Seasoning in a commercial fryer (I don't know why I thought of this)

[Mark Samon]

So I work in a kitchen. We have a deep fryer. I don't how it came about but when I was cleaning it I thought what if I put a cast iron pan in the fryer what would happen.

Would it season it?  Would it season it well? The fryer can go up to 500 degrees and we only use vegetable oil in it.



Ours looks like this one. I can remove the baskets and place the cast iron on a grate that is on the bottom. When I am done I could bring it out with a metal hanger, wipe it with a rag and let it dry in the metal basket.

Any thoughts? Part of me thinks I am crazy and the other part thinks it is crazy that it just might work

[Randy Eckstein]

Hi Mark, immediate thought is that the risk is a cooked on sticky layer.  When we usually season, we try to wipe off as much visible oil to avoid spotting in the seasoning. It would be worth a try first with a cracked or less valuable skillet. 

Check the smoke point of your oil as even though your fryer may do 500 degrees, you probably wouldn't want to run it that hot.  Let us know what happens if you give it run.

[Jonathon Davis]

I can't imagine this world work well at all. Baking on extremely thin layers of oils and fats to get a nonstick surface is quite different than dumping a skillet in a hot vat of oil. As soon as you take the pan out, I imagine you'd have to completely and quickly wipe it down to keep the surface from gumming up.

....there are much easier ways. :)

[Greg Stahl]

It might work, but IMO, very dangerous.  That much oil and we know how brittle cast iron is, if it 'explodes'/breaks violently in that oil, the oil will go flying.

Personally, I wouldn't try it, but if you do it, let us know.  It would be an expensive way of doing it.  Also Lodge sprays their coating on their items and they could do the submersion method, it was a practical way of doing the seasoning.

[Mark Samon]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I decided not to try it for now at least lol. I think safety is paramount here. I would be in a lot of trouble if I damaged the fryer or myself.

Still don't know why I thought of this.  :D