Can't clean cast iron pan

[msmofet]

After the oven cycle, leave the pan in the oven to cool. It will be dusty with ash from the burned off coating. Just wipe it off with a dry cloth.

Pre-heat your oven to 350ºF. Coat the pan with the thinnest possible coating of fat. If you're going to use Crisco, you may be better off melting it first so you can spread it sparingly and wipe off the excess. Too much fat will pool and give you sticky spots. I usually use peanut oil. Corn oil is also an option.

Place the pan upside down on a shelf with a sheet of foil on a shelf under the pan to catch drips. Bake the pan for an hour and turn off the oven. Leave the pan in the oven to cool completely. You should have a nice black coating for polymerized fat on the pan. It should not be sticky.

When I do this, I do three coats before cooking with the pan.

Is there a waiting time between coats? I have flaxseed oil, grape seed oil, canola oil and coconut oil would one of those be better to season with?

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I know ammonia takes off burned, caked on on grease in an oven. Might work on cast iron. But WalMart sells Lodge pans pretty cheap, if you have one near you.

Place the pan into a large garbage bag alongside a bowl of ammonia. Let sit overnight. In the morning, the burnt residue will come right off. This also works for crusty gas stove grates, and oven grates. It also works with grill and barbecue greats.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Andy M.]

Is there a waiting time between coats? I have flaxseed oil, grape seed oil, canola oil and coconut oil would one of those be better to season with?

No waiting time other than allowing the pan to cool in the oven before taking it out. You can then reheat the oven and go again.

Just about any fat will do the trick. Don't worry too much about it.

 

[msmofet]

No waiting time other than allowing the pan to cool in the oven before taking it out. You can then reheat the oven and go again.

Just about any fat will do the trick. Don't worry too much about it.

Thanks Andy

 

[di reston]

I always thought cast iron was porous. That's why, I've need told, it's difficult to get right if it burns again. It has happened to me on one or two occasions, and I burned off the scorched bits, cleaned the pan with a pan scourer, rinsed it without any detergent at all, dried it slowly on the hob, and then started seasoning it again as soon as it was hot and dry, using olive oil at a medium heat, then leaving it to cool, wiping it clean, and it was ok after that. Now I usually wipe my cast iron pans with an oiled cloth, when they are clean, I put another drizzle of oil, and then store ready for the next use. It works fine for me!

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

 

[GotGarlic]

I always thought cast iron was porous. That's why, I've need told, it's difficult to get right if it burns again.

Cast iron is not porous. If it was, it wouldn't be as durable.

From http://www.castironcollector.com/myths.php

That cast iron is porous.
False. Many have been led to believe that not only is cast iron porous, but that those pores expand and contract with changes in temperature, allowing oil or other foreign substances to not only adhere but to be "absorbed" or "sealed" into the iron. While even polished iron is not completely flat, any voids are simply microscopic irregularities resulting from the removal of crystalline graphite, a carbon component of the cast iron, at the surface.

That site also says that subjecting a cast iron pan to high heat can damage it.

Belief #2: The best, easiest way to clean build up from a cast iron pan is to burn it off in a fire.*
True or False?: False. While fire will indeed typically completely remove build up, intense heat will often damage the pan, either by warping or cracking it, or by potentially altering the molecular structure of the iron, making it irreversibly scaly.*
Origins: Most likely from frontier era camp cooks who would have had no other way to refurbish heavily encrusted pans.

 

[erehweslefox]

Place the pan into a large garbage bag alongside a bowl of ammonia. Let sit overnight. In the morning, the burnt residue will come right off. This also works for crusty gas stove grates, and oven grates. It also works with grill and barbecue greats.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

First off I must say, don't worry about it at all. My lodge skillet and my cast iron dutch oven have some burn scars on them, it just adds to the seasoning. I wipe them out with a paper towel and crisco after they cool off and leave them alone. Works out fine. Generally if something burns and leaves a residue, it comes off natural like after a number of uses.

I do have to say though that Chief's ammonia thing here is ingenious. I adore hacks like that. Chief, you have some wisdom, continue to impress me. Never would have occurred to me to use ammonia vapor such way, but makes complete sense.

TBS

 

[Bigjim68]

Is there a waiting time between coats? I have flaxseed oil, grape seed oil, canola oil and coconut oil would one of those be better to season with?

If you ask 5 CI aficionados which oil is best, you'll get 6 different answers. Myself I use flaxseed. Applied in the thinnest coat possible. I put mine in a cold oven, heat to 400 or more for an hour or so and let the oven cool before opening. No waiting time necessary. Do this 5 or 6 times. It's a long process, but not time consuming. You can do several at a time.

The upside to flaxseed is it creates the hardest surface. The downside is it's the most expensive.

 

[Steve Kroll]

If you ask 5 CI aficionados which oil is best, you'll get 6 different answers. Myself I use flaxseed. Applied in the thinnest coat possible. I put mine in a cold oven, heat to 400 or more for an hour or so and let the oven cool before opening. No waiting time necessary. Do this 5 or 6 times. It's a long process, but not time consuming. You can do several at a time.

The upside to flaxseed is it creates the hardest surface. The downside is it's the most expensive.

I agree completely about flaxseed oil. It's what I use for both cast iron and carbon steel pans. You're right that it's expensive but a small bottle lasts a long time.

I used to season my pans in the oven, but do it on the stove top anymore. It seems to work just as well, if not better, for me. Yes, I know the oven provides for more even distribution of heat, but the stove top gets the job done quicker and I've had less problem with uneven (read "sticky") buildup than when I've done it in the oven. If the oil starts to pool anywhere, you can see it right away and deal with it on the spot.

For what it's worth, if I were to buy a new pan or strip down and re-season an older one, I would probably experiment with applying a couple of thin coats of oil to the outside only, and doing that in the oven (the oven really works well for this part of it), and then switch to the stove for applying the internal seasoning.

I also agree with not using extremely high heat. I remember about 30 years ago my dad stripped down one of his old CI pans by putting it the oven on the cleaning cycle. Well, the pan came out clean of debris alright, but the high also ended up creating a noticeable bulge in the bottom of the pan. He ended up throwing it out because it wobbled so bad on the stove after that.

Like you say, everyone has their own preferred method of doing it, though. And of course everyone will say their method works the best.

 

[erehweslefox]

If you ask 5 CI aficionados which oil is best, you'll get 6 different answers. Myself I use flaxseed.

Cripes, I just use Crisco on my Cast Iron, sometimes corn oil, if I'm out of crisco. Do you think you get a better result from fancy oil? I have good olive oil (I do seek out the real stuff), sesame oil I use for Asian based dishes, and sunflower oil which is good for Mediterranean or Persian dishes.

Most of my cast iron cookery skills are pretty practical Boy Scout, Appalachian mountians stuff. Am I missing out on something?

TBS

 

[GotGarlic]

Cripes, I just use Crisco on my Cast Iron, sometimes corn oil, if I'm out of crisco. Do you think you get a better result from fancy oil? I have good olive oil (I do seek out the real stuff), sesame oil I use for Asian based dishes, and sunflower oil which is good for Mediterranean or Persian dishes.

Most of my cast iron cookery skills are pretty practical Boy Scout, Appalachian mountians stuff. Am I missing out on something?

TBS

Do you think the cowboys used fancy oils to season their pans? Or your great-grandmother? Of course not. Use whatever you have. What I use varies from canola to olive oil (NOT my good, expensive ones!), depending on what's handy. Definitely not sesame, which has a low smoke point and will just burn.

 

[erehweslefox]

Do you think the cowboys used fancy oils to season their pans? Or your great-grandmother? Of course not. Use whatever you have. What I use varies from canola to olive oil (NOT my good, expensive ones!), depending on what's handy. Definitely not sesame, which has a low smoke point and will just burn.

I wouldn't have gone with sesame in any event.

I was just wondering if it is better. My cast iron is seasoned with a ton of corn oil and crisco.

I learned how to cook in the Scouts, and entirely over a campfire. It gives me a certain perspective, and some limitations. I still see the stove viscerally as an indoor fire, and cook accordingly. Gotten much better on that when getting into baking, and understanding that this indoor device can if cajoled correctly, deliver a consistent temperature over time.

Always I want to grow in cooking, to get better. In the 80s men weren't cooks, overall. I learned cooking from the Boy Scouts, now looking back I'm asking my Mom for recipes. In grad school I worked in a lot of kitchens, restaurant work is great for causing repetitive stress injuries, and impressive burn scars, but doesn't really teach you how to cook.

I right now have my own little apartment kitchen, and I very much enjoy getting a little complex with recipes, outside my comfort zone, to make a nice evening meal for my Beloved Wife.

Kind of not been using the Cast Iron as much as I should. I've been distracted by complicated recipes, for instance I'm trying to get my head around the Bechamel sauce. Heck the 5 Mother sauces.

But in my heart I am always using cast iron, over a wood fire. Have to remember that.

Now if I'm seasoning my cast iron wrong.. There is a problem.

TBS

 

[GotGarlic]

I wouldn't have gone with sesame in any event.

I was just wondering if it is better. My cast iron is seasoned with a ton of corn oil and crisco...

Now if I'm seasoning my cast iron wrong.. There is a problem.

TBS

I doubt it's better, because as I said, it will burn, but I doubt anyone has tried

Crisco and corn oil will do just fine. As long as it's getting the non-stick surface, you're doing it right.

 

[msmofet]

So if I should not use self clean how do I strip the pan to reseason? I can't do any heavy scrubbing and such and I can't use anything like ammonia.

 

[Steve Kroll]

So if I should not use self clean how do I strip the pan to reseason? I can't do any heavy scrubbing and such and I can't use anything like ammonia.

Good article here:
How to Restore Vintage Cast Iron Pans | Serious Eats

For what it's worth, I can count on one hand the number of times I've stripped and re-seasoned cast iron. I've used the Easy-Off method with mixed success. It works, but can take several applications.

 

[GotGarlic]

So if I should not use self clean how do I strip the pan to reseason? I can't do any heavy scrubbing and such and I can't use anything like ammonia.

From the article Steve posted, I think using Easy-Off oven cleaner would be easiest, and least dangerous. I wouldn't want to work with lye.

Why do you feel like you need to reseason your pan? Is it really bad? If it's not too bad, it might just need a scrubbing and regular seasoning. I think they rarely need to be stripped down to bare metal.

 

[CharlieD]

...

I used to season my pans in the oven, but do it on the stove top anymore.

...

I totally agree with stove top method. That is what I learned from my grandmother. And hey in those days there were no non-stick pans, so she had to make sure that her pans would be as good as non-stick, even though she did not even know that such thing would be invented eventually.
One thing she did, she would fry onions when she would first get new pan. A lot of times those pans were for presents for daughters, grand daughters. Then she would let it cool, let it dry with some salt and then do it again, for maybe 2-3 more times.

 

[msmofet]

If self clean is bad can I just put my pan in my oven at 500 or 550 degree oven for 2 hours?

 

[dragnlaw]

I'm not understanding "stripping down".

I have my mother's CI which has had the bottom scoured on more than one occasion from a burn. The sides are pretty 'thick' with past meals but don't hinder the cooking ability. So at what point, and how does the pan look, when someone figures it needs to be 'stripped'?

 

[GotGarlic]

If self clean is bad can I just put my pan in my oven at 500 or 550 degree oven for 2 hours?

Can you please post a picture of your pan?

I made pan-seared steak in my cast-iron skillet last night using a new recipe from the November-December issue of Cooks Illustrated. The method is to heat the pan in a 500-degree oven to preheat the pan evenly, then cook the steak. I don't think that's going to affect good seasoning. Here's my pan after wiping it out and drying it over a gas flame it's solid black on the bottom; the light makes it look orange-ish).