This issue has been annoying me ever since I started using cast iron. I love cooking with it, but I'm terrible at the maintenance.

Do any of you cook with it? If so, what do you do with it afterwards?

An old roommate of mine used to use his skillet to fry fish in the mornings (filling the whole house at 8am with the smell of fish, which I did not like). He'd then use a paper towel to wipe out the skillet and then put it away. Now, I'm a pretty fastidious kitchen cleaner, and I'm already getting used to not scrubbing my cast iron pans, but should I do THAT little? That seems unsanitary to me

The problem I'm having is that I keep reading and hearing very different advice on how to maintain these things. All I know is that even when I've seasoned these pans, they aren't nearly as "miraculously non-stick" as people claim, and because of that I seem to have to work pretty hard to remove the stuck-on bits of cooked food.

So what's the real way to take care of my pans?

I clean our cast iron skillet with a stainless-steel abrasive pad, and then apply some light cooking oil to it immediately afterwards with a paper towel. Seems to do fine.

We used to do the old school recommendation of essentially not trying to clean it, but that got ugly after a spell.

Cheers

Oooo, I could do that! So does that hurt the seasoning?

I don't use my cast iron skillets very often and lately I haven't even been using my cast iron grill very much - maybe now that it's winter and I'll be doing less outdoor grilling...

I'm with Mark on this one. If you get non-greasy build-up, you definitely have to clean it off because it's not going to help with the non-stick properties. It will just char and stick to the food. A wipe down is fine after cooking some things however. I always put a little bit of fresh oil on though.

The cast iron cookware I use the most is an enameled dutch oven. No seasoning requirements with that one. I'd like to have a few more pieces actually, but I do fine with my regular and non-stick pans. They all take reasonably high heat and can all go into the oven when needed.

I don't think I'd have been too bothered by your ex roomies behavior.

Leaving that film is how the seasoning gets improved over time. Nor are cast iron skillets expected to remain pristine the way they came from the store.

Long as there wasn't a sign of food stuck to the pan, or the remaining film was not sticky or easily transferred to other places, it's fine.

Skillets like this are for frying food, they get hot enough to sterilize whatever you might worry about.

I understand it isn't my thing, but it was just too much that early in the morning. It just reeked!


I never expected them to be pristine, I expected to not have to scrape stuff off of it. It seems like no matter what I cook in it, I'm always left with charred food glued to the skillet. I remove it, but then it seems like it's lost whatever nonstick properties it's built up so far (if any), and I need to re-season it.

Basically what I'm saying is that it seems like in order to make cast iron truly non-stick is to cook many meals in it. But cooking anything in it reduces the non-stick nature of it. Now I'm trapped in this circle and I don't know how to get further! It's very frustrating...


And that's the thing, there's always food stuck to it. I've rarely if ever seen food NOT stick to it.


I'm perfectly fine with this, as long as I can cook with the skillets and get them into reasonable shape to cook with them again. The problem is I can't seem to do that.

Question: what should I season them with? I want to start from scratch and do this right. The one stipulation (and what might be part of the problem) is that it has to be vegetarian. My wife is pescetarian so I can't cook any fats in the skillets which might(?) help make them non-stick.

Slather on some Crisco and put it in the oven for hours at its hottest setting, most likely the self-clean cycle.

The idea is that you want a layer of basically pure carbon.

You might consider turning down the heat a bit.

For my cast iron skillets (now in several sizes!), I always do the same thing. Cook with them as normal. Clean in the sink with Dawn (grease cutting genius), a sponge, and/or my fingernails as necessary to remove stuck-on junk or fat. Then I put the wet-but-clean pan back on the fire and blast it until dry. (Leaving water in a cast-iron pan is a great way to get rust.)

This seems more than sufficient to maintain the seasoning. If I feel the seasoning is lacking, I'll cook up some bacon. That pretty much solves that problem. For brand-new cast-iron cookware that isn't seasoned from the factory, you can brush on a thin layer of bacon grease and put in the oven at nuclear-hot for a few hours. That's a start, but really it's the continuous cooking, over and over, that really does the job. A good seasoning isn't necessarily all that thick. It's just uniformly dark.

As to charred food stuck to the pan, that just means you needed to add a small amount of cooking oil to lube the pan before putting in whatever you wanted to cook. It's important to keep in mind that a well-seasoned pan isn't at all a no-stick pan. It's just a bit less sticky and a bit less likely to corrode.

Using soap or detergent on a seasoned pan is a no-no. Which is probably why yours is not being very non-stick.

Honestly, I don't think I'd use steel wool, either, as it's going to leave scratches for food to get stuck in.

I've always heard to use salt, but I've not had much success with that.

Try plain baking soda. It's mildly abrasive and will soak up any excess oils, water, and other liquids.

Short story about salt for cast iron pans-

Staying in a country hotel in the UK a few years ago, I was always disappointed by how salty the morning's scrambled eggs were. Over the next few days my breakfast egg requests for 'no salt at all' brought no relief and the eggs were not really palatable to me.
It was related that the cooks were adding no salt whatsoever, as requested.
Turns out the pans were 'cleaned' in the evenings with salt and we were always the first down to breakfast in the morning. Apparently nobody ever thinks to rinse out the saltiness.
So, yah. Cool story, bro, I know...

Anyways, one of my mom's favorite cast iron skillets has a warped bottom and a giant crack in it because, after washing up, my dad 'let it dry' on the stove (he forgot about it).

And my last tid-bit of input on the whole subject is related to how to clean off the nasty caked-on carbon build-up of decades of abuse (say you got an old pan from a boot sale). Get out a blow-torch and heat the pan evenly to a cherry red- burning off everything that can't be otherwise cleared away. Never tried this method- probably too radical for practicality.

Don't forget to scrub off the anti-rust coating they put on at the factory, before doing this, or your bacon fat won't do jack.

Take a look here. There's a great post by ThreeGigs part way down the page.

I think if I had to go to the trouble of renting a blow-torch (assuming I don't have one), I'd just toss the pan. One of the greatest features of cast iron is that it's so damn cheap, even brand new. Plus, you usually see dirt-cheap pans at garage sales that look terrible but will be like new after a run through a liquid-hot oven.


This surprises me. The one consistent thing I've read is to not use detergents...


Yeah, I have no doubt this would work, and is probably a reason that our pan isn't that non-stick, but since my wife doesn't eat meat, it's a bit hard to do. Maybe Crisco would work?

I've seen this very advice in several places, but I'm not entirely sure what it's about. The magic of detergents is that they can break down oil and grease (mmm... emulsifiers), which lets you get the pan actually clean. I've never seen detergent actually remove the seasoning from any of my pans. I'm assuming this is because the seasoning isn't much in the way of a hydrocarbon any more. It's one form or another of pure carbon (graphite? diamond?) that's somehow bonded to the surface of the pan.

On the other hand, I'd avoid steel wool and the like because those will definitely take the seasoning off and expose the raw iron. Likewise, if you leave a cast iron pan with water in it (as I've done by mistake in the past), you end up with a pan of rusty water. It's essential to dry your pans.

One of my standard applications for my big skillet is putting it in the floor of my oven when baking bread. I'll then pour boiling water into the pan and slam the oven door shut to create a nice blast of steam. Needless to say, this wreaks havoc on the seasoning and the surface of the pan shows sometimes shows evidence of rust after the oven has cooled off. One nice pan full of bacon later, and everything seems perfectly fixed.

Is it all right if I ask about a skillet that isn't cast iron?

I have one of these and it worked like magic when it was new. Now it seems all I have to do is have food in the same room with it and it will stick. It is virtually unusable. It takes longer to scrub the remains of a couple of scrambled eggs out of the skillet than it took to cook them. The skillet looks to be in near-perfect condition (see picture) but it is so frustrating to use it that we just... don't.

Any ideas about what do with it?

tanstaafl.

Sounds like a high-tech variant of a standard teflon skillet, where the no-stick surface has come unstuck. Alton Brown, I believe, advised buying cheap ones at kitchen supply stores, since they all eventually wear out and then you just pitch them.

Vaguely relevant: 2006 article from the NY Times

Because oils are a good protectant against rust formation, and when rust forms, it will deform the surface enough to break the seasoning.

I was eventually going to bring this up (and I think we've talked cast iron as much as we can), so what do you folks think about Teflon? My wife and I have been wary of it, and we've gotten by well enough with our stainless steel pans (in terms of things sticking to them). Do you think there are safety risks?

As for your pan, Doug, I do think the coating has worn off. This has happened with every non-stick pan I've ever used.

It's unclear what the coating is, but it's called "Ceramica" and it's under the Cuisinart hard-anodized product line, so it's probably just a smooth hard anodization process. My guess is that either it's scratched (unlikely, as aluminum oxide is 9 on the Mohs scale) or that something stuck to it in one spot and it built up.

I'd say scrub the hell out of it with some salt and baking soda with a green scrubbing pad and see if it removes all the stuff you can't see.

Hard-anodised pans do scratch, and then the scratches catch at passing food. You do need to use wooden, nylon or silicone utensils with then (i.e., not metal ones).

Peter

Yes, well, I'm assuming that it's not just anodized in the regular manner, as those are far from non-stick and commonly referred to as simply hard-anodized aluminum. The reason that they both scratch and are not non-stick is that traditional anodization leaves pores in the surface, and, while aluminum oxide is hard, it's also quite brittle.

There are a couple of possibilities as to what these pans are. First, it's possible for it to be regularly anodized and then coated with teflon. But that would pretty much just be a teflon pan, and it pretty well states on the web page that it's not teflon. Second, it's possible to anodize in a non-traditional manner, avoiding the use of acids, that leaves the surface (relatively) pore-free. I'm inclined to say that this is likely to be the process used.

It would be awfully cool if somebody could put together a diamond-like carbon-coated pan. Among other things, diamond is a terrifically good conductor of heat.

Not to mention the anodized surface is extremely shallow and the underlying metal is very soft.

The Calphalon stuff I've got is 'hard anodized', but that only can be seen in the exterior, non-cooking surfaces. The inside is teflon-stuff.

Hmm... seems they discontinued my 'professional non-stick' product line. Never had a problem with it.

The pan looks and feels absolutely pristine. The surface seems to be absolutely smooth without any scratches or mars, and it still has that deep sparkly look to it that it had when it was new.

I'll try Bitt's suggestion of scrubbing vigorously with salt and/or baking soda with a green ScotchBrite pad and see what happens, but I am not hopeful.

tanstaafl.

Just be prepared for "what happens" to be "make it worse." Even though it's non-metallic, those ScotchBrite pads are still abrasive, and will damage the finish.

Yeah, good point. Use a blue one instead. Or, really, just use a paper towel. You really just want the baking soda and salt to do the scrubbing.

That said, if it's already sticking badly, scratches aren't really going to make it worse.

Teflon, is a registered trademark of DuPont. The generic material is Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Unless you buy the material from DuPont, you can't call it Teflon.

It doesn't take a lot to damage a non stick surface. Absolute commitment to never using metal utensils is necessary. I've never been able to muster that level of commitment.

Seems to start out by using a fork to prod or move something, keeping away from the surface. Then there is that accidental contact that didn't seem to do any harm. Next thing I know food sticks and I've been stirring with whatever is to hand.

The thing about most plastic utensils is that they can't be left to sit in the pan while the food cooks.

But the difference between a cheap "Teflon" product (T-Fal for instance) and a real kitchen-class non-stick product (All-Clad for instance) is night and day.

I've had a couple of non-stick All-Clad pans for two years now and they see a lot of use. Not a mark on them as far as coating removal. A T-Fal or other supermarket/mass-market pan would have been all but destroyed by now, even when avoiding metal utensils.

IMO, cast iron is also about the taste, because for non-stick properties, a good non-stick pan or an enamel-coated cast iron pan is far better. You can put both into a hot oven just as easily as regular cast iron as well.

Vaguely relevant link from today's New York Times: How not to wreck a non-stick pan

That author seems to be talking specifically about crap/disposable non-stick cookware. Generally something under $50 per pan using a fragile and very thin coating. Usually a thin aluminum pan too, leading to premature warping even when used without excessive heat. A better and more robust pan will take much more abuse, won't have to be replaced regularly and can also be cleaned more vigorously should it be required.

Here's a good point from the article:

Don't use PAM. It most definitely builds up on your pans and makes them look bad. It's near impossible to get off once it builds up thick enough too. Don't ask me how I know - and it's not because *I* use PAM (I don't).

He didn't mention it, but I also hear that the self-clean mode of an oven is great for baking pizza - though you have to disable the door lock so you can get to the pizza when it's done. I haven't disabled the lock on mine, so right now I'm using my BBQ which can get up to over 600 in the winter and over 700 more quickly in the summer.

Sorry to bring this thread back up, but I had to thank you for this simple yet so accurate suggestion.

I had been cooking with the iron skillet like I have with every other pan, cooking on high or medium or whatever when the recipe called for it. But now, on a burner that goes from 1 to 9, all I do is treat 5 as high and I'm set every time! I haven't had a single instance of burnt food sticking to the pan, and I now thoroughly enjoy cooking with cast iron.

Again, thanks so much for the suggestion. Another win for the empeg board!

We (SWMBO and I) have a couple of All-Clad frying pans, not the coated non-stick models, but the 3-ply laminated stainless steel ones.

Yesterday SWMBO did her inadvertent best to kill the 12" ($100+ ) pan by leaving it on the lit gas stove for 45 minutes with nothing in it but a tablespoon of corn oil while we went to the neighboring town of Chapala. The pan did not delaminate (a real possibility with abusive overheating) but the oil residue is literally vulcanized to the bottom of the pan in a layer that appears to be just a few molecules thick, and nothing I have tried has removed it. I am making steady but very slow progress with one of those 3-M scrubber sponges, but at the current rate of progress it will be hours of work, and then no real certainty that the pan will be usable. All-Clad recommends against the use of harsh cleaning solutions and absolutely forbids things like steel wool or metal scouring pads.

All-Clad had no useful advice when I e-mailed them.

Any suggestions?

tanstaafl.

Maybe you just leave it be and see if the pan still works. It probably does.

Meanwhile, a scientist sorts out how to properly season a cast-iron pan. Huzzah.

Fascinating. That makes a hell of a lot of sense.

Great article! Thanks for sharing it, I'll have to go get some flaxseed oil now. I like that the author ran into the exact same thing I did (and the reason I started this thread): EVERYone seemed to say something different, and everyone was certain their way was the only way.

Doug, have you tried Barkeeper's Friend? Can you get that where you are? That's been my savior when it comes to stainless steel, though I'm not sure it's a match for your extreme case. But I'm kind of thinking along the same lines as Dan: I'm wondering what harm it actually did.

If anyone does the flaxseed oil technique please reply back with your experiences. I have been hesistant to take the jump with the oil being so expensive.

I found a Lodge frying pan at a garage sale for $2 a few years ago. I've found that just using lots of oil the first few times you use it works fine. I don't think my pan is properly "seasoned" but hey it works so far and it's reasonably non stick. I am still on the lookout for a Wagner skillet though..

There is no apparent physical damage to the pan, but I'm concerned that the burnt-on oil will make the pan so sticky that it will be unusable.

Barkeepers Friend is recommended on the All-Clad website, but I've never heard of it before and certainly haven't seen it here. Okay, Amazon has it, I just ordered some. I'll pay more in shipping and duty than the cost of the product.

Wish me luck...

tanstaafl.

Barkeeper's Friend can sometimes seem a little like magic. I've had what I thought were bad stains on my cookware, and that product always gets it clean.

My regular cleaning process is merely water and dish soap, but every once and a while I break out the Barkeeper's Friend and my stainless steel pots and pans look like new.

I second this. I don't know what the abrasive is in this, but the stuff works like a charm. If you can't find it down there, I'll send you a container of it.

Not necessary. Amazon is sending me a bottle of it, but thank you for the offer.

tanstaafl.

How abrasive is the abrasive? Can you use it on, say... polished enamel appliances?