Cast Iron Cookware

[mcfarmall]

Hot water, scrape out the big chunks with a metal spatula and wipe dry. The metal will dry off itself from the heat of the cooking and cleaning operation. Take a tiny dab of bacon grease on a paper towel or napkin and wipe the inside down.

I personally will NEVER use soap on any cast iron cookware and won't let an uneducated noob use my CI pans or dutch oven either. I wouldn't use salt due to its corrosive nature, sand would be my choice and I have used it in the past with good results.

 

[coobie]

I was taught/told long ago to not use soap on cast iron. I'm sure if you rinse well it's OK but the soap will supposedly get into the pores of the iron and affect the food taste.

YUP..me to..

 

[goeduck]

Well it depends on what item it is.

Frying pans immediately after removing the meat I run a metal flat end spatula over the surface, splash hot water into the pan, swirl it around to remove any residue stuck on, steams pretty good, then I wipe out with a paper towel, use another part of the paper towel until it wipes clean enough, dry with anothe paper towel and good to go. One fry pan always sits beside the cooktop. If storing the pan I clean again with hot water, dry, dry on the cooktop, melt coconut oil into it and smear over the pan. Coconut oil has antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties from its medium chain fatty acids/triglycerides.

If it is a Dutch or oval oven, I deal with it after cooking and then run hot water over it and use a special lodge plastic scraper to free up anything stuck. Sometimes a plastic abrasive pad. Then wipe under running hot water until clean enough with a paper towel, wipe dry. Then heat on low heat on cooktop until dry, dry, and do the coconut oil treatment. Then store.

Griddles if just hot cakes or eggs, just wipe off with paper towel under water, heat on cooktop, do the coconut oil treatment and store. If bacon, or ham, then I clean like a dutch oven, getting all the bits off. Then the coconut oil.

Muffin pans, depending on what I cook I treat like a griddle.

This is about half my collection of bare cast iron. All my cast iron is Wagner and Griswold, most nearing 100 years old. All as good as new.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I don't use CI for other than baking my cornbread and a hot water rinse while the skillet is hot usually cleans it. Sometimes a little scrubbing with a scotchbrite pad may be necessary. I cant use them on my range since it is a ceramic top electric but the do bake nice.

I use cast iron frying pans and a Dutch oven on our ceramic top routinely for years. I think the main thing is not to slide. Or of course drop. No scratches yet.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I use Dawn dish soap to clean our cast iron cookware. It is all 40 - 80 years old and very well seasoned. Rinse thoroughly heat to dry on the stove then wipe with a paper towel and olive oil.

 

[gemutlich]

Clean? Why on earth would I want to remove all the good stuff? Lol

Just wipe it out with a dry cloth, give it a speck of oil and put it away for tomorrow morning. Y'all are talking about grandma, in all those years I never knew her to scrub, rub, or suds her cast iron. Just used it, and wiped it out.

Heck, we don't scrub our BBQ grills either. That stuff all makes the next thing to go on em taste that much better. Would ya clean your smoker?

 

[Thomas]

Light scrub pad hot water good drying than food oil.

 

[tcreeley]

Using some of the same castiron that was in our kitchen when I was a kid. Eggs in butter- I just wipe out the excess grease with a paper towel and leave it on the stove for the next meal. If I need to clean it (like after sausage or fish, I scrape off the stuck on stuff with a spatula, and I'll add dish detergent and hot water to remove the oil. I wipe it dry with a paper towel. Sometimes I'll use a steel wool soap pad to clean a stubborn area. I hate the taste of soap and I always rinse forever - driving my wife crazy. I rarely have a problem with the finish- always frying in butter or pure olive oil.

I bake bread in my CI dutch oven. Sometimes I rub it lightly with some butter before I pre-heat. After the bread is done I wipe it out with a dish towel. I've never washed the dutch oven. Always baking at 475F.

I'll never cook on anything else.

 

[RobertBrown]

I use Dawn dish soap to clean our cast iron cookware. It is all 40 - 80 years old and very well seasoned. Rinse thoroughly heat to dry on the stove then wipe with a paper towel and olive oil.

This^except the oil..I don't put a pan in the cupboard with oil on it. I oil the pan before i use it to cook
Wash it just like any other pan. Potatoes! Salt? Why?
It's the only pan I use.....works great...even for omelettes.

 

[Jim Nelson]

I use a chain mail product called The Ringer that I got from Amazon for about $12 or $13 .I does a great job of cleaning cast iron or pyrex or anything that gets food stuck to it in cleaning. If you have something really stuck to the cast iron you can throw a little kosher salt in and scrub with that and it will clean right up. No worries about losing your seasoning.