Seasoning Cast Iron Pans With Beef Tallow Is A Major Mistake You Don't Want To Make

Animal fats are coming back into the public's good graces in a major way, and beef tallow is arguably foremost among them. Since cast iron pans need to be seasoned properly before use, it's not that absurd to wonder if beef tallow would be a good option. Although it probably isn't the worst thing you could use, it would still be a mistake to think beef tallow is a good fit for the job. To find out more, we spoke to Jordan Burdey, the founder of Cookware Care, a company that specializes in cast iron seasoning wipes.

To understand why beef tallow is a bad fit for seasoning cast iron pans, it's important to first understand what exactly is happening to the pan when it's seasoned. To put the process simply, the pan is first coated in fat and then brought to a high temperature. "When you heat it, you are breaking bonds in the molecular structure of the fat, specifically the unsaturated fats," Burdey explained. "By breaking the double bonds in the unsaturated fats, the free molecule moves to the end of the molecular structure, creating a long chain of single molecules called 'monomers.' This is a hard, durable nonstick material that we all call 'seasoning.'"

The reason this is important is because beef tallow doesn't actually contain all that much unsaturated fat, relatively speaking. According to Burdey, only about 50% of the beef tallow's fat is unsaturated, meaning the other half is just sitting around doing exactly nothing to help season the pan — which is what we're trying to do here.

Alright, so maybe beef tallow isn't the most efficient fat to season cast iron pans with, but why does that make it a bad choice? After all, it's got a smoke point of roughly 400 degrees Fahrenheit, which is pretty good. Not to mention, beef tallow is tasty. Why else do you think jars of beef tallow are popping up in grocery stores across the nation? Wouldn't that delicious fat just add more depth to whatever dish you happen to be cooking? Not really, apparently.

"I could see beef tallow potentially providing minor flavors," Burdey admitted. "However, I would speculate that because of the amount of tallow used, it would be indistinguishable." If beef tallow flavor is what you're after, you're probably better off seasoning your cast iron pan with a neutral oil and then simply cooking with beef tallow whenever you want to impart that classic flavor.

Luckily, the best way to keep cast iron seasoned is also the easiest; you just need to keep cooking with it. In other words, if you apply a more typical seasoning oil like grapeseed oil to the cast iron when you first purchase it but you cook food with beef tallow in it often enough, that fat is only going to keep adding to the seasoning coating. Eventually, that flavor really may shine through if you simply keep at it for long enough.