cast iron care

[longbow-hunter]

Recently we started useing my Dutch oven over the fire and found out that the soups we ended up with were really good. But I'm not sure how to care for the dutch oven when finished. I've been washing it with soap and hot water, then I dry it over the fire and wipe it down with lard while hot and cook it some then let it cool. Next time I just get it out and start cooking. What could I do that would be better. :hmm:

 

[Flint311]

Basically, you're doing fine. Just leave out the soap. Once seasoned, everything will wipe away. On some occasions, boil water to get stuff off and scrape with spatula. Then finish the way you are. The soap will take off the seasoning, which is what you want to stay.

 

[necchi]

your doing OK, just do a web search on "seasoning cast iron" and you'll find the oven method listed several times.

Seasoning as they say, is just a layer of carbon you "cook" on the surface. Lasts for me about one summer, and I just wipe with hot water and a cloth and it comes clean.
However some foods we cook can take seasoning right off, acids in tomato and stuff like that. I usually fully clean with soap-n-water then re-season at the beginning of each year.

Don't know what they've been doing with bargin bacon the last few years but I've been haveing trouble with bacon leaving some heavy deposits on my pans, really gotta scrape to get it off and it's taking the seasoning layer off! :idunno:

 

[Woods Dweller]

I have been using cast Iron all my life, in fact I have a cast iron pot and a frying pan that
I still use that belong to my grandmother. The more you use your cast iron the easer it gets to clean,
And it will turn black, that good. There is no need to oil your cast iron every time you finish using it.

When you get your cast iron oil it all up, outside and inside & lid, place it in your oven for 1 hour at 350.
Allow it to cool then repeat the process one more time, your cast iron is season.

Washing cast iron with soap and hot water and drying it is right on. [no need to oil it]
It gets oil every time you cook with it and add oil and brown meat or vegetables.
[Don’t soak your cast iron in water]

Buying flea market cast iron is a cheap way to get a good cast iron pot or pan buy you may not want to
Cook in someone old cast iron. No problem! Lay some logs on the ground lay your cast iron on it and lay more wood on the cast iron and light it. This will clean cast iron and make it as new and must be season anew. [I remember watching my Grandmother doing this about every 3 or 4 years]

Why soups taste better in cast iron; The spices that you put into your pot will soak into the pours of your cast iron and each time you cook in this pot your flavor in the pot is released. [I have a cast iron pot that I only cook chili in, One time I used another pot to cook my chili in and my Family said my chili did not taste as good]

You can use the lid of a cast iron pot as a fry pan; turn lid over using the inside of the lid, and place it on 3 rocks. Place hot coals under lid and there ya go, a frying pan.

 

[sbhg]

If you don't want to use lard, I have been using "peanut oil", it will season it a lil, much better than olive oil wich I have found has no seasoning ability.
BTW I use my pan weekly and do not clean, :wink: you just don't use a real high heat and use enough oil/grease.
Then wipe and put away for the next meal. :grin:

 

Here's what the current leader of cast iron cookware tells us.

P.S. The shortening used to season your pot does not turn to carbon during the process.
http://www.lodgemfg.com/use-care-seasoned-cast-iron.asp

 

[Claude Mathis]

"A seasoned pan has a stick-resistant coating of polymerized fat and oil on the surface."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasoning_(cast_iron)

 

[BadHeart]

I have been using cast iron for i dont know how long. I just use plain hot water and a scrub brush. and then wipe it with lard and then heat it back up and call it good. That is the way my grandma showed me hoe to do it. she said never use soap on cast iron. if you have food stuck on, just fill with water and boil it till it comes off. i was the lucky one after my grandma pasted to be the one to get her cast iron frying pan. it now has a perminate home on my stove and is used all the time.

 

[vern faulkner]

That cast iron stuff will last forever. The Old Woman has been keeping me in line with a 8" fry pan for over 41 years now. Not a crack or dent in it anywhere. Still good as new. Probably last another 41 years (if I can). Maybe someday she'll cook something in it!!

Vern

 

[Bill Hall]

There is a new resurgence in the use of cast iron pots and pans now. Appearantly, it adds a little bit of iron to your food, which will help raise low iron levels in woman who have this problem.

I had the tv on a few weeks ago, and these two ladies were talking about the health benifits of using cast iron pans, and acted as though they were old relics you could only find in your grandmother's attic or in antique shops. I haven't bought a new cast iron cooking utensil in thirty some years (cuz they don't wear out), but I still see them at the usual stores i.e. Sears, Walmart, etc. Funny how the old tried-and-true things keep coming back. Bill

 

[dwarvenchef]

I love all my CI cookware, till I have to pack up and move...

Being a Pro Cook many think I run after the new and best pans for cooking, and get disapointed when I suggest cast iron over everything else. Short of a handfull of specialty pans (pans with only 1 pourpose), cast iron will do it all, cheaper, and longer, than anything out there. While I don't have a huge collection (depending on who you ask) I find I still need a few more pieces. 25 or so pieces that cover a wide range of styles leaves me with a CI pot or pan always within reach Just don't comment on the 6 dutch ovens or the 5 griddles... so on and so forth

I also have my grandmothers Griswald pan, something I will never let go of (till my daughter steals it from me, like I did from my mother ).

Ive tried many ways of caring for these items and find that simple is best. Wash, dry, oil, done... One thing I have noticed and read up on, was that modern soaps are not as harsh as grandmas soaps, so you can use them sparingly to get things clean. But you MUST rinsh them very well afterwards and reseason properly. But if you clean up soon after cooking you generally don't have to go that far. Hot scalding water and a stiff brush do the job just fine, and you still need to wash dry and oil as above.

 

[dwarvenchef]

Recently we started useing my Dutch oven over the fire and found out that the soups we ended up with were really good. But I'm not sure how to care for the dutch oven when finished. I've been washing it with soap and hot water, then I dry it over the fire and wipe it down with lard while hot and cook it some then let it cool. Next time I just get it out and start cooking. What could I do that would be better. :hmm:

One trick I do when storing my DO's is to roll up a piece of foil, or other material, to prop the lid open and place a paper towel inside the DO. By propping open the lid you are letting air circulate to keep the inside from molding/going ransid. The towel absorbs any moisture/humidity that can start the ransid process.

 

[kayja]

never,never use soap on cast iron, just wipe it out with hot water and wipe it down with some lard or cooking spray. http://www.lodgemfg.com/use-care-seasoned-cast-iron.asp

 

[ohio ramrod]

I agree on never using soap. I clean my cast with hot lard/oil and a rag. If severely burned food is in the cast I use a pumice block, but never soap. Also the best way I have found to season cast iron is to use lard and simply make a lot of french fries, Then let the cast cool down and scoop out the lard.

 

[gearheart]

Necchi, that modern bacon has a lot of sugar in it that burns onto the pan and you have to almost chisel it off. Even on a non stick pan it is dreadful. Get yourself some old fashioned salt cure & double smoked bacon and it will work much better. Even keeps without refrigeration.

 

[necchi]

You described that just right!
That's exactly what happens, there is a crud on the pans that's just a dickens to clean off.
I'll stop buying the bargin stuff for camping trips and look for olde fashoned.
We've got plenty of olde school butcher shops around, I'll look there and not the supermarket.
Thanks, sometimes a guy overlooks the obvious, :grin:

 

[bangfxr]

I wash my iron pots and pans with a stiff bristled scrub brush and hot water and rinse it out and let the fire pit heat it throughly to evaporate the water and with a cotton cloth put a lite coat of cooking oil in it. It seems to work well for me and I cook for about 8 men except at Gettysburg I cooked for 49. The skillets I have use to belong to Norfolk and Western RR back in the day when they ran cabooses and breakmen. Got them at a flea market for $10.00 each. The dutch oven wife got me 14 years ago and it was a new made style with the 2 inch legs and it works well.Now to get a good bean pot.