How did the pioneers season their cast iron?

[2dumb2kwit]

How did the pioneers season their cast iron?

They used it spring, summer, fall, etc..
(Get it, Rick? "Season" it. I crack myself up.)

[Rick]

Fess up. The mule thought that up didn't he?

[sofasurfer]

So, today I oiled up a couple of cleaned skillets. Put them on a rack over the campfire pit. Started a fire and let it build till the pans were to hot to touch and then let the fire burn itself out over a period of 20 minutes or so. The pans can out kind of sooty. I wiped them out and they don't look to bad. One of them was not cleaned adequetely and so I may reclean it tomorrow and give them both a new treatment before trying to use them. We'll see how it goes.

[Rick]

You're heating the metal to open the pores so the oil can get inside. That's what prevents food from sticking. Heating it over a wood fire may also allow soot to get into the pores. I don't know that for sure. I've never tried seasoning one over a wood fire. I've always used the oven. It's normally done at higher temperature not just too hot to touch but hot enough to open the metal. I've always seasoned mine at 350F.

[hunter63]

I still like to boil dirty pans out, then dump and wipe out.
If really dirty, a wad of alum foil clean them out pretty well....
Then oil as they are cooling down.

The vinegar and oil method is on the "things to try" list.

[Batch]

I season mine in my Weber grill. If I get a light spot in the seasoning. I just coat it and heat it on the stove or fire. Then as its cooling down I wipe again.

As long as it doesn't start rusting or food start sticking, I don't really worry about it.

[MrsSmith410]

Hi...so I'm new to this forum. We do A LOT of dutch oven cooking and what works for my pots is I use a rubber scraper to get rid of any food that is sticking to the pot, bring some water to a rolling boil in it then toss the water out. Wipe with a napkin or paper towel and I always carry a can of bacon grease with me rub a little of that on the inside and let it sit near the fire for about half hour. I've only ever had my pot rust on me once and that was because I let a group of young girls from our church borrow my dutch ovens.

[hunter63]

Hunter63 saying Hey and Welcome.........that pretty much the way we do ours as well.

[hayshaker]

welcome to the wilderness

[Mannlicher]

don't know about settlers, but my Grandma used bacon grease.

[shiftyer1]

I use a wood fire when I get new nasty pans, I like to burn them out to get rid of whatever is on them. I then drag them out of the fire and let them cool off enough to handle and wash with hot soapy water and steel wool. I will then either oil and season in the house or on the fire depending on my mood.

I've never noticed a sooty flavor when I use the fire.

If it's a real hot fire remember that these pans are a little more fragile when HOT.

As far a what to use to season, I've use shortening, bacon grease, vegetable oil, olive oil, and i'm sure some others. I would assume the pioneers did the same

[finallyME]

I don't know how the pioneers did it..... I trust KY for that info.... He studied it, and he is just old enough . For me, I only worry about seasoning the dutch oven. I only do it for rust prevention. My skillet was seasoned once. But, it gets used almost every day. It is stored on the stove top. Why put it away in the cupboard if you are just going to take it out again soon? After we use it, we generally scrub it clean and put it back on the stove. Sometimes my wife will spray it with cooking spray, sometimes I will drop a little lard in it and rub it around, sometimes we just leave it, and come back to a little rust. Then we scrub it out real quick and cook something in it. We got it when we were married as a gift, and have used it for the last 15 years extensively. It is truly dummy proof. As long as you keep oil on it, it won't rust. It does cook better if you let it heat up and let the oil soak in it for a little bit.

[crashdive123]

Yep - our enameled cast iron pot stays on the stove top. Looks good there, gets used often, Mrs. Crash doesn't want to be moving it around.

[RkyMntPrepper]

Hunter63,

THANK YOU, I currently have an iron skillet, given to me, that needs some help. Never heard of the vinegar before but I'm about to try it. It's a good skillet and will serve me well for years but just needs an exceptionally good cleaning and then seasoning.

[hunter63]

Hunter63,

THANK YOU, I currently have an iron skillet, given to me, that needs some help. Never heard of the vinegar before but I'm about to try it. It's a good skillet and will serve me well for years but just needs an exceptionally good cleaning and then seasoning.

This is not my idea but came from Enigma...Haven't tried it yet, but will.

Clean old rusty pots, by heating vinegar and water with a bit of oil.

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