Cast Iron Skillet care

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

I have several ways to clean my cast iron skillet:

1] I degalze it while it is hot and wipe it clean and dry

2] I will wash it with soap and water if needed but I do so briskly and always follow with a good drying and wipe w/ fresh oila afterwards

3] Sometimes I just wipe it out while it is hot if it's not too dirty

I always keep mine stored in the oven and allow it to remain in there until I need to place my food into the oven, I kind of liken this to curing it every so often.

Whay are some of your methods of cleaning and storing your cast iron ?

[Jafo232]

I just wash it out with hot water and a brush until it is clean (no soap). Then I put it on the stove and turn it on high. Once it is hot and starting to smoke, I put about a teaspoon of oil on it, wipe it around with a paper towel, and wait for it to start smoking again and turn off the heat.

After it cools down, I hang it on a rack in the kitchen above the stove.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

I've got the cast iron skillet my Mom got as a wedding gift in 1964. To my knowledge it's never been touched by soap. I scrub it with a scouring pad and nothing else except HOT water, towel-dry immeditaely and lube it w/ oil applied by papertowels, and I keep it on the top shelf of my pantry wrapped in a single piece of saran.

[KYHeirloomer]

Ohmigosh, Cathy. Don't do that to me first thing in the morning.

In most culinary things I believe there are several ways to the same end. So I almost never say, "that's wrong." I just provide alternatives.

This is, unfortunately, one of those rare other times.

Properly cured cast iron is a near to being non-stick at to make no-never-mind. So, unless you've actually burned something to it (which takes both extra high heat and inattention), clean up should be simple. Before looking at how it should be done, let's look at what you are doing.

BTW, never use soap on cast iron.

1. Deglazing. Quite a number of people were taught this trick, usually while in the scouts. And, as so often with scout stuff, it is stone cold wrong. Yes, pouring cold water in a hot pan deglazes it. Actually it steam cleans it. And there's two things wrong with that. First is the danger of warping and cracking. Most times, if a pot or pan doesn't sit level on a burner, this is why. The item was warped. And, in the second place, steam cleaning not only cleans, it pulls the cure out of the metal.

2. Oh My God! With one exception, soap should never touch cast iron. Soap has only one job in the kitchen: to dissolve and remove grease. And cast iron is cured with what? With grease, my dear. Every time you use soap on your cast iron you assure that the beautiful cure you work so hard for doesn't develop. I can tell from here that your iron has a flat, gray finish, when it should be black with a slight sheen.

3. Now you are on the right track. Just wiping is a traditional method of cleaning cast iron. There is a problem doing that, however, in that, depending on what you cooked, you could leave bacteria-breeding residue behind without realizing it. So, from a safety point of view, it's best to actually wash it. Only don't use soap. Ever

To properly clean cast iron means merely to flush it with hot water. How you do that takes us back into the world of different strokes.

What I do is turn the hot water on straight, and let it run into the pan, shifting both the pan and the faucet so that water pressure helps surface clean the iron. I have a brush, dedicated to the purpose, that I use to lift off anything that might be adhering. You can use anything for this purpose that doesn't scratch. A brush. A dobie pad. A scotch-brite pad. Just think of it as a non-stick surface, and use appropriate tools when cleaning.

Dry the piece well. Then apply a thin coating of whatever your favorite grease is. Old timers still use lard, for instance. I'm a big believer in shortening. Liquid oils are not the best choice.

Oh, yeah. Did I mention that soap should never, ever touch cured cast iron?

[chubbyalaskagriz]

But if you were going to use soap, KYH... what would be your first choice of brand?



(hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[KYHeirloomer]

Why, that's easy, Chubby. Home-made lye soap, of course. That way, as the skin peels off my fingertips, I'd be forcibly reminded to.....

Never, ever, allow soap to touch cast iron cookware!!!

[Jafo232]

I myself just use canola oil on it. It has kept my skillet seasoned, slippery, and rust free for quite some time.

The reason I heat the skillet after cleaning it is two fold. One, the heat will kill any remaining bacteria for the most part, second, it helps keep the pan in its seasoned state (when I add the drop of oil)..

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer

Why, that's easy, Chubby. Home-made lye soap, of course. That way, as the skin peels off my fingertips, I'd be forcibly reminded to.....

Never, ever, allow soap to touch cast iron cookware!!!

Well that makes sense then, considering lye soap is made from animal fat- I see... I see...... wash and season in one fell swoop!

[jglass]

I have 2 sets of 3 different size cast iron skillets and 1 large skillet my little sis gave me they got at a yard sale. I have 2 cast iron dutch ovens. One 5qt and one 7qt.

One of the two sets was my Moms and her Moms before that. After Mom died my brother was using them til I went to his house and found them sitting on his porch dirty and full of water. I got all three and took them home with me. Moms skillets had just started to rust but luckily with some good hot water and scrubbing I got them cleaned up and after a couple re-seasonings they are fine. The other 3 piece set is one I got myself from JCPenneys. I always keep a small tub of lard to season my cast iron. I also save bacon grease to season cast iron with.

[KYHeirloomer]

Jafo,

Heating a pan to dry it and help reseason it are not the same things as pouring cold water into it.

As noted, I don't think liquid oils are the best seasoning media for cast iron. So we do things differently. For instance, for the final drying, I merely warm the pan over low heat to evaporate any remaining moisture (after I've towel-wiped it). Then I rub the still-warm pan with additional shortening, to replace any of the cure that may have leached out.

While we like to say we are preventing rusting with the application of new grease/oil, that's not really true. There is no way that a properly cured cast iron piece will rust unless kept in contact with liquid water for a long period.

The operative words there are "properly cured."

Did I ever mention that soap and cast iron don't mix?