How hot can you safely go above the smoke point of the oil you are using to season? The Milk Street wok seasoning method has me thinking it's fine to go a bit above. I'm wondering if I've overheated mine, particularly dry or with a very thin coating of oil.
I've only recently started using a carbon steel pan, and it's done well with eggs not sticking. I tried frying a burger last night and a lot of the seasoning came off during cleaning, which was just hot water and a soft oxo silicone spatula for scraping (I have not tried the Milk Street seasoning approach yet). After that, whether drying or oiling, even after wiping out most of the oil, the paper towel looked like it had rubbed a charred log, with a fine dusty looking coating. I've had that happen before after more stuck-on cleaning, and I think years ago seasoning a cast iron pan. Will too much preheating without oil cause this, or maybe the over getting too hot when I've oven-seasoned? I seasoned with grapeseed oil and was shooting for 25 deg over smoke point, but while the oven was set for 425, I would not be surprised if it went up as high as 500 for brief amounts of time. I have an undersized electric coil stove, not gas, so I've seasoned in the oven. I will start the spot seasoning your article discusses though.
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COMMENTS
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July 22, 2020
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