How to Season a Cast Iron Skillet

There have been several questions raised on this site lately that I think I’ll address today. . .as best as I can. They are mostly from people unfamiliar with U.S. Southern culture. It is definitely its own entity. We have certain foods that we live and die by, certain routines we use when we cook, certain ingredients indigenous only in the South, and then there is The Skillet. Every Southern cook who’s worth their weight owns a well seasoned cast iron skillet.

I have to admit though that I didn’t use one myself until I was in my thirties. I had bought one when I left my mama’s house way back in the day when I was 19 years old, but I was not educated enough to understand that it needed to be “seasoned”. All I knew was that my cornbread stuck to the pan like wallpaper paste. I couldn’t get it to come out like my mama’s to save my soul. But I kept trying. Then the skillet started getting all rusty. My mother told me that I needed to season it, but I didn’t know what that meant and it was LONG before the Internet (where I look up EVERYTHING now). So I’m here to give you a few solid tips about the Cast Iron Skillet. Training, of sorts, because with a little bit of understanding, you too will LOVE a cast iron skillet.

First, your skillet will never rust like mine did if it is properly “seasoned” AND if it is “seasoned” well, it will act just like any non-stick skillet you own. The seasoning process serves to fill and smooth the surface of the pan. First, you wash, rinse and dry the skillet very well. Then you grease the inside surface with Crisco or other solid shortening. A medium-light coating like how you’d grease a cake pan is plenty. Put the greased skillet in a preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour. Remove and let it cool. What nobody told me was that you may have to repeat this process a few times before it becomes as non-stick as my mama’s skillet was that she’s had for 50 years.

The second thing about the cast iron skillet was the most difficult for me to grasp . . . DO NOT use soap or detergent of any kind when cleaning said skillet. A seasoned cast iron skillet can be cleaned very nicely with really hot water and a stiff-bristled brush. And often, like after making cornbread, I just wipe it out with a damp cloth, and dry it with a paper towel and put it away. It is most important to dry the skillet very well; otherwise the rust will appear as it did on mine. And who wants a rusty skillet, right?

But just so everybody knows. . . These days, you can actually BUY pre-seasoned skillets. Mine is so old that I had to season it the old fashioned way, but I’ve heard pre-seasoned pans are on the market now.

Where Can I Find “The Red Hat Society Cookbook”?

This is by no means an advertisement for The Red Hat Society. They don’t even know I’m alive. However, their cookbook IS one of my most favorites (out of the 1,000+ cookbooks that I own). I’ve posted a couple of recipes out of this book and I was asked if it were available for purchase somewhere.

I happened upon mine while shopping at my local grocery store. But Amazon.com has it too. I’ve added a little shopping widget on my sidebar that will take you right to it if you want to buy a copy.

What is Rotel?

This question comes from Kerrie from Le Chat Noir in Austrailia. In my One Skillet Chili Bake that I read about on Southern Plate’s site, it calls for a can of Rotel.

Rotel is the brand name for canned tomato mixtures. They usually have diced tomato and onion, and mild chile pepper, but they have a few “flavors”….Just look for Rotel brand products (probably near the canned tomato, or sauces). If your store doesn’t carry that brand, any type of salsa will do really.

Rotel is best known for mixing a can with Velveeta for making Nacho Cheese Dip which is absolutely delicious. People use it for a great variety of purposes, like salsa would be used; with dips, over eggs, in burritos, etc. It is EXCELLENT in the One Skillet Chili Bake.

Why are there rocks in dried beans?

This came from my friend, Mo, in Seattle. She was deeply disturbed that she’s lived to be as old as she is and she never knew to check her bag of beans for rocks.

I have to say that I’m not really sure WHY. My mama just always told me to sift through them before cooking them. And I’ve FOUND rocks before! I will cook bags and bags of beans never finding a rock, but just when I got complacent. . . BOOM! A rock! So I check.

I think it has something to do with how they’re harvested and dried, that sometimes rocks get mixed in. But basically, it’s just something that my mama always told me to check for. That’s really all I’ve got on that one. If someone out there has any idea why rocks are sometimes in bags of dried beans, please let us know. Otherwise, poor Mo will keep using cans of beans for the rest of her life and she will never get the pleasure to taste good old-fashioned Red Beans and Rice.