Camp cooking: A seasoned steel pan is a camper’s best friend

I was introduced to the magic of carbon steel cooking on Arkansas’ White River.

A friend and I had spent the morning with Lenny, an entertaining and resourceful trout fishing guide. By midday we had boated our limits of rainbow trout and caught and released at least that many more.

“Ready for lunch,” Lenny announced more as a declaration than a question.

We found a suitable spot and paddled ashore.

A shore lunch is one of life’s purest pleasures. This one consisted of fried trout that had spent most of the morning swimming in the river, fried potatoes and fried apples, each prepared seamlessly in a shallow blackened skillet about the diameter of a small wash tub. The grub (first the potatoes, then the fish followed by the apples) sizzled and popped and skidded about the skillet effortlessly; each cooking quickly and evenly — delicious by any measure.

Lenny finished his work, wiped the skillet with a handful of paper towels he had stuffed in his pocket, squirted the pan with oil then spread it across the pan’s surface (including the sides) with the same scrap of paper towel he’d used to clean the skillet, then turned it upside down over the fire.

My friend gestured toward the skillet, which had probably already helped feed two generations of fishermen.

“Cast iron?”

“Steel,” Lenny said between bites. “Carbon steel.”

It had been a fixture in the kitchen of his grandmother for as long as Lenny could remember, and had become been part of his shore lunch tools since her death more than a decade earlier.

I was sold. I returned home, found a small steel skillet at a yard sale, cleaned it and added the tool to my camping stash. But I soon learned that without proper seasoning it was useless over the fire. Foods stuck, scorched and burned. I would scrub it shiny clean, ignorant that the repeated scrubbings removed the very oils that would have given the skillet its almost magical seasoning qualities. I eventually learned.     

What seasoning does, essentially, is bond oil to the surface of a pan, effectively making it non-stick. The more frequently it’s used, the better.

The seasoning process is not difficult, but it is exacting. There is no partial success. A pan is either seasoned or it isn’t.

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Seasoning for success

Clean the pan with hot water and a soft brush or cloth. Dry over medium/high heat until smoking hot, remove from heat and lightly re-oil then reheat. Your pan is ready to use, although seasoning will improve with use.

If the pan is new, it is very important to completely remove any wax or grease that was applied at the factory to protect the cookware. Cook’s Illustrated recommends scrubbing a new carbon steel pan with very hot water and a stiff bristle brush, dry, then re-heat the pan with oil, salt and potato peelings, which aid in removal of factory sealants. I’ve tested this method, which darkens the pan, sometimes leaving the metal splotchy. It works. 

Following the potato skin treatment, place the cleaned pan on medium/high heat until it begins to smoke. Remove from heat and apply a thin layer of vegetable oil. Heat the pan again until it smokes. Remove from heat and wipe away the excess oil. It’s important not to leave a heavy layer of oil in the pan. If the oil pools, there’s too much.

Occasional re-seasoning will be needed. But a properly seasoned pan or skillet will be a joy to use in camp (and/or at home). You’ll only need one. It will outlast you.