I cook mostly with cast iron pans, its pretty rare for me to dig out my ceramic coated pans. There is a time and a place for both of them actually, at least in my kitchen. I thought it would be fun to show you how I clean my pans before or after using them. Below is what I do, I am sure there are many other ways you can do this though. This is for already seasoned pans. There are more steps to be taken, to season a pan.
Can I Use Water?
I think a lot of times people don’t use them because they have this fear of not using water with them. They can be cleaned with water, water is not going to ruin them if you take proper care of the pan AFTER. What do I mean by that? Once you wash your pan, you cannot just stick it back in the cupboard and come back to it in a month and expect it to be in good shape.
How Do I Clean with the Water?
I like to heat my pan up on the stove and pour in a little water and get the water boiling. Depending on what I cooked last, depends on how much water I put in the pan. If it was messy, I put more water to get all sides. While the water is boiling, scrape all sides and the bottom of the pan. Removing any gunk that may be stuck to the pan. If its not super greasy, I dump it down my drain, otherwise I dispose of it in the garbage.
Using a clean paper towel, I like to clean the pan. Sometimes you need to use a sponge, if it didn’t all come off while boiling, again this is okay. Once you have removed all the gunk from the pan, set the pan back on the burner for the final step.
Final Step Before Storing
This is the most important and final step. Before you store your pan away in the cupboard until next time, you need to oil it. To do that, you need to put the pan back on the hot burner, pouring in about a tablespoon of olive oil, into the pan. Using a kitchen utensil or paper towel, be sure to coat all parts of the inside of the pan. If your pan is already seasoned, you don’t need to do the outside again.
Once that has heated up and “soaked” into the pan some. Allow the pan to cool and place back in the cupboard. This will ensure that the inside does not get all rusty while it’s waiting to be used again.
Notes:
Like I had stated above, this is what I do to already seasoned pans. Meaning, you do not need to re-season the outside of the pan. The inside is what typically rusts, after its been cleaned. There are more steps to be taken to season a pan properly, using the oven. You are welcome to send me a message or drop a comment if you would like some help with seasoning a cast iron pan.