The first 30 days
The pan ships pre-seasoned at the foundry — three coats of organic grapeseed oil baked into the iron at 500°F. You can cook on it the day it arrives. The reason we still talk about "the first 30 days" is because seasoning isn't a one-time thing; it's a coating that grows with use. The more meals you make that involve any fat — bacon, butter, oil, animal fat — the better the surface gets.
Start with foods that have fat in them. Bacon. A buttery cornbread. Sautéed onions. Avoid acidic foods (tomato sauce, citrus, wine reductions) and sugary glazes for the first two weeks while the seasoning hardens up. After that, the pan handles them fine.
Daily routine — after every meal
Rinse with hot water
While the pan is still warm (not screaming hot — let it cool for 5 minutes first), rinse with hot tap water. A stiff brush or chainmail scrubber dislodges anything stuck. A drop of mild dish soap is fine; modern soaps do not strip a well-built seasoning. Don't use a steel wool pad as part of the daily routine.
Dry thoroughly
Towel off any standing water. Then put the pan back on the burner over medium heat for 30 to 60 seconds — the residual heat drives out the last of the moisture. This step is the single most important habit to build. Iron + water + air = rust, every time.
Rub in a thin layer of oil
Off the heat, take a few drops of any neutral cooking oil (grapeseed, vegetable, canola, even avocado) and rub it over the inside of the pan with a paper towel until the entire surface looks lightly waxed — not greasy. Wipe out the excess with a clean section of towel. The pan should feel barely-damp to the touch, not slippery.
Put it away
Hang it on a hook, set it on a stove burner, or stack it with a paper towel between it and any other pan. Don't store it inside a moist enclosed cabinet, and don't put it away while it's still warm.
Re-seasoning — every six months or so
The daily oil rub keeps the surface working, but every six months or so it's worth doing a proper oven re-season. Once you do this two or three times you'll have a non-stick surface that rivals any modern coated pan and will outlast it by a factor of ten.
- Scrub the pan clean with hot water, a stiff brush, and a drop of dish soap. Dry fully on the burner.
- Pour a teaspoon of flaxseed, grapeseed, or vegetable oil into the cooled pan. Rub it over every surface — inside, outside, handle, bottom — with a paper towel.
- Then wipe almost all of it off. The pan should look like it has nothing on it. A thick layer of oil cooks into a sticky resin, not a hard coating. Less is much more.
- Place the pan upside down on the middle rack of a cold oven, with a sheet of foil on the rack below to catch drips. Heat to 450°F and bake for 1 hour.
- Turn the oven off and let the pan cool inside the oven, with the door closed, until it's room temperature (usually a few hours, or overnight).
- Repeat 2-3 times for a brand new seasoning, or once for a refresh.
What to do if rust appears
Rust looks scary on cast iron, but it's recoverable. A small orange spot from a pan that was left wet overnight will wipe right off with a paper towel and a little oil. A larger rust patch needs slightly more work:
- Scrub the rust area aggressively with steel wool or a chainmail scrubber. You're trying to get back to clean grey iron underneath.
- Wash with soap and hot water. Dry on the burner.
- Run the full re-season routine (above) once or twice.
Cast iron that has been completely neglected — sat in a wet garage for a decade, looks more orange than black — can be brought back to life with electrolysis or a long lye soak, but that's beyond the scope of this guide. Email [email protected] and we'll walk you through it personally.
What not to do
- Don't put it in the dishwasher. The detergent strips seasoning and the long wet cycle promotes flash rust.
- Don't pour cold water into a screaming-hot pan. Thermal shock can crack cast iron. Let the pan cool to "warm" before rinsing.
- Don't leave acidic food sitting in it overnight. Tomato sauce, vinegar reductions, and citrus juices can pit a young seasoning. Cook them, plate the food, then clean.
- Don't store food in it. The seasoning is a working surface, not a storage container. Transfer leftovers to glass or ceramic.
- Don't season with butter or olive oil. Both have low smoke points and burn before they polymerize. They're great for cooking; just not for oven-seasoning.
Use on different cooktops
Gas: ideal. Direct flame heats iron evenly. Electric coil: works well; allow extra preheat time. Glass / smoothtop induction-ready electric: works, but lift the pan rather than sliding it — cast iron is heavy and will scratch the glass surface. Induction: works perfectly; cast iron is the most induction-friendly material there is. Outdoor grill, campfire, oven up to 700°F, smoker: all fine. The handle gets hot — use a leather mitt or a folded towel.
Frequently asked
Why is the surface slightly bumpy and not glass-smooth?
Pans cast in sand molds have a textured surface — that's the foundry mark, not a flaw. It also gives the seasoning more surface area to grip, which is part of why our pans become non-stick faster than machined-smooth modern reproductions.
Can I cut food in it?
You can use a metal spatula and bench scrapers to dislodge stuck food without harming the seasoning — metal is fine. Don't use the pan as a cutting board, though; the edge of a knife will gouge a furrow.
The seasoning has gone gummy / sticky. What did I do?
Too much oil in the last re-season. Wipe the pan dry, run it empty on medium-high heat for 10 minutes to burn off the sticky layer, let it cool, and re-season with much less oil this time.
The food sticks. Did the seasoning fail?
Three most common causes, in order: (1) the pan wasn't hot enough when you added food — let it preheat 3-5 minutes on medium heat; (2) there wasn't enough fat in the pan when the food went in; (3) the food itself hadn't released yet — leave it alone for another 30 seconds and try again. If you've ruled out all three and food still sticks after a month of use, email us — we'll diagnose.
Need help?
If anything in this guide is unclear, or you have a pan question we didn't answer, please write to us at [email protected]. We're a small team in Cleveland and we answer every message ourselves — usually within one business day.