I wrecked the seasoning on a 12 inch Lodge cast iron pan back in the winter so I had to strip it with oven cleaner and resets on in the oven with vegetable shortening. I don't know what step didn't go well but the end result was a grey pan and not the deep black I was expecting. I ended up cooking on it to try and build up the seasoning through use which worked with uneven results as different parts of the pan accumulated seasoning at different rates.
The other night when I did the potatoes with the blade steaks, I had to substitute unsalted butter for the olive oil I normally use. It was also the first time since reseasoning that it's been in the kettle. This totally inadvertently did the trick. I left the pan in the kettle after scooping out all the potatoes and shut the kettle down so it would all cool down together. This evening when I removed the pan and cleaned it under hot water with a Lodge brush, the interior had a beautiful, dark black seasoning on it. The handle's still grey but I'm not worried about that since it isn't a cooking surface. I did a quick shortening seasoning on top of that on the stove, then did kettle sweet potatoes the same way with unsalted butter. Fingers crossed that pan will be seasoned nicely tomorrow when I get it out and clean it up.
If this works, I'll run with it on th couple other pieces of cast iron I have.
Topic: Seasoning cast iron in the kettle (Read 1798 times)