How To Clean And Season A Dirty Cast Iron Skillet
By Mark Knowles
Cleaning a Cast Iron Skillet
Warning – Viewer discretion is advised.
Some of the images in this article may be shocking to some viewers. If a dirty kitchen implement is offensive to you – please do not read any further.
If – on the other hand – you are interested in learning how to clean a cast iron skillet, then read on.
I love cast iron skillets. I use them to cook almost anything except where I need to boil something in water. I use them to make sauces, bake cakes, roast meats, fry things – anything – from cooking pancakes to roasting a chicken. Speaking of roasting a chicken – that is how this skillet came to be in the mess it was in. I roasted a chicken which had been marinaded in dry spices and then smothered in butter and blackened quickly on the stove before roasting.
Then I forgot to clean it for a couple of weeks. As you can see, it is a bit of a mess. But – worry not – by the end of this article it will be spotless and back to pristine condition ready to fry an egg in without sticking. So if dirty kitchen implements scare you in any way, relax.
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I have heard it suggested that you use soap and water to clean a cast iron skillet. I have three words to say about that idea – No, no and no again. These people are out of their minds. Do not whatever you do – unless it is an absolute emergency and you have baked something on that ain't coming off any other way – use soap and water on your skillet. It will strip all the seasoning off and you will have to re season completely.
Seasoning is not a big deal, but the only real way to season a cast iron skillet is to use it – repeatedly. And it actually takes about 3 months to properly season a skillet. I use three things to clean a cast iron skillet – coarse salt, steel scrubbers and elbow grease. Nothing else. Repeat – no soap and water. Nothing else.
Oh - and please - not some gourmet Dead Sea Salt or Pink Himalayan Beaver Salt flown half way round the world. Plain old two dollars a pound coarse salt.
So here we have the offending skillet
Closeup Dirty Skillet Porn
As you can see from the photos – and you can enlarge those by clicking by the way – this is pretty bad. That stuff is baked on hard as concrete and is a mixture of sugar, spices, chicken fat and whatnot that has been baked in a hot oven for an hour and a half and then left for 2 weeks. Still no worries. First job – pour some salt in to the skillet and spread out.
Add Coarse Salt
Spread the Salt Over The Surface of The Skillet
Apply Heat Using A Burner
Heat Gently for a Minute or So
Clean Using A Paper Towel
Before the skillet gets too hot, use a paper towel to rub the salt into the offending grease and dirt. You will need to rub pretty hard, but unless the skillet is unseasoned, the salt should pick up most of the gunk. If the skillet becomes too hot, just urn the heat off and wait for it to cool down, but this works best if there is some heat in the skillet.
Almost Done
The Finished Article – Better Than New
A good, heavy cast iron skillet will last a life time. Several lifetimes in fact. I often buy used skillets – and I don't care how rusty or dirty they are. As long as they are not rusted to the point where there are holes – they are almost always recoverable.
I personally feel that this is the healthiest implement to use when cooking almost anything. I avoid Teflon because I do not want that chemical nonsense in my food and cast iron adds a small amount of iron when cooking. You can never have too many of these things and they come in all shapes and sizes.Add a lid and you can cook almost anything in them.
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Comments
Great hub. That is great to hear that salt can help clean them. I had a very small cast iron skillet for a while. But, I really can't cook too much in it. I just got my first Dutch oven. I used it Saturday to make pot roast and it came out amazing.
Just wondering how do you forget to clean a pan for 2 weeks? The thing would be taunting me every time entered the kitchen, nevermind my wife asking me about it too.
LOL
Thanks Guiys.
Jim - it was underneath a pile of other skillets that were clean. I usually clean them ASAP - but this one got away.
Great info, Mark. I've been seriously considering getting away from using my non-stick pans because I've been hearing so much about the toxicity from the non-stick with chemicals leaching into your food, etc. I had considered cast iron and now I know how to clean them if I go this route - thanks! Have you written a hub about how to properly season them??
I have several and grew up with them. When mine gets used well I let my dogs clean it for me. They love it and do a great job while also getting an added dose of iron in their diet. Then I just clean it properly. But if one has a wife like mine, they ruin the seasoning with water and soap behind my back, which really pisses me off!
Lily - no I haven't - but seriously - the best way to season one is smear it with oil and bake it in the oven,. Then use it every day for three months - it will be seasoned then.
Ralwus- LOL mine only made that mistake once when we were first dating. Now she knows to leave them alone. And yes - dogs will do a fine job :)
We been married about 20 years now, she still will do it. That's because she can. Worse, she will soak it. Dog germs I think? LOL
I can't tell you how many cast iron skillets I ruined with soap and water. No one I knew could tell me how to clean or season one. Gosh, it's so simple!
Ralwus - Dog germs? What is wrong with dog germs? There is a reason they lick their wounds clean. LOL Anyhoo - a good fry up will kill anything......
This was excellent information. I've tossed a few of these skillets in my day, due to neglect. You made a good point about the best way to season these skillets - is by frequently using them. Hmm, maybe that's were I screwed up. :) Anyway, I learned something today: I didn't know about using coarse salt as a method to clean 'em.
Oh, I liked your disclaimer/warning, as well. Ha-ha!
Mark - what a seriously, offensive-looking dirty skillet!
Thanks for sharing.
If I learn that any of my friends are real cooks, I will share this skillet-cleansing information with them.
As for me, all I make for dinner now . . . is reservations.
LOl Reservations - that sounds good. I have to be careful about that seeing as it is getting a tad expensive to eat out nowadays.
I cook with NOTHING but cast iron. I mean everything, bake, boil, soups, stir fry, everything. I LOVE it am very excited your touching on this subject. Cast iron is safe, provides a healthy bit of iron, gives you a good weight training work out building and toning muscle and last forever and on and on I could go. I love my cast iron and will use nothing BUT! I LOVE THIS HUB! what a great topic! Peace :)
Good for you. I do have some stainless steel and aluminum for boiling water in for pasta etc, but I almost always use cast iron for about anything else.
Son of a gun I really didnt know how to clean one. Im one of the guilty that uses soap and water.
I guess I will be putting an end to that, now I need to convince my wife how to do it as well.
Thanks for the great info Mark.
Nooooooo!
Seriously - stop with the soap and water - use salt and in a few weeks you will have a genuine non stick skillet. :)
Thanks for the tips on how to season them - had no idea it was so simple!
Thanks Mark .She cannot do it (my wife)so you helped me alot
Where was this when I had cast iron!
A great tip and well written hub. Thank you.
Great tip and so eye opening useful. Many thanks
Thanks for the tips. For rust, I find Coca Cola (not Pepsi) gets it out easiest with the least amount of scrubbing needed. Makes you wonder what it does to the inside of one's body.
Mark, THX for the help!
Mark great hub. I love cast iron cookware. Bookmarked
Mark. a serious heads up on cast iron cooking. The actual history of cast iron goes back a long distance in time. Cowboys and travellers were the real benefactors of this cooking surface because you could wash it with DIRT!! In fact that was all they had to clean with. We now know that you should (if you have a choice) NEVER cook with iron because there is a residue that comes into your food by cooking on this surface. There are small particulate of iron that find their way into your food and lodge in your system as a heavy metal. Your a very astute fellow and if you need to prove this to yourself, take baking soda and hot water and let it come to a boil in your cast iron cooking choice. When the water has been at a boil for 2 minutes take a teaspoon and just touch the water to your lips. DO NOT DRINK THIS WATER... This is the transference that is happening to your food that is cooked in your favorite skillet. When you cook your food there is always a chemical process that happens. That is why you need to incorporate into your life a cooking surface that is as close to surgical stainless steel as possible; and sorry Teflon is not the answer either. I always dislike it when someone knows better because I consider myself an expert at all things pertaining to life. I have a take on everything under this sun. Why this is a true truth I do not know. I only know what I know and I threw out my favorite iron pan in the year 1979. Go figure. Love your material.
Hi Mark - As usual you wield a great keyboard! A well-seasoned cast iron skillet is a necessity for making a sensible corn bread... and, as "actioncameron" mentioned in his comment, above, plain old dirt is a very useful cleaner for those skillets. We learned about that back in the days of Boy Scouting. Fact is, however, you must use "clean dirt" if you can find some. Further to "actioncameron's" commentary, if you boil water containing some baking soda (sodium carbonate) in an aluminum pot, you will see quickly enough that it has taken in some of the aluminum metal from the pot, giving that boiled water a very nasty taste and a whole lot of "gunk" clouding up the water. Sodium stuff (an alkali) does that to other metals. Stainless steel is nicer in that regard, but it is typically not thick enough in pot bottoms to adequately dissipate the heat around as will a cast iron skillet.
This one is a very good hub, Mark. We salt merchants appreciate you a whole lot.
Gus :-)))
action - I thought iron in your diet was a good thing - but I will look into it. I always liked the taste of food cooked in iron - but then - I guess that prolly means it is bad for me.
Gus - my pleasure - I always use salt.
My Grandma made the best hashbrowns in her cast iron skillet for decades! You can cook them exactly the same in a different pan and they don't even come close to tasting the same.
I have been meaning to start me up a skillet to one day have that same flavor arsenal!
Thanks for the tips!
Ah have to show my partner this - he does the washing up - and he made my skillet go rusty - I usually just add oil and heat it up a few times - but I will try the coarse salt trick next time
Works a treat. :)
I use my iron skillets a lot, too. But I have heard that cooking tomato-based sauces or other acidic ingredients is not good because it reacts with the iron. What say you?
It tends to take the seasoning off that is for sure. But - mine are now very well seasoned and I will cook just about anything in them. Including tomato sauces. Best cleaned out immediately afterwards though.
Thanks for the answer. :)
This is great. I have always harbored a bit of resentment for those who were brave enough to take-on the cast iron gems. Not knowing the proper way to handle and clean them has been my hesitation. After reading your hub, I am ready to find my iron pieces, most likely far to the back of my pan pantry, and begin making use of them. Thanks for such clear directions and visual aides! Off to locate those cast iron pans!
Thaks for this hub. Now I have concrete evidence for the Husband that I'm not the only one who doesn't use soap and water on her skillets. It took me forever to get the soap seasoned out of my favorite the first time helped clean the dishes! Ha.
I am sure he meant well. :)
Yes, he did. He's pretty great like that. But now it's an ongoing joke-thing that we can put to rest. Happy day.
Whoa Thank you for this. Helps a lot to know things like this, especially when a man lives alone!
A great tip and well written hub. Thank you.
Mark. I enjoyed reading your Hub. I love cast iron cookware but sometimes we don't use them because they are so hard to clean based on what your cooking. I will have to try your technique next time and see how it works!
Great info. Definitely the way any cast iron should be take care of.
How do you remove the preseasoning on new cast iron skillets that is full of chemicals ?
I have no idea - sorry - how about trying soap and water and then re-seasoning?
I have never bought a preseasoned skillet - I tend to buy them used.
Great Hub. Cast iron skillets have always been a puzzle to me. Never could use one. Maybe I will try again now. My son uses them all of the time.
Putz Ballard 2 years ago
Mark. My grandfather gave us an iron skillet for a wedding present and we have used it over the years. Great hub.