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Eater
11-07-2025
- General
- Eater
How to Season and Clean a Cast-Iron Skillet So It Lasts Forever
is a food writer and baking enthusiast whose focuses include culinary history, seasonal cooking, and Southern cuisine. She splits her time between Birmingham, Alabama, and Tulum, Mexico. Few kitchen tools inspire devotion quite like the cast-iron skillet. It's the kind of pan that carries stories of grandmothers' Sunday chicken, late-night cornbread experiments, impromptu camping trips, and life's less-than-great moments healed by a sizzling steak. A well-seasoned skillet can easily become more than cookware; it's an heirloom meant for generations to come. But for something so beloved, cast iron is often misunderstood, either babied with nervous delicacy or left to rust in a graveyard of neglect. The truth? Cast iron is nearly indestructible, and with a few simple habits, it can outlive you. Here's how to make your cast iron skillet last forever — really, forever – without treating it like a high-maintenance houseplant. What exactly is cast-iron seasoning? A cast-iron skillet isn't like other pans. It's not made with nonstick coating or delicate materials. It's iron poured into a mold — dense, rugged, and slow to heat, but brilliant at retaining it.'When cast iron comes out of its mold, it has the rough texture of sand,' says Will Copenhaver, the vice president of marketing and sales at Smithey, a cookware company that specializes in heirloom cast iron. 'Seasoning plays a very important role in traditional rough cast iron. It acts as a filler for the porous surface and ensures that food doesn't stick – cast iron just wouldn't be very functional without it.' When you season cast iron, you're building up a thin, protective layer of polymerized oil that guards against rust and eventually creates a natural nonstick surface. That black patina isn't grime or wear, it's the goal. Most cast-iron skillets now come pre-seasoned, but it's still worth reinforcing the surface from the start. The best way to do this is to rub a thin coat of neutral oil all over the skillet, inside and out, including the handle, and then buff it with a paper towel until it appears nearly dry. Place the skillet upside down in a hot oven, around 450 degrees, with a sheet of foil on the rack below to catch any drips. After an hour, turn off the heat and let the skillet cool in the oven. Doing this once or twice when the pan is new helps build a base coat, but over time, the seasoning gets stronger just by cooking regularly, especially if you're making foods with some fat. How do you properly care for a cast-iron skillet so that it lasts a lifetime? Chef Jason Lalacona, the head chef at Miel in Nashville, remembers feeling unsure about cast iron in his early days in the kitchen. 'As a guy from the North, cast-iron pans always intimidated me,' he says. 'The benefits preached to me never seemed to outweigh the irreparable damage that I could accidentally cause with one wrong move, or soap. Or so I thought.' There's a persistent myth that cast iron is delicate. That one wrong move (or dish soap) will destroy it. In reality, it's one of the most forgiving pieces of cookware in your kitchen – you just need to develop a rhythm with it. After each use, let the pan cool slightly, then rinse it under warm water. If there's anything stuck to it, use a gentle sponge or a bit of kosher salt as a scrub. Despite what you may have heard, a few drops of dish soap won't hurt the pan. Just avoid soaking or scrubbing it aggressively with anything too harsh unless you're planning to reseason after. Once it's clean, dry the skillet thoroughly. Set it on a warm burner for a minute or two to evaporate every bit of moisture. Then, drizzle in a small amount of neutral oil and wipe the entire surface with a paper towel. This simple act of maintenance, done each time, is what keeps the skillet glossy and rust-free, and pays off when you start to cook with confidence. Lalacona has found cast iron to be particularly effective for high-heat tasks. 'I love to use cast iron for seafood, especially scallops,' he says. The pan retains heat so well, he explains, and the sear is extremely even. How do you revive an old, rusty skillet? Even with the best intentions, rust happens. Maybe the skillet sat in the sink too long. Maybe someone 'helped' you by soaking it overnight. But unlike a scratched-up nonstick pan, cast iron isn't ruined by a little surface rust – it's just asking to be refreshed. Start by scrubbing the rust away using steel wool or a metal scouring pad until you reach clean, raw iron. Then wash the pan with soap and warm water, and dry it completely, ideally by heating it briefly on the stove. Once it's dry, reseason it just as you would a new pan: a thin coat of oil, a good buff, and an hour or so in a 450-degree oven. On the other hand, if the rust is a minor case of a few specks, you may be able to smooth them out with a little coarse salt and oil, no oven time required. In most cases, one or two rounds of scrubbing will restore the skillet to its original glory. If you have a tougher case, some brands, such as Smithey, offer restoration services. The bottom line? Don't overthink it. Cast iron is neither high-tech nor high-strung. It just needs consistent, simple care. Clean it gently, dry it completely, and give it a quick rub of oil before you put it away. You'll be rewarded with decades, if not generations, of reliable performance.
Eater
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
What to Get Your Food-Loving Dad for Father's Day
In our experience, the best food-related Father's Day gifts check some combination of feeling personal, kitsch, useful, and delicious. There is no one right way to be a father or a father-like figure, or shop for one, but it feels fair to say that our most successful Father's Day presents have either fulfilled a hyper-specific need, such as a kneeling foam pad for herb gardening, or celebrated our food-loving fathers' rituals around grilling, fishing, or making truckloads of their deceased Italian mother's marinara on Sundays. Riposa in pace , nonna! Your son has become a worthy sauce master in your stead. Father's Day falls on June 15 this year, which means you have a little over a week to smash the order button on some Snake River Farms steaks or a high-tech Ooni pizza oven. Should you seriously procrastinate, there are always two-day shipping options from Amazon Prime, and retailers such as Nordstrom provide an estimate of the soonest day an order can arrive. Plus, you can also opt for day-of, shipping-free digital gifts, such as a Southern cooking MasterClass with James Beard Award–winning chef Mashama Bailey, or a gift card to Williams Sonoma. Your dad is the best dad out of all the dads, of course, so let's find him the perfect present, whether that means something to throw on the grill (or in the Igloo cooler) or a themed apron that harkens back to his days following the Grateful Dead. These Wagyu steaks from Snake River Farms Family-operated since 1968, Snake River Farms has earned a reputation as one of the best ranch-to-table slingers in the game for the best meats you can buy, from Kurobuta pork to wild-caught seafood to dry-aged Porterhouse steak. While it's an excellent source of dad-centric gifts in general — what father wouldn't want a Smithey skillet or a custom meat subscription box? — but we're thinking that Daddy deserves some of the meat purveyor's wagyu beef, because it's a rich, marbled cross between pure Japanese wagyu and American-bred beef. This set of grill-ready fancy salts With its Grilling Trio, the highly aesthetic Oregon-based company Jacobsen Salt Co. has treated us to a holy trinity of its iconic, chef-loved sea salt, as well as an infused black pepper salt and sea salt steak seasoning with minced garlic, paprika, fennel seed, rosemary, and more dried herbs. One stainless steel frying pan to rule them all Ah, the endless versatility of a lidded, stainless steel 10-inch frying pan. There's a good chance your pops has sizzled his own to the high heavens, no? Eater collaborated with Heritage Steel to make our very own iteration, which is made with durable, high-quality, 5-ply stainless steel and given an extra half-inch of circumference, making it the reigning favorite of our fry pan rotation. A leather oven mitt Unlike that greying, striped cloth oven mitt your pops has had for years, a leather oven mitt will only look cooler as it gets a little scratched up and worn-in over the years. | Cast Leather Co. Prices taken at time of publishing. A Deadhead dad's dream apron For the father who is still a headlight on a northbound train. Several Eater staffers own Hedley & Bennett aprons, and can attest to the comfort and durability of the cotton material. The brand's collab with The Grateful Dead has spawned some of the coolest aprons money can buy. A digital picture frame for the kitchen What father doesn't love flipping flapjacks beside a digital picture frame featuring the best snapshots of his kids, grandkids, and that time you all rode horses together on Catalina Island? | Aura Prices taken at time of publishing. Ooni's cult-fave pizza oven is $269 off The Ferrari of pizza ovens. Ooni's electric indoor model is 30 percent off right now, and can cook a Neapolitan-style pizza in just 90 seconds (a fact which your pops will love explaining to his pals before watching the game). | Ooni Prices taken at time of publishing. Track down vintage John Deere drinkware There's an infinite bounty of vintage John Deere coasters, shot glasses — hell, there's even a John Deere tractor-shaped decanter — on vintage and second-hand retailer sites such as Ebay. It's like they say: you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the tractor out of his liquor cabinet. | Ebay Prices taken at time of publishing. For the pops who wants to sous vide all day Give Dad the power of preserving his precious deer meats for seasons to come, at the touch of a button. | Anova Prices taken at time of publishing. A MasterClass in cooking pasta and rice dishes (because even Dad doesn't know everything) Is it just me, or was there always a handful of track team and cross country dads who prided themselves on being able to whip up buckets of cheesy pasta dishes before a big meet? Should the dad in your life feel curious about improving their recipe portfolio, MasterClass' series on hardy pasta and rice dishes is a great way to build up their confidence in the kitchen — although there's a good chance they already have plenty. | MasterClass Prices taken at time of publishing. Starting at $10/month (billed annually) for all classes. Keep things cool with Stanley's beer stein Lest we forget, Stanley makes more than Quenchers for dirty sodas. The company's durable hunter green flasks and colorful beer steins deserve some extra TLC, especially because the latter will keep father's ambrosia of choice (who knows, maybe it's a dirty soda!) chilled for hours, whether he's just chilling on the patio, is at the Big Game, or is chilling on a fishing boat. | Stanley Prices taken at time of publishing. Soulful serving utensils Qäsa Qäsa Carvers ethically sources all of its hand-carved pieces from the talented artisans of the Makonde tribe in Mtwara, Tanzania. No two sets will look quite alike, and the mixed assortment of blackwood utensils will look just as beautiful serving up a dense bean salad or spices as it will hanging from a pot rack. | Qäsa Qäsa Prices taken at time of publishing. This coffret of worldly sausages Olympia Provisions is the United States' first-ever USDA-approved salumeria, and it has united 13 lucky sausages with flavor profiles from around the world (think, the cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg sausages of Alsace, France, and the bright citrus-kissed flavors of Greek loukanika) into this gift box for Dad. | Goldbelly Prices taken at time of publishing. Because dads deserve their flowers, too Leave it to Urban Stems, maker of my go-to Mother's Day bouquet, the Unicorn, to assemble something festive for Father's Day. This bouquet is aptly dubbed 'The Men Love Flowers,' because it's a peach rose- and golden marigold-forward bundle of optimism and energy that pops will appreciate. | Urban Stems Prices taken at time of publishing. Happy Father's Day, champ. The freshest news from the food world every day
