Cooking with cast iron is so easy once you achieve a consistent non stick finish.
I grew up cooking with cast iron, so I simply continued cooking that way when I got married nearly 17 years ago. I knew how to keep it clean, seasoned and mom always stored her main cast iron skillet in the oven, even when she was baking other dishes, the cast iron stayed on its own rack. It had no other place.
Now at 40 and with 8 kids we have quite the collection of cast iron. My kids are apart of kitchen work and cooking which means my cast iron isn’t anywhere near as nice as my mom’s was. That’s ok though, over the years I’ve tried and tested pretty much every high smoke fat/oil that is suggested for seasoning cast iron. What I have found is; no single oil or fat works but rather it’s a combination of fats/wax/oils that actually works. For me anyway.
Flax oil, olive, avocado oil, coconut oil and even just plain lard or beef fat; none of them as a single ingredient kept that nice glass like seasoning on my cast iron. It is possible that because I live in an extremely dry climate that has something to do with it. Or perhaps the fact that sometimes on our busiest nights we end up leaving it in the sink with water. Either way, I think I’ve found the best way to clean, season, restore and keep cast iron.
First. Cleaning. I’ve read many perspectives on this. Anywhere from “NEVER use soap”, to “use a degreasing dish soap like Dawn.” Well, I’m not a purist, I’m totally ok to try washing my cast iron with soap. However, I can’t tolerate Dawn or most dish soaps. I get rashes, burning skin and migraines. So to fix that, I formulated my own dish soap. I love to make cold process soap. I love to wash dishes. I’m extremely sensative to detergents, preservatives, and fragrances. So. I started formulating and making my own solid dish soap bars about ten years ago. I love them!
Here’s my Cast Iron Dish Bar tutorial. It’s easy to make and I superfatted it with tallow so I can use it to wash cast iron without stripping it of too much of its seasoning.
Depending on how bad my pan is, I start by soaking it for a few minutes then I use a plastic scraper to scrape the biggest pieces of stuck food. I mostly need to do this after cooking scrambled eggs or overcooking a post roast that runs a bit dry and sticks to the pan.
After rinsing and soaking a bit more, I use a chain mail scrubber to get the rest of the stick on mess off. After that I suds up my dish bar with a wooden scrub brush and scrub my cast iron down until it’s clean and ready to rinse.
After rinsing, I place my cast iron on a clean dish cloth and dry it very well.
It’s best to season warm cast iron because it’s porous and the seasoning needs to soak into and coat every part of it. I place my pan on a burner and warm it slightly. Turn off the burner and place my cast iron lotion bar in the warm pan to melt some of the oils off the bar and onto the pan. I share how to make this easy hard lotion bar here as well as why I chose each oil/fat/wax and why it works.
Once I have some of the season from the bar in my warmed pan, I take a cotton cloth and rub the season in the bottom, sides, rim and out onto the handle. *side note: I buy plain white cotton bar mop kitchen towels in a pack from Walmart, wash them then cut them into fourths and place them in a drawer with my cast iron seasoning bar next to my stove. I’ll use a fourth of one of the cloths to season my cast iron quite a few times before it gets gunky enough to toss and pull out a fresh one. you can use paper towel but I don’t like the residual bits and possibly microplastics it leaves behind.
Once I’ve rubber d the season on the inside, I flip the pan over and rub the outside. Once every part of the cast iron has been covered in seasoning I turn my burner back on to heat for a minute or two. Then turn my burner off and let the cast iron pan cool and cure. If my oven is hot from supper, I’ll just slide my cast iron in there, close the door and let the residual heat and cure the cast iron.
Over time, my best well seasoned pans only need a wipe, rinse, dry and swipe before leaving them upside down in my oven. It’s easy if you keep up on seasoning it and cooking in cast iron is much healthier and more satisfying than using aluminum or Teflon.
Hope this helps in your journey to keep your cast iron in tip top, non stick shape.
Warmest Blessings,
Ashley
