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Cleaning Cast Iron?  

post #1 of 14
6/8/07 at 10:58pm
Thread Starter 
I picked up an old cast iron pan at the farmers market today. It's clean, or at least it *looks* clean. It's been scrubbed down for sure.

I brought it home and scrubbed it again in hot soapy water. I set it on the burner to dry and my kitchen smells like machine oil now.

I dropped a little coconut oil and coarse salt (as an abrasive) in the hot pan, and scrubbed the salt around (the inside) with a paper towel and the towel came off black and smelling fairly nasty (combination of rancid oil and machine oil, maybe rancid machine oil).

So what can I do to get this stuff out/off of the pan? Or did I waste my money?

My hands are also now black and gross from whatever this stuff is.
post #2 of 14
6/8/07 at 11:01pm
Lemon juice and kosher salt.

A mixture of the 2 and then just scrubbing and scrubbing and rinsing inbetween with VERY hot water until you get it clean. Then you will have to season it to get it to be non-stick again with a little bit of olive oil and heat.

I only use cast iron and I love it. I had a few that had seen better days and I have them so perfect now, never again will I buy teflon.

Good luck!
post #3 of 14
6/8/07 at 11:27pm
...and don't use soap.
post #4 of 14
6/8/07 at 11:31pm
Thread Starter 
Excellent! Thank you so much. I never would have thought of the lemon juice. It worked beautifully. Now I have a nice smelling pan and I can start seasoning it.
post #5 of 14
6/8/07 at 11:36pm
Great find!

NO soap from here on!

My husband cooks the best pizza in our cast iron skillet
post #6 of 14
6/8/07 at 11:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by devster4fun View Post
NO soap from here on!

My husband cooks the best pizza in our cast iron skillet
Yeah, I know. I just wasn't sure what kind of gunk was on it to begin with, hence the soap.

I've never tried pizza on cast iron, I'll have to give that a try.
post #7 of 14
6/8/07 at 11:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cristeen View Post
Excellent! Thank you so much. I never would have thought of the lemon juice. It worked beautifully. Now I have a nice smelling pan and I can start seasoning it.
Yay! I'm glad you have a clean pan now. Yup and no soap at all anymore.

Cast iron is just the best, makes me wonder why more people don't use it
post #8 of 14
6/8/07 at 11:55pm
Never use soap on cast iron ... it is pourus and will keep the soap in it. I would boil the heck out of it .. also if you have a fire pit you can put it on that and burn off the yuck ... I only use cast iron also and we use bees wax to keep it seasoned ..
post #9 of 14
6/9/07 at 12:11am
Beeswax, interesting! Do you melt it in, or rub it on? Hot or cold?

To get cooked-on gunk off, you can heat it on the stove with water in it, the boiling will lift that stuff right off...
post #10 of 14
6/9/07 at 12:46am
Thread Starter 
The lemon juice and salt worked wonderfully. I did have to scrub it a few different times, but I kept at it until the dishrag was coming away gray and not black.

And I just used it for dinner. Fabulous!! I have no idea why it's taken me so long to get a pan. I have a griddle, which is great for pancakes, but not so great for things that need cooking in oil... like eggplant. Yum! Dinner was fabulous and now that I know the trick to eggplant I'll be buying it more often.

Thank you so much for the input mamas!

The guy is at the farmer's market every week with his pans, this may be dangerous.
post #11 of 14
6/9/07 at 12:52am
Oh my. I've used soap before. :

but i lurve cast iron.
post #12 of 14
6/9/07 at 2:37am

question

If you leave water in that pan to soak off some stuck food and then orangey spots appear and are hard to get off....is that bad? I just rubbed more oil on it will a napkin and put it back on the stove
post #13 of 14
6/9/07 at 2:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ikesmom View Post
If you leave water in that pan to soak off some stuck food and then orangey spots appear and are hard to get off....is that bad? I just rubbed more oil on it will a napkin and put it back on the stove
yeah, that's rust. You don't want to soak the pan. Heat it with water in it, then while it's still hot rinse it out and put it back on the hot stove to cook off the water. When it's dry and hot enough that you can't hold your palm 1 inch above it comfortably, then pour a tablespoonful of oil in it. It should bubble a little. Rub that in and let it cool....
post #14 of 14
6/9/07 at 2:56am
its rust. season it again..you dont need to soak it.

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