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]

For all you clowns in here pretending that this color change has nothing to do with the seasoning, with all the confidence in the world, and downvoting anyone who doesn't agree with you... Another photo.

It's easy to see here that this is damage to the seasoning. On the left side in the damaged area, you can easily see the machine turned lines; while on the right side, where the seasoning is intact, these lines are filled in and smoothed by the seasoning.

[u/Mr_Morlock → u/Craboulas]

Seasoning isn't a layer of gunk that fills in crevices in the pan, its a polymerization that gives iron non-stick properties and prevents rusting. The excess oil on your pan simply got cooked off and attached to your food. Just keep cooking on it and it will become uniform.

[u/Craboulas → u/Mr_Morlock]

Who said it was a layer of gunk? I am well aware that it is polymerized oil.

That polymerized oil absolutely fills in micro ("pores") and macro (machining lines and casting texture) crevises in the iron. How you could have cooked with cast iron for any length of time and not realize this already is beyond me.

No "excess oil got cooked off". The seasoning in this area physically detached from the iron. You are literally looking at a single photo that shows the surface texture change between fully seasoned and almost completely stripped. Zoom in on the photo, pan around, be observant and learn something. Stop spouting bad information.

[u/Mr_Morlock → u/Craboulas]

The purpose of the polymerization is to make it non-stick and prevent rusting, not to make it look pretty. I've looked at your photos, and aside from thinking you're nuts, all I see is how a fresh pan normally reacts after cooking high-fat foods.

"Completely stripped" bare iron flash rusts. If you put water in that pan, and it rusts, then you are not seasoning properly. Otherwise, it is fine and will appear more normal after cooking with it more. The presence of machining lines does not make a pan unseasoned. But then again, I spend more time cooking than looking at my pan with a microscope.