Shoutout to the guy who told me to season my cast iron with flaxseed oil

I tried that flaxseed oil method everyone raves about on my 12 inch Lodge pan about 3 months ago. Looked perfect for like 2 weeks, shiny and dark. Then it started flaking off into my scrambled eggs just like that. I was picking little black bits out of my breakfast for days before I figured out it was the seasoning. Learned that flaxseed oil makes a hard but brittle coating that can't handle heavy use. Has anyone else had their seasoning peel off after using a fancy oil? What oil do you use that actually sticks around?

2 comments

2 Comments

kimreed1mo ago

Flaxseed oil is just seasoning theater.

charlienelson1mo agoMost Upvoted

Wait, "seasoning theater"? That's a wild take @kimreed. You're telling me people actually use flaxseed oil just for show? I always thought it had a pretty low smoke point so it's basically useless for cooking anyway. But calling it theater makes me wonder if you've seen someone drizzle it on stuff pretending it's fancy olive oil. That would be hilarious and kinda sad honestly. The stuff goes rancid fast too so it's probably just sitting in cabinets looking pretty. I guess if you're not using it for its omega-3s then yeah it's just decoration.