I spent a lot of time growing up with my Grandparents. They lived on a small pond and had a larger lake across the street down at Prince's Lakes and I'd have preferred to fish than to eat as a kid. My Grandma was a pretty darned good cook and when she passed I inherited one of her cast iron pans. It was the one she used to fry chicken and cubed steak in, one of my favorite meals of hers. We've been using it for years and it has become one of my wife's favorite pans but I never educated myself on the proper care for it and the seasoning had become pretty rough. I decided a few weeks ago to strip it down and reseason it. It was a bit saddening because that was Granny's seasoning on there but I hadn't maintained it.
I did a good bit of research and decided to use the aerosol oven cleaner. I sprayed it down well, wrapped it up in a garbage bad and let it sit for a few days. Most of the old stuff came off but there was still some tough spots so I did it a second time. That took most everything off and any of the remaining was filling in the imperfections and felt smooth to the touch so I didn't go any farther.
Once stripped I warmed it in the oven at 200° then wiped a light coat of flax seed oil all over it. Then I wiped as much of it back off as I could with a clean paper towel, set it in the oven, turned it up to 500° and set the cook timer for 2 hours. Once the oven shut off I left it in there until it cooled down. I did that four times and it turned out pretty nice.
The flax seed seems to work really well. I'll be using it in the future and I'll be taking better care of my cast iron from here on out. I've got a 12qt dutch oven that I got a few years ago next, it's in really bad shape lol.
I did a good bit of research and decided to use the aerosol oven cleaner. I sprayed it down well, wrapped it up in a garbage bad and let it sit for a few days. Most of the old stuff came off but there was still some tough spots so I did it a second time. That took most everything off and any of the remaining was filling in the imperfections and felt smooth to the touch so I didn't go any farther.
Once stripped I warmed it in the oven at 200° then wiped a light coat of flax seed oil all over it. Then I wiped as much of it back off as I could with a clean paper towel, set it in the oven, turned it up to 500° and set the cook timer for 2 hours. Once the oven shut off I left it in there until it cooled down. I did that four times and it turned out pretty nice.
The flax seed seems to work really well. I'll be using it in the future and I'll be taking better care of my cast iron from here on out. I've got a 12qt dutch oven that I got a few years ago next, it's in really bad shape lol.