The Cast Iron/Carbon Steel Guide

How to buy, season, use, and maintain these pans

Hey, everyone!

Today’s post is all about carbon steel and cast iron. If you’ve read this newsletter for a while, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of both of these types of cookware. And while there are a few functional differences I’ll cover, the maintenance and upkeep is pretty much the same for both.

Today I’ll dive into some considerations for using these pans, where to buy/brand recommendations, how to season, and some tips for cleaning and maintenance.

If there’s one thing I hope you’ll take away from this it’s that cast iron and carbon steel care is not that difficult or complicated. Most people overthink it. As long as you avoid highly acidic foods, your pan will basically season itself over time. All you have to do is follow a few simple guidelines, and you’ll have a pan that’s incredibly performant, easy to use, and improves over time.

As always, let me know if you have any questions!

Myles

Considerations

I often put cast iron and carbon steel into the same category since they perform so similarly. The main difference is that carbon steel is quite a bit lighter, and it heats up and cools down more quickly. For that reason I have a slight preference for carbon steel, but I own and use both.

One very important thing to note— both cast iron and carbon steel are reactive cookware, meaning these materials have a tendency to react chemically with certain foods that are cooked in them. This means that it’s really important to avoid cooking highly acidic foods in these pans (think tomatoes/tomato sauce, pan sauces with wine, vinegar-based sauces, etc).

There are two reasons for this. The first is that the reactivity of the metal can cause these foods to take on an unpleasant metallic taste. I once made the mistake of cooking meatballs with tomato sauce in a newer cast iron skillet, and I could taste it immediately. The other problem is that highly acidic foods will strip the seasoning you’ve worked so hard to build.

Use of acidic ingredients is the number one mistake I see, by far, with cast iron/carbon steel care. I’ll often get texts or DMs with photos like the one below from people asking if they’ve ruined their cookware. This is almost always the result of cooking with acidic ingredients. As long as you avoid this, it’s actually quite hard to damage this cookware— it will season itself over time as you cook with it regularly. And if this has happened to you, don’t worry— you haven’t ruined your cookware. Just re-season it and continue with your regular maintenance.

This is also why I recommend having a stainless steel pan in addition to a carbon steel or cast iron. Stainless steel is non-reactive and doesn’t require seasoning, so you can cook anything acidic in there without issues. For most other things, cast iron and carbon steel work incredibly well.

Buying Carbon Steel + Cast Iron

As with all cookware, I always default towards spending a bit more money to purchase something that’s high-quality and will last for a long time. My recommendation is to buy the best-quality option you can afford. I’ve included several brands at different price points below.

You can’t really go wrong with either cast iron or carbon steel. As I mentioned before, I have a slight preference for carbon steel because it’s lightweight and heats up and cools down fast. Carbon steel also tends to be built with long handles and sloped edges that make it a bit more versatile, in my opinion. Both are great options.

Carbon Steel

• Made In Blue Carbon Steel (my personal favorite and the one I use the most)

• Smithey (gorgeous and unique, but probably less practical than Made In)

• Matfer (preferred by many chefs I know and ranked as best-in-class by America’s Test Kitchen)

Cast Iron:

• Lodge (solid and budget-friendly option)

• Field (lightweight modern American-made cast iron)

• Smithey (beautiful, American-made, and more heavy-duty)

• Butter Pat (a favorite among several chefs I know)

Seasoning Your Pans

Many people are intimidated by the prospect of seasoning their cookware, especially for the first time. Seasoning is just the process of “baking” a permanent layer of oil into the cookware that acts as a surface between the metal and the food. This prevents the pan from rusting and forms a naturally non-stick surface over time.

You can season with any high-heat, stable cooking oil. While I’m very opposed to the use of industrial seed oils for cooking (for health reasons), I think they’re fine for seasoning as you’re not actually consuming them in this case. High-quality grapeseed oil works well, and several chefs I know prefer flax oil. I’ve seasoned with refined avocado oil and beef tallow with good results.

Here’s how to do it:

Preheat your oven to 500°F (or as hot as it gets if it can’t get to 500).

Wash your pan in hot water and a bit of soap with a scrub brush. If the pan is brand new, really scrub to make sure you get rid of any wax coating it came with.

Dry the pan completely with a towel. Then put it on your stove over medium-low heat for a couple of minutes. This will help to really dry it out and prime it to absorb the seasoning.

Once the pan is dry, take it off the burner and add in a small amount of oil. Use a paper towel to coat the entire inside of the pan with a very thin and even layer of oil.

Put a sheet tray on the bottom rack of your oven to catch oil drippings. Then, lay your pan upside down over the sheet tray on the next rack. Close the oven and let it go for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, turn the oven off and allow the pan to cool completely inside of the oven. Once it’s cool, you’ll have a seasoned pan.

Once you’ve done this, you don’t really need to repeat this process unless something happens that really strips your seasoning. Again, as long as you avoid acidic ingredients, this shouldn’t be necessary. I usually season my pans once when I purchase them, and then I allow the actual cooking process to take care of the rest.

Cleaning Your Pans

It’s common to hear that you should never wash your cast iron/carbon steel with soap, and that’s not really true.

The reason this became a thing is that dish soaps used to be made with an ingredient called lye, which would strip the seasoning from pans. Modern soaps are more gentle and aren’t made with lye, so it’s not something you have to worry about. A small amount of soap and hot water is a perfectly fine way to wash your pan. Just make sure to dry it completely afterwards.

Once your pan becomes really well-seasoned, you likely won’t even need soap. A simple rinse and scrub or scrape will allow any food residue to come clean off.

There are a few tools that will make your life easier when it comes to cleaning: a scraper and a scrub brush are my preferred one. A chain metal scrubber can also be effective, but I find them to be a bit more harsh on the pans.

While you don’t have to avoid soap, you should never put your cast iron or carbon steel in the dishwasher, and you should never allow it to soak for an extended period of time.

Maintenance and Storage

As long as you avoid acidic foods and dry your pans fully after cleaning, maintenance is simple.

If you’re using the pan regularly, you can simply wash/dry it and store it like you would any other pan. Some people like to heat up the pan slightly and apply a thin layer of oil after washing and drying. I don’t find this necessary most of the time, but you can do it if you don’t plan to use your pan for a while.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to leave a comment, shoot me an email, or ask my Delphi Clone!