffle towel. Then put the pan upside down on the oven grate.
Ignition process	On average, the process of roasting a new or old cast iron skillet takes one to two hours. As an additional fire protection for the pan, you can wrap a baking sheet with foil and set it to a lower level. After 60 minutes from the beginning of the process, the oven must be turned off.
Completion	Do not immediately remove the cast iron pan from oven. Leave the kitchen utensils to cool completely inside the warm oven: this process may take another hour or so. After the specified time, the pan will be ready for use. If you do not plan to immediately cook food, then additionally treat the surface of the cast iron with vegetable oil, and then put the dishes in the cabinet.

This method is simple in that it practically does not require your participation in the process of calcining a cast-iron pan at home. It is also very effective if you carry out a planned calcination of kitchen utensils, the dishes will last a very long time.

initially, for calcining cast iron, the housewives used animal fat, more often goose;
if such a product was not at hand, you can use vegetable oil, preferably odorless sunflower;
you should not wash the cast-iron pan after calcination with detergent, as in this way you will get rid of the protective layer formed by vegetable oil;
in no case should you ignite a cast iron pan, which has an additional enamel coating;
never store cooked food in a cast iron pan, immediately transfer the dish to a saucepan or plate;
if food is burnt to the bottom of the cast iron pan, do not use an iron brush to remove the contamination;
to properly wash such kitchen utensils at home, use a special household chemicals or suitable folk remedies;
The cast iron skillet is not meant to be washed in dishwasher, you can clean such dishes only with your own hands under a stream of warm water.

If stick useful tips, as well as properly store cast iron kitchen utensils, such a pan will last long years and it will be a pleasure to cook on it.

The presented material fully describes how you can ignite an old or new cast iron pan on the stove or in the oven using salt and vegetable oil.

AT We bought cast iron cookware. A frying pan, a cast-iron pan, a stewpan or a roaster. Not enamelled. Or maybe you got one from your grandmother. Or someone unknowingly washed your favorite crepe maker with a modern detergent and now it is hopeless.

How to prepare cast iron cookware for first use.
First, a little of my personal paranoia. Even when purchasing dishes in a beautiful store, or directly from the manufacturer (who assures that everything is ready, they say, grease it with oil and go ahead) - it is not known what it is lubricated with. In the warehouse of the store, cast irons could, just in case, in order to insure themselves against rust, sometimes even lubricated with machine grease. I recently received "direct from the manufacturer, heat and oil" cast irons and they smoked bright white smoke the first time they came into contact with the fire. I don't like it, it makes me sick. Therefore, the method of preparation for the first use, which will be discussed, is suitable in any case. Both for new cast iron cookware and for restoring old ones.

What we need:
1. Household gas kitchen stove, preferably with electric oven.
2. Two clean household foam sponges.
3. Refined vegetable oil. Preferably olive, "for frying", odorless.
4. Paper towels. The second ingenious invention that turned the world upside down, after the invention of Velcro.
5. Salt. Lots of salt. Especially a lot if you need to prepare a pan. large rock salt.

We disassemble. Bakelite handles and handles made of dense wood are not afraid of temperatures, but they will interfere.

First thing, wash up cast iron as far as it is possible to do warm water and a sponge. As you can see, the sponge quickly turns black and then we throw it away.

Wipe off excess water thoroughly.
Let's turn on the oven, let it warm up well to 180 degrees.

Now you need thoroughly heat the cast ironon fire. I turn on the big burner, big fire, a little lower than the maximum, a little higher than the average. As you can see in the photo, the new Dnepropetrovsk cast irons actively smoke white. You need to burn them completely until they stop smoking.
(note - the photo shows a bottle of olive oil. So, you can’t process this oil! It’s virgin, it will burn and stink)

During this time, the utensils gradually change color from a beautiful (but cosmetic, for sale) black color, to a more natural dark gray color, natural for cast iron scale. It was difficult to remove it, but I hope you can see it. In order to make it easier to visually assess the difference, I covered the calcined pan on top with a still cold lid. Note that the lid is covered with something and the manufacturer assured that you can cook on it. But heating led to active evaporation of the layer. After our preparation, the coating will only blacken and grow stronger due to temperature.

hot dishes we wash large quantity cold water , carefully wash with a fresh, clean second sponge. Do not be afraid to heat up and then water cold water cast iron products. During stamping, cast iron is subjected to many times higher temperatures and is not afraid of hardening. It is simply impossible to reach such temperatures on a household stove, even close. If the dishes are deformed or even cracked due to your actions, then you can throw them away without regrets. This is poor quality cookware.

We put the dishes back on the fire, wait a bit until it dries andpour salt. No regrets, more. Now fry with salt, slowly, but thoroughly, over medium heat. The salt should turn slightly yellow. A sure sign, when the salt begins to "shoot", then you can already remove it from the fire. If you start shooting too fast, then you should reduce the fire. It should take at least 10 minutes to roast with salt.
This is important point, especially if the dishes were damaged by something. Salt draws out and absorbs everything extraneous that could be on the surface of the dishes.

Pour the salt into the trash can, rinse the dishes again with running cold water.
Lay out on paper towels, dry thoroughly. Once again, but not much, only to warm up and finallydry completely. All "sins" and abrasions on the surface become visible.

Here's what the same dish looks like now:

Now the cast irons are completely cleaned of production processing and safety lubrication. Let's start lubrication.

Remove from heat, let it cool down a little and still very warm (this is important, not cold!) Dishes thoroughlylubricate with oil. Do not miss anything, lubricate all corners and ledges. Excess oil, streaks and puddles,we get wetfolded paper towel. You will see that lubricating warm, dry cast iron with oil is like lubricating dry skin with cream. The oil fills the pores, literally absorbed before our eyes.

If anyone is interested, and do not take it for advertising, I lubricate it with oil like the one in the next photo. Although just what is in the photo - it smokes a little too much when heated in the oven, but the refined "borges" from large plastic bottles- great fit.

We set aside the oiled dishes for a short time on paper towels, and then blot the drips again. We place the dishesupside down(this is important! It is upside down so that the oil can flow down freely) into an oven preheated to 180 degrees. I put a sheet of foil at the bottom of the oven so that I can wash less later if a few drops of oil do drip down.

Close the oven and forget about itat least three hours. Better - more.
During this time, the oil dries and forms a strong film on the surface of the dishes.
For perfectionists, the procedure for greasing and roasting in the oven can be repeated.
Here's what happens in the end. Beautiful black dishes (depending on the chosen oil and the heating time in the oven, the color may be yellowish, but this will pass after several uses of the dishes for their intended purpose), to which nothing sticks worse than the notorious "tefal", and which can be safely left without additional lubrication to prevent rust. Dishes that will serve you for a long time.

The secret of the amazing taste of many traditional dishes, such as Guryev porridge or Uzbek pilaf, lies not only in the freshness of the products and following the recipe, but also in right choice utensils used for cooking. To achieve complete authenticity, real cast iron is required. Those who dealt with him know that from time to time it becomes necessary to ignite a cast-iron frying pan, brazier, cauldron and other utensils.

A complete set of high-quality cast-iron cookware is the pride of many housewives

The calcination of any frying pan, including cast iron, must be done before the first use or is used as one of the cleaning methods when a thick layer of soot is formed. Let's see how to do it right.

No method of heating a cast iron skillet is suitable for enamel coated cookware. The enamel layer can crack and burst under the influence of high temperatures. cast iron enamelware simply wash with a soft sponge and dish detergent, dry with a towel and wipe with a cloth dampened with vegetable oil.

New frying pan

Ignite a cast iron pan before first use because manufacturers cover it with a protective layer of sealant or machine oil, which will not improve the taste and smell of your debut dish at all. Accordingly, it is necessary to get rid of them, and to preserve the dishes and improve their non-stick qualities, replace them with an edible “grease” from vegetable oil.

The peculiarity of cast iron is that it has micropores, which are formed from air bubbles during the casting of the metal and its cooling. When moisture enters the pores, the corrosion process begins, and the surface may rust.

A new cast iron pan should first be washed with regular dish detergent and dried with a towel.

There are several ways to season a cast iron skillet before using it for the first time. We offer them to you in the form of step-by-step instructions.

The salt method

The oldest method used to this day is to ignite a cast-iron pan with salt, and then apply a protective fat layer on it. Salt well absorbs all the remnants of the factory lubricant along with foreign odors.

The process of calcining cast iron cookware is accompanied by smoke and an unpleasant odor, so ensure that the room is ventilated in advance.

To ignite a cast-iron pan with salt, it is better to use a coarse stone

Step 1. We put the washed, wiped dry frying pan on the stove to warm up over medium heat. The bottom is abundantly covered with a layer of salt (about 1-2 cm), evenly distributing over the entire area. Salt should be calcined in a pan for 15-20 minutes, stirring constantly, and then poured out and discarded.

Step 2.1. We rinse the frying pan with water, dry it with a towel and wipe all the frying surfaces (bottom and sides) with a soft cloth, abundantly moistened with vegetable oil. Wipe excess oil dry with a paper towel.

Step 2.2. We create a reliable non-stick fat coating. To do this, pour a little vegetable oil into a pan that has not yet cooled down and calcine it over medium heat for 20-30 minutes. Instead of vegetable oils, it is often advised to take a piece of lard or other dense fat, which is more resistant to washing off. It is pricked on a fork and several times carefully smeared with the entire inner surface of the hot frying pan.

Step 3 The melted boiling fat is carefully drained. The resulting oil layer does not need to be washed off with a sponge and detergents, nor should it be washed with a towel. It is better to dry the pan for 2-3 minutes directly on the stove at low heat.

The oil method

It differs from the first option only in that it does without salt.

To safely ignite a cast iron skillet, do not add too much oil or set it to the highest heat, as the oil may ignite.

Step 1. We wash the new pan and wipe it dry. Pour vegetable oil so that it completely covers the bottom and, if possible, the sides. You can’t fill it to the very top; it’s better to constantly lubricate the uncovered sections of the walls with oil boiling in a pan throughout the entire process.

Step 2 How much oil will smoke - so much we continue to ignite it, lubricating the sides. On average, the process takes 30 minutes.

Step 3 Carefully drain the boiling oil, and wipe the hot pan dry with a paper towel.

After each cooking, cast iron cookware must be washed, dried on the stove and applied to it. thin layer vegetable oil (as the dishes cool down, remove excess oil)

Method in the oven

Before sending a cast-iron pan to the oven for the first use, the inner and outer surfaces of the pan must be washed and wiped dry.

In the oven, a cast-iron pan is calcined only without plastic handles and other parts that can melt and cause unexpected problems

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 180-250 ℃, and grease the pan outside and inside with vegetable oil and wipe dry again.

Step 2 Turn the pan upside down and place in the oven for 1 hour. During this time, it should become red-hot, smoke a little and turn black. After that, the oven can be turned off and let the pan cool down right in it.

Step 3 To achieve the formation of a high-quality non-stick layer, it is advised to bake in the oven 2-3 times in the same way, but without lubricating the outer surfaces with oil.

If you do not wipe dry each layer of applied oil, the fats will not be absorbed into the cast iron, but will create a sticky, viscous layer similar to drying oil. It will only damage your pan. To eliminate it, you need to pour boiling water over the dishes, boil and drain the water, and grease the pan again with oil, wipe it and repeat the calcination procedure.

Ignition cannot harm cast iron cookware. If your new pan is buckling or cracking, then it was poor quality and not cast iron. Throw away without regrets!

Of course, cast iron is an excellent environmentally friendly, heat-resistant and very reliable material, but dishes made from it are bulky and heavy. Therefore, many believe that it is too difficult to handle, and it is inconvenient to store it. However, it is precisely due to the massive bottom and thick walls, as well as the properties of cast iron to heat up to very high temperatures and keep warm for a long time, that the food acquires the “correct” texture and the “same” taste.

So if you decide to season your cast iron skillet, do it the right way by following the instructions.

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Expert in the field household and a master of culinary masterpieces (according to relatives and friends). She got used to relying on common sense, worldly experience and female intuition.

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Such kitchenware – indispensable assistant in the kitchen, so treat it with maximum trepidation and care. Especially milestone is the preparation before the first use, which is why the question "how to ignite a cast-iron pan" is so relevant.

Today we will look at all the most effective methods calcining this type of cookware at home so that you can enjoy its operation for a long time.

Why ignite a new cast iron skillet

Perhaps it would be logical at the beginning to explain the reasons why the process of processing the pan with high temperatures will be carried out. Many housewives have heard that a purchased cast-iron pan cannot be used immediately. Before you cook something on it, the work surface must be properly prepared.

The thing is that manufacturers lubricate the surface of the cast-iron product with machine oil so that it does not rust. As you understand, cooking in such oil is extremely unhealthy, so it must be completely removed from the pan.

In addition, a surface that has not been calcined does not have a protective non-stick film. Namely, it helps to protect the food being cooked in the pan from the unpleasant taste of metal, and it is she who does not allow particles of food and fat to penetrate into the pores of the pan, which protects it from an unpleasant smell.

Also, a film with a non-stick effect protects kitchen utensils from burning food in the future and the appearance of persistent, hard-to-remove soot.

This very protective film is created in the process of home calcination using the usual sunflower oil. When heated, the pores of the pan become wider, which allows the oil to penetrate them without problems. When the pan cools down, the pores narrow, and the vegetable oil remains in them, creating the same protective layer.

Easy ways to prepare a cast iron skillet for use

You can process a brand new frying pan 4 different ways. You can choose for yourself the one that suits you best. The advantages of all these methods are that they are affordable, fast and do not require any supernatural costs.

Everything you need to bake a pan is probably at your fingertips at home. So, let's proceed to a step-by-step examination of each of our methods.

How to burn a cast iron skillet on the stove using salt

Pour a layer of salt on the bottom of the new product (its thickness should be at least 1 cm). Please note that the bottom of our cast-iron bowl must be completely covered with salt crystals.
Now we place the container with salt on the stove on a medium flame and leave it with the lid open for 10-20 minutes. The exact baking time depends on your oven.

During this time, the salt should warm up very well and absorb everything unnecessary and poisonous for the human body from the pan.

As soon as the salt darkens, turn off the fire. Do not immediately remove the container from the stove, it is better to let it stand for a while and cool.
Then we throw away the salt, and wipe the bottom and walls of the pan with some kind of fat or ordinary sunflower oil.
Again, we heat the pan (hot it) on fire, but this time in order to form that most important protective film. This completes the processing of the pan with salt and oil - the utensils are ready for use.

How to quickly ignite a cast iron pan with oil

First of all, wash our new cast iron product warm water and laundry soap.
Now we put a frying pan on a moderate fire and heat it up as much as possible.

This warm-up procedure usually takes 10 to 15 minutes. When the dishes are hot, you will immediately understand this - by the smell.

We remove the calcined frying pan from the stove, pour oil into it and again place it over the fire for reheating. You can keep on fire the same amount of time as the first time - 10-15 minutes.

How to burn a pan before the first cooking in the oven

Wash the pan thoroughly, dry it, then pour oil into it and place it in an oven preheated to 250 degrees. You need to ignite for at least 30 minutes.
Then drain the oil, and wash the bottom and inner sides of the pan hot water. Lastly, wipe everything dry.
Pour oil into the pan again, send it to the oven and heat the container in the same way as described in paragraph 1.
When (after calcining) the pan has cooled, remove the oil with a dry cloth, but in no case wash it off with water.

We prepare a cast-iron pan for work: firing at the stake

For those who live in a private house or simply have the opportunity to work with an open fire, we can offer a slightly unusual, but very convenient and effective method calcining your new frying pan - burning at the stake.

Everything is as simple here as in the methods described above, just be very careful and careful not to get burned on hot cast iron.

First of all, we make a good fire on wood or coals.
We put cast-iron dishes in it or place directly above it.
We are waiting for the pan to change color from black to dark gray.
As soon as this happens, we wash the vessel, wipe it dry and grease it with oil (vegetable).
Again we send it to the fire (or to the fire) and repeat the hot procedure called calcination.

Here are such unpretentious ways of calcining the pan exist. If you bought not an ordinary frying pan, but a grill, then it can be prepared in the same way as a simple cast iron. The principle of calcination does not change.

Old cast iron pan burns: what to do

If your kitchen utensils have not been new for a long time, then sooner or later the question of calcining them will arise. If this sentimental problem has already touched you, then it's time to solve it.

To burn an old cast iron skillet, you must:

Clean it from rust, if any, then wipe it dry inside and out, then apply vegetable oil to the surface of the dish using a natural cloth.
Place the skillet upside down in the preheated oven. It should be calcined there for at least 1 hour. After such manipulations, your pan will shine like new.

How to care for a cast iron skillet

The status of a new frying pan will not be for long, but if you provide it proper care, then look like she was recently bought, she definitely can.

Daily preparations, washing with aggressive detergents, improper storage - these are the reasons that can quickly turn your cast-iron "beauty" into a "monster", which will have to be fought for a long time and with great difficulty.

To prevent such consequences, adhere to the following rules:

Never wash the cast iron with hard washcloths and detergents, especially those containing chlorine. If food sticks to the bottom of the pan after cooking or burns a little and you need to get rid of it, use a simple baking soda- it harms the surface of the vessel and your health less.

After all, how detergents do not wash off the utensils, anyway, particles of this chemical remain, which means that they will definitely get into your dish when cooking.

Do not keep cast iron in the dishwasher. Most right place to store such a delicate kitchen appliance - a room with good ventilation.
After washing, always wipe it dry or warm it up a little on fire / in the oven to evaporate excess moisture. Do not leave liquid food in the pan. Any moisture is bad for cast iron, so rust may appear.
Some housewives advise, after the pan is washed and dried, to grease it with oil. And do this all the time - this will help increase the protective layer on the surface of the pan.

That's all the advice. We tried to answer the questions in as much detail as possible: is it possible, why, how much and how to ignite a cast-iron pan. We have described each method step by step so that you know to the smallest detail what and how to do: what kind of oil to ignite, at what temperature, etc.

Use our culinary life hacks and let the knowledge gained give you amazing results.