Cast Iron Care

Our cast iron items need regular care and maintenance – here we discus that all important topic of regular care. Click over to Maintenance for long term care and seasoning information.

After every use:

It is simply best to wash and completely dry your cast iron cookware as soon after use as practical. You probably cannot permanently damage your ironware by not doing this cleaning, but you’ll be giving yourself a whole lot of work if you let it sit for hours.

The basics:

• Never let your ironware sit in water – either in the sink, or on a wet countertop. It will rust and rust is a real pain to clean up. Unlike other cookware, do not put water in the ironware “just to let it soak”!
• If you have a properly seasoned pan, it should have little or no stuck-on residue, so much of the cleanup is easy. On the bigger pans, I rest them on the front of the sink (I’ll put a sponge under it to protect the edge of the sink), and just give it a rubdown with a sponge and hot/warm water.
• Never use a steel-wool (with or without soap), or anything harsh (unless you are re-seasoning.)
• On the topic of soap: There are those that say “Never” and those that say “A bit is ok in a well seasoned pan”. Personally, I fall into the “It’s ok” camp. Here’s why:
  1.   I often add different oils to my cooking, and this can include bacon or duck fat. Animal fats will go rancid and the best way to clean this up is a bit of soap. The seasoning is (or should be) considerably thicker and stronger than the warm fats left after cooking.
  2. If I’m doing the cleanup, or someone else is, I don’t want to panic if soap is used. I use it, I deal with it, I move on.
• After the cleanup, put the ironware on the range (medium flame) to dry.
• The pan has two side, so dry them both. Set it face down and face up.
• Depending on how often you use your cast iron cookware, and the general humidity of your location, you may want to give it a very light rubdown with your favorite seasoning oil. In a dry environment, where you use your skillet every day or so, this probably isn’t necessary.