Learning how to season and clean cast iron couldn’t be easier!
I’m in love with cast iron skillets, it’s one of those heavy lifters on the kitchen you can pretty much do anything with one of them. From cookies to mac and cheese and everything in between.
The thing with them, however, is that in order to work great and give you the top quality food you know and love they need to be properly seasoned which I used to think was one of the most difficult things ever.
Turns out it’s not that difficult at all! You only need a couple of pantry staples and a little bit of elbow grease, some oven time and you are pretty much all set (and seasoned).
The most important steps are not in the seasoning, they are actually in the cleanup part. You’ll see, you are not supposed to clean your cast iron with soap and even if you do your very best, chances are you are going to end up with a couple of bits of burnt out food. And that burnt out food is going to transfer to anything you are cooking if you don’t clean it properly.
How to Clean Cast Iron
To do so you are going to need a piece of lemon and some sea salt. Just rub the top of your cast iron with it until everything comes off. Sometimes I add a little bit more of salt if the cast iron was in really bad shape.Then rinse with water and coat it well with some melted coconut oil or lard. Make sure that you coat everything with a very thin layer of melted oil, a good coat is what’s going to ensure a good seasoning.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, clean with a dry cloth or a piece of paper towel and you are all set.
This is a really easy process and one that works great with vintage cast irons as well!
How to Season a Cast Iron
Materials
½ Cup coarse sea salt
Juice of ½ orange
Brush
¼ Cup melted coconut oil or lard
Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the salt and the orange juice into a cast iron. With the help or a brush scrub well until there are no more pieces of burnt out food.
Rinse with warm water and pat dry with a dry cloth. Add the melted oil and with the help of a paper towel rub until everything is well coated.
Take to the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Remove from oven and let it cool down.
Pat dry again to remove the excess of oil and start using.
Happy Cooking!
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This is what I am looking for. I need to clean my cast iron but don’t have the idea for an effective way. Glad I found this blog!