How do you clean cast iron??

[opiemaster]

I have some old cast iron skillets and a dutch oven I want to give a good cleqning to. These have a heavy HARD crust baked on them and in them and I want it off so I can re-treat them. Any good ideas? I have been scrubbing with steel wool and it doesnt want to come off.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[TanksHill]

Hard crust?? Is this a built up finish or something stuck in the pan?

I have heard that when folks want to "start over" on a cast iron pan they throw it in a campfire and cook it back to raw. Not sure if this works or is good for the pan. I always thought they could get too hot.

I have bought most of my pans used. Most just get really hot water and a brush scrub then seasoning.

Do you have any pictures of the pans?

g

 

[Joel_BC]

We had a previous thread about different ways of handling the situation when the build-up is very thick...
http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=12053&p=3

 

[opiemaster]

TanksHill, yes, the real heavy crust backed/ cooked on the outside. I am putting one in the wood stove as we speekm for a little while to try it. I remembered my mom saying something about throwing a pan in the fire to clean it. I am doing one that way now. Unfotunatley I dont have any pocs.

Joel_BC Thanks for the link to the other postings, I was wondering if someone hadnt already brought up the discussion before.
Thanks again.

 

[~gd]

Hard crust?? Is this a built up finish or something stuck in the pan?

I have heard that when folks want to "start over" on a cast iron pan they throw it in a campfire and cook it back to raw. Not sure if this works or is good for the pan. I always thought they could get too hot.

I have bought most of my pans used. Most just get really hot water and a brush scrub then seasoning.

Do you have any pictures of the pans?

g

Hard crust Is usually Just burnt on food especially on the outside surfaces, as such they can be burnt off [and usually are when used in a cooking fire which is coals not roaring flames] sure I have read of people cleaning them by throwing them into a campfire mostly it works if you let the fire go out and dig them out of the ash after it has cooled down. You are asking for disaster [cracked or warped pots and pans} if you fish them out of the fire or put the fire out the radical temperature change going in or coming out causes the damage. Myself I wait until I have got all set up to reseason the ware, then I power brush them with a brass wire brush, (steel wire is harder than cast iron and can cause some nasty starches] Reseason at once or rhwy will start to rust fast

 

[Cinebar]

Once your pans are clean and rust-free and well-seasoned, what I recently started doing as a maintenance program is to spray them - inside and out - with Pam after each use and after being washed (after they are completely dry, of course).

They don't develop rust and are always shiny and ready to be used.

I can't remember where I got the idea; I think it might be my own variation of wiping them down with oil before being out away.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I've been using the old "burn it off" method all my life and have never known anyone to do it differently. As stated in post #5 do not pull it out as you will wind up with a cracked or shattered pan and in some cases depending on how drastic and fast the temperature change takes place, they can actually explode. I have NEVER let soap touch a pan. Another excellent method, mostly for rust removal and almost the ONLY effective way to get rid of rust is electrolysis. Here is a link to the simple process:
VIDEO http://youtu.be/VYm94Bif5kA This method takes about 24-48 hrs to achieve desired results.
TEXT http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

Another question that frequently comes up is re-seasoning or seasoning in general. The more accurate way to describe this is "polymerization" and everybody has a slightly different variation of the process but the real issue here is the type of oil you use. Here is a link to some wonderful advice and a seemingly perfect and scientific explanation of why and how. http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

I hope this has helped you understand the process.


ETA I have heard it suggested that you can put the pans in a self cleaning oven and run the cleaning cycle for removing crusted on food and this makes perfect sense for quite a few reasons and is actually a much safer and "city ready" method versus the campfire method.

 

[Hinotori]

The self cleaning mode on the ovens freak me out. I need to run it, though and I have a few pans that need cleaned.

I've cleaned a few in the wood stove successfully. I only had small fires and waited until it went out to remove the pan. I don't think I'd put them in a super hot large fire.

 

[opiemaster]

Ok guys & gals, thanks for the advice, but now a new problem. I put them in the wood stove one at a time, and watched them carfully. I have 4 that I thought cleaned up nicely until it came time to re-season them.
I cleaned them with a brillow pad and hot water, hand dried them. Brought the stove to 300 deg. and applied a coating of lard to the pans. I set them in. After 2 hours of cooking I pulled them out and checked. 1 is doing fine, 3 have a "sticky" parts like I didnt let them cook long enough in the woodstove to get all the "old" oil's out. Does this make sense? Do I need to put them back in the wood stove to finish?

 

[baymule]

Opiemaster, I have burned my skillets to clean them from the crusty crud that they seem to collect. I am southern, we fry everything here. The grease in the skillet pops out and coats the outside as well, over time, it gets real cruddy. I have put my skillet in the fireplace and built a roaring fire and let the fire die down and take the skillet out the next day. I have placed a skillet on a branding iron fire or campfires that had a hot bed of coals until the fire died out and went cold. In all instances, the skillet should be gray iron. It will look like new, fresh cast iron. Then wash, dry and procede with seasoning. I coat the skillet with animal fat as vegetable oil can get sticky. Put the skillet in a low oven for several hours, turn the oven off and let it go cold. Don't open the oven until it is cold. Then get to cookin'!!