Clean-up and seasoning of Dutch Oven?

[Flint62Smoothie]

Hey all:

I made a fabulous stew the camp enjoyed while up at the Southern VT primitive snowshoe/muzzleloader biathlon last weekend.

We heated the dutch oven on the stove top, so it wasn't exposed to flames at all. My hands are black from cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning out the insides. I mean, the stew wasn't THAT bad :surrender: ! It also turned that green scothbrite scrubbie on top of the once-yellow sponge, from green to black.

What do I do? Should I buy some SOS Pads? Anything else to use? There's no organic matter on the sides of the inside or bottom, but paper towels and scrubbers are still turning black and greasey.

I needs help on cleaning and then 'seasoning' or prepping for storage.

 

[Tkendrick]

Assuming you are dealing with cast iron, correct?

That black greasy stuff is seasoning coming out of the pores in the metal. My mother cooked on cast iron her whole life, and she would rarely let soap touch her cast iron, it'll take out the seasoning.

Try this.

Build a wood or charcoal fire. Let it burn down to coals. Throw the oven up side down in to the fire. Leave it there for at least an hour. If you can leave it over night, so much the better. BUT...you don't want it to get too hot.

After cools down enough for you to handle it bare handed, wipe out the ash with a paper towel or an old dish rag.

If you get it too hot and burned out the seasoning, you will have to re-season it. If not, just put it up and it'll be ready to use next time. After a few times doing this you'll get the hang of it pretty quick.

Seasoning cast iron always takes some patience and time, and one session of hard scrubbing with soap or even worse, a tour in the dishwasher, can ruin a seasoning job.

Good luck.

 

[renovato]

The best way I've found for cleaning cast iron cookware like dutch ovens is to boil some water in it and scrub with something soft like a natural bristle brush or one of those soft plastic scrubbie things. Those bamboo bundles that they use to scrub woks is great too.

All you need to do is get food particles out and the boiling water will usually get any stuck on food. If it doesn't, you can always char them out, but that doesn't happen often unless you seriously burn food in it.

Then dry it well while it's warm and rub lightly with oil or fat. That'll keep it from rusting and maintain the seasoning.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Oil it good with cooking oil and then put it in the oven at 400 for a couple of hours. Properly seasoned cast iron should be black. It sounds like you are scrubbing the seasoning out of it. The best way to keep castiron good is to bake in it at every opportunity. Wipe it all over with cooking oil and use it in the oven.

I clean my castiron with hot water and a dish washing brush,,,medium bristle, just to remove the crusties and get down to the slick. Re oil and reheat to dry it. Dont ever let anyone in your cast iron with a scouring pad or harsh soap.

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

Cleaning:
If not troubled with a burnt on mess inside, I just wipe out with a damp rag then dry. If there is a little stuff stuck inside, I'll go with a good cleaning using soap and water and a dish cloth or green plastic scrub pad. If you've got a burnt offering that defies soap, water and the plastic pad, I'm not afrain of a SOS pad. You'll have to re-season if you resort to the SOS pad.

Re-Seasoning:
Ensure the item is clean and dry. Rub thoroughly with shortening, inside and out, not too thick or thin. Place in a 350 degree oven for several hours. Turn off oven and let cool inside the oven overnight. DO NOT put the lid on the dutch oven or pot while seasoning because it'll "glue" in place.

I use both racks in my oven and season several items at once. Re-season ironware whenever you've scrubbed the old seasoning off or if it looks like it's worn thin or chipped. If doing one item, you may as well build on the seasoning of any other items that'll fit in the oven.

Store ironware with a very light coat of shortening inside to prevent rust.

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

Another thing to add on seasoning is that you should put the dutch oven or pot in the oven facing down. This prevents melted shortening from pooling up inside where it'll be too thick to properly harden.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

fill it w/water and let it steam an hour on heat just short of boiling. pour out and dry.
fire the grill up and cook plenty of burgers while frying f/f taters in your D.O., after cooking pour out oil and wipe down well with paper towels. done and belly full. :thumbsup:

 

[bwhoffman]

No soap...ever

cooking stuff with tomatoes in it will "de-season" your D.O. (acids)

good way to season your DO is to deep fry some fish or chicken strips in it!

store it oiled in and out, with a folded up paper towel that you oiled it with in between the lid and DO so it can breathe a little.

dont loan out your DO

you can also cook in this at home, it WILL fit in your electric oven....food just wont taste as good as it does in the outdoors!

WOOD tools are your friend, stay away from metal stuff. plastic stuff tends to melt!

get some welders gloves!

NO SOAP....ever!

 

[Blizzard of '93]

you are right about any tomato contaning recipes, and any cooked-on residue is hard to remove, that said sometimes it must be done and boiling out the D.O. and reseason can be done - mainly by frying as you suggested.
I have to do that every so often with some recipes I cook up in my D.O., stuffed peppers being a favorite of mine and also chili.
stewing/mashing turnips/rutabaga will remove the seasoning too.

 

[renovato]

You guys are right about acidic foods stripping out the seasoning. I hadn't thought about that, but I've had to reseason occasionally "for no reason" that I could think of. I do cook with tomatoes sometimes. I didn't know about the turnips and rutabagas though. Good information all around.

I like to reseason on the BBQ grill. Less smoke and heat in the house. I just wipe it down with oil and turn it upside down over the coals and let them burn out with the lid on the cooker and the vents wide open. I don't find it that hard to season a cast iron dutch oven, at least in comparison to seasoning hand hammered woks. They're a form of mild steel rather than cast iron and it takes a lot more work to get them seasoned.

 

It's been said that you should not be making strews and soups in a dutch oven. Simmering liquid for a long time in cast iron is not good for the seasoning. These type meals should be cooked in a "pot" (copper, tin, etc.), not an oven. There's a reason they call it a Dutch Oven, it's for baking. Not that you can't cook anything and everything in it, you just need to be aware of the results.

 

[blacksmithman64]

Now you done it! You all taught me somethin' I didn't know! :rotf: I cook a lot of chili and stews in the DO cuz its BIG! I didn't know tomaters was the culprit of it losing the seasoning!

 

[Blizzard of '93]

be careful not to scorch any sort of tomato recipe in your D.O., very difficult to scrub out. and any scorched veggie is too. rice too.
re-seasoning is not too hard after a clean-up. just fry a bunch of tater wedges/steak fries.
don't use any sort of soap in a D.O.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

No soap...ever

cooking stuff with tomatoes in it will "de-season" your D.O. (acids)

NO SOAP....ever!

It's been said that you should not be making strews and soups in a dutch oven. Simmering liquid for a long time in cast iron is not good for the seasoning.

Darn it ... we simmered a tomato-infused stew all weekend! No small wonder the clean-up was a chore! Thanks for all of the tips!

 

[ohio ramrod]

I have found that a warm cooking oil is good for cleaning cast iron, If food has been burned in it a pumice stick makes an excellant scrubber. I personally believe the best way to season cast iron is ti fill it 1/2 way with lard. And then do about five lbs of french fries. After it has cooled pour out the remaing lard and let set upside down until it stops dripping.

 

From the Lodge web site. These people make the stuff and know how to care for it.

FWIW,

Wash the cookware with hot, soapy water and a stiff brush. (It is okay to use soap this time because you are preparing to re-season the cookware).

Rinse and dry completely.

Apply a thin, even coating of MELTED solid vegetable shortening (or cooking oil of your choice) to the cookware (inside and out).

Place aluminum foil on the bottom rack of the oven to catch any dripping.

Set oven temperature to 350 ”“ 400 degrees F.

Place cookware upside down on the top rack of the oven.
Bake the cookware for at least one hour. After the hour, turn the oven off and let the cookware cool in the oven.
Store the cookware uncovered, in a dry place when cooled.

 

[Captain outwater]

Cast iron should be 'seasoned' with an oil that will not go rancid. Once seasoned, you should not use soap in it. Just hot water, o rvery little soap. Put more oil on it before storing for long periods.
Part of the reason cast iron becomes 'stickless' is the build up of carbon in the pores. You do not want to remove it. Just remove any food seen on the surface.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I disagree with Lodge regarding the use of any soap. just fill the D.O. with water and let it simmer for at least an hour to clean it, after the hot water is dumped out scrub with a copper pad, dry well and re-season. never use soap in a D.O. it will leave a 'taint' unless you boil the D.O. to get rid of it.
frying 'taters is a good way to re-season. at least 2 lbs of french fries.

 

[Matt B]

Just wanted to add to what has been said already. One item I've found that I love is a little plastic scraper by Pamper chef. It's small and they are cheap! So next time your wife goes to one of those shows, have her order you some. Add water, steam, scrape.

Then for oil, I have found Pam makes olive oil spray. Works great!

 

[Erastus]

I've always had a lot of success with bore butter. I wait till the little woman is done cleaning my rifles then put her on the DO right away...