JR Greenhorn
New member
Seasoning has been mentioned a few times in this thread--I wanted to pass along a tip:
The manual for my Blackstone Griddle recommends using shortening (e.g. Crisco) instead of oil or especially butter for seasoning. Butter is not recommended due to the ease at which it scorches or burns. Oil works, but shortening is easier to apply, and seems to polymerize thicker more quickly and easily than does multiple coats of oil. You do have to pre-heat the cookware to apply shortening, but I've heard that recommended even when seasoning with oil.
With my griddle, the burners have enough power to burn the seasoning directly above the burners, but I can easily re-season that area with some gobs of shortening dabbed onto the hot griddle with a thick wad of paper towels (don't let the hot shortening soak through and burn your hand after it liquifies!). The same approach should work to "spot-season" over a burner any seasoned cookware that has been previously overheated.
Note that most brands of shortening have been reformulated during the last several years to reduce trans fat.
Magma's recommendation to oven-heat pots and pans upside down while seasoning is a good one that had never occurred to me before. I have had polymerized oil gob up on cast iron pans before too, but I've always seasoned them "normal side up" in the oven. I'll have to keep that one in mind.
Beyond that, cooking up a package of bacon before cooking the remainder of the meal always seems to get the cooking surface just right, and definitely contributes to further seasoning. As if it is necessary to have a reason to make bacon?
The manual for my Blackstone Griddle recommends using shortening (e.g. Crisco) instead of oil or especially butter for seasoning. Butter is not recommended due to the ease at which it scorches or burns. Oil works, but shortening is easier to apply, and seems to polymerize thicker more quickly and easily than does multiple coats of oil. You do have to pre-heat the cookware to apply shortening, but I've heard that recommended even when seasoning with oil.
With my griddle, the burners have enough power to burn the seasoning directly above the burners, but I can easily re-season that area with some gobs of shortening dabbed onto the hot griddle with a thick wad of paper towels (don't let the hot shortening soak through and burn your hand after it liquifies!). The same approach should work to "spot-season" over a burner any seasoned cookware that has been previously overheated.
Note that most brands of shortening have been reformulated during the last several years to reduce trans fat.
Magma's recommendation to oven-heat pots and pans upside down while seasoning is a good one that had never occurred to me before. I have had polymerized oil gob up on cast iron pans before too, but I've always seasoned them "normal side up" in the oven. I'll have to keep that one in mind.
Beyond that, cooking up a package of bacon before cooking the remainder of the meal always seems to get the cooking surface just right, and definitely contributes to further seasoning. As if it is necessary to have a reason to make bacon?
