I always thought you were supposed to go over the smoke point, but I did a bit of reading recently and found one source that sounded confident that staying below the smoke point still results in polymerization. There was also conflicting information on the actual smoke point of shortening, anywhere from 490-525F. So far 470 is working well, but whether the seasoning is durable long term is yet to be seen.
There’s still a “smoking oil” smell in the kitchen so I leave the fan running, but there’s no visible smoke. I think with the oven set to 470F, there’s probably enough radiant heat from the oven coils to bring the iron up to 490+, at least for a little bit. That’s just an unscientific guess, though.
I always thought you were supposed to go over the smoke point, but I did a bit of reading recently and found one source that sounded confident that staying below the smoke point still results in polymerization. There was also conflicting information on the actual smoke point of shortening, anywhere from 490-525F. So far 470 is working well, but whether the seasoning is durable long term is yet to be seen.
There’s still a “smoking oil” smell in the kitchen so I leave the fan running, but there’s no visible smoke. I think with the oven set to 470F, there’s probably enough radiant heat from the oven coils to bring the iron up to 490+, at least for a little bit. That’s just an unscientific guess, though.