Cleaning Cast Iron

[Scout63]

The most used pan in the house is a 10 inch cast iron skillet. Everything from eggs to corn bread to roasts come out of it.  Experts say that the care of cast iron is critical, so here is our method:

1. Wipe out most but not all of any left over food.
2. Put the plan on the floor
3. Wait for Lila the lab to lick every micron of flavor from the pan.  This can take a good ten minutes. 
4. Put an inch of water and a touch of dish soap in the pan.
5. Put the pan back on the stove and bring the soap and water to a boil.
6. Let the mixture boil lightly for a few minutes to remove slick dog spit and disinfect the pan.
7. Rinse pan and heat again for a minute to dry it.

This method has been approved by Lila but not so much by Sara the wonder bride.

[Sye]

Use salt to clean the pan not soap an wipe over  with a small amount of vegetable oil when dry. Should last forever and not rust. 👍

[Moparnut72]

To get the bits out I heat mine on the stove until it is fairly hot then pour a bit 0of cold water in it. This will loosen most of the burnt on bits. Then I finish with salt and a dish cloth. I experimented with a cheap garage sale small skillet. I polished it to a mirror finish using Roloc Scotch Brite discs in a small angle grinder, going coarse to fine. Nothing seems to stick very much but what does comes off easily with salt. It doesn't want to be seasoned either.
kk

[Ncdan]

We use cast iron all the time.
To clean I just do it when the pan is still warm, use hot rap water with a heavy grit pad and a small amount of dish washing liquid. After the cast iron is well seasoned a little cleaner will not strip a well seasoned pan as the oil treatment is deep into the iron, just don’t use a lot.
I still rub in a small amount of vegetable oil before storing.

[old head]

I usually scrub it with hot water and a steel scouring pad to clean it up, cleans up pretty easily

If its really bad, I will boil some water in the skillet to break up the bits, that really helps it clean up easily.

Never use dish soap, it takes the seasoning off and then the food really sticks.
I cook with a 6" skillet and 10" skillet almost exclusively, the clean up easily.
I have bigger and deeper ones, and once I use them and clean them then I wipe them down with a light coating of oil before I put them away.

Even if there some rust when I get ready to use one, just scrub the rust off and use it.

Old Head

[twowings]

The only proven method is sand from the banks of the Gila or Rio Grande rivers, a quick expectoration, and wipe with a greasy rag...and your name has to be Gabby or Zeke

[Guzzistajohn]

Nothing cooks a roux like a cast iron skillet. I like the canine cleaning unit. I'll be using that.   Sophie's Ok with it too

[AJ Huff]

I've got a stack of cast iron pans. Probably about 20. If you're frying
get a French steel pan and don't look back. Cast iron has it's merits, but frying
 on the stove top isn't it.

-AJ

[Anomaly]

Um.... there is cast iron and then there is cast iron. Friends don't let friends use Lodge... OK, that is a bit harsh, but there is no comparison with something like Griswold. Here is my baby, used for everything from stews to the bread I bake in it weekly:




The Dutch oven is accompanied by a couple of smaller skillets (need to get a larger one), both Griswold's. And then this year at Bromfield I added something special for our routine of pancakes on Sunday morning. This is from the late 1800s from the plant in Erie, PA that became Griswold:




Funny (?) story: one day here in Italy, on the Italian equivalent of Craigslist in the US, we saw an ad for three progressively sized Griswold skillets. Must have been left behind by US GIs after the war. But they wanted 150 euros. We passed. What were we thinking? Sigh.
Anyway, about cleaning: agree with what has been said about avoiding soap- a quality pan, properly seasoned, should rarely see soap.

[Anomaly]

I agree with Dan. We cook everything on, or in, the 'stufa" (wood stove).

[Ncdan]

Yep, just cooked the egg in this little one egg iron skillet 👍

[john fish]

Use salt to clean the pan not soap an wipe over  with a small amount of vegetable oil when dry. Should last forever and not rust. 👍

^^ This.
Never use soap or water in cast iron.  I use mine almost daily.  It never sees water and nothing sticks in it. 
I also have a cornbread mold like this:



The cornbread doesn't stick in there.  As always with cast iron, get it hot before you put in the oil or butter and then add the batter.

[Ncdan]

I’ve got supper going now on the wood stove with all cast iron cookware.
Pinto beans with a ham hock inside.
Wife is getting the cornbread ready in another Dutch oven while I’m heating an iron kettle of hot water for my Saturday bath😂

Not disputing any ones testimony or experience on the cleaning procedures of iron cookware but I’ve used them for decades and have a little experience with them.
If necessary I use a small amount of dishwashing liquid with no noticeable negative results. However my pots are well seasoned from years of use and I always apply a thin coat of corn oil after each use.
Each to their own on that point.👍



As we speak.

[Redrider]

An afternoon on the fire ant mound works. Barring that, I wash in hot soapy with a steel wool pad. Hand dry. A couple of ours are from parents' leavings.

[Guzzistajohn]

stir fry yard bird and veggies by Barb 

[Swedemoto]

I usually use corn meal or used coffee grounds to clean out my cast iron. A quick rinse and light coat of oil and ready to go!

[kballowe]

Thread hijack:

I cooked in cast iron forever.... until last year when I got one of those new fangled teflon skillets.  Nothing sticks to them.  Damp washrag cleans them in one pass.  Amazing.

:End hijack

[Ncdan]

Thread hijack:

I cooked in cast iron forever.... until last year when I got one of those new fangled teflon skillets.  Nothing sticks to them.  Damp washrag cleans them in one pass.  Amazing.

:End hijack

Yea but your pot ain’t bona fide, Kev🤔😂👍

[guzziart]

Thread hijack:

I cooked in cast iron forever.... until last year when I got one of those new fangled teflon skillets.  Nothing sticks to them.  Damp washrag cleans them in one pass.  Amazing.

:End hijack

Never used cast iron but I'm sure I could get something to stick to a teflon pan or whatever other miracle surface coating they concoct especially where they put the handle rivets.  Why do they still use rivets vs a tack weld bracket for the handle?  Our old teflon pans don't have rivets, the handles have a tack weld bracket for the handle mounting, all the new stuff I see has riveted brackets.  The "copper" miracle surface coat was the worst, imo...Habitat welcomed that collection.

On still another note, I recently got a blackstone griddle, use avocado oil to cook & season griddle.  I clean the griddle with a small amount of water while it is hot, it works great.  Thanks Youtube!

Ok, that's the end of my whinny hijack. 

[Bulldog9]

We've always used cast iron. Once the pan is properly seasoned you should never use soap and only minimal water when necessary. My wife just burnt a big batch of scrambled eggs in our large cast iron skillet. I scraped out as much as I could then poured some olive oil into the pan and put heat on it after about 5 minutes I used a wooden scraper and scraped all the crap out.

Sometimes when there's a whole lot of crud I will let it sit with water to soften the crud then scrape it out with a wooden scraper and recoat with either butter lard or olive oil. I used to use butter exclusively but 10 to find that rotating those three lead to a great non-stick surface.

My goal is eventually to get to the level of seasoning my grandmother's 6-in egg pan head. She didn't even have to put any butter or oil in before frying an egg.

[Guzzistajohn]

Thread hijack:

I cooked in cast iron forever.... until last year when I got one of those new fangled teflon skillets.  Nothing sticks to them.  Damp washrag cleans them in one pass.  Amazing.

:End hijack

I still use new fangled teflon skillets for eggs, cast iron for other things

[kballowe]

Yea but your pot ain’t bona fide, Kev🤔😂👍

I saw that

[Anomaly]

Beef shanks slow cooking for tomorrow's dinner: