used my Cast iron skillet....now what????

Finished the left overs tonight.

how do I handle the cleaning now? There was a little "burned" on stuff after I wiped it out. so I guess, how do I clean it correctly, thought I'd ask here then watch youtube

I go through about 6 skillets a year

Scrub with some hot water is all I do.

I spray them as clean as I can with hot water and then use a cast iron brush to scrub anything stuck, then spray with more hot water. No soap, ever.

Use hot water and a Tuffy pad while the skillet is still warm. Amazon hs Tuffy's maybe walmart, too.

NO SOAP!

how ever you decide to clean it, rinse it good
with clean water, wipe dry, then put it back on the heat
for a couple of minute to drive the water out of it.
i don't know why this step puts people off.
it's free and doesn't cost anything to do it.
i've done this all my life and never had a rust problem.

i'll add that " seasoning" is in the pores of the iron.
it's not burned on grime like old paint on an old
wooden window sill. it's more like bluing on a gun,
and "seasoning" can't be washed off or wiped off.
there's a lot of folks on yoofloob that confuse burned
on grime with "seasoning" and they're not one in the same
like they say it is. it comes about through repeated
use and can't be instantly added like pin striping on a car.

I clean mine by heating up warm water in it, and scrub with a wood spoon, rinse, repeat as needed till clean. Then spray with oil and put on my gas grill upside-down to let the water evaporate off, and let the freshly sprayed oil bake in.

Supper looks good! I clean my cast iron with hot water and a plastic scrubber (Tuffy, Scotch-brite, etc.) Dry it out with a bit of paper towel and a little heat, then wipe a few drops of bacon grease over the surface. Keeps pretty well.

Yep, no soap and like maximum said, dry it via heat on the stove. I then pour a little oil in and wipe it with a paper towel. Ready for the next cook.

Please don't use sticky brown oil on your cast iron. Just lard.

I use spray conola oil, is that brown sticky? Spray oil is so easy, I can't be bother with anything else. All my cast iron cooking I do outside as well, they are too dirty for inside of the house.

I gave all mine to NewGulf. I now only use non stick pans. They do fine for what I cook. Tonight it was Chinese bell pepper steak in a non stick wok. Tomorrow it will be tenderloin fajitas in a non stick pan. I just run water over them and put them away.

After cooking with frying pans, get what food you want to keep, if not all eaten then let the dog lick it clean. NO WATER NEEDED? Put back in cabinet (right Bill)

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They are making some fine non- stick skillets these days. They have to be for a different setting than the one using cast iron.

I can't or don't want to use cast iron on my ceramic stove top.

That's one reason I don't use them inside. I use on my gas grill or outdoor gas camp burner. And when I'm done with them I hang them in the garage.

I use my cast iron skillet all the time on a ceramic cook top with no issues.

I read on here someone rinsed with hot water and rubed salt on any areas that had something stuck on inside the pan, gave it a try and it works really well.

After cleaning I put back on the stove to warm it up and dry and then wipe just enough oil on it to cover the inside.

Yes. Canola and any veggie oil will turn brown and sticky when burnt. Lard is the correct seasoning for cast iron. Always has been, always will be. Once seasoned, no worries about rust if you never use soap. Drying on a warm stove is fine but I don't waste the energy. If you do it right, you clean the skillet immediately after use while it's still warm to hot using scalding hot water and a Tuffy pad. It's really easy to clean at that point. The residual heat will suffice to throughly dry. Just towel dry and put back on cold stovetop or store in oven. I have one full collection of Griswold hanging on the wall for 20 years or so and no rust. The second, larger set is in the kitchen and sees daily use. No rust. I generally keep two skillets stacked on my cooktop. A 10" and an 8" stacked and waiting for use. No rust, no stick.

I use butter a lot of times, don't keep lard on hand.

Butter is great for cooking in cast iron but it's not a seasoning. Lard is cheap and it's good food. Great for cooking beef or pork. It's what makes frijoles frijoles. it's what makes gramma's biscuits so dang good too. Try it in brownies. Uh huh.

Buzz, I use a heavy duty metal spatula to scrap away anything stuck on the pan after cooking. There is enough residual butter left on the pan for keeping it clean. My cast iron never gets put up. It stays on the stove year round. I cook on it for breakfast every morning for eggs, and sometimes sausage and/or hash browns. I'll sometimes blacken some fish or chicken for dinner on it. If it gets dirty or I need to clean it out, I'll scrap it under some warm water, dry it and wipe it down with some butter or bacon fat.

I do the same with my Dutch oven. I cook all the time during hunting season in a Dutch oven, and have converted several hunters over to using them also. Chicken pot pie and homemade cobbler in a Dutch oven is as good as it gets!

Just don't forget to pull it off after a minute or so. Then you get season it again.

Well, I like spray canola oil and don't try and stop me. Here is what Lodge has to say..

"All cooking oils and fats can be used for seasoning cast iron, but based on availability, affordability, effectiveness and having a high smoke point, Lodge recommends vegetable and canola oil or vegetable shortening.
Traditionally lard was used to season cast iron, and while that is still okay, we do not recommend it unless you frequently use your cookware. If the cookware is stored for too long, lard and other animal based fats can go rancid."

http://www.lodgemfg.com/use-and-care/what-is-seasoning

That's bs. The lard is in the pores of the cast iron. I don't wipe my cast iron with anything once seasoned. You are over thinking this. Just season with lard and use it. Every time you use it you coat it with fat from the cooked meat. What do you think that resembles? Wipe it dry and put it back, ready for use. I grew up cleaning and seasoning mom's cast iron cookware. Since the second grade, actually, and I ain't Jethro Bodine.

I don't wanna argue. Just a lifetime user trying to pay something forward.

The lard, bacon, or other animal fat used to SEASON the cast iron "can't" go rancid because it has converted (due to the heat) to a polymer that binds to the surface of the iron. What could go rancid is excess cooking fat left in the pan for long periods. If you clean the pan, then wipe lightly with fat the pan will be good. The seasoning itself will be perfectly fine even if too much fat is left in the pan.

Another seasoning tip I learned after grinding and polishing the surface of some Lodge cast iron is that burning a good quantity of spicy/hot onion in the pan will darken the shiny iron. Seems that the sulfur in the burnt onions reacts with the iron to darken it. Just keep cooking and burning the onions in fat (or oil) until there is nothing left but cinders. Do that a time or two until the fresh shiny surface is dark, then season normally. Someday I may get some sulfur powder and cook that in shiny cast iron to see how it works directly.

Let me mention that Lodge is probably the worst cast iron out there, most of mine are older or as old as I am. The new ones look like they stopped about halfway through in the manufacturing process.

I ride with Cast. Grew up doing same with Granma's and Mom's skillets.We have a bunch of cast iron in this kitchen.

We started the switch to CI this year. Had some issues with food sticking even after many seasoning cycles in the oven. Then I tried sanding and polishing a small skillet and it made a huge difference. No more sticking even with small amount of fat to cook.

We cook on a glass top stove and never any issues with scratching the stove top.

For really stuck on food that won't come off with hot water and a stiff brush, I use a razor and lightly scrape the surface of the CI and takes it all off. Then heat on stove top and apply shortening and it's good for next meal.

Cast is dead right. That's the way my family has used cast iron for generations. All my skillets have been handed down from family except my Dutch Oven, I bought it several years ago. I think the key, is using it often. Rarely more than a day goes by that we don't use it.

If we can't wash it right away, we sprinkle a good amount of salt on it to make cleaning easier after supper.

I wouldn't give you 2 plug nickels for a piece of non stick cookware.

Regardless of what is "right", there are some cast iron skillets in our older firehouses that have been used weekly probably for as many years as I am old. One even has a wide bronze filled crack in it where one of the guys who did welding part time repaired it probably 30 years ago. Those pans are scrubbed clean with soap and water, dried on the burner, lightly sprayed with pam, canola, or vegetable oil and wiped down with a paper towl. Every few years we will get a new guy who insists we are doing it wrong, but they always lose the battle to change how we do it. From years of constant use/cleaning cycles, those pans have a mirror smooth finish in them. If something gets burned in one and it gets scrubbed down past the patina it don't matter because of how often those pans are used.

Some of you guys that cook daily or weekly with your cast are seeing it one sided. It will not matter what your using...if any at all if your cooking daily or weekly. Some folks don't use their cast all the time. Some may go month to month or longer. If that's the case then using animal fat to coat your cast after using it is stupid. I've smelt the rancid fat in my grandmothers skillet I have now from using lard to coat it (not season it)

You season cast and then you take care of it after each use ( unless your using it frequently) And I would never put anything in my cast unless I could or would want to eat it. No soap! Soap not gonna kill you and you probauly cannot taste it due to the flavors of your cooking but just know its getting in the pours of your cast if your cleaning with it.....then releasing when you heat it back up.

X2

Rinse and scrub with brush or pad of some kind but no soap or any other other cleaner

Heat on stove top until all water is gone

Wipe down with oil

An angle grinder with a wire wheel brush will fix a sticky cast iron skillet. You can get it like a mirror.

I have cleaned up old rusty ones with wire wheel, works great. Mine generally get scrubbed with whatever abrasive is handy, heated a minute to dry out water and rubbed down with whatever cooking oil or spray is handy. Zero issues whatsoever. If I'm at the house usually a scotch brite pad or kitchen scrubber. At the lease (no running water) salt, or even better in the winter a couple handfuls of dried mesquite grass or weeds. Dad used to say grandma scrubbed hers with sand. Guess living through the dust bowl she just didn't like wasting a whole lot of water.

I have some old hand me down skillets, I have new skillets. Honestly can't tell the difference in taste from one to the next. Use them, clean them, oil them, repeat.

Yep - water, let it get boiling and use wooden spoon or scraper. I then take some oil or crisco or the like, give it a wipe and store in a paper bag. Way my great grandma did the skillet and I got it from her, she from her ma. This skillet is about 130 years old now and I still use it for a lot of my cooking.

That's what I'm talking about!!!

If you go thu 6 skillets a year you have no idea what you are doing

Clean with soap and water. Light oil coat anp put it in the oven at about 400 to dry and prevent rust.

^^^ Worse cast iron advice ever!

this exactly, only difference, as soon as I take the food out while the skillet is still hot, run some water in to degaze, then I use newspaper to wipe excess, there is jus a enough oil left to leave it perfet for next time.

Alot of different perspectives on this one - I also never use soap, just a scrub pad to remove surface crust while still warm, wipe dry and put back on warm stove for a few minutes. Then spray just a little avacado oil on it and wipe again. Once a year I "re-season" in the oven with a bit of lard - overkill probably though. Now that I think of it, I have a dutch oven I need to tend to!

Family has successfully used Crisco shortening for generations. Lard before that.

Cast iron is one of the top five lies in the USA

Splain yourself woocie.

Let me first say that my remark was made partially in jest. I should have put emojis all around it. However...

I would get banned for quoting a couple of famous lies, but I'm 71. Half the posts are about "my grandparents" or "my cast iron is 100 yrs old". Reason grand parents got rid of cast is 1. when they got enough money to buy stainless they tossed the cast iron or 2. they got a dishwasher and tossed the cast. 3. How many restaurants promote "we cook only with cast iron"? 4. How many professional cooks do you see using cast iron? 5. If cast iron was so fantastic the demand would have someone producing a quality skillet and they would be back ordered. The list could go on.

Now that is just my thoughts on cast iron and having said that I will admit I probably have over 50 pieces of cast iron. But many young families don't have time to clean immediately after cooking and some older folk don't feel like standing and cleaning. If it can't go into the dishwasher they don't use it. Sorry to be late in responding but I went to an auction where there was some cast for sale!!!

If your Griswold price has 'Erie' in the logo on the bottom, it was made between 1865 & 1909.

All my cast iron with very few exceptions is over 100 years old.