After full reseasoning of the cast iron, eggs are still sticking

cast-ironnon-stick

Hey there Cast Iron pros,

I've liked my cast iron but it hasn't been very non-stick. When making eggs, even with oil and a good hot heat before adding to pan, eggs will stick to the pan. I'm hoping to get a great non-stick finish that eggs (or anything else) won't stick to.

I fully reseasoned my pans doing the following:

  1. Full removal of seasoning via self-clean mode in oven for 3 hours.
  2. Cleaned out dust and scrubbed some more with steel wool and salt, then washed cleanly.
  3. Heated to 200F then added coatings
  4. Add a small amount of flax seed oil to pan, rub very thinly over pan, and bake for 1 hour at 400F
  5. Repeat step 4 adding new coats 5 times.

After I did all this the pans were looking pretty good, nice clean finish, but there were still a few bumps and imperfections in the pans. I tried making some eggs and they stuck as they had before. It's not terrible, but not great non-stick either.

I'm very curious for suggestions: do my pans just have scratches and bumps in them from years of use and these (even with a good seasoning) cause stickiness?

Is there something else I can try to get a great non-stick finish on these pans?

Photos:

Clean Pan:

clean pan 1

clean pan 2

Pan after making eggs:

enter image description here

Best Answer

I have a similar (but not the same) frying pan. Your problem is, most likely, a lack of heat, not a lack of seasoning.

I always set my frying pan, empty, on a low/medium fire. When it starts to come to temperature, I raise the temperature to high. [If I have something else to cook, I do that before cooking eggs. This way, I make sure the iron is hot]. When the iron is hot enough, the eggs should not stick.

Learning how to controle the temperature of the pan is quite the process, and I have had eggs sticking to my pan at times... and I used to be a professional cook. Just saying.

The Leidenfrost effect is your friend. See this question as well.

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