Once your cast cookware is cleaned thoroughly, seasoning it with your choice of oil is next. To do this is fairly simple, although people will make it sound very scientific and complicated. there is the HOT method. the link to The Cast Iron Collector explains a lot about seasoning in detail and the HOT method.
http://www.castironcollector.com/seasoning.php
I use the cold method. My pans have never had a problem, and I've done many dozens of pans. None have chipped, flaked, or otherwise had a problem with the seasoning. I make sure the pans are very clean and very dry. I apply the oil, making sure I get enough on to get in all the pores, numbers, and letters while coating the whole surface, inside and out. Then I wipe off as much of the oil as I can. You can't wipe it all off. What you want is a very very thin layer. If you have more than that, when you take them from the oven after heating and cooling them, you will find them to be sticky, have runs, etc. After I have rubbed as much oil off the pans as I can get off, I put them in the cold oven, upside down. next I turn the oven on to the temperature I choose for the oil I use. I run my pans for two hours from cold and turning the oven on - to turning the oven off. Then I leave the pans in the closed oven until they are cool. I season just a couple hours before bedtime. That way I can turn the oven off at bedtime and the pans cool while I'm sleeping. It also keeps the oven open for baking and roasting food during the daytime. I repeat the seasoning steps until there is an even shiny coat over the whole pan.
From The Cast Iron Collector:
Seasoning Fats and Smoke Points
Every cooking oil or fat has a temperature above which various compounds contained within it become volatile or oxidize and it begins to give off smoke. Each has an even higher temperature at which it will combust. These are known, respectively, as the smoke point and the flash point.
The smoke point of an oil or fat should not be exceeded during cooking, as potentially toxicological compounds can be formed and released. But the advice is often given to do just that during the manual seasoning of cast iron cookware. The thinking is that a superior non-stick seasoning coat consists not only of polymerized fat, but also of a mixture of carbon within it. Therefore, exceeding the smoke point carbonizes the compounds in the oil to, in that view, desirable effect.
An alternate point of view is that such a coating will naturally occur over time and usage, so the additional costs of energy, fat or oil, and the odor of repeated manual seasoning are not worth the time and trouble.
For those who are interested in the smoke points of typical cooking oils, here is a handy chart:
| Oil or Fat | Quality | Smoke Point |
| Avocado Oil | Unrefined, Virgin | 375-400°F |
| Avocado Oil | Refined | 520°F |
| Canola Oil (Rapeseed) | Expeller Pressed | 375-450°F |
| Canola Oil (Rapeseed) | High Oleic | 475°F |
| Canola Oil (Rapeseed) | Refined | 400°F |
| Canola Oil (Rapeseed) | Unrefined | 225°F |
| Coconut Oil | Dry Expeller Pressed Virgin, Unrefined | 350°F |
| Coconut Oil | Dry Refined | 400°F |
| Corn Oil | Unrefined | 352°F |
| Corn Oil | Refined | 450°F |
| Cottonseed Oil | 420°F | |
| Flax Seed Oil | Unrefined | 225°F |
| Flax Seed Oil | Refined | 430°F |
| Grapeseed Oil | Refined | 420°F |
| Lard | 390°F | |
| Olive Oil | Extra Virgin | 375°F |
| Olive Oil | Virgin | 391°F |
| Olive Oil | High Quality (Low Acidity) | 405°F |
| Olive Pomace Oil | 460°F | |
| Palm Oil | Difractionated | 455°F |
| Peanut Oil | Unrefined | 320°F |
| Peanut Oil | Refined | 450°F |
| Rice Bran Oil | 490°F | |
| Safflower Oil | Unrefined | 225°F |
| Safflower Oil | Semi-refined | 320°F |
| Safflower Oil | Refined | 510°F |
| Soybean Oil | Unrefined | 320°F |
| Soybean Oil | Semi-refined | 350°F |
| Soybean Oil | Refined | 460°F |
| Sunflower Oil | Unrefined | 225°F |
| Sunflower Oil | Semirefined | 450°F |
| Sunflower Oil | Refined | 440°F |
| Sunflower Oil | High Oleic, Unrefined | 320°F |
| Tallow, Beef | 420°F | |
| Vegetable Shortening | 360°F |
Note that refined versions of cooking oils typically have higher smoke points than the unrefined versions, and, while better for higher heat cooking, are not necessarily better for manual cast iron seasoning. Also note that smoke point in and of itself does not necessarily correlate to the superiority of a particular oil or fat as a seasoning medium.
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