Seasoning An Oven


Untreated cast iron rusts, especially around water. To prevent metal from oxidizing in the presence of moisture, cast iron requires a process called ?seasoning?. Seasoning is simply the procedure of baking oil into the oven's pores, and on top of the iron pores. This baked on coating will darken and eventually turn black with age. Darkening is the sign of a well kept oven, and of it's use. This coating forms a barrier between moisture in the air and the surface of the metal. It also provides a non-stick coating on the inside of the oven that is easy to clean.

Here are some tips when it comes time to season your oven.

Scrub lid and oven in hot water with a mild soap to take off the coating the manufacture puts on the oven before shipping. Use a stiff brush, 3M scrub pad, or plastic scrubbing pad to scrub the waxy coating off of your new Dutch oven, and rinse in clear, hot water. Dry your oven by putting it in the kitchen oven at 150 to 200 degrees for 15 or 20 minutes.

While it is warm, coat the inner and outer surfaces with a thin layer of cooking oil. Use a good grade of olive or vegetable oil. Peanut oil is a choice of many, and tallow or lard can also be used, but they tend to break down over time and become rancid if the oven is not used often enough.

Place the oven and lid in a conventional oven, or a gas BBQ grill, with the pot upside down and the lid on the Dutch oven legs. Heat oven at 450 to 500 degrees and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the oil turns very dark, nearly black. This process bakes a grease coating into the pot and virtually gives it a no scrub surface.

Remove the oven and apply another light coat of oil, and. bake at 450 to 500 degrees for another 30 minutes. By using high temperatures, the oil will bake harder and darker, leaving your oven shinier. You should oil and bake at least once, I like to go through this process two, or even three times to get a beautiful dark color, and rock hard finish.

Turn off the heat and let the Dutch oven sit until cool. If the surface is sticky, bake an additional 30 to 40 minutes. When seasoning your oven it will create a smell that may be unpleasant. For this reason some like to season their ovens in a BBQ outside, however I have done all mine indoors with the doors and windows open.

The first thing you cook in your oven after seasoning should be things like roasts, potatoes or chicken. Stay away from tomatoes and tomato products with high acid content, or a lot of sugar such as cobblers. Acids and sugars can break down the protective covering before it seasons or hardens properly.

A well seasoned oven produces a unique flavor unequaled by any other cooking utensil. This is the Magic of Dutch Oven cooking.

About The Author

Glea Reno and Dennis Reno are the owners of Dutchovenmagic.com. They are based at Billings, Montana and have taught Youth Groups, Scout Troops, Church Organisation and friends what they have learned over years in Dutch oven cooking. They also do cooking demonstration at various retail outlets. They can be contacted at help@dutchovenmagic.com.

dutch_oven2000@yahoo.com

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Cooking Information:

Related Articles

Ten Proven Tips to Buy the Best Meat Available
Ten Proven Tips to buy the Best Meat AvailableAs you look through the meat section at your local grocery store you are probably like so many others asking yourself if the steaks you have chosen is really good meat. Here are some tips on how to make sure you buy good meat.
6 Steps to Grill the Perfect Steak
There's nothing better than a nicely grilled juicy steak.But how come I can't duplicate that restaurant, expensive, juicy, melt-in-your mouth, perfectly grilled steak?Well, I found out how to grill steak perfectly - and here's how you can too.
How to Bake: How Long Should My Bread Rise?
It depends. The best way to tell if the dough has risen enough is not by time-though it helps to set the timer so you don't forget about your dough-but by look and feel.
Wok this Way! (Part 1 of 5)
IntroductionWoks have been synonymous with Chinese cooking since the emergence of Chinese cuisine. They have been used for some 3000 years in China for a variety of cooking methods, including stir frying, boiling, and steaming.
10 Wide Open Tips For Food Safety In The Great Outdoors
Hiking, camping, and boating are good activities for activepeople and families. However, if the food isn't handledcorrectly, food-borne illness can be an unwelcome souvenir.
Don't Poke the Chicken at Your Backyard Barbecue
You might be planning a home remodeling project and it includes an outdoor kitchen. A big part of that plan will be the type of grill you introduce.
The Perfect Omelet(te), How to Cook It
Omelet(te)sThey're easy to cook, right?We'll see.The first thing to remember is that you need the right size of frying pan.
10 Convenient Ways To Eliminate Food Poisoning With Your Microwave
Microwave ovens can play an important role at mealtime, butspecial care must be taken when cooking or reheating meat,poultry, fish, and eggs to make sure they are preparedsafely. Microwave ovens can cook unevenly and leave "coldspots," where harmful bacteria can survive.
Season Your Pans for Non Stick Cooking
Nothing is more frustrating than trying to cook a delicious meal and having it stick to the bottom of the pan. A well season or cured pan will make cooking more fun, easier to clean and create better tasting food.
10 Critical Ways To A Perfectly Food-Safe Kitchen
Food poisoning is related to unsafe food, a dirty kitchen,and dirty kitchen appliances. If you follow some safetyrules, food poisoning will never occur.
What You Need in a Gourmet Kitchen
The best way to decide what you need in your kitchen is to first decide what it is you are going to be cooking in there. The best suggestion I ever heard on this matter is to find five dishes you really love.
Understanding Baking: How Yeast Works
Did you ever wonder why flour tastes like sawdust but a French or Italian bread made with that same flour and little else has a pleasant, sweet taste?Bread wouldn't be bread without yeast and yeast can't work without sugars. Yeast is alive-living organisms-and living organisms need food for fuel, in this case, simple sugars.
Wok this Way! (Part 2 of 5) Selecting a Wok
As mentioned in Part 1 of the series, woks come in different sizes ranging from 10 to 32 inches in diameter, but a wok that's 11 to 14 inches in diameter should suffice for use in a household kitchen.Woks come in 2 different bottoms, the traditional round-bottomed woks, and the "westernized" flat-bottomed woks.
What Are Scoville Units?
To understand what a Scoville Unit is, one must understand what they measure. All hot peppers contain capsaicinoids, natural substances that produce a burning sensation in the mouth, causing the eyes to water and the nose to run, and even induce perspiration.
Cooking Lobster at Home
Lobster has always be one of those extravagant meals which few people ever try because of the high cost. With restaurants paying thirty dollars a pound, by the time they put their markup on it, you're easily paying sixty dollars for a ten ounce tail.
Kitchenaid Stand Mixers - A Kitchen Work Horse
Kitchenaid stand mixers are very popular in today's kitchens and it is easy to see why. These stand mixers have stood the test of time and have shown themselves to be kitchen work horses.
How to Make Sandwich Rolls with Your Bread Machine
For that next picnic or family outing, consider making sandwich rolls with your bread machine. They are quick and easy and so much better than what you buy from the stores.
Cake Pans
Cake pans?.the secret behind every successful cake.
Whisk Your Way To a Perfect Meal Every Time!
The whisk. A true versatile cooking utensil.
Is Your Cookware Poisoning You?
For over 40 years scientists have known that the fumes from hot non-stick surfaces can kill pet birds such as canaries. So just how dangerous are they to you?Several studies have been conducted into health concerns surrounding Teflon, the coating invented and patented by DuPont.