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About Wardee Harmon

Wardee lives in the Boise area of Idaho with her dear family. She's the lead teacher and founder of the Eat God's Way online cooking program as well as the author of Fermenting, Sourdough A to Z, and other traditional cooking books. Eat God's Way helps families get healthier and happier using cooking methods and ingredients from Bible Times like sourdough, culturing, and ancient grains.

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Comments

    • Cecilia Gongora says

      I use Wagner this brand is very polished on the inside once and seasoned it works wonders I’ve had mine 47 years and they’re just Wonderful You can find them on eBay , flea markets and thrifty stores

  1. Daryle in VT says

    Hi Wardee,
    Back in the seventies, when I was young and impressionable, I worked for a wholesale hardware company. Included in the unbelievable array of stuff that our customers might want for his or her retail hardware store was cast iron cookware.We sold Griswold, Lodge, and at least one other brand, in every possible configuration from single egg fry pans to dutch ovens big enough to wash the dog in. The boss said, “let the customer decide what they wanted.”
    One of the first things we were taught as employees was how to season a cast iron pan, because someone was always going to ask. Nothing came pre-seasoned back then. The first rule was no vegetable oil – period! I think flax oil might be considered vegetable based. Mineral oil was the “seasoning” oil of choice. The seasoning process was very similar to the one you demonstrated, although two or three cycles was usually considered enough.
    The big difference was in the cleaning method. We were taught to clean them warm, with a splash of oil and coarse salt, with a stainless steel pot scrubber that just about filled your hand. If water was required, the pan was dried and a squirt of oil was splashed into the pan. The oil was rubbed all over the pan with a paper towel – outside, too. No rust, ever!
    Back then bacon was selling at three pounds for a dollar. Most home cooks saved bacon grease, to cook with and to keep the pans continuously seasoned. I’m still using my ten-inch chicken fryer, which has never been re-seasoned.

  2. Julie Caton says

    What a great topic. I was wondering if this is enough to overcome the grittiness of the cast iron finish that comes with today’s pans? I got a pan from a thrift store that was smooth as silk, and it is so nice to cook on except it is warped on the bottom. I was considering sanding it to get that silky finish, but would this seasoning work the same way?

    • Millie Copper says

      Hi Julie,

      Seasoning won’t help a gritty finish. Wardee doesn’t really know if sanding metal is an option on rough pans but she’d certainly try it! 🙂

      Millie
      Traditional Cooking School

      • Daryle in VT says

        A three-inch sanding disc with a 24 to 36 grit surface might help you. It should be a soft pad rather than a very stiff one so the disc will climb the sides to produce a smooth transition. Wear a breathing mask, or you will be able to “taste” the iron.
        You will want to transition up in grit count to an 80 or 100 grit to get a smoother surface. It will be a fair amount of work, possibly difficult to justify. You have to keep the sander moving to get a good finish. A variable speed machine might make it easier.

  3. Maria says

    Hi Wardee,

    I am really surprised you are using flax oil as it is very sensitive and I always thought we should never heat it. Is it really ok and healthy? Can you use other type of oil/fat?
    I have another question. Would acidic sauce destroy seasoned surface so that you have to reseason?

    Thanks a lot
    Maria

  4. Ashley C says

    I live in the UK and the organic high-lignan flaxseed oil is SUPER expensive. Is the high-lignan stuff really necessary? What is the difference between that and the regular organic flaxseed oil?

  5. Serena Kidder says

    So do we want the oil with the seed in it or not? As far as I can tell, Jami’s article links to one that doesn’t have seeds added, but high lignan suggests that it is.

  6. Brenda says

    Wardee, please tell me what brand of cast iron I can get that is smooth. I have the Lodge but it isn’t smooth and I really like a smooth surface! Thanks so much!

      • Daryle in VT says

        I have several of the French De Buyer pans. They are a heavy steel, not cast iron. They are as smooth as can be. I hand wash mine with the dishes, wipe them dry and then rub a little oil inside and out. Use just a little butter and only medium heat, and fried eggs will slide all over the pan. It’s very easy to pan-flip the eggs to impress your breakfast guests. Even burned food cleans up easily. With care, they should last about as long as good cast iron. Unfortunately, my last supplier of De Buyer cookware went out of business.

    • Sandi says

      Prepd is a new brand from a European country, I think Sweden. They are very smooth! You can buy them online and they are a little more light weight. They did not make them quite so heavy. I’ve been using mine for about two years and love them compared to the Lodge brand, of which I have a few!

  7. Hélène says

    Just wondering about ingesting the flaxoil with cooking use. Thats why ive never used this method. Flax is high in phytoestrogens, not good. Is the oil rly stuck to the pan with heating? Has it been tested to show its not slowly going into the food?
    Washing it with coarse salt, a little water to make a paste and a bristle brush is what i do. Im thinking this takes off my finish every use. I use bacon grease or the meat grease in dishes but never get a nonstick finish. Eggs are impossible.
    Soap would get into the pores, same as stoneware bakeware. I wudnt want that taste.

  8. Hélène says

    Then, again, the nonstick pans Im forced to use for eggs, replacing every yr at least, are prob releasing worse things than
    flaxoil…
    Just not sure as I have pcos so estrogen just isnt good.

  9. Brenna Heffernan says

    Millie,

    By using flax oil and sealing the pores of the pan, do you know if the iron is able to leach into the food that is cooked in it? It is really a great way to increase the iron intake in your diet when cast iron is used.

    Thank you!

    • Millie Copper says

      Hi Brenna,

      I consulted Wardee on this. Here are her thoughts: “Given that these pans still rust if not dried by hand, and that tomato sauce reacts with the pan, yes, I would say they still supply iron. This is my own observation.”

      Hope this helps. 🙂

      Millie Traditional Cooking School Support

  10. Emily K says

    Last week I seasoned my cast iron using the method you described in this edition of #AskWardee. I used the one piece of cast iron I had seasoned yesterday. Oh my goodness! It was amazing. Clean-up was a breeze. Nothing stuck. It was so easy. Thanks so much for sharing Wardee. 🙂

  11. Jesse Van Aulen says

    Hello. I recently decided to give this a try as really my first attempt at season cast iron at all. I bought a bottle of Puritan’s Pride Flax Oil from Amazon and got to work. I did six coats following the instructions from Sheryl Canter. I started from a bare pan, and after six coats it doesn’t quite seem to have turned out as expected. Mostly it doesn’t seem to have got much darker, if at all. I mostly followed the instructions exactly, especially the first few times. I think a few times I preheated the pan on the stove instead of in the oven, but I would think that shouldn’t have made a difference. I also did the last 4 coats out on my grill instead of in the oven because my wife was complaining about the smell in the house (Probably because the oven needs cleaned). I don’t think this was an issue either because I put in a lot of work to ensure that I was able to recreate the same environment as the oven. The only thing I can really think of would be the oil, but again, it seemed to meet most of the requirements except that it didn’t require refrigeration until opening, though the bottle claims to only be flax oil: no dyes, sweeteners, or preservatives. Again, I put a link to it below. Any guidance anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004R63VI6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

    • Hélène says

      It is frustrating to do it and not have it work! I would rly recommend cleaning the oven, which I know is a bummer, and then doing the pan in there. I think the baking is key;,stovetop n improvised oven in the grill just wont do it.
      Hope that helps!

      • Ginger Wedin says

        I followed the instructions to the letter, as best as I could understand them; used the oven only and with flax seed oil. My pan is an old lodge from my Grandmother. Things still stick to it, especially eggs. Maybe I will try the mineral oil as described in one of the comments. Appreciate any suggestions.

        • Hélène says

          This is disconcerting. I have ordered flaxseed oil, finally, to try this. Eggs is the main reason i am doing it. We eat eggs DAILY. ?

          • Ginger Wedin says

            Thanks I will try again. Two of my pans are Wagner from probably around 1910. They are both very smooth; one has one rough spot, not sure what to do about it, the rest is obviously machine polished in the ‘old way’. I feel blessed to have them and will keep trying.

  12. ginger says

    I followed the instructions (using organic flaxseed oil) to the “T” . The skillet looked great, but the first time I used it for scrambled eggs, they stuck. Didn’t seem to work for me. I didn’t really want to spend another day with the 6 coatings again. Disappointed. Any suggestions?

  13. Hayley Muir says

    I love cast iron and have used it for some time so I tried this method recently when my pots needed to be redone and it didn’t even last a month, what a lot of time and effort for nothing, I usually love everything on this site but this one is not one of them. I will go back to my old method that usually lasted me a year or more.

  14. Guy says

    FLAX SEED OIL??????? NO! You use good old fashioned lard! I’m sorry but you complain about soybean oil & then you put flax oil on? No. My grandma’s used lard & so did the pioneers. If you want traditional, that’s traditional.

    But thanks about the cleaning tips & the temperature. You can also use a finer grit sandpaper, then work finer.

    • Peggy says

      Hi, Guy,
      Wardee does recommend using lard as well 🙂 Thank you for the cleaning tip!
      ~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team

  15. Linda says

    I hope I did not miss this comment, but the odor from fumes while treating the cast iron is very bothersome. Why is this never addressed on even mentioned? I guess the only alternative is to do it somewhere outside the house in a protected area.

    • Danielle says

      Hi, Linda.

      Yes, they can be. Opening windows and using exhaust vents is helpful.

      I prefer to do mine outside over an open fire or the grill. On the grill I can see and control the temperature easier.

      ~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team

  16. Toni says

    I have a skillet from my mom that seems to be a bit pitted. Will this seasoning method still work for that? Also, I have some skillets from my mom that have rusted. How should I remove the rust before seasoning?

    Thank you!

    • Vicki Henry says

      Hi Toni,

      Light pits can be seasoned over and worked around all right. However, you might have uneven cooking because of them. So it really depends on how deep they are.

      Rust can be removed with steel wool.

      ~Vicki, TCS Customer Success Team

  17. Toni says

    Sorry, but one more question. If lard is also recommended, is there a specific type or just lard from grass-fed beef in general?

    • Peggy says

      Hi, Toni,
      You will want to use pastured pork lard or you can use tallow from grass-fed cows.
      ~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team

  18. Kristin says

    I followed your instructions using the flax oil and my pans are now b e a u t i f u l !!! (I stripped my pans first via two rounds of the self cleaning function in my oven.) This morning I made pancakes for the family and was giddy over how easily the pancakes flipped without any sticking! Thank you for all the fabulous information!

  19. Nancy B. says

    Hi Wardee.
    just one caution on using paper towels. make sure you buy paper towels that are not whitened with bleach otherwise you are wiping dioxins into your pan .
    same with toilet paper you’re wiping dioxins up your butt.

  20. Monica Moniot says

    I was looking on line for places to buy the flax oil and found kitchen stewardship website. According to them heating flax oil turns it rancid. so wouldn’t using it to season cast iron make it rancid? If I am worried about this is there another oil that would work as well as flax?
    Monica

  21. Monica says

    Where can I find the flax seed oil? All I can find is on regular store shelves. I can’t find any that is refrigerated.

    Monica

    • Peggy says

      Hi, Tammy,
      We believe it’s the same and that a flax oil claiming “lignan” is “high lignan”.
      ~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team

  22. Meg says

    I followed your method for seasoning a new lodge cast iron skillet- starting with leaving the pan in the oven for a self cleaning cycle. I was hesitant to do this since my pan came pre-seasoned. Adter that I went thru the seasoning process 4 times. This morning I cooked two eggs on medium heat and they stuck horribly. I’m so disheartened because I was imagining the YouTube videos I watched of lodge pans cooking eggs right off the bat that didn’t stick. Help! What can I do?

    • Vicki Henry says

      Hi Meg,

      I’m sorry you’re having issues with your cast iron. Cast iron heats up quicker and hotter than other types of pan so even at medium heat that may have been too hot.

      Also you need to use generous amount of good fats when frying eggs. It did take me a few tries to get the hang of cooking with cast iron.

      ~ Vicki, TCS Customer Success Team

  23. Leanne says

    Hi all, I’m a bit late to this post. But a few of you asked where you could buy a smooth cast iron skillet. I recently purchased a stargazer skillet. It is beautiful. I waited for months to find something used, but everyone was charging an astronomical price for them. I finally purchased a stargazer for an amazing price with a special they were holding. Sign up for their emails and you will get notification of these. Seriously the inside is smoother than any non-stick skillet I ever used!

  24. Tara Mihalek says

    Are you sure about flax seed oil? I read a book about the dangers of cooking and heating flax seed oil because it’s not a high temperature cooking oil and the heating process breaks it down into a toxin.

  25. Jubilee says

    Hi everyone, thank you all for sharing this information. It’s incredibly healthy. Yet, I do have one more question.

    I tried to season my new cast iron with Flax Seed oil… but, the house became so smokey, I couldn’t continue the process past 40 minutes. Did I do something wrong?

    Thanks you for your time, and take care.

    • Sonya Hemmings says

      Hi, Jubilee: I’m sorry, it can get very smoky. Run your hood fan, open windows. Also ensure you have wiped away as much flax seed oil as you can. Also ensure the oven is clean because if it’s not, that contributes to what is smoking. —Sonya, TCS Customer Success Team

  26. Rachel says

    I just followed this method to season a new lodge skillet. I did really clean it first to remove the seasoning it came with and then started with the flax oil. After first use and gentle cleaning, I see two small patches that look dull. Could it already have worn off in those areas?

    Also, I noticed when cooking with it, that it was smoking. I was using butter as my cooking fat, so it may have just been the butter, but seemed to be smoking more than I’m used to. Is it possible it was the flax oil smoking?

    • Vicki Henry says

      Hi Rachel,

      The smoking tells me that you may have either used a bit too much flax oil or not wiped it off well enough while seasoning, if so, it will resolve itself as you uses it.

      The small places on your pan that are dry were probably not cleaned off well enough before adding the flax oil and seasoning, the oil didn’t stick to those spots. You can season the those two spots individually or just start over, what ever you are inclined to do. I’d start over.

      The key to seasoning with flax oil is to take your time and be careful to use very, very thin layers of the oil, coating every bit of the pan’s surface with the oil then wiping the pan vigorously after applying it. Its important to apply, wipe and heat this at least 5 times.

      ~ Vicki, TCS Customer Success Team

  27. Nadia Moldoveanu says

    Hello everyone,
    I am new to this website and I love everything about health. I just ordered the flax oil, sunflower oil unrefined in addition, and the Lodge new cast iron pot and frying pan. Is there a video step-by-step on how to season and/or pre-season a new Lodge cast iron, please? I had one before, I did not know how to take care of it and I threw it away. I know that it is one of the best materials to cook in, so I did another investment because I came across this website. Can anyone help me, please?

  28. Laurie says

    I have an electric stove and prefer not to use the self-clean feature, as it can damage my stove. Can you recommended instructions on temperature and baking length for the initial cleaning portion? Thank you for your thoughts.

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