Cleaning bacon in new cast iron

All my attempts to "clean and repair" a sticky-seasoning layer have ended badly as well. I know who already snickers in the background, but my opinion is: start clean. Give the pan a lye bath and a good scrub, then reseason with a better seasoning.

"The new hotness" of flaxseed oil goes back to the fact that it doesn't go rancid easily, without heat it just dries out making a film which can protect things like wood. I bought into it, and seasoned a pan with it, and wondered why all my seasoning tries were unsucessful (I stripped and reseasoned 3 times, I think). I came to blame it on the smooth forged iron.

Then I got Cookwise and read the chapter on fats. And surprise, what does it say? That PUFA stick to everything around. (Makes sense, if you stop to think about it - those unsaturated bonds are unstable, they itch to break apart). So, when I got my next iron pan, I seasoned it with three (very thin) layers of flaxseed oil (for a solid base which will stick to the pan and the finishing layer) and then two layers of lard. After the oven, I heated it from brown to almost-black on the stove (empty).

This seasoning turned out perfect. I made crepes on it, re-oiling once every 7-8 crepes only (no fat in the batter). The pan released them like a charm. The old flaxseed-seasoned pan still sits around with some carbonized matter burnt onto the seasoning, and waits for a lye-flaxseed-lard session.

Of course, I would still take some caution with new seasoning and oil well the first few applications (I only tried the crepes after I noticed that less problematic items work great). And if you tend to often fry with the fashinably-healthy nonsaturated vegetable oils, don't heat them too much, else they could bake in a sticky-seasoning layer onto the pan. In the worst case, if you do get sticky-oil (but not carbon) buildup, try adding a new lard layer before you strip-and-reseason.

You don't just season a cast iron pan once. It is a cumulative process that requires many applications, and cooking in it will usually undo some of that work. You want to get all the food bits out of the pan, and season it again. Don't think you have to strip all the seasoning and start again. And turn the heat down when you're cooking your bacon.

I'm definitely not in favor of starting over. As Sean Hart mentioned, seasoning is a cumulative process. You should get it clean, and continue to season the pan.

What I would do is put a little water in the pan (maybe 1/4 inch) and bring that to a boil. Make sure the whole bottom of the pan is bubbling (add water if you need to--don't boil it dry).

Once you've got it all boiling, remove from heat and immediately scrub. I recommend a stiff natural bristle brush so you don't risk melting, but any brush that won't melt should do (don't resort to scrubbing with metal). The boiling should have loosened things enough to scrub off the burned on material.