How I used heat to clean my carbon steel wok!

[BAPyessir6]

I'm super giddy right now. So basically what happened is I was making fried rice, left to go to the bathroom, (a bad idea, I know) and came back to find the rice burned something horrible to the carbon steel bottom. So, I tossed the rice (unfortunate but it was perfumed with burned rice taste/smell so I couldn't salvage it) and now I'm like how do I clean this.

I tried everything. Barkeeper's friend. Soaking it/boiling it with water. Dawn power wash. Scrubbing with steel wool/green scrubber/chain nail scrubber. Nothing. It's still bonded to it. So, now in dismay, I turned to the Internet and someone on a BBQ cooking forum said he used fire to clean his cast iron/carbon steel.

Intrigued, I set my wok on my electric burner and let it rip to about 800F. I scrubbed the pan during that time with my metal wok spatula and the side of a stainless steel spoon. I'm very happy with the results! Now I will scrub once with coarse salt, then probably reseason. I'm so happy to know I didn't ruin the pan and have to buy a whole new one.

Fire is the way to go!

 

[caseydog]

I used to do that over the campfire with my camping cast iron. I put the pan upside down over some HOT coals, and burned everything out. Then, clean out the ashes, and oil the pan.

Oh, that was a Lodge bare CI pan, not my LeCreuset.

CD

 

[BAPyessir6]

I used to do that over the campfire with my camping cast iron. I put the pan upside down over some HOT coals, and burned everything out. Then, clean out the ashes, and oil the pan.

Oh, that was a Lodge bare CI pan, not my LeCreuset.

CD

At what temperature does enamel degrade? I figure it wouldn't be great for the coating, but I'm unsure at what temp the coating would say, liquify.
Edit: I looked it up and apparently it's only to 500 F. Is that for Dutch ovens too? I always figured dutch ovens were the old style (cook over a fire pit) ones. 500F seems really low for a Dutch oven.

 

[caseydog]

At what temperature does enamel degrade? I figure it wouldn't be great for the coating, but I'm unsure at what temp the coating would say, liquify.
Edit: I looked it up and apparently it's only to 500 F. Is that for Dutch ovens too? I always figured dutch ovens were the old style (cook over a fire pit) ones. 500F seems really low for a Dutch oven.

That seems low to me, too. But, given the choice of putting a $200 pan or a $30 pan on a campfire, I know where I'm going.

CD

 

[pepperhead212]

That high heat is basically like putting it in a self cleaning oven, where the burned food is turned to ash. Old oven cleaner, with lye, will remove it well, too.

 

[caseydog]

That high heat is basically like putting it in a self cleaning oven, where the burned food is turned to ash.

Yep, I hadn't thought of it, but that is true.

CD

 

[BAPyessir6]

That high heat is basically like putting it in a self cleaning oven, where the burned food is turned to ash. Old oven cleaner, with lye, will remove it well, too.

Is oven cleaner something that's normally used to clean dishes? I mean, I'm sure it's safe, but I've never used say Comet to clean dishes with.

 

[pepperhead212]

You can use oven cleaner, but I do things like that outside, where I can hose them off, or down in my basement deepsink. Always wear gloves, and a mask. I use it on the enamel on my range top every year, or every other year, and it still looks almost new, and it's over 40 years old now! On the enamel I use a non-abrasive pad, but you can use one of those green abrasive pads, for the wok to get the oven cleaner off - you don't have to worry about scratching it. This shows how well it cleaned a few years ago:
Cleaned range top, and turned the pilot lights back on today. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[caseydog]

Is oven cleaner something that's normally used to clean dishes? I mean, I'm sure it's safe, but I've never used say Comet to clean dishes with.

It is a chemical thing. You can do it with high heat, or chemicals. I don't recall anyone using it on dishes.

Some oven cleaner trivia from a car guy. 1990s Ferraris develop a sticky funk on their plastic interior parts over time in the sun. Ferrari experts use oven cleaner to remove that. Seriously. You can now tell your 1990s Ferrari owning friends how to fix those sticky plastic interior parts.

CD

 

[Jade Emperor]

Well, when you think about it, you often use oven cleaner on the racks/pans that are part of the oven. Those wire racks in the oven are usually made from steel, as are the pans. If you apply the same theory, you should be able to use oven cleaner on any pot or pan of the same material.
I have sometimes used the oven cleaner products if I have a particularly problematic burned-on pan. But my most common method is to clean up the pan very well every time I use them. A lot of those old burned-on remnants are made because the pan isn’t completely clean and the pan then gets used again and again until the marks are completely burned on.