Dutchoven break in

You guys got Tom interested this weekend. He went and bought a new dutch oven. He followed the directions on cleaning it and cureing it last night. He left it in the oven overnight to cool. He said when he got it out this morning the lid was sticky??????

Donnie, send a PM to the Dutchman or Choctawlb.

That sort of thing happens. I think the cause is that too much oil was used to season the oven and the pores in the cast iron just couldn't hold all of it.

I've not found that it it too big of a deal as the stuff will burn off as you go.

Just use it and see. It can cause a problem if the residue cooks off and then leaves that part of the cast iron unseasoned.

One of the best ways to get it broken in right is to cook something in it that uses a good bit of oil, such as frying fish or chicken.

dutchman said:

That sort of thing happens. I think the cause is that too much oil was used to season the oven and the pores in the cast iron just couldn't hold all of it.

I've not found that it it too big of a deal as the stuff will burn off as you go.

Just use it and see. It can cause a problem if the residue cooks off and then leaves that part of the cast iron unseasoned.

One of the best ways to get it broken in right is to cook something in it that uses a good bit of oil, such as frying fish or chicken.

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I just looked at it and it ain't too bad. Told him the same thing. He just needs to use it.

New or old castiron skillets or ovens seasoning and care...

I've collected MANY pieces of cast iron cookware and this has been my method and works well for me.

First I ONLY use LARD. I get it from Kroger but many stores carry it. Crisco always leaves my cast iron cookware sticky during a seasoning process. I do use Crisco for cooking tho just not for the seasoning process. Also I do all my seasoning on my outdoor gas grill. I keeps from smoking up the house and setting off all the smoke alarms

New, unseasoned cast iron: New cast iron cookware comes with a thin wax coating to inhibit rust and it must be removed to properly season. Use the hottest tap water you can stand and with a good stiff brush, plastic is fine. Scrub thoroughly under the hot water. DO NOT USE ANY SOAP as it will get into the pores of the pot and every thing you cook will taste like soap. Don't ask me how I know.
Preheat the gas grill while cleaning. After the hot water scrubbing I pat dry with a towel and either place it in the grill for maybe 5 minutes or sit it on a lit burner for around 5 minutes to speed the drying and get the water moisture out of the pores and to warm it up but don't let it get hot or you'll have to wait for it to cool some to handle it. A warm pot takes the lard much better into the pores than a cool or cold one.

On old and rusted pieces I use a firm wire brush in my drill motor to remove the heavy rust. It may take a few rounds of wire brushing then water washing, drying, then wire brushing again to get a good clean pot to season.


Once thoroughly dry I apply a thin but covering layer of lard to every inch inside and out. It then gets placed upside down in my grill so that any excess lard will not pool up on the bottom an create any issues. Let it stay in the grill on high or ig your grill has a temp guage try to keep it at around 500 degrees for about 30-45 min give or take. Turn grill off and alloy the piece to cool. Open grill and admire your nicely seasoned cast iron cookware. Go make Momma a pot of stew or some good corn bread to go with supper and show off your new found cooking skills.

Thanks for the info. Will get some lard and try again. The instruction said to use soap to clean it the first time. I thought this was strange, but i said maybe there is some type of protective film on it that needs soap to get it off the first time.Lodge brand

SmokyMtnSmoke said:

On old and rusted pieces I use a firm wire brush in my drill motor to remove the heavy rust. It may take a few rounds of wire brushing then water washing, drying, then wire brushing again to get a good clean pot to season.

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A word of caution here...

Be careful not to go too deep with the brush. You can wind up polishing the metal and it takes forever and two years to get it looking right again.

Don't bother asking me how I know this, either...

dpoole said:

Thanks for the info. Will get some lard and try again. The instruction said to use soap to clean it the first time. I thought this was strange, but i said maybe there is some type of protective film on it that needs soap to get it off the first time.Lodge brand

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I'd wash a brand new one good with soap first it has so much of the oil used in makeing it and shipping but I use good hot water to get all the doap out ...

D , I was just looking at an article where they were using bees wax to season cast iron ..... all natural .... ain't tried it , I have 1 new oventhat I need to season and am thinking about trying bees wax ......

I took it out he oven this morning and it was stickey, but was told it was the corn oil in the vegetable oil that made it dothis so i got some crisco and rubbed all over it and took it to muddy foots and got it aproved.But next time i season it i think ille fry something in it like dutch mentioned thanks for the suggestions.

Maybe ya'll will give me a break on spelling after reading how, dpoole and lilpoole do

Dutchman, i cooked your peach cobler yesterday for thanksgiving in my new oven, and it must not have been too bad, seeing how there wasn't ANY left when they got done with it.

Good advice in this thread folks.............saving this thread to go by for seasoning that big dutch oven that's been calling my name every time I walk by it in the hardware store.

lilPoole said:

Dutchman, i cooked your peach cobler yesterday for thanksgiving in my new oven, and it must not have been too bad, seeing how there wasn't ANY left when they got done with it.

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They do have a way of getting gone on ya.

ha dtch send lilpoole some recipes he neds to practice cooking on us before we let him out in public with this thing. I would hate for anyone to get poisoned, well daddy dpoole and muddy I have been poisioning them for years there amuned to it.