I turn up the heat then throw water. It boils and cleanup with paper towel. Use tongs.
I just make the pan hot and wipe it out with a paper towel quickly so it doesn’t burn the paper. If I made a sauce in it, a wet paper towel.
I’ve been doing my best to follow cowboy kent’s method where if you can, while the pan is still hot, run it under hot water and scrape away with a wooden spatula or other flat tool. I’ve had great success with most cleanings and anything stuck on I just do as the other user said and scrub with a abrasive sponge and a little soap and warm water until I’m happy.
yeah this is like running a flat grill in a restaurant
This is what I do too. If there is something really stuck on then you can put it back on the stove and add a little water which will sizzle and lift the rest up with minimal scraping.
This is what I started doing a few months ago and it works great.
When I bought my house I discovered a treasure trove of old cast iron pans in the (very modern) oven. They all looked like this and smelled like rancid oil. It was not fun to deal with lol
Sounds terrible but also awesome if they were good enough to be used after cleaning. I know that smell though… terrible.
that precisely decribes my scenario yes
I’m yet to decide if that gut biome is a nerf or a buff.
I use chain mail.
I had to scroll way too far to find this. Chainmail, salt, water, wooden utensils, and whatever you season with (I use Crisco).
Reading comments in this thread reminds me why I don’t let anyone use my cast iron.
if you want to destroy the pan, yes
To be fair, that could just be how they interpreted the phrase “wiping out”
I don’t think its misinterpreted. I do the same thing with one of these to get stuck on food bits out:
I’m not sure how this could “destroy the pan” considering the stainless steel links have a Brinell hardness of 217 and the grey cast iron (the pan’s metal) has a Brinell hardness of 235, the pan will scratch the stainless steel links before the stainless steel links scratches the pan.
After that I wash out the path with liquid dish soap, then put the pan on the inductive stove to bring it up to boil away any remaining water on the pan.
To be honest I know nothing about… any cookware really (and a great many other things), and just took the comment above me at face value.
If I am babying them, kosher salt and oil once it’s cool enough, then rinse & dry. Otherwise I scrape at it with the metal spatula then wash with soap and a scratchy sponge, it’s fine as long as you don’t soak them, and do dry them well after.
We do have a chainmail scrubber - my husband was soaking the skillets and killing the finish, he likes the chainmail scrubber.
haha tell him to stay over there with the washer machine
I tend to use a paper towel with a little bit of canola oil, after hand washing it lightly with soap and water.
My cast iron won’t win beauty pageants, but they are functional equipment, not wall decorations.
We have a plastic scraper that gets anything off with a bit of water. Then I hit it with a rough sponge and water, towel dry, then stovetop dry. While still hot, I like to put a thin layer of Crisco on all surfaces with a paper towel and wipe any excess off. Having a well seasoned pan, warming up before cooking, and using enough fat or oil makes cleaning and maintaining a lot easier.
Scraping with plastic is a good way to create microplastics. Better to use a wood or metal tool
scraping with wood is a grate way to get, uh, sawdust.
And?
Soap and water. It’s cast iron, not silk.
Try not to use soap if possible, it can get into the iron since it’s porous and become a part of the “seasoning”. Same goes for mortar and pestle care
This is not the case for modern detergents, but is held over from when soaps were all made from lye. The polymerized layers of oil that you have will stay mostly in tact with some dish detergent and a light scrub sponge. After washing and drying mine off with a towel, I apply some oil and heat it on the stove for a few minutes to maintain the seasoning.
But absolutely mortar and pestle should never ever get soap, particularly something like a molcajete made from volcanic rock. I just wipe mine really thoroughly with a clean, damp cloth.
I run my mortar and pestle through the dishwasher. It’s glazed stoneware, and is virtually non porous. Molcajete are an exception, but there’s not much good to be gained by having old spice and herb residue in cooking gear.
Interesting thanks for chiming in. I’ve only ever had a molcajete.
I have a marble one. Also can be washed, as it’s non-porous.
What’s the benefit of a molcajete, I wonder? Seasoning, obviously, but any others?
Afaik, it’s traditional to Central American (and maybe South American?) cuisine, but I don’t know any science-y aspects to it’s use. You make salsas and guac directly in it, and I can say they do hit different, but I can’t say exactly why.
Yeah I read something about those. Blends differently than in a blender. I buy that.
Perhaps the original reason was just that that type of stone was available there and this type over here?
Yep. My pan gets hand washing with a few drops of soap after every use and it’s fine.
Lye, or sodium hydroxide, strips the seasoning layers. It used to be used in soap. People use it when restoring cast iron in the modern day to strip old seasoning off. Then they can start againt and re-seaaon!
victoria (cast iron maker that’s a above lodge but below others,) recommends using a little dish soap.
even if the soaps do remove some seasoning, you should have enough on there, and cooking with enough oil that it regenerates. That’s the secret to cast iron’s longevity, in point of fact. Every time you cook with it, you add some more to the seasoning. (it also can develop some marvelous flavors if you’re intentional in how you cook with it.)
What is above Victoria?
Depending on who you talk to? Lancaster and stargazer; and then there’s the heirlooms that are 100% worth hunting down (like the old wagners.)
If you’re looking for enameled cast iron, la creusette is top, imo. (Enameled doesn’t take seasoning, but the finish is much more durable than ptfe)
I would suggest Victoria being a good place to start; it’s not going to absolutely wreck the bank. Some of the Lancaster are lighter though making them easier to use… and my faves are some literal heirlooms from my grandma (which went back a few generations further,)
Nice, thank you. I just have a Lodge. Haven’t had any gripes about it, but curious what difference would come from leveling up
I just put mine in the dishwasher. Generic soap. High heat, full cycle. Let it drip dry. No wiping out needed.
Modern soaps lack the phosphates that really mess with cast iron. I typically do this.
Little bit of water, heat on high until it boils most things off the pan.
Scrape with metal spatula and stick items.
Hit it lightly with soap and sponge.
Dry with paper towel.
Spray with oil.
Wipe oil all sides.
Only missing putting it back on heat after drying with a paper towel to boil off any residual water
I use this kind of metal rag/ sponge?
it’s between a sponge and a rag and it’s metal rings
Chain mail scrubber. That’s my go to as well
Sounds like chainmail
steel wool? or is it something fancier
no not steel wool
Ooo, that looks nice
I could probably learn a lot from the thread. If I don’t clean it while it’s still warm, I tend to resort to coarse salt, a bit of oil, and a scrubby sponge. Either way, it’s not easy for me to clean, especially after eggs.
If eggs don’t release well, it’s not seasoned well, most of mine are pretty nonstick but I struggle with the biggest one, the surface is not as good.
I would say baby that one. Clean it immediately then dry, wipe some oil in, almost none, and heat it while wiping it. Or make pancakes, that seems to rehab them. Long slow cooking with fat in there and something that doesn’t want to stick, getting scraped often.
Wipe most of the grease out with paper towels. Then I use hot water and a chainmail scrubber. After that I dry it with paper towels again and then on the stove.
Stiff wooden brush, oil and salt
Edit: it’s actually bamboo
