Cleaning an Iron Cast Pan

I hope you guys enjoy my tips and tricks, because I have quite a few I'd like to share. Here's an other one:

How To Clean An Iron Cast Pan



My boyfriend has recently gone on a kick of cooking with the iron cast pan. Might have to do with the fact that he just found out that my grand-ma gave me an old one.

Now, my parents cook with an iron cast pan, so I've been washing these things for years. BUT we've been doing it the wrong way all this time. They use a specific cleaning product(cannot remember what just now), and it completely removes the seasoning.

My boyfriend likes to read up on things, and he was telling me that the seasoning of the iron cast pan is the most important part, and he forbade me from washing it with any kind of soap.

So in that case, what was I to do?!?! I started washing it with water only... Wasn't working too good, let me tell ya! And I always forgot to check on the internet when we had access to it.

Finally, finally, one day I remembered. What I found was that you could wash it with big grain salt (or kosher salt). I couldn't find any pictures proving this (pictures are worth a thousand words aren't they?!) but I had to try it.

And it worked beautifully!! And so, I am sharing this advice, with pictures, so you can see just how well this really works.

Edit: Just a quick note, this method of cleaning is for after you've actually cooked in the pan, not for old and rusted pans! Check out this post for more information on that!

After a yummy stir fry that the boyfriend made, I had a dirty iron cast pan to work with! Not the dirtiest it's ever been, but you can still see the majic :)



First, remove what you can with a clean sponge (as in rinsed out so there is no soap in it), or with paper towels.



Then, all you need to do is pour a bit of coarse salt in the pan and scrub away!



I use a plastic scrubbing pad or sponge to help with this part. DO NOT use metal scrubbing pads on cast iron pans!! And you'll want to rinse the pad or sponge out to get all the soap out again. Leave a bit of water in it, but not too much, just enough to help scrub.



Get up on the sides, too. I like using the sponge to move the salt around so it stays as a pile as much as possible. Works much better.



When you'll be done, your salt will be kinda gross... but you can see the clean pan underneath already! 30 seconds of scrubbing and you are good.



You'll just rinse out the pan with water, and you'll be left with a nice and shiny, still seasoned iron cast pan!

See how the water just glistens on the surface? That's a sign that it's still seasoned and you didn't remove the coating.



Once in a while, you'll also want to reseason it with a bit of oil after washing it. If you don't see the water bead on the surface after you rinse, reseason it. I think we reseason every 5 times we wash it.

Did you like this tip? Already know about it? If you have tried it out, let me know how it worked out for you in the comments!!




I party at these parties.

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