Cleaning Baked-on Grease Coated Cast Iron Pan
#11
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Some where in way out West Texas
Posts: 3,041
I love cast iron and prefer to cook in my cast iron skillets. I have all of mine I've had for 44 years and my mother's as well. My daughter wanted all of my mother's when she passed away. I took most of them and gave daughter and son each a couple. Both daughter and son are single and like to cook and use cast iron, so they will just have to divide mine. I remember my mother using salt and a small brass brush to clean hers from time to time, they were all black as coal, but you could use a clean white cloth and wipe them off and not have a dirty spot on the cloth.
#12
I have used cast iron skillets for over 40 years. I wash them like any other pan and dry them on my gas stove burner.
My farmer husband found a 14 inch skillet in a field. He used a wire brush to clean it then we washed and seasoned it. It is our camping frying pan.
My farmer husband found a 14 inch skillet in a field. He used a wire brush to clean it then we washed and seasoned it. It is our camping frying pan.
#13
I don't cook anything in my iron skillets except cornbread. Because of the weight, I only use the smaller ones now. My daughter had a bad bad broken wrist some time ago so she has trouble lifting the big ones. So guess my son will get all the heavy ones when I'm gone.
#14
We wash mine in sink w/dish detergent like all the dishes and it is clean and stays that way. I go through spells using it. We mainly use electric skillets. I don't fry much on my kitchen stove, don't like to clean the stove top.
I have heard of burning the build up by fire.
I have heard of burning the build up by fire.
#15
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Posts: 939
I don't care if the racks are shiny or dull. Leaving them in during the cleaning cycle is the easier way to clean them! Use a vegetable or canola oil to treat the pan. Olive oil will turn rancid.
#16
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2,376
My mother made my dad's bacon and eggs in a cast iron skillet every day for 35 years. That skillet was better than any modern non-stick I've ever seen or used. Sadly, I struggle with them. They get icky and sticky and just glare back at me from the cupboard.
#18
Super Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Central PA
Posts: 1,920
Sparkys, I did respond that my oven was fine after putting the skillet on the bottom of my oven. My husband removed the dust before I could see the accumulation. I see/saw no problems w/either the oven or pan and I did remove the racks.
#19
Power Poster
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Corpus Christi, Tx.
Posts: 16,105
cooking oil counter acts and gives a sticky coating. Shortening like Crisco is best. New Year's day id the day I reseason mine. I have an old cookie sheet and turn the pans upside down so the seasoning doesn't pool. I never use soap, either.
I use the self cleaning oven for cast iron. Works great. My grandfather use to put cast iron in his wood burning stove. A fireplace will do the job too. I don't use soap on mine and they are decades old, pitch black and slick like glass. Eggs slide out of the skillet. I use boiling water to clean, wipe dry, and wipe inside with thin layer of shortening. Cooking oil doesn't work the same as shortening for seasoning.
#20
Power Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Southern USA
Posts: 15,900
I leave the racks in the oven for self cleaning. They won't shine anymore but I didn't care about that, they are in the oven. Why hand clean greasy racks when you paid for a self cleaning oven? I put a stainless steel skillet in the oven on self clean. It took the shine off the skillet but it seems to stick less then the shinny ones.
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