Cleaning cast iron

[Silky921]

Recently have been cleaning my pans with this technique. Very happy with the results.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddr...carbs-were-so-versatile/ar-BBrbikU?li=BBnb7Kw

Also interested in how you fine folks do your cleaning and maintenance.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Haven't used the potato, but I have used salt before......Usually I just rinse and wipe, but for hard stuff I boil some water in it and use a soft plastic scour pad.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

heard of that. Never used it or tried it.

My omlet pan is a small cast iron fry pan. Very smooth inside. Wipe it out with a paper towel and ready for the next use. It is as non-stick as slick 50. My larger cast iron pan, has one or two spots, otherwise like glass. It does get stuff cooked on when I fry bacon, etc. I found that using some fflour and then water to the drippings and simmering up some gravy for on the dogs' kibble, cleans the stuck stuff off just right.

 

[Woods Dweller]

Hard burnt on stuff I scrap with a spatula, then Boil some water in it. The spatula takes off the hard stuff.
The center of a palms has a hard fiber that makes a good scrub brush. The Spanish discovered this in Saint Augustine as they were living in Fl. Health stores sell them as well as Rendezvous.
And always Elbow-grease
:hatsoff:

 

[will5a1]

Course salt and elbow grease, but I'll try potato first chance I get.

 

[Silky921]

Tried both myself. Found the added moisture from the potato aided in removal of stuck on leftovers. Curious what you'll think if you try it.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Seems wasteful to use up your food just to clean your pot... :idunno:

 

[ohio ramrod]

My method for cleaning cast Iron skillets and Dutch ovens is to use olive oil and a pumice stick for burned material. For all other cleaning I wipe throughly with olive oil. Warm to hot oil is a good cleaner and olive oil doesn't get rancid like animal fats. Which is why it was called "sweet oil" in the early days. :idunno:

 

[Silky921]

I will say I hate wasting just about anything too, so I used the end of a potato where it's dome shaped. Made it easier to grip as well.

 

[Black Hand]

...olive oil doesn't get rancid like animal fats.

Olive oil will go rancid. Temperature and exposure to air & light are factors.

 

[tenngun]

I think any etable oil can go rancid , use them regularly they be fine for home cooking.

 

[Silky921]

There is something special about cooking on cast iron. I try to use mine twice a week.

Wife has low iron but has decided to take medicine instead. Told her we could help her a more natural way, but it fell on deaf ears.

 

[Follett]

I cook every day on cast, in fact, I don't cook in anything else. I clean mine exactly like Colorado Clyde, except on the stove with boiling water. After I get them dry, I give them a light coat of EVOO, Bring them to the smoke point on top of the stove, then wipe the excess oil out with a lint free cotton towel, and push them to the back burner, ready to go again. I have found nothing, that sticks to them.
I have heard though, that cast iron loves the starch from a potato, and the grease from bacon.
If I need to heavy clean cast, in the oven it goes, on the self clean cycle, it'll come out as clean, as it came out of the mold in the foundry. Of coarse then it has to be seasoned.

 

[coloradoclyde]

There is something special about cooking on cast iron. I try to use mine twice a week.

Wife has low iron but has decided to take medicine instead. Told her we could help her a more natural way, but it fell on deaf ears.

I remember reading a an old remedy for anemia.....but don't remember where I read it...
It called for boiling some old rust nails in water and then drinking it...or something like that... :haha:

 

[satx78247]

and to All,

Just yesterday evening on YLAR PBS-TV, "the specialist in cookware" on AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN simply stated that NO cookware was the equal to, " ---- a properly seasoned cast iron skillet or dutch oven".

As I've said elsewhere, I clean rusted/badly maintained cast iron vessels with sharp masonry sand, the edge of an old tablespoon, "elbow grease" & plain water. The re-grease & put in a low temperature oven overnight & then allowed to slowly cool.

yours, satx

 

[Wes/Tex]

If anyone interested in the science of cast iron skillet cooking, haunt old libraries or sports magazine collectors and find a July 1976 issue of "Field & Stream". There's a long, marvelous article by the late, great Ted Trueblood called "Skillet Skill". It's a wonderful article about how to use, tote and get the best from a cast iron skillet...and uses his own experiences as a mountain stream fisherman as example. Fly fishing in mountainous areas require a wee bit of thinking things out ahead of time, but still eat like a king. He's mostly referring to eating what you catch most of the time, but does mention a few quick changes to things like corn and canned oysters or good ole pork & beans; it shows you there's hope for us all! :wink: Basically, the secret amounts to being sure the iron's temp matches what you want to cook and being sure the grease is deep and hot enough! Sounds simple but all important. I'l leave you with one and speaking of pork & beans:

"...I regularly improve on them. Dice four slices of bacon and an onion the size of a tennis ball. Brown in a skillet over medium heat--brown mind you, not scorch. The onion will still show mostly white when done. Drain off nearly all the grease. Leave the skillet beside the fire. Dump in two level tablespoons of sugar and four of vinegar, plus a few shakes of salt and pepper, then add the contents of a 21-ounce can of pork and beans. Put the skillet back on the fire and stir occasionally until the beans are hot, which they will reveal by bubbling. They're ready. This is suppose to be enough for four people, but two hungry fishermen will lick it up."

See how simple? :wink: The corn and oyster dish is basically a 1-point can of creamed corn anf an 8-ounce can of oysters with about a dozen saltines "poked in the well-mixed corn and oysters to take up excess liquid, which should not be poured off." This one works well in an over, on a camp stove or in a skillet on a campfire. Like Ted sys, "I have yet to try it on anyone didn't ask for second helpings." :haha:

 

[tenngun]

There is something special about cooking on cast iron. I try to use mine twice a week.

Wife has low iron but has decided to take medicine instead. Told her we could help her a more natural way, but it fell on deaf ears.

I remember reading a an old remedy for anemia.....but don't remember where I read it...
It called for boiling some old rust nails in water and then drinking it...or something like that... :haha:

Not far off the mark. Rx iron pills are just a powdered iron and sulfer oxide, feso4, cooking in iron pots works as well, liver, blood pudding or black sausage are handy but you cant find it in every grocery store.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Lots of techniques. Mine is to simply scrub with a Brillo pad and soapy water the put in oven at the 'clean' temp. When cool wash again and rinse. When dry I rub in and out with lard and put back in oven at about 300 degrees to season. Some say that isn't seasoning. Dunno why they would say that. :idunno: Works for me.