I’ve only bought the pan a week ago and used it three times. Hot dogs, eggs, and steak.
When I’m done I clean it with a scrubby sponge and once with a little bit of detergent, then put it on the stove to dry quickly. Then while it’s hot I smear maybe a teaspoon of vegetable oil on it with a paper towel “brush”.
In between uses it’s wet with oil, as you can see in the picture. How much residual oil should there be? I had the impression that it would be dryer.
Also, how much should I scrub? I am not going to leave crust of beef on there, but I also don’t think it’s supposed to be scrubbed back to new smoothness.
I have this same pan. It’s used daily. I find with ring molds for the eggs it’s perfect for 3 breakfast sandwiches or 4 burgers.
After use, I wipe it down with a paper towel to remove excess oil. I haven’t noticed any stuck on food.
Every 2-4 weeks, I’ll wash it with a little scrubbing and dish soap. After the scrubbing, I’ll dry with a paper towel or dish rag and place it on the burner at high. After the pan heats through, I add about a tsp of vegetable oil and rub all over the cooking surface with a paper towel. After the surface is coated, I take another paper towel and wipe it agian.
Thank you. I appreciate all the input, but it’s funny how different people’s opinions are!
That’s the neat part. You don’t need anything between cooking sessions. If you always cook with a bit of fat, the seasoning will build up over time and will keep the pan protected from rust. I deliberately reseason maybe a couple times a year.
The truth is, cast iron and carbon steel don’t need excessive babying. My only tools to keep mine in top condition are a flat spatula and a thick bristled brush (natural fibers, no plastic as it could melt). After cooking, I always do the following :
- Deglaze the pan over high heat and unstick everything left with the spatula
- rinse, scrub with the brush, rinse again
- dry with a dish rag
- store somewhere dry
- repeat the next day
No need for soap, reheating, constant seasoning upkeep or oiling. If your seasoning isn’t flaking off, which it shouldn’t, it’s good to go. Even a few rust stains or gouges in the seasoning can be brushed off and seasoned over.
Dry, no oil whatsoever, because I wash mine by hand with soap and water - I’m a monster, right?
Nope. Mine are slick, so slick that with a little water on them it feels like they’re oily.
So mine are put away bone-dry. I seasoned them with Flaxseed oil - total game changer. I’ve even seasoned aluminum baking sheets with it, now they’re nearly stick proof too.
America’s Test Kitchen figured this out by testing several oils and methods.
The more passes you can do, the better. I’m probably between 5-10 layers on most of my pans now, and it’s smoother, slicker than the pan my grandmother used for breakfast for decades.
404 on the first. I’ve heard it comes up pretty but can get very flakey
I use a carbon steel pan, as I find the smoothness much easier to keep clean (smaller pores than cast iron).
I spent some time seasoning it at first (6 layers is a little overkill, I did 8, don’t be me), and now I just lightly scrub/wipe off any food or oils after cooking and reseason maybe monthly if that. My pan is dry and clean between uses.
If I burn food or it sticks for some other reason, I scrub harder. If I need an abrasive, I reseason afterwards.
Reseasoning includes cleaning thoroughly with detergent to get any soot off. Then rubbing in oil with cloth, and drying off as much as possible with a clean cloth before popping it into the oven for an hour. Wiping it down gives thin, even layers.
If need be I repeat up to three times.
I’ve used them for 4-5 years now without issue.
My cast iron grill pan absorbs more flavors though, so that needs a lot more cleaning if switching between cuisines.
Really interesting details, thank you. I didn’t think about the pan absorbing flavor.
Cast iron doesn’t “absorb” anything. It’s not untreated wood. It also doesn’t have “pores” (even Cook’s Country makes this mistake). Steel pans are just made with a smoother surface than cast.
It’s a damn hard material, with an uneven surface (how much I hate the coarse surface of most cast). If you can find an old cast pan that was made with a smooth surface at an estate sale, or ebay, it’s worth paying a little more. Those are every bit as smooth as steel pans - I have both, the steel is better for stuff when heat retention isn’t crucial, cast for things where I nees the pan to not cool down as much, say browning a hunk of meat.
There’s a lot of (mistaken) mythos around cast. It’s cast freakin’ iron, the same thing steam train boilers are made from. It started being used for cooking because it was a ubiquitous, sturdy, heat-indifferent material (it ain’t getting damaged at home fire temps).
Technically you’re correct, however, the unevenness of the cast iron pans is harder to clean and thus effectively retains more flavor. In common parlance: the pan absorbs flavor even though the iron doesn’t (let’s gloss over the few things that do bond to iron).
Beyond cast iron, which is cast and thus has a rough surface from the molding. Carbon steel pans are made from sheets and then shaped, it’s the same material, only different processing. But the sheet is smooth, meaning less nooks and crannies for stuff to hide behind come cleaning time.
Also, have you considered the feel of grass against your fingers, I hear it’s lovely this time of year.
I commit all kinds of cast iron crimes, but honestly, just re-seasoning pans is fine. Oil and wipe with a paper towel. Cast iron can absolutely take a cleaning.
I fully clean mine with soap because I make spicy tacos at night in it, then flapjacks the next day. Nobody wants spicy flapjacks.
The real key is unscented/unflavored soap. then, reseason with just enough oil to keep it shiny. If you make it your main pan, it will get nice and seasoned from years of use. :)
Thank you very much!
Not oily at all. Use a towel to clean off the excess oil.
Thanks.
I imagine there are many ways to nicely clean cast iron but I ended up buying that little chain mail scrubber that Loge sells. I rinse it, sometimes with hot water, scrub it fairly well, then put it on the stove and heat the water away so it doesn’t rust.
No particular oiling regime?
In the restaurants I worked we used salt for cleaning, never a detergent. Couple of tablespoons of salt and for scrubbing cloth, spunge or half a potato. Scrub, discard salt, rinse with water, dry and apply a liitle arachide oil afterwards.
Interesting, thank you for the tips!
I’ve had a few cast iron pans and a carbon steel pan for a few years now. I just wash them with dawn dish detergent (make sure whatever soap/detergent you use doesn’t contain lye) and a sponge until all the food bits are gone and the water cleanly skids off the pan. After, I shake the water off and hand dry with a cotton dish towel. I don’t put oil on them unless I’m gonna store them for months at a time.
You mentioned your pans are new so the water may not slide off like a well used and seasoned pan so just scrub and rinse until the food bits are off. If there are any difficult bits, you could buy a plastic dish scraper or just gently scrape at it with a metal spoon. Don’t worry too much about damaging the pan when washing; cast iron has lasted many families many decades of cooking and abuse.
Just make sure not to drop it or heat/cool it too quickly and it’ll be fine
Thank you very much. I was hoping this pan would be less work than the nonstick we have already, but so far that’s not been the case. Hopefully I settle in to a good routine!
Look, realistically, it’s never going to be less work than a new non stick pan - it’s heavy, might need some oil now and then and can’t put it in the dish washer.
But if you are like me, once you settle into a routine that you’re happy with you’ll be glad with the freedom that you don’t have to babysit this thing: that it can take a beating the non stick never could, that you don’t eat pfas, that you can stab it, scrape it, wash it, stack it, throw it in the oven, cook at any temperature, heavy mass means even heat and that you’ll never have to buy another one and will probably pass it on to your grandkids or even let it rust and come back to it and will be fine with a bit of love.
Clean the pan like you’re doing. Some say don’t use detergent, but I do. Once the heavy food bits are gone, I dry it off. Then put a tablespoon of avocado oil in the pan and crank up the heat until it’s hot and shimmering. I then wipe it, let it cool and put it away. This builds up the seasoning so that the surface is protected from rusting and to maintain a non stick surface.
This, but you should heat it until it just begins to smoke, then turn it off and let cool. The seasoning is built up by the polymerization of the oil. If done correctly, it will eventually build up a ceramic-like coating that is non stick. This is why the detergent myth doesn’t matter. You aren’t soaping away a polymerized coating out of the pan.
You also just need to use enough oil to coat the pan. So save money on not wasting oil. I use a couple to half dozen drops and wipe it out with a towel. If the coating goes on too thick, it can get brittle and chip off in parts, leaving a craggy layer. The idea is to build up a tiny layer lots of times over the years.
Thank you, I appreciate the advice.
Youre going to get a million and one recommendations of oil on this thread as well. For example I use grape seed oil since it has a very high smoke point.
Some oils don’t work, but if it’s mentioned in this thread it’s likely fine.
I rarely oil my cast iron pans, only when I notice they are “less shiny”. When needed, I clean them thoroughly, dry well, then, put a little olive oil, just enough to cover all the surface and put it to high heat for around 5 to 10 minutes. To apply oil it’s better to use a cloth than paper towels because some paper particles could stick to the pan. Wash your pans as soon as possible with not much of dish soap, preferably with warm water and dry immediately.
While the type of oil isn’t critical, I would use something with a higher flash point and less flavor than olive oil.
Peanut, canola or vegetable oil are my preferred oils for seasoning.
I don’t want to burn the oil, just keep it hot, right? Below the smoke point, I mean.
It depends. If you need to season/reseason then smoke is good. Heat to just above the smoke point and hold it there for a few minutes.
The point of seasoning is to polymerize the fat, which only happens above the smoke point. You get a dry brownish polymer coating on the metal. It shouldn’t be wet or tacky. If it’s either then there was either too much oil or too little heat.
If you already have a good season on the pan and scrubbed it clean, it’s fine to lightly coat with oil for storage if you want. I generally use detergent and a very stiff brush, and wooden spatula for burnt on bits. Then towel dry and that’s it. But if it’s very humid or if I won’t use the pan for a while, then I do heat it a bit to ensure dryness and then coat with a tiny bit of oil.
Scrub it back to the seasoning, which shouldn’t take a lot of scrubbing. I use the blue sponge and I know I’ve got off all the food bits when the water just slides off the surface but doesn’t look slick afterwards. If I wipe a little oil onto it then the cloth or paper towel should not look dirty.
Thank you, that helps.
i put about a pea sized worth so its shiny and not dry
Thank you.
Uncle Dave Macon says keep my skillet good and greasy all the time
Topical, thank you! I wonder how often people hear that song so many years later.
There is so much wrong information in this thread. It’s insane.
Just scrape all the buildup off the pan with a plastic scraper. Lodge makes one. Do this under hot water. Scrape it as clean as possible and rinse it. Your goal is not to remove the patina. Think of it as scraping everything smooth. Feel the surface with your fingers. If it feels smooth you are good. There may still be an oily residue. Rince off as much as you can; the rest is fine. Never use soap. Remember, oil is good for the pan. If for some reason you need to remove oil just wipe it off. Anyways, put it back on the stove and heat it over med/low heat until dry. This will not cause rust. This dries it quickly and prevents rust. Now that your pan is hot and dry, add a tsp of oil and rub a thin layer all over with a paper towel. Paper towel bits will not hurt you or the pan. The oil will add to the season and prevent rusting. Use only enough oil to make the pan shiny.
I’ve done this for years and it works fantastic.
Link to the scrapers I’m talking about but anything similar will work - https://www.lodgecastiron.com/products/pan-scrapers
Hope this helps. I love cast iron. Good cookin!
Thank you for the scraping and oiling advice.
I use an old wooden spatula to get anything stuck off my pan. Wouldn’t want more plastics in my food than what is already in there.
That’s what I was thinking too.
