Your kitchen constantly needs proper cleaning and care, and if you own a Le Creuset or want to clean your cast iron pan, we have put together useful ideas and tips for you in this guide. Cast iron is about as good as a perfect material for cooking. It's not very expensive, it lasts forever, and you can sear your best steak in it. If you use a cast iron pan regularly, it may even improve your absorption of iron. Of course, a conventional pan does not have these advantages.
The cast iron pan needs regular care
Maybe you are hesitant to buy a cast iron pan because you have heard that it is a bit difficult to clean. It's true that you don't put cast iron in the dishwasher or treat it like a typical pan with dish soap. But it's not difficult to just use hot water for it after the first use. This means you can easily and easily clean and care for your cast iron pan with clear water after letting it cool down overnight. If you season your kitchen appliance again, it can be cleaned in just a few steps using a few useful tricks.
Because it's agreat cookwareis that requires special care, we can only recommend that you buy it. When cleaning a cast iron pan, it won't take much effort at all with the help of our useful tips. You can get around many of the strict rules that we have to pay attention to with a few simple steps. This means your cast iron cookware will always be in great shape.
Important things to note
If your cast iron skillet is new, you may need to season it first. It's a simple process where the initial seasoning makes a hard protective layer on the pan. This layer is created by rubbing with oil and then heating. When exposed to heat, each layer of oil turns into an extremely thin, plastic-like coating. As these layers build up, the pan becomes increasingly protected from rust while simultaneously developing non-stick properties. This is actually quickly caused in a stripped state just by standing outside.
Once you have created your first layers of seasoning, the most important next step is to use your cooking equipment as often as possible and especially for cooking with fat or oil. Accordingly, you can fry meat, bacon, chicken, vegetables and many other foods. With each use you will be putting up successive layers that will only make your cast iron pan better. And this is where the issue of cleaning comes into play.
Clean cast iron
Let's start with a very basic premise that we can probably all agree on: a dirty cast iron pan needs to be cleaned accordingly. One of the most common beliefs is that you don't need to use dish soap. The reason for this is that soap is strong enough to wash away the spices you worked so hard to build up. Dishwashing liquid can clean grease and dirt, so it's understandable to think that this will wash away the grease layer. Although seasoning begins as greasing, it is later transformed so thoroughly that you can no longer tear it away by ordinary rinsing.
In this case, you can only remove grease with something very abrasive, such as steel wool. Heat the pan at a very high temperature for a long period of time without any fat in it. Then soak it in a strong lye liquid or treat the cast iron pan with electrolysis. However, we must emphasize here that removing the seasoning when cleaning a cast iron skillet is tiring. So grab your dish soap and a sponge and give the thing a thorough cleaning.
Step 1: Wash well
Once you're done cooking in your pan, rinse it with warm, soapy water. Then use a dishwashing sponge to wipe. If there are a few stubborn burnt spots, you will be able to remove them easily with the synthetic backing of the sponge. This is not as hard as steel wool.
If for some reason you put some dirty stuff in the pan, you can pour salt into it. Then, overheat the cooking device and wipe up the charred debris with paper towels. The salt acts as an abrasive that is safe for the coating, while the heat carbonizes any remaining food particles. This will make it easier for you to remove them when cleaning your cast iron pan. Finally, wash out the salt, rinse the pan again with warm, soapy water and move on to the next step.
Step 2: Dry well after cleaning a cast iron pan
Enameled cast iron has an enemy called water. The last thing you want to do is let it dry dripping wet after cleaning. Certainly the resulting layer of grease will prevent rust from forming immediately, but if the pan is left standing with water in it, even these viscous layers of polymerized oil will not be enough to stop the relentless oxidative battle between iron and H2O.
So make sure you dry the cast iron pan thoroughly with towel after cleaning. Even better, once you've dried the pan as best you can by hand, place the pan over a strong flame. The heat speeds up evaporation, driving away every last bit of moisture and ensuring the pan is completely dried out.
Step 3: Oil and heat
The final step is to prepare the pan for next use. You can do this by applying an additional layer of protective seasoning before putting the kitchen appliance away. To do this, simply grease the pan very lightly with an unsaturated cooking fat, such as rapeseed or corn oil. Then wipe away the visible grease so that the cast iron looks polished.
Then place the pan back over a burner over high heat and leave it on for a few minutes until it begins to smoke. You can also do this procedure in your oven for more even heating. However, at the beginning you will find this rather cumbersome as part of a daily ritual. If you put the pan away without heating the oil, the fat will become sticky and rancid before the next use. In order to clean and properly care for the cast iron pan, you should not allow this to happen. If you accidentally let it happen, just clean the pan with dish soap and water to get rid of the sticky stuff. Then repeat the drying and heating process and your cast iron pan is ready to use again.
Storage of cast iron pans
Cast iron is heavy and can therefore sometimes be difficult to store. Most professional chefs logically use a cast iron pan every day and keep it on the stove all the time. However, if you need to store the pans differently, we recommend storing them accordinglyto hang on a durable hook. Stacking between other pans with paper towels is also a possible option. Both methods will keep you from damaging the layers.
If your cast iron skillet is in really bad shape, there are all sorts of methods to fix it. But if you only notice a few spots that look dull and not shiny, it's easier to fix the problem. The tastiest way to do this is to just fry up some bacon. However, if this is not on your menu, you can also use some vegetable shortening or cooking oil for it. Finally, let the cookware cool completely overnight and your smooth cast iron pan will be well taken care of.
