Metal cookware such as cast-iron, stainless steel or carbon steel pots or skillets, woks, bread pans, cookie sheets, and muffin tins

Wooden utensils such as spoons, spatulas, and cutting boards (and even the handles of good kitchen knives, if you're very keen on this)

1-5 teaspoons (5-25 ml) of any vegetable oil (excepting safflower and corn oil, which are too sticky when dry)

1 teaspoon (5 ml) of mineral oil

Metal: 5 minutes to wash and dry, and 30 minutes baking in the oven

Wood: 5 minutes to wash and dry, and 5 minutes to season.

Wok: a traditional Chinese cooking utensil made of carbon steel, used for frying, deep-frying, and even making soup. Shaped like a wide bowl with a lid.

Acidic foods: Avoid cooking large quantities of tomatoes and lemons in a cast iron skillet. The acid in these foods reacts with the iron of the skillet and the result is not pretty: somewhat blackened food with a metallic taste. Not a toxic combination, to be sure--but not terribly appetizing, either.

Say no to dishwashers: none of the utensils mention in this 2torial should ever be run through a dishwasher. The high temperatures of water and strong detergents will shorten the life and reduce the effectiveness of any of these implements.

2torial #0842: Learn2 Season Cookware Care for a slice of Cajun cast iron?   Did you leave half the scrambled eggs burnt to the bottom of the pan? Maybe you needed a hammer and chisel to get the cookies off the baking pan. Perhaps it's time to season your cookware. It's got nothing to do with flavor--rather, it's the process of developing a natural non-stick finish on metal cookware and baking utensils. Also known as tempering, this simple procedure saves you some scrubbing of burned pots and pans, protects the utensil against the damaging effects of moisture, and protects the food from picking up any metallic flavors. There's also a kind of seasoning that develops with wooden utensils like spoons, spatulas, and cutting boards. Seasoning wooden items will protect the wood from drying, warping, and cracking.     Especially if the utensil is new, give it a thorough cleaning before you season it. For metal utensils, use hot water and a small amount of mild dishwashing soap with a stiff brush. This'll remove any nasty compounds that may be hanging around from the production line. In another case, a particularly messy cooking job will require you to scrub down the utensil with hot water and a brush. Although this is sometimes necessary, you've just removed any protective coating that was laid on the utensil. But on the bright side, you now have the perfect opportunity to reseason the utensil, having returned it to a fairly pristine state. When to hold the seasoning: Utensils coated with non-stick surfaces (like Teflon or some versions of Caphalon) don't need to be seasoned. Be very careful, however, with non-stick utensils as you cook with and clean them. Any scratch in the surface can result in the absorption of toxic chemicals (from the non-stick surface) into your food. So clean these without soap or a brush: simply rinse with water and wipe the surface with a kitchen cloth or paper towel.   Part 1: Season Metal Cookware Seasoning forms a protective coating by baking a few layers of vegetable oil onto the utensil. It actually works in two ways: it protects the food from the utensil, and the utensil from the food. Look at a cast iron skillet (for example) under a microscope, and you'll see tiny peaks of jagged cast iron. The peaks cause you food to stick in the pan, and can also transfer a metallic flavor to the food. But they're also vulnerable--they can absorb acid and moisture from the food, and then rust. Season Set your oven to 300 degrees F (about 150 degrees C) and let the utensil warm up in the oven for about 5 minutes. If you've just washed the utensil, the oven heat performs two functions: it thoroughly dries the utensil, and increases the absorptive ability of the metal. Don't let it become so warm , however, that you can't comfortably touch it. Wear a cooking glove or use a kitchen cloth to remove it from the oven if it's too hot to the touch. Choose your grease and apply oil. Using either a kitchen cloth or your fingers, apply a thin, even coat of oil onto the entire surface of the utensil. Hold the utensil up to the light to look for any missed spots. For items like cast iron skillets, grease up the handle as well--it's as prone to rust as the rest of the skillet. Bake on the oil. The oven should already be preheated to 300 degrees F (about 150 degrees C). Place the utensil in the oven and let it sit for 30 minutes (20 minutes if you need to use it right away). Using a oven mitt or kitchen cloth, remove the utensil from the oven. The warmth of the oven may have created excess oil, which now forms a shallow pool in the skillet or pot. Go ahead and pour off the excess oil, and carefully wipe down the utensil with a kitchen cloth or paper towel. The seasoning is complete and the utensil can be stored away. Note that the surface should be slightly shiny, but the utensil should not slippery when you pick it up.   Maintain the seasoning After you season a utensil and maintain its seasoning, the surface will darken in color: cast iron items, for example, will turn black. This is the sign of a well-seasoned utensil. And, similar to fine wine or people with good attitudes, seasoning only improves with age. After each use, don't wash metal utensils with soap. This'll strip off the seasoning, which will increase the possibility of making a big burned mess the next time you cook. Instead, here are a few options: Soak the utensil for several minutes and scrub off any food residue with plastic scouring pads or a brush. Alternatively, pour vinegar or salt , or both, onto the utensil and scrub out the food particles with a brown paper bagästrange, yes, but many people swear by it. In either case, dry it! This is important, as it prepares the utensil for the next step. Dry it thoroughly by placing the utensil on the stovetop or in the oven, whichever is more convenient. Grease it up. Pour a teaspoon (5 ml) of vegetable oil--or up to five teaspoons (25 ml) for larger utensils--and rub well into the surface. Look at it under good light to find missed spots. Wipe down the utensil with a kitchen cloth or a paper towel to clean up excess oil. Again, the surface should be slightly shiny, but the utensil should not slippery when you pick it up. Part 2: Season Wooden Utensils As far as materials go, wood is a bit temperamental: the levels of moisture, air, and natural oil content all vary depending on how the utensil is used and cared for. For this reason, it's important to keep wood away from very hot water and frequent applications of soap or harsh scouring pads. And if you buy an unfinished wood utensil, it's especially important to season it before you use it: soaking, soaping and drying a raw wood implement is a sure path to warping and cracking. On the other hand, you don't want a sticky buildup of food or oil residue on wooden utensils; therefore, you may wish to scrub down and reseason a wood utensil on occasion. Season   The key to wood seasoning is the oil: light, food-grade mineral oil. Some mineral oil is made to be taken internally as an intestinal lubricant--that's the kind you want. Pour oil onto the utensil in increments of a teaspoon (5 ml), adding as much as you need to give the entire utensil a light coating. Rub it in with your hands--their heat will increase the absorption of oil. It's a good idea to have a few other wood utensils cleaned and ready to go; as long as your hands are oily, you can have a little seasoning party. Cover all bases. If you're oiling a cutting board, certainly oil both sides--even if you only cut on one of them. Otherwise, moisture can penetrate the underside of the cutting board and cause it to warp. Let the items sit for a few minutes. You can clean up the rest of the kitchen while you wait; then wipe off excess oil with a kitchen cloth or paper towel.   Wash and dry promptly. The best policy is to wash and immediately dry any wooden utensil--and skip the hot water and the soap. If the surface starts to feel gummy with residue, than take a spatula and see what you can gently scrape off. Wash thoroughly (okay, you can use a dot of soap if the utensil has very greasy residue on it), dry it thoroughly with a kitchen cloth (not in an oven!), and season as directed above. Season frequently. Reseason your spoons and boards once a month, or perhaps twice if they see a lot of use. Or just notice when they start to look dry, and reseason then.   -end- Learn More!