Using an oven to season never really worked for me; it used too much electricity and the waste heat made my living space super uncomfortable.
So, I decided to try using butane cans meant for hotpots. They can be bought at most Asian focused grocery stores and I bought the torch adapter from amazon; I don’t think it really matters which one you get, seems most of them are from the same manufacturer. Probably also have them at some restaurant focused stores.
My process was the same as if you were using an oven; a thin layer of canola oil (or whatever you use) and then blast it with the butane torch. I found I needed to get real close until the oil “dries” (in the right light you see crystal like shapes, I think that’s what it looks like when it polymerizes). After it’s ‘dried’ I apply another layer and repeat. I did this about 10 times I think. Same as always, don’t apply too much or you’ll get sticky areas that will take more time to polymerize.
It’s quite laborious, but it had great results though I think I’ll have to do another 10-20 layers to get a really good seasoning. As it is now, eggs still stick a little in some places but it’s still a far cry from what it was before.
I also want to get some canola oil spray since that would make reapplying a cinch, but I can’t seem to find it any more. Do you have it in your area? I hope it wasn’t discontinued. :(
I hope this helps, happy cooking!
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You can use a pump mister with your own oil for general kitchen lubery.
Edit: This rando image appears to have squirt function but for even application you can get pump-to-pressurize ones which is what I had in mind.
Awesome, thanks!
Last summer I experiemented with seasoning my cast iron in direct sunlight.
I would start the seasoning the pan in the oven/stove top for 30 minutes and then place it in direct sunlight.
I usually left the pan in direct sunlight from ~9am to ~5pm.
The pan would be too hot to touch barehanded so I know that it was hot enough to do some polymerization.
From what I read online somewhere, polymerization happens at relatively low heat. We just speed up the process by increasing the heat.
I also read that UV also polymerizes the oil. Which made me think leaving it in direct sunlight would help the process.
I did this for a few days and it worked.
Obviously don’t leave it outside in humid or rainy conditions. Or when it’s very windy. You’ll end up with things landing on your pan.
I also placed the pans in direct sunlight upside(so things would not stick to the inside) down with oil on the interior of the pan to see if it would polymerize without preheating in the oven/stove top. I did this for one day only.
Polymerization did start to happen. The oil became sticky but I estimate it would take 1-2 weeks everyday for the oil to fully polymerize.
I’m going to do it again this year to experiment more.
I figured the sun is free so why not let it do the work.
Edit: I did this on days that were over 90°f.
I season my cast iron on the stove. Get it nice and hot, and rub oil on it with a bunched-up paper towel.
I tried to do that, but I would get electric burner shaped seasoning spots with the in-betweens still being basically bare metal. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I do it at medium heat and give it a good 5 minutes to heat up first.
