Me Again ... Does This Look Good Enough for Season Stripping?

[riverofwind]

Silly pan looks better after washing with an SOS pad, hot water, and dish soap than after soaking in vinegar. To strip seasoning first I scrubbed thoroughly with sos pad etc, then I soaked in vinegar for 30 minutes. Picture one after scrubbing and picture 2 after soaking. The first looks more silvery. I did elbow grease a paper towel with water after the vinegar until there was no reside left on the towel not sure if that botched the job. Anybody care to weigh in? Did I do a good enough job? I'll stop bothering you guys after this I bought How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman! Thanks.

 

[Andy M.]

Looks good.

P.S. you don't have to start a new thread for each step in the process. Just keep adding to the original thread as long as you're talking about your skillet.

 

[riverofwind]

@Andy M. Thanks, I felt like the other two topics deserved their own threads since they were very generic questions.

How's this look post seasoning?

 

[Andy M.]

Looks slick!

 

[riverofwind]

@Andy M. Awesome thanks. Reason I asked was because these guys look shinier. Any idea how come? Also you mentioned previously to do an additional seasoning for peace of mind... should I?

 

[riverofwind]

*UPDATE* Bacon disaster! Hi again I tried frying bacon to help the seasoning mature but things went horribly wrong. Before this I fried a lamb chop flawlessly so I think my seasoning was good. I put the bacon cold on a cold pan then heated it up on low heat on my beautiful electric stove (ha yea right) then once the fat started rendering I flipped it over and moved the pan around a little to distribute the fat. I eventually turned up the heat a little from 2.4 to 3.5 out of 10 to speed things up a little.

About half way through cooking I noticed a little sticking going on and once done there was some leftovers as in the pics below. Also I at first forgot to blot the bacon with paper towels in case it was wet but then took it out of the pan and upon blotting I didn't see any evidence of water then I plopped the bacon back in the pan.

I boiled off most of the crap but then a film was leftover. Uncle Scott tackles this bacon film in his video here. Do I need to reseason after the light steel wool scrub that removes the film? I'd have to do it in the oven as far as I know since my stove is electric. Is there any other way to deal with this and salvage the existing seasoning? Anything else to know?

After frying bacon:

After boiling away the crap, see the film:

 

[Kathleen]

Was there a coating like a non-stick coating in your pan before?

 

[dragnlaw]

I would say no, you do not have to reseason. OTHER THAN wiping it down like you normally would after using and cleaning the pan.

You might try a spray oil. It contains a soy lecithin which I read somewhere has a non-stick property. Can't remember if it was America's Test Kitchen, Serious Eats or where I read it. And whether you use Pam or a store brand, regular cooking spray or olive oil spray - they work!

 

[riverofwind]

@Kathleen I just seasoned it in my oven, I used a tiny bit too much oil, but just a tiny bit.

@dragnlaw What's the spray oil for? Just to replace whatever oil I use before cooking?

Also I've been communicating with a Made In customer service dude here and there, here's what he said:

Sugar is common as curing agent or flavor agent. And sugar becomes acidic as it is heated. Salt and oil will clean it. Despite what our instructions say, I don't think bacon is a great thing to cook to get the seasoning going.

 

[dragnlaw]

Yes, before and after.