seasoning iron pan - smokey kitchen

[minerj73]

we have been seasoning some iron cookware and it seem every time we cook it, to season it, our kitchen and home has a bad smell and gets smokey. Is this usual? or are we doing something wrong. Any advise would be helpful!

[Salema]

What kind of iron cookware? Is it Lodge brand? Griswald? It shouldn't matter, but I have both of those and haven't had any problems. Foods to avoid in cast iron include acidic foods, especially tomatoes, and I found that ground beef can strip the seasoning out of my pans as well. If you cook anything on really high heat without proper grease/butter/oil, it can also cause the food to suck the seasoning right out.

My suggestion is to cook something like bacon (if you eat bacon), or something else REALLY high in fat. You can also try frying some tortillas in oil ~ put about 1/2 inch of oil in the pan, heat to high, cook some tortillas, about 10 seconds on each side.

By heating the pan with a lot of oil in it, you should cook the oil into the pan.

When it's time to clean it, just wipe the oil out, or scrub it with hot water if you've cooked flavorful food such as bacon.

Don't use soap in cast iron skillets, except on very rare occasion (when you simply can't scrub the gunk out with hot water).

I've also heard of people baking something high fat (like pillsbury buttery rolls) to season a pan for the first time.

But once it's seasoned, it shouldn't smell. It might be smokey from too high of heat?

[minerj73]

season iron - ware smokey

I'm not sure of the brand of iron cookware, but the smokiness and smell only happens in our oven when we are seasoning or reseasoning it. Not really when we are cooking food with it. Any other ideas??

[applejuice]

It has been so long since I seasoned my pan, I do not recall, but I hope you resolve it.

Love my iron pans!

[morning glory]

Try using a really thin layer of vegtable oil...the first time I seasoned our pan I used a lot of oil and it dripped off and burned...set off the smoke alarm. You can always reseason a couple of times to get the level of seasoning you want. Also what temp are you using? I'm assuming that you are coating it with oil and putting it in the oven?

Casey

[shanagirl]

Yes- if you seasoned the outside of the pan the oil is dripping off and burning on the floor of your oven. I'm pretty slack about cleaning my oven so I know this-- if there are any oil or greas food drips on the floor of your oven they will smoke and burn as the oven heats. So wash the floor of your oven and only season the inside of the pan. I bought a natural bristle brush and after I use my pan, I fill it with hot water and scrub it with the brush, then dry it.

It's possible you need to really scrub the initial 'metal' smell out of the pan with a plain bristle brush and hot water a few times, then, as someone suggested, cook a lot of bacon in it. I'd let the bacon grease soak in for a day, then wipe it out and scrub it with hot water and the brush.

I love my cast iron pan but I goofed on seasoning my first one before I got it right. Just never use soap and always dry it well.

[starlein26]

w e l c o m e !

and i hope you can figure the pan situation out without me...

[minerj73]

Thanks for the ideas! I do think we need to clean the over, but we use tin foil under the pans. Also, the oven does not smoke or smell when we cook anythink else. So I'm wondering if our even is set higher then the indicator knob. Or, if oil just smells bad and burns at high temps....I think we usually set the oven on 325 (?). I think.
One other question I had was...can you hurt ironware cooking on an electic burner? It seems to be different then the gas ones. Thank for any help!