this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
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https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-season-cast-iron-pans-skillets-cookware
According to Kenji Alt Lopez flaxseed is bad news bears.
That's correct. flax oil can work as a top coat over layers of more resilient coatings that don't become as hard (thus they bind better and aren't brittle). But there's almost no point to a final hard flax layer. It'll seem really nice at first but it'll still eventually scratch and chip. At least if you apply it over more resilient layers the end result won't be a need to start all over.
So their "scientific backing" to using flaxseed oil is that a quick Google search showed someone liked it, Chinese stuff says it's coated in flaxseed oil and they wouldn't say that if it wasn't good, and painters use the stuff because it makes a nice hard finish?
She claims that polymerization causes free radicals, and FRs = bad, but then later says you need to get oils that produce the highest amount of FRs for the best finish? It also says to go under or over the smoke point in the exact same paragraph.
What a mess. I don't see why I should trust Sheryl Canter over any other authority on the internet about which oil is good or bad. I don't like seed oils. I don't use them at home and I don't intend on using them for seasoning either.