#Black steel pan free

The best seasoning oils are drying oils - that is readily oxidising and tending to polymerisation - oils familiar to woodworkers, painters, and restorers, of poppyseed or linseed, both of which can be found in edible form. It is however these very characteristics that do not lend these oils to seasoning iron. Almost without exception culinary oils are non or semi drying oils and are used in the kitchen for precisely this reason - being less prone to rancidity in storage or coagulation during cooking: certainly virtues for a cooking oil. Traditionally it would have been lard, dripping, or tallow, and it may be tempting these days to use whatever cooking oil is to hand. Once your pan has sufficiently cooled to touch (please do be careful here) rub in some oil, but before you do it's worth a little consideration of the type of oil that will provide the best results. There may be some truth in this, and it certainly won't harm your pan, but our feeling is such lengthy pre-seasoning can be considered optional rather than necessary. There are some who think it beneficial for the pans to then be baked dry at this temperature for an hour, which should slightly darken the surface, indicating the development of black iron oxide, thought to result in a better fix for the seasoning. Your pan should be immediately dried with a clean cloth, then placed over a low heat or in a hot (450☏, 230☌) oven for at least ten minutes to drive any residual moisture away and out of the steel's surface. Then having done this you need to rinse well until no trace of soap (or oil) remains. Despite these virtues it isn't what you want so you need to gently, but thoroughly scrub it away.

#Black steel pan free

Wash away all the protective oil that's on the pan as it is the wrong kind of oil (a non-drying acid free oil, most likely a light mineral oil), used because it doesn't go rancid, evaporate, corrode the steel, or degrade. You need a bowl of hot, clean, soapy water and a sponge or a soft washing up brush. Having kept the pan dry until you are ready to go, the first thing to do is to get the pan wet.

The result will be slightly patchy, but as the seasoning builds and the pan blackens any uneven colour will gradually disappear. We'd suggest avoiding wire wool or sand paper as these are likely to either polish or roughen the surface. If any rust does appear probably the best advice is to scrub off what you can with a scouring pad, a copper cloth, or brass wire brush. If allowed to get wet, or stored damp, this is the time that the steel is most susceptible to rust as the pan is yet to develop its own protective coating.ĭoes it matter if it rusts? Not really except for the sake of appearances, functionally it shouldn't make a difference - indeed there are those who deliberately rust their pans, blacken the rust by boiling, and then season believing it results in a truer, harder surface than the simpler method described below. It might seem obvious but it is still worth reiterating that until the pan is seasoned it should be kept absolutely dry and the protective oil left in place. They are untreated save for light coating of oil to help prevent rust during transport and storage - the grey colour is simply the colour of the raw steel.

Most of our French frying pans are made of 2.5mm or 3mm pressed carbon steel.