I have an iron frying pan. It's about eight inches, in a square shape with a handle. It's very heavy. I need to use two hands to lift it. Used it a couple of nights ago to fry three tiny filet mignon steaks. They were delicious. To clean it out, after it cooled, I dumped in a handful of salt, let it sit, then scrubbed around the salt with a crumpled up paper towel. Now it looks pretty good but is giving off a bad smell. Is there a better/ more hygienic way to clean it?
That's a very hygenic way to clean the pan.....one additional step is to heat the pan over the burner.....and rub with a paper towel and some cooking oil. Linda C
I've used cast iron for a looong time and I always wash them in soapy water and put them on a burner turned to low or med. to dry them. If they look too dry, I'll put in a little oil and rub it in good while they're warm. They aren't delicate, that's for sure. I have a couple of the pans that went on a lot of camping trips with my family when I was young and they're fine.
Mine are fairly well seasoned but I can almost always get them clean with hot water and a nylon bristle brush. Very quickly. Warm them on the burner after cleaning (as mentioned above) and a small wipe of oil and you're good. I've read somewhere you have to be careful about the oil going rancid if you leave it set out too long but I use my CI almost every day for something so it's never been an issue.
First thing to do is after you remove the food and while the pan is hot is pour a cup of water and let it de-glace the pan. Than all you need to do is use hot water to wipe it out, dry it and oil it.
However, if you get something really bad or it looses it seasoning, put it in a self cleaning oven and rune the over through a clean cycle. Once finnished clean the ash off and re-season the pan.
