Brick wrote:

> The "unseasoning" process is equally simple. Simply heat the cast iron
> beyond the temperature in which any kind of oil or grease can exist. A
> self-cleaning oven will do the trick nicely. Failing that, a wood/coal fired
> stove or even an open pit fire will serve equally well. Simply bury the CI
> in redhot coals for a couple of hours and all baked on impurities including
> rust and corrosion will be incinerated away.
>
> After the heat treatment and of course careful (slow) cooling, simply
> wash the product thoroughly and reseason as described for
> initial seasoning. There is nothing complicated or magical about the
> process and no reason to make it so.
>
> Liberal use of oil during the first few uses will aid in thickening and
> enhancing the initial seasoning.
>
> A pitfall that many folks fall into is avoiding any use of their cast iron
> which might damage or even remove the seasoning. Forget about it.
> Use your cast iron as if it were impervious to all hazards. For all
> practical purposes, it is. If you choose to make red spaghetti sauce
> in your CI dutch oven, simply wash it up when you get done, wipe it
> down with fresh oil and pop it in the oven for a couple of hours.
>
> There may be many reasons for "not" using CI for certain things, but
> damage to the CI should not be one of them.

What an excellent post... I have never known about "unseasoning" but it
makes sense to burn off the impurities before seasoning. I've heard that
cooking acidic foods can leach unhealthy amounts of iron in the food. I
usually have stainless for my spaghetti.