Griswold #7 Upgraded to Daily User

Well this was certainly a trying weekend. I decided to use flax seed oil for seasoning but probably didn’t give it a fair chance.  While using it, I also attempted, as some had suggested, to increase the baking temperature to near 500 degrees.

Although I only went as high as 475, I believe two things happened.  First, you can see that the pan went very black which is one desired effect. Second, I believe because of the temperature, I lost a lot of seasoning from the pan, especially the edges of the cooking surface and the sides.  I think 500 degrees is near the “self-cleaning” oven temperature and frequently used for removing excess seasoning from a pan. I assumed that backing down a few degrees would be ok. Maybe not.  A temp of 500 may be ok for a heavier Lodge or Wagner for short periods.

Needless to day, it took me several hours of manual seasoning to get the pan back to near-usable condition. On the plus side, I have a really black pan and it’s earned its spot as a daily cooker.  I think the bottom line is that a high quality pan like a Griswold can take a lot of abuse and can come back in stellar fashion.