Ventures
How to season and care for a cast iron pan
Cast iron is the only cookware that improves with use. Seasoning is simply thin layers of oil polymerised onto the metal by heat — get the technique right once and the pan does the rest over years of cooking.
What seasoning actually is
Seasoning is not a chemical coating you buy — it is baked-on oil. Heat converts a very thin film of fat into a hard, slick polymer bonded to the iron. Each cooking session adds to it, which is why an old pan releases food better than a new one.
The two things that ruin it are moisture left sitting on bare iron, and a layer of oil applied too thickly, which stays tacky instead of curing hard.
Seasoning a pan, step by step
Work in a well-ventilated kitchen and use an oil with a high smoke point — grapeseed, canola, sunflower or a dedicated seasoning oil. Butter and olive oil burn too early.
- Wash the pan with warm water and a little dish soap, then dry it completely on a low burner
- Add roughly half a teaspoon of oil and rub it over every surface, inside and out
- Wipe it back with a clean cloth until the pan looks almost dry — a visible film is too much
- Bake upside down at 220-250 C for one hour, or hold it on a medium-high burner until it stops smoking
- Let it cool fully, then repeat two or three times for a new pan
Everyday cleaning
Clean while the pan is still warm. Hot water, a stiff brush or chainmail scrubber, and a light wipe of oil afterwards is the whole routine. Modern dish soap does not strip cured seasoning, so a small amount is fine.
Never leave a cast iron pan soaking, never put it in the dishwasher, and always dry it on the heat rather than in a cupboard. Standing water is the only real enemy.
Fixing rust and sticking
Surface rust is cosmetic. Scrub it back with steel wool or a coarse salt-and-oil paste until you reach clean grey metal, then re-season from scratch. Food sticking usually means the pan was not hot enough before the food went in, or the seasoning is patchy — pre-heat for two to three minutes and give it another seasoning round.
Lightweight cast iron with a safe non-stick coating
Traditional cast iron is heavy, which is the main reason people stop using it. Nator Next-Gen cookware is lightweight cast iron finished with a safe non-stick coating, so you get iron's heat retention and searing behaviour without the weight or the long break-in period.
Coated pans need gentler handling than bare iron: medium heat rather than maximum, wooden or silicone utensils, no abrasive scouring, and no aggressive re-seasoning cycles. A light wipe of oil after cleaning is still worth doing — it protects the rim and exterior.
- Pre-heat on medium, not high — coated surfaces do not need it
- Wash by hand with a soft sponge
- Avoid metal utensils and cooking sprays, which leave gummy residue
- Store dry, with a cloth between stacked pans