cast iron skillet cleaning trick - how to

http://www.permies.com

Sometimes you get some petrified crud on your cast iron skillet. An easy trick is to boil a bit of water and use your flat edged stainless steel spatula to gently remove the gick.

Since a cast iron skillet is gonna have layers of seasoning on it, you wanna gently remove the crusty gick while leaving the seasoning layers behind.

This is my griswold cast iron skillet. Probably around a hundred years old and still going strong. It has a good, glassy surface.

Normally, when cooking with a cast iron skillet, the idea is to use techniques such that nothing sticks. I have another video showing that.

My article on using a cast iron skillet is at http://www.richsoil.com/cast-iron.jsp

Never leave water in a cast iron skillet longer than two or three minutes or you could get rust.

The best way to get water out of a cast iron skillet is to use heat.

Cold water in a hot cast iron skillet could cause it to crack.

I'm using organic shortening / palm oil to season this cast iron skillet.

paul wheaton permaculture

Music by Jimmy Pardo

• Category

  Science & Technology

[Adar Winter]

thank you for the tip, paul.

pardon my english. not my native tongue.

i have a question - i have an iron stripes skillet. it's not smooth and never been seasoned... in fact i didnt know what seasoning IS until this video.

i always cleaned the skillet with soap and hot water, leaving it upside down to dry. now it has a thick layer of crumbs and stuff stuck to it and even in boiling water these didnt come off.

at this point - what should i do to clean it?

is it safe to use\eat from?

[paulwheaton12]

have you seen my cast iron cleaning video? have you read my article at richsoil.com?

[jaylegaspi]

Thanks for the great tip! Dumb question, but is that a heat insulated handle?

[paulwheaton12]

In the article, I show you what I currently use for the handle.

[dduke20121]

s.o.s. pad

[paulwheaton12]

don't use s.o.s. on cast iron

[Mytoxicbreath88]

I stopped using my cast iron because it was too frustrating try to cook on it with all the debris stuck on it. After doing this I'm back to using my skillet. Thanks a lot for sharing very very much appreciate it.

[Kelsey Collins]

How long do "bacon squeezins" last and should they be refrigerated?

[cjruiz83]

the way i clean my pan is run some hot water over it, and use a wooden spoon to scrape out the gunk. works well

[Raul Duke]

You just saved me a lot of profanity!!! Good trick!!

Thanks!

[jmarylastone]

thank you for showing that yes you can clean your cast iron with water if you do it right - so many people have been stuck on some old wives tale about not using water - good video

[yslamas]

Was looking for the band skillet, but this works too i guess. #themoreyouknow

[Nemhyz]

you grabbed the handle with your bare hands?! you sir, are a badass

[jutbro]

@paulwheaton12, From what I understand you are never supposed to boil water in cast iron. it makes the pan more susceptible to rust. thoughts on that?

[freddy kruger]

i wash mine with dish soap and a stainless scouring pad . The season is actually carbon rust can ruin the season but not a scouring pad .Rust is the real enemy !

[mike97525]

pressure washer works too lol

[repran]

Thanks for the video, Paul. Am surprised about the electric stove after having seen your work on efficient heating. What's up with that?