Question about seasoning a carbon steel pan

[foodnoobie]

My oven broke, so i can only season it on a gas stove.
I've seen multiple techniques, ranging from just oil, to oil and salt and oil, salt and potato peels.

I know salt pitting is a thing in stainless steel pans, so how come people use salt to season a carbon steel pan? Is it to make a rougher surface for the oil to stick to? If so, won't a rougher surface make food stick more, or does the oil seasoned layer make it flat?

And what type of oil to use? Some websites that sell carbon steel pans recommend olive oil. Yet everyone on youtube tells me not to use olive oil due to its low smoke point.

Also do i coat the bottom of the pan with oil as well? Will that not cause any problems when putting it on a gas stove? Or should i buy those special paste like seasoning jars? Thank you.

 

[cwk.v]

I don't season mine, just keep on cooking. I also wash them with soap and water. I seasoned pans in the past, but I decided it was too much effort.

If you decide to season your pans, use a high smoke point oil like grapeseed.

 

[JB1]

Very thin (very - basically wiped off with a paper towel) layer of grapeseed. Heat it until basically it stops smoking. Wait. Rinse and repeat a few times after its cooled. Then cook a bunch of fatty things with it before you start trying to fry an egg on it.

 

[Uncle Danny]

I just put oil on the pan, heats it up til it starts to smoke, let it rest, wipe of old oil with paper towel and repeat.
The just cook with it. No fish to begin with, but it takes no time for it to be non stick.

As a preference, I’m using Darto

 

[SwampDonkey]

Can only speak to cast iron as I haven't had a carbon pan in a few years. Stovetop/burner method is preferred method of seasoning for me. Peanut or other high smoke point oil in a very light coat, throw the burner on a higher setting and smoke it. Wipe the inside with damp cloth/paper towel and repeat a little later. Always far easier and gave me longer-lasting results than the oven method, plus significantly less energy input.

There's no substitute for regular cooking in them though. The above method got my 4 cast irons to a good spot where I enjoyed using them and food release was good, but regular use has elevated them to the next tier of effectively nonstick. Cooking technique plays a large roll too.

 

[Jovidah]

For oil I'd just go with any high temperature oil you already have... whether that's rice oil, peanut oil, grapeseed oil, or whatever. The only one I'd avoid is flaxseed oil (even though that was recommended a fair bit in the past). No need to go out and buy anything fancy, especially not the fancy waxes.

I've only ever done oil-only seasoning so I don't know how it compares to the other methods. I wouldn't worry about corrosion using salt+oil; there is oil as well, and it'll be moving around anyway. No clue why it's added but there's bound to be a reasoning behind it.

I usually do at least a few coats on the bottom as well... mostly to give it some extra corrosion resistance. Doesn't cause any problems; you're supposed to season in a thin film anyway.

 

[rickbern]

The thing to remember is to use multiple THIN layers of oil to start. I keep my cooking oil in a squeeze bottle and use 2-3 drops multiple times, wipe it off with a paper towel. I put the oil in a well preheated pan. I doubt I ever spent more than ten minutes on initial seasoning.

If there’s any crud caked in the pan, salt in the oil is an excellent abrasive. I heard someone describe it as giving your pan a facial.

I don’t put oil on the outside of the pan.

Don’t baby it, it's just a hunk of steel

 

[Michi]

No need to season more than once. Do the initial seasoning and start cooking. Each time you use the pan, the seasoning will improve and darken a bit more.

 

[TB_London]

Start eating bacon regularly and it’ll take care of itself.

 

[MrHiggins]

I know salt pitting is a thing in stainless steel pans, so how come people use salt to season a carbon steel pan? Is it to make a rougher surface for the oil to stick to? If so, won't a rougher surface make food stick more, or does the oil seasoned layer make it flat?

Re: oil + salt. I use a bit of oil and salt to clean the pan if there's something stuck on. I put in a tablespoon of course salt and a teaspoon of oil, heat it up, then scrub the pan with the mixture using paper towels. Works wonders.

 

[boomchakabowwow]

some of you all miss the part where he said his oven is broken?

the salt part. where you dump in salt oil, potato skins, etc - i think that is to do the final clean of the oil the pan is shipped in. i didnt do that step and i could see striations where the shipping oil didnt come off on a first seasoning attempt. i would probably still skip that step, since i never seem to have potatos. i would get medieval with some BKF and hail mary it. summary, get all that weird anti-rust shipping oil off.

i will NEVER spend time seasoning a carbon pan again. it sucks, and any beautiful black, monotone coating you get, will come off anyways leaving you a mottle brown, black look anyways - the first time you cook anything. seasoning on a carbon pan is a delicate thing..you deglaze with wine in the early days of the pan, and you can damn near strip it back to light gray.

i would scrub, do an intial half ass seasoning on the stove, and cook stuff. no EGGS, no delicate salmon fillets, no sugary bacon. i would cook stuff that isnt ruined if it sticks a little bit. like pork chops, or steaks. pour in 1/4 inch of oil and brown a bunch of meatballs. i put mine in my propane bbq grill to heat up and would lay burger patties down and watch them sear, sear hard and fast. when they released, i flipped. i used mine to pan toast buttered bread. easy stuff, you get the drift.

as time goes on, you can do test egg or something.

 

[wcothran]

I’ll usually heat oil up to smoking then cool down naturally. Then wipe it out with the kitchen towel. Repeat that a couple times and you’re good to go.

 

[rickbern]

I really worry that if you put the oil in a cold pan, you'll put in too much oil. I let a dry pan get ripping hot, put a few drops of oil in, rub it in pretty well with a paper towel, let it cool a bit then repeat. I don't let it cool all the way down, but I want to polymerize the layers and, without knowing anything about the chemistry of what's going on, this is how I seem to gravitate towards doing it.

 

[Dan-]

I toss it in the grill or an outdoor high-powered burner. Make the whole thing turn light gray. Let it cool, blow out all the powdery residue, and then do the whole potato skin then oil thing.

 

[Towerguy]

For oil I'd just go with any high temperature oil you already have... whether that's rice oil, peanut oil, grapeseed oil, or whatever. The only one I'd avoid is flaxseed oil (even though that was recommended a fair bit in the past). No need to go out and buy anything fancy, especially not the fancy waxes.

I've only ever done oil-only seasoning so I don't know how it compares to the other methods. I wouldn't worry about corrosion using salt+oil; there is oil as well, and it'll be moving around anyway. No clue why it's added but there's bound to be a reasoning behind it.

I usually do at least a few coats on the bottom as well... mostly to give it some extra corrosion resistance. Doesn't cause any problems; you're supposed to season in a thin film anyway.

The only reason to season at all is to prevent rust, season contributes very little to preventing sticking.

 

[Dan-]

The only reason to season at all is to prevent rust, season contributes very little to preventing sticking.

My carbon steel egg pan begs to differ.

 

[Lars]

This advise from a few years ago from @M1k3 worked great for me. Haven't had to re-season since..

1. Get pan hot to see color change in the metal
2. Thin oil coat
3. Polymerize
4. Repeat 2 and 3 if necessary

EDIT: Don't overthink it. And wash the pan first. Just use it. Heat, +oil, add ingredients.

 

[MrHiggins]

This advise from a few years ago from @M1k3 worked great for me. Haven't had to re-season since..

Yeah, that's about it. I would reiterate the THIN coat of oil. I actually find that a paper towel leaves too much oil on, so I wipe the oil off with a cotton bar rag.

 

[foodnoobie]

Awesome, thanks everyone for the advice.

My only remaining question is: Do i season the bottom to prevent rust. Or will it not rust if i always dry it after cleaning it? Although i imagine humidity might get to it.

And since the pan comes with a wax already on it. Do i remove the wax at the bottom, or will putting it on the stove with the wax cause a nice coating at the bottom of the pan? Or does that only work with actual oil? I'm not sure if i should clean the entire pan, or just the inside/cooking surface area of the pan to to remove the wax.

 

[Uncle Danny]

I removed all the coating on mine, seasoned the inside but left the outside as it were. I use my pan daily (almost) and don’t have any problems with rust.

As with knives, as long as you use them regularly, they’ll stay good to go.

Enjoy cooking

 

[Jovidah]

Manufacturer always tells you to clean off the beeswax so that's what I'd do. Personally I've always given the bottom a few coats of seasoning with oil at the same time I'm doing the inside, just to give it a good start. After that I never really worried about rust or moisture anymore. Over time they'll get blackened on gas anyway.
Mine don't seem to care whether I use them every day or get ignored for a month, never had any rust issues. The only thing they don't like is being left dirty with food in it for a day.

 

[Michi]

I season the entire pan when it is new, including the bottom/outside. Just one coat of seasoning is enough. There is no need to repeat the process four or five times. Just start cooking, and the seasoning will take care of itself.

Living in a humid climate, I do occasionally get a minute amount of rust at the bottom. When that happens, after the next cooking session, I wash/wipe off the outside and apply oil just as I do with the inside for maintenance seasoning. After that, the outside is good for several months again.

 

[boomchakabowwow]

I don’t even look at the backside.

 

[M1k3]

Awesome, thanks everyone for the advice.

My only remaining question is: Do i season the bottom to prevent rust. Or will it not rust if i always dry it after cleaning it? Although i imagine humidity might get to it.

And since the pan comes with a wax already on it. Do i remove the wax at the bottom, or will putting it on the stove with the wax cause a nice coating at the bottom of the pan? Or does that only work with actual oil? I'm not sure if i should clean the entire pan, or just the inside/cooking surface area of the pan to to remove the wax.

I do the whole thing when new. I'll do another coat on the outside when there's a little spot of rust forming. Basically what @Michi said.

 

[foodnoobie]

But how do you guys coat the bottom? Because i've seen videos where they put some oil in the pan, let it get really hot, dump out the oil, wipe the inside almost dry with a paper towel and then let the remaining oil evaporate completely.

So do you put a very light coating on the bottom of the pan at the very start of the entire process and just leave it like that? Because it's directly on the gas stove fire, so i imagine it gets very hot right away. And any thicker coating will be dripping off.

Or do you wait for the pan to be really hot and when you dump out the hot oil, you put a very thin coating on the bottom of the hot pan after?

 

[boomchakabowwow]

I just wipe oil on the bottom occasionally.

That’s it. Only rust prevention purposes only. No seasoning.

 

[Dan-]

It hardly matters. Wipe some on and heat it up.

 

[MrHiggins]

After I wash my pan, I put it back on the heat to dry off completely (medium heat for a minute, say). Then I put a few drops of oil in the warm pan and wipe with a cloth. I get it back up to temp for another minute, wipe out one more time, then put away.

The danger with putting in anything but the lightest coat of oil is that it can gunk up and get quite sticky.

But just like everything, there's no one right answer. Try some things out and find what works for you.

 

[boomchakabowwow]

My pan is pretty coated from over runs underneath. It certainly isn’t photo ready. I rarely even look down there. Nope.

 

[Jovidah]

I just put a few drops on a piece of paper and wipe it all over (both inside and outside, usually starting on the inside). Yes it will get exposed directly to the flames. And no it never put my kitchen on fire.
Don't overthink it, it'll be fine. It might leave a mostly carbonized layer instead of polymerized, but that's still fine; the only reason to have some layer on the outside is just for some extra corrosion resistance.
But at Mr Higgins said, always go with thin layers. Thicker layers will go gummy.