help with cast iron pan!

[destinybound]

just bought one that said it was seasoned. I fried some tempeh in it, burnt it a bit and now the pan has orange rusty looking gunk all over it...what can i do?

[velochic]

Scrub it out with a plastic or other soft dish scrubber under hot water, then dry it on the stove (on a low burner). When it's dry, put a dab of fat in it and spread it around, then use a cloth of some kind to wipe up any excess fat. I think the orange is a combination of leftover food and oxidation because you didn't dry it well or regrease it. I use a dab of olive oil to store my pans.

[AustinMom]

I use olive oil for seasoning all of mine. If its orangey on the outside too what you can do is heat the oven to a high temperature, cover it with a somewhat medium thick oil layer, not a thin layer, but not real thick, and let it bake in the over. It can get smokey, but what you are trying to do is cook the oil into the top layer of the pan to prevent oxidization. After every use, was with soap and water and a non metal scrubber, and the return to stove over heat to dry water and once dry, dab some oil on a paper towel and rub a thin layer on top of it pan.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by AustinMom

After every use, was with soap and water

I know there are differing schools of thought on this, but I am in the other camp. I think you should never touch soap to your cast iron. Sorry. My pans were given to me by my mother, who now lives with us and they are about 70 years old... they've never had soap in them and I've never had a problem cleaning them or with things sticking to them.

[cocobean]

We used to use soap but it definetly strips the seasoning from it. Now I use salt with just a very little bit of water to make a paste and scrub with a rag. Rinse it and this should take away the orange color. I dry it on high heat (make sure you stay until it's done drying)I also season mine with olive oil.

[coryy]

DH leaves mine in the sink to soak all the time...grrrr. I heat up the pan to dry it, pour canola oil on it (olive oil smokes too much), keep the pan on high heat till oil shimmers.

Take pan off heat and wipe out with a towel, move to next pan (which i slid onto the burner as i slid off the other one). After I swipe all 3 pans, i put the first one back on the heat again, just a touch. Repeat and store all pans in the oven. Dh forgets, preheats oven, and my pans are glossy black and nonstick again.