Seasoning with bacon fat?

Newbie collector here! I recently purchased three antique pieces and will be stripping and re-seasoning all three, along with several other pieces handed down by family. My question, however, pertains to the initial seasoning process: Is bacon grease a suitable fat for seasoning bare cast iron? I already have two jars of bacon grease in need of use, but I want to make sure that the salt and sugar in the bacon won't have any adverse effect.

Hello KatT,

I am also new to this forum but have been cooking with cast iron since I was 8 years old. Shortening and vegetable oil are what I use to season my cast iron cookware. The animal fat has a lower flash point than shortening and vegetable oil. Plus it adds a layer of salt and chemicals.

I would say for a pan you are going to use regularly, an initial seasoning with bacon grease is no different than cooking bacon and building up the seasoning through usage. I have never seen any cautions against using bacon grease or any evidence it affects the iron adversely, but would agree I probably wouldn't want to use it on collectible pieces I merely wanted to rust-proof for storage.

Thanks for the tips. Right now I'm thinking I would like to use some of these pieces to cook with. Most of the ones I acquired from family are good utilitarian pieces but may not be that collectible. They're somewhat old, but the iron isn't nearly as smooth as the three I bought at the antique store. Of those three, two don't appear to have any maker's marks, but do have some letters/numerals on them. There's a lot of built up crud on them though, so maybe cleaning them will reveal more info. The third antique store find is a Wagner, I think c.1920's-1950's, based on the logo design.

In my experience, seasoning with crisco smokes less than with bacon fat. Since I season my pans inside vs on a grill, this makes it easier to tolerate for those who prefer the house not to get all smoky.

I found the easiest way to remove crud is with oven cleaner, then for bad rust, electrolysis, mild rust, vinegar rinse.

Have fun with your project!

Thanks! I'm really excited about reconditioning these pieces. Since I have several, I was thinking about doing a lye bath so that I can get them all done at once, but if I can coat all of them without having to buy too many cans of oven cleaner that would probably be simpler.