page_title: Cookware and bakeware
section_title: Seasoning
hierarchical_section_title: Cookware and bakeware / Cookware materials / Coating / Seasoning
caption_attribution_description: English: my own photo, freely released
context_page_description: Cookware and bakeware are types of food preparation containers, commonly found in a kitchen. Cookware comprises cooking vessels, such as saucepans and frying pans, intended for use on a stove or range cooktop. Bakeware comprises cooking vessels intended for use inside an oven. Some utensils are considered both cookware and bakeware.
  Cookware and Bakeware are extremely broad and particular materials can widen this spectrum as it affects both the quality of the item as well as the food that comes out of it, particularly in terms of thermal conductivity and how much food sticks to the item when in use. Some choices of material also require special pre-preparation of the surface—known as seasoning—before they are used for food preparation.
  Both the cooking pot and lid handles can be made of the same material but will mean that, when picking up or touching either of these parts, oven gloves will need to be worn. In order to avoid this, handles can be made of non-heat-conducting materials, for example bakelite, plastic or wood. It is best to avoid hollow handles because they are difficult to clean or to dry.
  A good cooking pot design has an "overcook edge" which is what the lid lies on.
context_section_description: Seasoning is the process of treating the surface of a cooking vessel with a dry, hard, smooth, hydrophobic coating formed from polymerized fat or oil. When seasoned surfaces are used for cookery in conjunction with oil or fat a stick-resistant effect is produced.
  Some form of post-manufacturing treatment or end-user seasoning is mandatory on cast-iron cookware, which rusts rapidly when heated in the presence of available oxygen, notably from water, even small quantities such as drippings from dry meat. Food tends to stick to unseasoned iron and carbon steel cookware, both of which are seasoned for this reason as well.
  Other cookware surfaces such as stainless steel or cast aluminium do not require as much protection from corrosion but seasoning is still very often employed by professional chefs to avoid sticking.
  Seasoning of other cookware surfaces is generally discouraged. Non-stick enamels often crack under heat stress, and non-stick polymers (such as Teflon) degrade at high heat so neither type of surface should be seasoned.
caption: Cast-iron skillets, before seasoning (left) and after several years of use (right)
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