The Only Way To Successfully Season A Cast Iron Skillet With Olive Oil

Creating the beautiful, glossy patina that is synonymous with seasoning a cast iron skillet or pan involves a little culinary alchemy. To create that coveted non-stick surface that keeps your pan free of rust, most people reach for the bottle of olive oil that you probably have next to your stove for your day-to-day cooking; however, before you pour that first glug into your skillet, the only way to do it right is to make certain your bottle is extra-virgin olive oil. Why do you need EVOO for this task? 

A quality EVOO is going to have a smoking point — the temperature at which your chosen fat starts burning and produces a white smoke — of 410 degrees Fahrenheit. EVOO's smoking point is optimal because it is recommended that the oil you use for seasoning has a smoking above 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Not only that, per the Olive Oil Wellness Institute, a study was conducted and found EVOO to be the most stable oil to cook with, producing the lowest level of polar compounds. Polar compounds are the by-products of heated oil that have proven themselves to not only be unhealthy, but a factor in developing Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease.