Can you advise, I am struggling cooking with my Le Creuset cast iron non-stick frying pans.

[dragnlaw]

I am confused about cleaning, if I cook fish in the pan and I do not use soap to clean it before cooking something else there must be a smell/taste of the previously cooked food. Is it ok to use washing up liquid and then lightly oil?

Contrary to many people I use soap and if necessary a steel wool, although that is rare. You can dry it on the stove with a warm burner or just the leftover heat from one. Then I oil it and leave the oily paper towel on it when I put it away. (Of course if you stack with other pots with enamel coating on it you might want to put extra toweling between).
I don't think I've cooked fish in my cast irons but even so, I don't want my eggs to taste like last nights hamburger. So I use soap.

Werlynne, you will eventually find a way to clean them that suits you. It's a bit of trial and error sometimes.

You will always need oil to some extent. Perhaps less as time goes on.

 

[jennyema]

Hi Kathleen,
Yes it is cast iron within and enamelled on the outside.
It is not seasoned, I am unsure how to do this but I have now read this post about seasoning the pan. Opinions seem to vary.
https://www.discusscooking.com/threads/seasoning-my-cast-iron-pan-advice.135200/
I am confused about cleaning, if I cook fish in the pan and I do not use soap to clean it before cooking something else there must be a smell/taste of the previously cooked food. Is it ok to use washing up liquid and then lightly oil?
Thank you all so much for the advice, eventually I will get there.

I used to have one and I hated it for the reasons you have stated.

You do not have to season it and you can use dish soap on it every day. Just don’t use anything abrasive or scratchy to clean it, as the surface may be damaged.

You also shouldn’t oil it.

Those are rules for non coated cast iron. Yours has a ceramic interior, like a LC Dutch oven.

IMO the interior will never be nonstick in the same sense a Teflon-coated pan is. You’d be best to use it for sautéing things in a bit of oil - like in a SS pan- and not use it for eggs and pancakes and the like where you really need a nonstick surface.

 

[Kathleen]

Hi Kathleen,
Yes it is cast iron within and enamelled on the outside.
It is not seasoned, I am unsure how to do this but I have now read this post about seasoning the pan. Opinions seem to vary.
https://www.discusscooking.com/threads/seasoning-my-cast-iron-pan-advice.135200/
I am confused about cleaning, if I cook fish in the pan and I do not use soap to clean it before cooking something else there must be a smell/taste of the previously cooked food. Is it ok to use washing up liquid and then lightly oil?
Thank you all so much for the advice, eventually I will get there.

You can wash it with soap and water. I'd get a plastic scrubby specifically for cast iron to "scrub" it though....or use a plastic tab from a bread bag. Dry it well and heat slowly on the stove to dry it before wiping it well with a hint of oil . Let it cool and put it away.

Don't toss it in cooler water before it cools down though. The enamel is strong, but I have had enamel crack before.

 

[dragnlaw]

or use a plastic tab from a bread bag

Works a charm!

 

[jennyema]

Dry it well and heat slowly on the stove to dry it before wiping it well with a hint of oil . Let it cool and put it away.

Because it’s ceramic both interior and exterior, you can dry it with a towel.

And definitely don’t oil it.

 

[Kathleen]

Because it’s ceramic both interior and exterior, you can dry it with a towel.

And definitely don’t oil it.

My mistake! I thought the OP said it was not ceramic but was cast iron within.

 

[dcSaute]

from the link provided in msg #17:
"Ages gracefully: the enamel interior develops a natural patina that will behave like a non-stick surface. Its finish also has great food release properties with less seasoning required. Clean the product only with water so that the patina can be developed."

anyone advertising cast iron as "non-stick" can be summarily disregarded.
the OP appears to have a cast iron pan body that has a ceramic interior 'coating' and a colorful outer ceramic coating.

I have a BlueDiamond brand pan of such description. it does 'cake-on' stuff from frying/sauting - however the ceramic 'sorta' non-stick' is 'tough enough' to take a clean up with BarKeeper's Friend - 'restoring' it to its original 'almost non stick' performance.

 

[jennyema]

My mistake! I thought the OP said it was not ceramic but was cast iron within.

Not your mistake! OP did say that, but the link provided shows otherwise. I think they might be confused about the pan.