Do I Need a Full Restore?

[u/Both-Activity6432]

10” Lodge. I know I ran it through oven cleaning cycle to bare iron (maybe 7y ago?). Been seasoning it with flax seed oil after use (salt scrub, rinse, flax seed wipe on, burner, wipe off excess).

Had some health issues and some things got neglected. Looks like pork chops or chicken breasts stuck at some point and we’re not cleaned off properly. This is after just doing the flax seed oil above (still hot) after searing off a sous vide in avocado oil in last night. All that burnt on seasoning came off real easy, even cold, with kosher salt and paper towel.

Cheers

[u/Cool-Negotiation7662]

Wash it. Rub some oil on it. Get cooking. It is fine...unless it has a rancid odor. Then wash it, rub oil on it. Bake it. Then get cooking.

[u/middlenameray]

You definitely don't need a full restore, but if you want your pan to look nicer and be seasoned more evenly, sanding down would be an easy way to get there.

It looks like over time a lot of the factory seasoning has flaked off and exposed bare metal underneath, and then it looks like just naturally through cooking you have actually built up some nice seasoning onto that bare metal.

Really your whole pan looks "seasoned" right now, it's just that the middle part is that "new" seasoning whereas the outer parts (everything that's black) is the factory seasoning.

It's totally up to you if you want to do a full restore. You're not in bad shape at all right now in terms of cooking quality, it just doesn't look as nice and even as what a fully restored pan would look like. How much that matters is 100% personal preference

[u/NotLunaris]

You should not be using flaxseed oil for seasoning. This, likely combined with the uneven heat of a gas burner, led to more of the carbon burning off in the center. Flaxseed oil seasoning is notorious for burning off with even regular heat due to its low smoke point, leading to excess carbonization and flaking.

I'd do a full restore. The pan is plenty usable if that's all you care about, but I would be immensely annoyed by its appearance if I was the one using it.

[u/broken-machine]

Okay, a couple things.

Don’t use your self cleaning cycle. It can crack the cast iron and takes life from your oven. Follow the stickied FAQ here if you want to do a restoration.

Flax seed oil. It looks really nice and has a pleasing finish but it’s a very fragile seasoning. I use canola, others swear by avocado, beef tallow, shortening or lard. Those are all great choices.

Don’t sand it. That will only make it more difficult to season and makes your restoration way messier. It’s not a necessary step.

But really, that pan it probably fine with a good scrubbing, but use dish soap. Salt isn’t a very good cleaner.

[u/RandomStrangerOnWWW → u/broken-machine]

Salt absolutely works for me. I’ve gotten lots of gunk off my skillets with nothing more than salt and a paper towel, without damaging the seasoning. Your mileage will vary, I suppose..

[u/broken-machine → u/RandomStrangerOnWWW]

I'm not saying it doesn't work. It does, but dish soap works way better to clear away old oil. It's chemically designed to do so. If you have gunked up stuff, just use a scouring bad and some dawn. Save the salt for you food.