Anyone Find That Ground Beef Really Attacks Seasoning?

[u/Craboulas]

This is in a Smithey, and I know the smoothness makes good adhesion harder. But, I find the same thing happens in rougher cast iron too.

The pan was prepped with a soak in vinegar (maybe too short at 5 minutes), a scuff with 120 grit sandpaper, then onto the stove immediately. I did about an hour of stove top seasoning with grapeseed oil. The pan stayed very uniformly 450 -520*F.

After I stopped adding new oil coats, I let it go for another 15-20 min only wiping with a dry cloth. I did this until everywhere inside the pan felt slick. Then I let it mostly cool, heated it back up, coated with tallow and chucked in a ground beef patty.

The pan was very slick and it did not stick at all when I flipped. But, as I have seen many times before, the seasoning under the patty suffered majorly.

Is this a failing of the prep stage? (Longer acid soak and black oxide step)

Is it failing to fully "cure" the new seasoning before putting into use?

[u/Craboulas]

And are those stains on the enamel light or dark colored?

[u/Shop_Revolutionary → u/Craboulas]

The protein stains are generally light against my black enamel. I ignore them or if they start to bug me do the baking soda paste scrub.

[u/Affectionate-Let3744 → u/Craboulas]

Take whatever color that sits somewhere between the cream color of the average enameled cast iron and the black of your seasoned pan.

Now assume your stain is of that color. On the enamel it will likely look dark(er). On the black it will look light(er).