How do I season an iron pan?

[Brenda]

I recently inheritered an old iron sauce pan. I'd really like to use it but it has been in storage along time. There is a small amout of rust. Should I scrub it with SOS, and then oil it? Its a 2 qt pan with a lid. I'd love some input. Thanks!

[kwormann]

I would think it would work just as a new one needing to be seasoned, get rid of the rust, oil it down and bake it!

[venus]

If you do a search on seasoning pans, there was a thread on this a few months ago. Lots of good advice there...

[sneezles]

Brenda
Just in case you haven't done the search or cleaning...don't use an SOS on the pan. You're better off using a plastic scrubber and coarse grain salt to clean off the rust.
Mind you it may take a good deal of elbow grease to remove all the rust. Then rinse in hot water, place in a low oven (250º), upside down, after about 1 hour remove the pan and rub with vegetable oil and return to the oven for another hour or so. I usually do my new or rescued pans at night and then simply turn the oven off before going to bed.

[LGBurns]

Definitely DON'T use an SOS! Any kind of soap will do more harm than good. You can buy a special stone for seasoning a cast iron pan (I have seen them at restaurant supply stores). You put oil on the stone and then basically scrub the pan with the oiled stone until you get all the rust off. Then follow the same process sneezles mentions to finish seasoning it. Once done, you should only have the rinse the pan with hot water. Don't use soap on it or it will lose it's non-stick quality. Lucky you -- I love cast iron pans.

[Brenda]

Thanks to all of you. I never thought about not useing SOS. So glad you told me. Thanks!Brenda

[emptyspool]

Hi,
Check out www.panman.com (http://www.panman.com) for any question regarding cast iron. He answers his mail quickly.

Have fun.