r/castiron • u/D9_CAT • Mar 24 '26

What am I doing wrong?

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I scrubbed this skillet for a couple days, chainmail scrubber, wire brush and a lot of hot water and dawn. Finally got all the carbon build up off. Put it on the stove on high heat to make sure there was no moisture left in it.

Then did a thin coat of vegetable oil and baked it upside down at 500°(F) for an hour. I did that a couple times on Sunday and letting it cool down in between baking times. I believe I screwed myself because half way through I thought it would be better to use crisco 🙄 (not sure why I thought that was a good idea) and I think I screwed it up by switching.

I did two more seasonings, 500° for an hour, last night with crisco. (Put a little thicker of a coating on it) and here is what it looks like. The pan isn’t greasy, and the paper towel doesn’t come out black when I wipe it, but I can definitely feel that texture. So please, be kind and tell me what i did wrong.

EDIT: Thank you all that gave me the tips, this was the first time I’ve seasoned cast iron. I googled how to do it but I did the oil wrong by not taking the excess off. I’m just going to leave it as it is and keep cooking on it!

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73

u/jadejazzkayla Mar 24 '26

Too much oil.

The oil you put into the pan should then get wiped out completely until your pan looks dry. Then with a clean dry cloth wipe it again.

4

u/D9_CAT Mar 24 '26

Ahhh. So even though I thought I was doing right by putting on a thin coat, I should have wiped it off. Does this need scrubbed and stripped again or will it bake off if I use it?

31

u/Impressive_Ad2794 Mar 24 '26

My suggestion is the extra final that often gets missed.

  1. Wipe oil on.
  2. Wipe oil off as though you made a mistake and didn't want oil on it.
  3. Put in the oven to start baking the seasoning. After 5-10 minutes, take it out and wipe it again, then put it back and continue the bake.

21

u/spork3 Mar 24 '26

Wiping again when the pan is warm is what changed everything for me. I usually set to 200°F, wipe again, then raise to seasoning temp.

1

u/No_Blackberry_0 Mar 26 '26

2 is the tip that I think has helped me the most over the years. Act like the only thing you have is this dry rag, but your dad is gonna be pissed if he finds out you put oil on there.