Cleaning Cast Iron (please be Polite)

[ceresone]

Times have changed so much in my almost 77 years! I grew up using cast iron, and even used it removing the eye on a wood stove, and sitting skillet there to have a hotter skillet. If it got especially grungy, you put it in the coals to burn off, and cooled it gradually, then re-seasoned it. Never know of it to warp. Now, they are collectors items, and the old ways are scorned. Now, you put them in a lye bath--or a elec charged bath. I was afraid to clean mine in a self cleaning stove too-and I don't want to taste lye!
Honestly, the sarcastic and how the collectors put down people with different ideas make me run back to this forum!! Perhaps new ways ARE best, but there are other ideas out there (compared using a horse when cars are available too) and I'm still shocked at how nasty some people can be-guess at my age I'm still naive. So-do you USE your CI? and how do you clean it? (incidentally, I haven't had to put mine in a fire for years-its just the principal)

[Becka03]

ceresone- I agree- I see some FB pages where the people are down right mean-
I got my Wagner set from a friend who was moving to an island LOL- and wouldn't need it-
I didn't have to season them- but I bought Lard from the Amish - and will use it from time to time after I cook in them-
I use water and I know some people say to never do that- I use my plastic scrapper and hot water- then dry right away and use either the lard or olive oil to coat the inside-
I use it everyday- so it stays on top of the stove most of the time-

[simi-steading]

I don't care what anyone thinks.. I do what I know works.. It's my stuff, I'll do with it as I please..


Put it in a fire.. burn it all off, re-season... enjoy...

I have tired using wire wheels.. they do OK, but I still think burning them off works best.. Never had a problem doing that.. I do it with old ones I buy at sales that are all gunked up..

For daily cleaning, if it's caked on inside, I'll fill with water, bring to a boil on the stove, then dump out and wipe out, maybe using a small pot brush if need be... Dry over a flame, then la light coat of oil and set back on the stove to store..

[jd4020]

Well, I use all my CI, then wash it with soapy water, using a plastic mesh bag (that fruit comes in) rinse, then set it on the stove flame to dry it.
If whatever I've cooked in it has become sticky on the sides then I use a metal scrubby. I've not put CI in the fire to clean it. Not saying that is wrong by any means, just meaning I've never done it that way.
We have gotten pieces that were rusty & Dh wire wheeled them to remove the rust and then I seasoned them with bacon grease and put them in the oven. I think using it is the best way of caring for it.
This has worked for me for my life time (54 this year )
Generally I use everything I own and I use it til it can't be used any more. Then I re-cycle it for use somewhere else. If I happen to hang it on the wall for decoration, I hang it right where I need to use it for easy access.
Just me. I think after 77 years you know what works for you.
Here's a little FIY---don't throw it. When it hits the ground, it shatters. A friend found this out when she was having a skillet throwing contest. Not a good idea.
God bless,
jd

[Goat Servant]

Mine get used a lot. Have never put them in a hot fire to cure, maybe someday I will.
Usually it just gets wiped out. Sometimes with boiling water. Other times soap & water if particularly greasy. Who wants a greasy handle?! Or bottom?
They get coated with anything from bacon grease to oil or even crisco.
I once seasoned them with flaxseed oil per another site but did not care for the resulting fumes.

[doingitmyself]

I have an extensive range of CI and I use it daily. I usually wipe it out with a paper towel, then add sea salt and scrub it clean. That's it, if I have to soap and water wash it I will, then dry it, then flame it, and add some lard to the warm pan and wipe it clean.

I have bought some new CI that is finished so rough that I have taken the disc sander to it to sand the cooking surface smooth, then re season and its like new I mean like old LOLOL !!!

I have put a very old and hard to find piece of CI that someone had painted a scene with enamel paint in into the fire and the heat burned it clean in minutes. After a good soap and water cleaning I seasoned in like normal and now i have the piece I needed to complete my set for only $10 flea market price!!! I love my CI the original nonstick cook wear!!!

[MO_cows]

That's part of the genius of cast iron, it doesn't take much cleaning. If I make gravy or something that won't just wipe out with a paper towel, I clean the skillet with hot water and a stiff plastic brush. Then I dry it on the burner and give it a light coat of oil before storing.

Every time I use a cast iron skillet, I give it a light scraping with the metal spatula (technically not a spatula but that's what most call it). Wipe it out with a paper towel, put away for next time. Normally, that's all it takes.

I do have one skillet that has too much carbon built up and it flakes off. That one is going to get a wire brushing and re-seasoned when I get around to it.

My cast iron pieces are not marked, I don't know who made them, but they are old. I got them from my grandmother's estate, and a lot of her kitchen things came from HER mother. But I digress.

The only time I ever remember using soap on cast iron is when a piece comes out of storage and has mouse droppings in it. Wash with hot soapy water and stiff plastic brush (or metal scratcher if it's rusty too), dry on burner, oil it and evaluate the seasoning. Usually, I can just bake a couple pans of cornbread in it and restore the seasoning that way instead of the full seasoning rigamarole.

I don't think my way is the only right way, if somebody else does things differently and it works for them, great. I never knew there were "cast iron snobs", or that people would get irate about others handling of cast iron. I'm not sure whether that is sad or funny.

[grandma12703]

Cast iron is definately my choice. My very favorite extra large cast iron skillet came out of a pig pen on my families homestead. The place was homesteaded at the opening of the Oklahoma land run. There is no telling how old this thing is. We moved to the old place years ago and put the kids show hogs in a small shed behind the house. The gilt was a rooter and one day while feeding my son came walking in with a skillet almost too big for him to carry (he was 9). I wire brushed it and did put it in some soapy water due to where it was found. I heated and did it again and then re-seasoned it. We have used it now for over 20 years and we are all still healthy people. We had three of our own children and 2 exchange students a year so that made feeding a table of 7 every meal. That big ole' cast iron skillet saved us. Everything tastes better in cast iron IMO.

[strawberrygirl]

We run hot water in the pan and scrub with a washcloth. Once clean we put it on the stove, turn the gas burner on, and wait until the water evaporates completely. Then we put a smidge of Crisco on a paper towel and swirl it around to coat the pan.

We haven't killed ourselves yet so I guess it's okay.

[oneraddad]

You're not supposed to use soap on your cast iron

[countryfied2011]

ha...i have accidentally left one of my pans to sit in soapy water for a day or two.....still cooks just as good. I have had it for at least 30 yrs. I have others that were given to me that were my MIL's that had a lot of gunk on it....DH built a fire and put them in it then took a sander and then I seasoned in the oven upside down with lard. Makes a mean pan of cornbread..lol

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

Burn Baby Burn , I turn them upside down in a good bed of coals in the wood stove before i go to bed , they turn a nice dull glowing red , I have brought back some very nice old 1930s wagners , but if I had to pay more than a few dollars for them I didn't buy them so if you had a really fancy one I might do the lye bath thing , but for me if i buy a 3 dollar pan and cook it off and then gift it to some one it's 3 bucks to me I only got it for 3 bucks because no one else knew what it was or it was just plain that nasty looking

my son got me a little 6 inch Wagner for 50 cents for my birth day it came caked full of mud dried on in the pan not one had any idea what it was or that it could even be cleaned up, one night in the fire and you would never know and it cooks just fine

mine is all just cooking pieces no worries

[Fire-Man]

I Use to buy and resell many pieces of CI. To me the easiest way to burn off cast iron that "needs" it is in the outdoor gas Bar-b-que grill. I have done Many pieces this way and use the grill to do the first couple seasoning before I use it or mainly resell it.

We do have our personal collection of CI that is used Often and is Not for Sale!

[ceresone]

I just KNEW people on here would make me feel better!! I love the new saying I will have now "cast iron snobs"!! I'll just say it to myself tho.
I would never let any of my CI go either--some was my grandmothers, came thru our house fire OK

[TenBusyBees]

A lot of my cast iron is "collectors' items" as they belonged to two of my great-grandmothers. I use it daily and LOVE it. Literally...it's full of family history and I like to wonder and imagine those two beautiful ladies with their swept up hair and in their aprons fixing a meal for their families....what was on the menu? What was the dinner conversation about? Who was helping fix the meal?

I'd probably make a collector cringe but it's how my grandmother cleaned her pans and now how I do too....especially since I don't ever plan on getting rid of them, retaining their monatary value means nothing to me.

Depending what I baked, like cornbread or biscuits, I simply wipe it out with a paper towel.
If it needs washing, hot water and a scrubby. Place on a hot burner until dried, and then a bit of bacon grease smeared on with a paper towel while still hot.

[Belfrybat]

I had a really grungy pan -- over the years the outside got really gunged up. The advice on here was to put it in the self-cleaning oven upside down. It came out covered with a white residue that I just brushed off. I washed it in hot water (no soap) and seasoned it with lard twice. It looks brand new and I've never had to re-season it.

[||Downhome||]

I prefer cast for many many things, can't be beat.

I wash after use , soap and water, and a copper scour pad.

I never soak them though, if they are that gunked up,they get filled with water and boiled.

Then they get the wash treatment.

After washing they go on the stove to dry.

then a light oil.

my pan s are in great condition, and used almost daily and sometimes for every meal.

now though I don't go through that process after each meal, just a quick scrub and dry.

ceresone you point out the key to burning them clean, slow cooling.

cast iron is subject to thermal shock!

I prefer for new stuff that I pick up thats cruddy to use a wire brush.
Not the hand type the kind you chuck in a drill!

[Goat Servant]

Count me a cast iron snob!
One time I had to babysit my niece & nephew for a few days. SIL had some 'nice' new whatchcallem pans. I was really afraid of not getting them clean enough so I got my big old Griswold for the baked chicken.
The only thing I wont use them for is fish.

[Pigeon Lady]

Ceresone, I very often remove the eye in the stove and set the big CI skillet in there. I'll think of you now every time I do it

[CIW]

My wife also has the ability to see the jewel in a rusted piece of CI. She will come hauling a rusted piece home. I can usually go after it with a rotary wire brush. Then after wiping it down with a damp cloth to pick up any lingering pieces, we fill it with oil and cook something like frybread or doughnuts.
For the next few times we only use it to cook things that don't contain sugars. After that they do pretty good.
When we pack into the back country we usually just wipe them out and put a light coat of oil on the inside. If something gets stuck on the inside I go get some beach sand and scrub it around in there. Oil it up after rewarming it, and all is good.
At home we may use one of those plastic scrubbing pads to get out something that gets a little stuck.
CI is very forgiving and versitile. Being able to use the resources around you, for its care, is one of the things that makes it so user friendly.
I often wonder if the worst thing that you can do to CI is to not use it.