removing pre-seasoning on cast-iron frying pans

Hi

I live in the UK and have just bought a set of 3 cast-iron frying pans (skillets, I think you call them). As much as I would have loved to get one of the Griswold/Wagner brands, they are not readily available here and, although there are some on eBay, the postage from the US to the UK is a bit beyond me at the moment.

I followed all the instructions here for seasoning but I think I should have removed the pre-seasoning first. When I fried an egg in the smallest pan, with a little lard, it was fine and didn't stick at all.

However, last night I tried pancakes in the two larger pans - it was a total disaster! The pancakes just stuck and I had a job cleaning the pans afterwards.

Can someone tell me what I should do please as regard removing the pre-seasoning and starting over, please?

Many thanks in advance.

i use really greasy foods like bacon in my pans for the first several times to get them WELL seasoned, as just seasoning alone one time might not be enough.

and don't wash them..just wipe them out

if you have foods that you need to wash the pans..use a separate pan for those..say like soups and stews or foods with a lot of liquids in them..they will remove the seasoning and make a mess of your good bacon and egg pan.

i keep my well seasoned pans for things that won't ruin their seasoning..and use other pans for really wet foods.

Thank you so much for your reply, Brenda. I have noted your advice and will act on it.

I only joined this forum today and have spent a lot of time reading other topics. I have found them totally fascinating - I hadn't realised when I bought the pans just how much interest there is out there! I have not got much else done today!

I had a set of pans many years ago but got rid of them as I knew nothing about caring for them and thought they must be 'cheap and nasty' as they went rusty!

Having just refurbished our kitchen, I decided to get some new pans. I did some research on eBay (UK) and, literally by mistake, bid on these cast-iron pans. I think I have opened up a whole new subject to learn!

Perhaps one day, someone will sell Griswold or Wagner on eBay over here!

Thanks again for your advice.

I wouldn't try to remove anything, just go through the process again. It's important to make your film of fat really thin, or it won't work properly.
I use my cheap cast iron frying pan pretty much every day. I don't  follow 'best practice', but have no issues with sticking.  I wash it with detergent (stir-fry flavoured pancakes are weird!), rarely use animal fats, and my flatmate even hits it with the scourer sometimes. Gasp.
After cleaning, I dry it immediately on the element (easy, as it lives there), then wipe it very sparingly with veg oil on a piece of  old towel.
If something sticks,  I soak it while it's still hot, or heat water in it, then wash. Obviously, if anything sticks, ever, I don't have the best-seasoned pan, but it's generally not an issue.