I just use a drop of dawn on it after cooking, while the pan is still hot. Then reoil with some cooking oil. Most of the time I just cook grill cheeses and I use real mayo as the grease and don’t have any issues with sticking even if I forget how hot the pan is and burn the sandwich
Cast Iron Cleaning
- Thread starter mightyeskimo
- Start date
Boil water in the pan to soften the burned-on stuff.
Scrape it off with a plastic scraper.
Remove what is left with kosher salt and cooking oil, with paper towels or a sponge.
Rinse to remove the salt. Sit pan on the stove top, turn on the heat under it, and wipe it out and/or wipe fresh oil on the surface with paper towels.
Done.
Scrape it off with a plastic scraper.
Remove what is left with kosher salt and cooking oil, with paper towels or a sponge.
Rinse to remove the salt. Sit pan on the stove top, turn on the heat under it, and wipe it out and/or wipe fresh oil on the surface with paper towels.
Done.
My experience with cheese had me resorting to the gas grill on high and reseasoning. Glad you got it off
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
All of the above. Plus.
I have a bunch of cast iron skillets and pots and pans, and have been using them for my whole life. I can remember cooking with a cast iron skillet before I could see the top of the stove. My parents were asleep. It was the middle of the night. I was hungry. There were eggs. It started a long love of cast iron cookery.
However, I clean cast iron with a stainless steel Chore Boy and dish soap, and have been doing so since I was a wee lad. My dad would have killed me. He was a salt and paper towel man. The cast iron doesn't mind though. There is far too much malarky about cast iron. It is not hard to take care of.
Salt cleaning. Boiling water. All that stuff is fine, too, but sometimes nothing like that works.
Happy shaves,
Jim
I have a bunch of cast iron skillets and pots and pans, and have been using them for my whole life. I can remember cooking with a cast iron skillet before I could see the top of the stove. My parents were asleep. It was the middle of the night. I was hungry. There were eggs. It started a long love of cast iron cookery.
However, I clean cast iron with a stainless steel Chore Boy and dish soap, and have been doing so since I was a wee lad. My dad would have killed me. He was a salt and paper towel man. The cast iron doesn't mind though. There is far too much malarky about cast iron. It is not hard to take care of.
Salt cleaning. Boiling water. All that stuff is fine, too, but sometimes nothing like that works.
Happy shaves,
Jim
Not sure if cast iron works like carbon steel but my method (not wife approved) is pretty simple.
Depending on what I get done cooking I wipe out the greasy stuff with a paper towel. If it is crunchy stuff I use my spatula remove the big chunks. The key is to then start cooking the next thing without letting the pan cool down all the way to room temperature.
Ruckin.
Depending on what I get done cooking I wipe out the greasy stuff with a paper towel. If it is crunchy stuff I use my spatula remove the big chunks. The key is to then start cooking the next thing without letting the pan cool down all the way to room temperature.
Ruckin.
I had a similar cheese incident happen the other day. Made some burgers on the cast iron, and the cheese burnt to the bottom. I got most of it off with a plastic brush and water, but there was still a little bit stuck to the pan. I used a metal spatula with a sharp edge to get the rest.
Worst comes to worse, you scrub down to the bare metal and reseason. Did that for a cast iron skillet at work where someone cooked something, left it in it, and the putrid mess actually tainted the seasoning.
When I take the food out of a hot pan, I add a 1/2" of water and let it cool on the stove a while. That will remove most. For anything stubborn it gets a scrape with a spatula, then rinse and a light scrub under running hot water with a scrubbing pad without soap.
It usually has enough heat left in it when I'm done that it dries itself on the stove in ~5 minutes.
It usually has enough heat left in it when I'm done that it dries itself on the stove in ~5 minutes.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
One time I bought some cast iron at a yard sale. It looked like somebody had cooked the world's nastiest stuff in it, and not washed or cleaned it, and repeated the process a thousand times. I'm talking seriously disgusting cookware, but it was a steal.
It took me a couple of days of off and on work to make it so my wife would quit telling me I'd thrown away $5 on junk, but finally it turned into what I thought I was buying, $300 or so of very nice cookware. Besides it was all just pans, and not skillets, and the sizes were unusual + every piece had a cast iron lid with a wooden handle on top so you could remove the lid without burning yourself.
My wife still hated it. One day it disappeared when I wasn't looking. Maybe it's in the basement. The landfill, more likely. So, she threw away $300. More, probably, at W-S, the high dollar store.
Love me some cast iron, but the stuff has gotten heavier over the years.
Happy shaves,
Jim
It took me a couple of days of off and on work to make it so my wife would quit telling me I'd thrown away $5 on junk, but finally it turned into what I thought I was buying, $300 or so of very nice cookware. Besides it was all just pans, and not skillets, and the sizes were unusual + every piece had a cast iron lid with a wooden handle on top so you could remove the lid without burning yourself.
My wife still hated it. One day it disappeared when I wasn't looking. Maybe it's in the basement. The landfill, more likely. So, she threw away $300. More, probably, at W-S, the high dollar store.
Love me some cast iron, but the stuff has gotten heavier over the years.
Happy shaves,
Jim
I'll say! I just bought a new 12" pan. Two pour spouts with a small handle on the other side for $15, I couldnt walk past them lol. It feels twice the weight of my great grandmothers 12" pan.
My wife has done that kind of thing to me before. Threw out my stuff. I have a really big problem with that. It shows a complete lack of respect. I doubt you would even consider throwing your wife’s stuff out. And I’ve even tried to discuss it with her. She just dances around the subject. Classic avoidance. I have to say that if we don’t make it as a couple, that will be the biggest reason.
I generally try to boil it off. When that fails, I use kosher salt and a dab of oil and scrub.
simon1
Self Ignored by Vista
I've had that happen. Took out some trash one time and found some Tupperware of my Mom's (God rest her soul) in the trash can. More recently, after I've told her no dishwasher for carbon or good knives, I found a carbon paring knife of my grandmother's in the dishwasher...it had been left overnight and was rusted and the end of the handle burnt a bit from the dishwasher heating element. The knife cleaned up okay but BIG trouble in paradise.
Now she asks if she can throw out the Shopper paper with ads in it, the ones they send out for free.
Back to the subject...I use the damp Kosher salt and a plastic scrubber pad. If it's real bad I use a metal spatula, or rarely, boil some water in it like Mom used to when stuff stuck real good. There's a visible line on the side of the Griswold skillet she used when I was a kid, but not a big deal; I remember the times she boiled things from when I was a kid so it's sentimental.
If I get one at a junk store or somewhere that's rusted or something I have no problem with stripping it down and re-seasoning it. I'm a big fan of electrolysis.
I use wadded up recycled aluminum foil to clean the bbq grill, should work here and i'd think less abrasive then the various chain mail scrubbers.
dave
dave
Most of my pans are from thrift stores (one I dug up out of the ground), so same here.
One more vote for hot water, kosher salt and a metal spatula.
Haven't noticed that. The local offerings are usually made by Lodge.
My wife doesn't like them. She finds them too heavy. OTOH, my mother, who's in her eighties, uses cast iron quite often.
The Lodge pan scrapers work well.
simon1
Self Ignored by Vista
The Lodge iron seems to be heavier than the older iron...Wagner, Griswold, Birmingham Stove and Range, etc. My Mom's old 10 inch Griswold from the '40s is much lighter than the Lodge skillets I've got. SWMBO likes the Griswold much, much better. She'll use my 8 inch Lodge to make cornbread, but also will use my 6 5/8 Birmingham with the machined surface at times.
My step-daughter in DFW said she picked up a "set" of Wagner iron. I haven't seen what she got, but she sent a pic. of a skillet she took an orbital sander to
then re-seasoned. I'm going to clean up the Wagner Dutch oven she got when I can get it to work on. Should be interesting...the iron I've done with electrolysis I used my 12 amp battery charger as it was all I had. The battery charger I have now goes up to 40 amps. 
I need to see if step-daughter has a line on some more iron.
