Seasoning Cast Iron 04/16/23
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We were supposed  to help clean up Fulton today,  but lightning storms
rolled  through and  the event  was  canceled. That's  OK, Fulton  is
actually a pretty clean town  already. Instead, we cleaned our garage,
which is not pretty clean, and  during the skirmish I unearthed an old
cast iron pan.

I picked this pan up years ago, I think, probably at a thrift store or
garage sale. It's small,  and I intended to use it  to melt pennies on
the campfire  (my kids  like to play  with the zinc,  and it's  fun to
watch the  copper bubble... it's a  long story, but my  brothers and I
did this as kids, and so I do it with my kids from time to time; don't
tell  Uncle Sam).  However,  as  the kids  are  getting  older now,  I
figured maybe  that wasn't going  to happen  anymore, so I  decided to
rehabilitate  it  instead. Lightning  storm,  stuck  inside with  most
things unplugged.

It's a small pan, perfect for attaching to a backpack perhaps. I don't
have one  this size in  the kitchen, so  I'm excited about  that. It's
older, from back  when they used to make them  with a polished cooking
surface, not  the rough  cast surface  you see  on today's  cast iron.
Well, that's the surface on the  handle and outside still. On the back
is stamped "Made in Colombia".

No one has ever  bothered to season it, it appears to  me. Some of the
iron is quite clean, considering it's been out in my garage for a long
time. Still, there's some light rust. I  have some 000 (or 00 or 0000?
I can't recall, and  I don't want to go look) steel  wool, and a metal
brush. Those do  quite well. I rinse  and dry it, and  it doesn't look
half bad.

I regularly season my cast iron wares, but I've never actually started
with no patina at all. I use unrefined coconut oil, because I like the
way it  works and we  generally have  it on hand.  It has a  low smoke
point, but I don't care. I open up the windows and go for it.

Oil, superheat, cool, repeat. About three or four coats in, I remember
that I have some high smoke point almond oil, and I switch to that for
a coat. Then some odd part of my brain says that one day, someone with
a nut allergy might use this thing,  and I switch back to coconut oil.
Would that even matter? Who knows.

Five or six coats, and it's lookin' hot. I mean, it looks really good,
nice  and black,  even, just  good. Inner  surface is  still nice  and
smooth too. Time  to throw it in  a campfire, just for  fun. There was
rain in the AM, but sun from about noon to two. Time for a fire in the
pit out back, where it got one  coat and some ash. Wiped it clean with
tinfoil and did a couple more coats inside.

There were  other fun  things about  today, but  that was  one simple,
relaxing thing that happened.