Sharing a bit of love with our kitchen site, we ran across the most interesting article on Curbly.com that we just have to share.
How to salvage a cast iron pot by Chris Job was very informative. We'll give you the abridged version after the jump but go over and check out chris' step by step instructions complete with photos for yourself.
Basic Steps:
1. Taking your piece outside spray it all over with oven cleaner, place in a plastic bag and seal with a knot-leave overnight.
2. Wash with soap and water to remove cleaner, scrub with fine grit sandpaper to remove rust [there are some other ideas on the site for this].
3. Heat with coarse salt and vegetable oil and scrub while heat is on with paper towel.
4. Re-season the iron by using lard or bacon grease and heating it in the oven for a couple of hours
Thanks Chris!
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I've never met a guy who, upon seeing my great grandmother's cast iron frying pan, did not tell me how to clean it.
Here's my method (not for the sensitive).
Cook
Let cool
place on floor
dog will get it amazing clean
Now the not for wussies part:
Wash it using a small amount of soap to get dog germs off
Place back on stove on medium and dry.
Let cool
Repeat
view Andrea's profile
err....okay.
i was brought up in the South, so seasoning my cast iron with lard has always been the way to go...but what should vegetarians do?
view my little apartment's profile
No way would I ever rec anyone use her method. Chemicals layerered in my seasoned pan. Uh no thanks.
heat it up take some really coarse sea salt and rub. Sure it takes some elbow grease but there are no chemicals.
view mar5195's profile
you can season a pan with regular cooking oil (i use peanut), just don't use olive oil.
view velvetjones01's profile
My great uncle always tossed his into a big hot fire if they got rusty. I have done the same sort of thing by putting it in a self cleaning oven and turning on the cleaning cycle. It will come out with some ash from burnt up stuff. Then wash in soap and water and season. Works like a charm.
view jillpettis's profile
Oven cleaner chemical on food surface = bad idea....
Use the self cleaning oven or a very hot campfire. Season with Crisco or vegetable oil if you are a vegetarian. That's what we use and we are carnivores in my house. Always rinse and scrub them clean right after cooking while they are still hot and you'll have less problems.
Don't use soap on cast iron, it takes off the non-stick, seasoned surface.
view IamSusie's profile