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So the other day, while baking off excess water after washing, I spaced out and forgot it was there and headed upstairs for say, an hour. When I got back down the pan had a white-ish ring in the center. After cooling and scrubbing it down it appeared that the seasoning had been vaporized in the area that has the ring.

I oiled the pan to prevent rusting and haven't gotten back to it in a week or so.

My question is: Should I remove the seasoning from the rest of the pan or should I just re-season the whole thing? If I should remove the seasoning, what is the best way, I think I read some on here but I haven't been able to get back to it. I recall possibly using the clean cycle of the oven?

There's plenty of info on here about seasoning so don't worry about that!

Feel free to make jabs at the space cadet too, I beat myself up about it until I realized the pan wasn't completely ruined!

Aaronut
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Brian
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  • I have forgotten my skillet when drying too. Found the timer is very useful. –  Dec 05 '13 at 14:59

2 Answers2

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Personally, I'd just season the pan a couple times to cover the spot; it seems excessive to strip off all the other seasoning and start from scratch unless the pan is really deeply rusted.

Other people may feel differently, of course; there are as many opinions about caring for cast-iron as there are people that own it.

BobMcGee
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  • Yeah, no rust, just virgin cast iron. I made sure to oil it as soon as I got it cooled back off – Brian Sep 03 '11 at 17:24
  • Seasoning almost done, I'll let you know how things worked out! – Brian Sep 05 '11 at 15:29
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    I represent the other camp: uneven seasoning can lead to hot spots and/or flaking, so I'd remove the whole seasoning first. The method I prefer is a lye bath, but self-cleaning ovens get hot enough to easily burn the complete seasoning off and seem to be the easier way (if you have one of them). – rumtscho Sep 11 '11 at 12:12
  • I've completed reseasoning and had the chance to use the pan a couple times. Everything seems pretty good. – Brian Sep 17 '11 at 17:59
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I got rid of most of the spot by coating the pan with oil and scrubbing with a wad of aluminum foil. I did it twice rinsing in between treatments.

Anne
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