Cleaning Cast Iron pans ?

[Mr.Andersson]

I would just like to know how everyone cleans their cast iron. I need to reseason mine, cause I dont think I did it right to begin with. I've had my 10" lodge, for 12 years, still looking for an old gris. I have many other smaller ones, n they all need to be reseasoned, picked them up second hand. I.m interesred in normal everyday, cleaning / storage, in between use, what do you do? Sorry guys, my wife cooks, I do most of the cleaning.

 

[moolie]

We just do a quick wash with NO soap with a scrubby dish cloth, then dry right away with a clean (old, so any dark stains don't matter) towel we keep for the purpose, and put away.

My pans are old and came to me already seasoned, but I think the basic idea when you season a cast iron pan is to coat with lard and bake in a medium oven for an hour or so (with something on the rack below to catch any drips) then let cool and wipe the excess lard off.

 

[BirdBrain]

To reaseason you pans, wipe a thin layer of animal fat (lard, tallow, bacon grease) on all surfaces and place upside down in the oven on the upper rack. On the lower rack, spread a layer of foil to catch any drips. Turn the oven on to 400 and bake for 1 hour. Do not remove the pan. Allow it to cool in the oven before removing it. This may be repeated. Some pans that you get from second hand sources come with rust. To clean these, use steel wool and a lot of elbow grease. Then season one or more times.

For every day cleaning, using hot water, scrub out the pan and wipe dry. Heat breifly on the stove top to dry completely. Some people say never to use soap on these pans as it can remove your seasoning. There are times that I do use soap, but I always rinse well and wipe with grease and heat on the stove top when I do this.

 

[Rebbetzin]

To reaseason you pans, wipe a thin layer of animal fat (lard, tallow, bacon grease) on all surfaces and place upside down in the oven on the upper rack. On the lower rack, spread a layer of foil to catch any drips. Turn the oven on to 400 and bake for 1 hour. Do not remove the pan. Allow it to cool in the oven before removing it. This may be repeated. Some pans that you get from second hand sources come with rust. To clean these, use steel wool and a lot of elbow grease. Then season one or more times.

For every day cleaning, using hot water, scrub out the pan and wipe dry. Heat breifly on the stove top to dry completely. Some people say never to use soap on these pans as it can remove your seasoning. There are times that I do use soap, but I always rinse well and wipe with grease and heat on the stove top when I do this.

I have two iron pans, both are over 30 years old now. VERY well seasoned, I LOVE them!!

 

[~gd]

Not a big thing but many use veggie oil, they claim the liquid oils get into the "grain" of the cast iron better and wipes out easier while excessive solid fats tend to leave ticker coats to char and flake off easier. Placing a pan back on a burner to dry off is the biggest reason I have for reseasoning, electric stove and I forget about it until it stsrts to smoke, then it needs reseasoning. Never store with the lid on they might rust and/or develope a funky odor!~gd

 

[Beekissed]

Some folks never immerse their skillets in water but will either scrub them with a handful of salt and a piece of newspaper or paper towel, or fill with water, place on a flame and boil out any stuck on particles of food, then wipe with oil and store. Any time you use your oven to bake is also a good time to take the chance to season your skillet...just coat with thin layer of oil and leave it in the oven while you are preheating for your baking. You can never really season it enough, so doing this each time just adds to the seasoning layer.

For old, crusted skillets, a time buried in the coals of a wood stove or a camp fire will remove most of the years of seasoning that have become too gross.

 

[peteyfoozer]

I have also heard that if you need to re condition one, that putting in the oven when you 'self clean' is supposed to burn off all the junk. Never tried it so can't say, plus...since you aren't supposed to leave the racks in, I have no idea how you would do this.
I always use a soft scrubby under hot water on mine then put it on the stove to dry...often wipe bacon grease or oil on it before hanging it up again. BTW...if you hang yours...they tend to be HOT when you pick em up off the stove. Great for heavy 2nd degree burns on both hands...don't ask me how i know...

 

[ORChick]

Instead of drying my pans on a hot stove top, with all the risk of forgetting it, and overheating/damaging the pan, I put mine outside the kitchen door (if it is sunny), or in the oven set on Warm. I have been known to forget the oven on occasion, which is annoying but won't overheat the pan. I am working on making it a habit to always turn the oven light on whenever the oven is on. Visual reminders are always helpful for forgetful people like me . When I think about it I wipe a thin layer of some sort of fat on the cooking surface of the pan before putting it away, and putting a paper towel in also to keep other pans from getting greasy (I reuse these paper towels for quite awhile, so I don't feel too guilty about using them. Rags would, of course, work just as well)

 

[SSDreamin]

I have also heard that if you need to re condition one, that putting in the oven when you 'self clean' is supposed to burn off all the junk. Never tried it so can't say, plus...since you aren't supposed to leave the racks in, I have no idea how you would do this.
I always use a soft scrubby under hot water on mine then put it on the stove to dry...often wipe bacon grease or oil on it before hanging it up again. BTW...if you hang yours...they tend to be HOT when you pick em up off the stove. Great for heavy 2nd degree burns on both hands...don't ask me how i know...

Peteyfoozer beat me to it! There's a utube video where the woman needs to redo a nasty skillet she found in the garbage She removed her oven racks, set a fire brick upright in the middle of her oven, set the skillet on top of the brick, and ran her self cleaning cycle on her oven. The next morning, she took the skillet out, brushed the flakes and what-not out, then re-seasoned it. Turned out beautiful, and ended up being a Wagoner I believe, even though there was no telling what it was when she started! I only remember because I have an inherited skillet I need to redo. My oven isn't dirty enough yet, so I'm waiting...

 

[daniel-delarosa]

Just found this site. http://www.richsoil.com/cast-iron.jsp it has some pretty good info! My grandma gave me her moms old cast iron skillet. Not sure of the brand, it says "Korea" on the back. Im in the process of re-seasoning now since it had some rust in it. Im using bacon fat from my home cured bacon to season it. Hope it turns out!