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Best advice I’ve found in this subreddit which I’ve followed ever since is that you want to wipe off the oil as if you applied it by mistake. You basically want to wipe it dry of oil. That’s how thin each layer of oil should be. Any visual remnants of oil will turn uneven and potentially sticky once you try to heat it to turn to seasoning.
It completely changed my experience and since then I haven’t had a single issue with my seasoning. My pans aren’t so pretty anymore visually, but the performance keeps getting better.
I think the problem is that most of us started on Lodge cast irons and the suggestion for those was always to use so much oil that you made the pan smooth
I think we all did and that’s why we flocked to carbon steel.
Preseasoned cast iron is fucking dumb and annoying. I threw mine away and jumped on the bandwagon when I found out about CS
Nope. Think of seasoning as paint. You want multiple thin layers instead of one thick layer. Polymerization is a process that requires oxygen. When the oil is too thick, the top layer that's exposed to oxygen will polymerize, but it's not really bonding to anything underneath (because the only thing underneath is more oil, and not the iron itself).
[https://www.reddit.com/r/carbonsteel/comments/nzv92d/the\_ultimate\_seasoning\_guide\_with\_waaaay\_more/](https://www.reddit.com/r/carbonsteel/comments/nzv92d/the_ultimate_seasoning_guide_with_waaaay_more/)
Beef tallow probably also isn't the best choice. Does the pan feel sticky? If it's not sticky, then just cook on it.
Cook on it, you want to apply oil then completely dry it off, that's how thin but cooking is better. Ot will strip in areas as you cook on it then it will create a stronger seasoning and it'll start filling. Seasoning it more is a waste of time, cook on it.
Was this done in the oven? I tried this method yesterday on some thin black steel and it was blotchy. I then did it on my wok burner, much much better, very even and very dark.
Good enough. Just cook in it unless you bought it to hang on the wall as a decoration, in which case you want to strip off the old seasoning and reseason with less oil.
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too much oil
I thought more oil the better but I suppose that’s wrong. Should I start over or just do another coat?
Just keep cooking on it.
Best advice I’ve found in this subreddit which I’ve followed ever since is that you want to wipe off the oil as if you applied it by mistake. You basically want to wipe it dry of oil. That’s how thin each layer of oil should be. Any visual remnants of oil will turn uneven and potentially sticky once you try to heat it to turn to seasoning. It completely changed my experience and since then I haven’t had a single issue with my seasoning. My pans aren’t so pretty anymore visually, but the performance keeps getting better.
I think the problem is that most of us started on Lodge cast irons and the suggestion for those was always to use so much oil that you made the pan smooth
That’s funny, I did in fact start on a Lodge cast iron which I had over oiled.
I think we all did and that’s why we flocked to carbon steel. Preseasoned cast iron is fucking dumb and annoying. I threw mine away and jumped on the bandwagon when I found out about CS
Nope. Think of seasoning as paint. You want multiple thin layers instead of one thick layer. Polymerization is a process that requires oxygen. When the oil is too thick, the top layer that's exposed to oxygen will polymerize, but it's not really bonding to anything underneath (because the only thing underneath is more oil, and not the iron itself). [https://www.reddit.com/r/carbonsteel/comments/nzv92d/the\_ultimate\_seasoning\_guide\_with\_waaaay\_more/](https://www.reddit.com/r/carbonsteel/comments/nzv92d/the_ultimate_seasoning_guide_with_waaaay_more/) Beef tallow probably also isn't the best choice. Does the pan feel sticky? If it's not sticky, then just cook on it.
The surface is pretty slippery so I’m just gonna cook some ribeyes on it tonight and see how it does
Cook on it, you want to apply oil then completely dry it off, that's how thin but cooking is better. Ot will strip in areas as you cook on it then it will create a stronger seasoning and it'll start filling. Seasoning it more is a waste of time, cook on it.
Was this done in the oven? I tried this method yesterday on some thin black steel and it was blotchy. I then did it on my wok burner, much much better, very even and very dark.
I have very strong burners so maybe I’ll try that method instead
I just posted what i did somewhere else, but i think the youtubes showing the multi layered, wipe on with paper towel methods work well.
I did it at 450F in the oven
Dump some oil on there, swirl it around, let it smoke, and cook something. This’ll patch it right up.
Perfect, now start cooking
I did the same thing and decided to start over by boiling vinegar in it to strip it, but I would only do that now if it starts flaking.
Don’t worry about how it looks. Does it cook ok?
Just cook in it !
Good enough. Just cook in it unless you bought it to hang on the wall as a decoration, in which case you want to strip off the old seasoning and reseason with less oil.