How to season Cast Iron skillets

Do a search, it's been discussed very thoroughly many times.

cook lots of bacon in it

when you need to re-season, rub fat all over the cooking surface and sides and put in oven upside down @ 500 for a few hours

when washing use only hot water and a paper towel

Be prepared to wash all the clothes in your house as well. That smell permeates.

Wouldn't hurt to have the fire dept in standby.

Once a piece is fully cleaned and dried put it in the oven "naked"; no oil of any kind and heat it to 450°F. Leave it in long enough to just reach that temperature. Be careful and remove the piece from the oven and let it cool to where you can just handle it. This step works great for slightly darkening the peice and giving it a uniform appearance. No one likes a spotted or zebra stripped piece. Use Crisco shortening only and use a cotton rag (t-shirt) to apply a thin/very light coat on the entire piece. If there are tight nooks and crannies to fill in, use a Q-tip.

Once completely and lightly coated (note: we stress a LIGHT coat), put it back in the oven at 400°F for 30 (use a timer) minutes and at that point turn off the oven and leave it in the oven till it cools on it's own.

When you remove the piece it will have a nice dark brown uniform pantina that shines brightly.

You can repeat with one or more coats of Crisco, if you like, but you'll be happy none the less.

I am a terrific divorce attorney and my specialty is cast iron skillet divorces. This is not an advertisement. Merely a statement of fact.

Oh, and I never have been able to season my skillet the way I want it. I am, however, still married. Go figure.

Glad I could contribute.

The oven method is always solid but it does stink up the house for a while.

My grandpa always told me he would use a blow torch to get the pot red hot and throw in a pound of lard. You can ruin it if you heat it up too much though.

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rub fat all over the cooking surface and sides and put in oven upside down @ 500 for a few hours

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Be sure to disconnect your smoke detector battery first.

Cook bacon. Wash with water and rag
Cook fried chicken. Wash with rag
Cook more bacon....
Wipe clean..... Enjoy.

Do not use soap to clean. Use salt and a rag with warm water if you get something stuck on it.

Enjoy!

Seems like the intent of this thread is scaring the OP into returning the Rachael Ray cookware.

That can be recovered, but it looks like a drive to Academy may be warranted over the work you're going to put into it.