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View Full Version : How to clean old cast iron dutch oven??



Razorhunter
01-16-13, 09:42
Got an old cast iron dutch oven with lid that's been sitting in basement for years. There's a bit of mold growing inside, and spider webs etc. Slight bit of n surface rust on underside (underneath on the outside, no rust inside). Can this thing be salvaged? I mean, its cast iron, I would think so, but??? I only recently learned these things must be "seasoned", so I have no idea really. Thanks for any tips.

fury413rb
01-16-13, 09:59
big electrolysis tank?

Kenneth
01-16-13, 10:12
It's cast iron. It can be saved. There are plenty of tips from a google search. If you don't want it then send it my way.

48J
01-16-13, 10:17
Start by removing the rust. Use a wire brush or good sand paper. Wash it down with soap and water and then dry it thoroughly. Wipe the dutch oven down with vegetable oil inside and out. Also, wipe the lid down with oil. Next, heat your oven to 350 or 400 degrees. Put the dutch oven in the pre-heated oven for about two hours. Let the dutch oven cool enough that you can rub another coat of oil on the interior and exterior surfaces and put it back in the oven. Repeat this four or five times. Include the lid in this activity. When this process is complete, you will have a well seasoned dutch oven. It will be almost as stick-resistant as a Teflon skillet.

After you use the dutch oven, clean it with a scrub brush designed to clean cookware. Wipe a light coat of oil on it and put it away until you are ready to use it again. Do not//not clean it with soap and water, only the brush and hot water.

You can re-season it any time using the method identified above. Cast iron skillets work the same way.

aveisone
01-16-13, 10:21
Vegetable oil will work... if youre some sort of vegan hippy. Rub it with bacon grease or some other sort of delicious animal fat. Wipe it clean when you are done cooking with it. Never scrub with soap and water once the pan has been re seasoned.

Zhurdan
01-16-13, 10:41
Easiest way to restore a cast iron pan? Scrub it, then put it in the oven and put your oven on the cleaning cycle. It works really well.

Then season as described.

dmaxfireman
01-16-13, 11:13
After cleaning and once it is seasoned, when you are done cooking with it wipe out with a paper towel and use coarse sea salt and another paper towel as an abrasive cleaner to get all of the crusty grease out. Dump all the salt out once all of the crud is loose. Then heat up with some oil or animal fat and give it one final wipe. Then you are good to go for next time.

llll1lll1
01-16-13, 11:19
I'll be trying the self oven cleaning method tonight!

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

Czecher
01-16-13, 11:36
Start by removing the rust. Use a wire brush or good sand paper. Wash it down with soap and water and then dry it thoroughly. Wipe the dutch oven down with vegetable oil inside and out. Also, wipe the lid down with oil. Next, heat your oven to 350 or 400 degrees. Put the dutch oven in the pre-heated oven for about two hours. Let the dutch oven cool enough that you can rub another coat of oil on the interior and exterior surfaces and put it back in the oven. Repeat this four or five times. Include the lid in this activity. When this process is complete, you will have a well seasoned dutch oven. It will be almost as stick-resistant as a Teflon skillet.

After you use the dutch oven, clean it with a scrub brush designed to clean cookware. Wipe a light coat of oil on it and put it away until you are ready to use it again. Do not//not clean it with soap and water, only the brush and hot water.

You can re-season it any time using the method identified above. Cast iron skillets work the same way.

That is pretty much my understanding of the proper sequence of events. Especially the part about not using soap to clean it later. I took a slightly different course by baking the item outside in my gas grill set at 400f. I discovered that the oil smoked up too much inside the house and the outdoor grill made more sense.

I'd be really curious to see how the self-cleaning cycle turns out. That should REALLY create some smoke but we'll see. Please report back.


Edit: I just remembered why I chose the grill idea....this link talks about all of the above and mentions the smoke factor (http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/dutch-oven-care.htm).

LMT Shooter
01-16-13, 20:35
Nothing seasons cast iron like a good fish fry. Tell us all when to stop by:D.

Some iron doesn't season well with certain methods, so don't get too upset if it ain't perfect after you use whatever method you choose. Using it REALLY seasons it. Like others said, no soap ever. I prefer the brush (really stiff bristles) & hot water for heavy messes & just wipe it out for light messes.

Watrdawg
01-16-13, 20:37
After cleaning and seasoning as described above I always use my skillet when any browning of meat/hamburger or cooking of bacon is concerned. All that fat getting into the pores of the metal is great for the overall seasoning of the cast iron. When done I just wipe it down and put it up till next time

Razorhunter
01-16-13, 21:42
Just to be clear, how do I initially clean the 20 years worth of mold and dust out of it? Is boiling hot water and soap ok, before I season it???

48J
01-16-13, 21:55
Remove the rust with a wire brush or sand paper. Then, clean it with hot water and soap. Boiling water is fine. After the oven is clean, re-season it. You will be good to go.

PA PATRIOT
01-16-13, 22:08
I'll be trying the self oven cleaning method tonight!

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

I would recommend sand blasting the inside of the pot then re-season twice, I did this with the nastiest 70yr old cast iron dutch oven and it looked like new and has served well over the past five years.

Atchcraft
01-16-13, 22:45
Another method, that I've used for rust, is dumping coca-cola in it and letting it sit over night. Coke adds life! I season mine with Cisco or bacon fat in a gas BBQ. I love my Dutch ovens!

LMT Shooter
01-16-13, 22:59
I have heard of folks using almost every method imaginable under the sun- sand blasting, wire brushing, muratic acid, soap & water, etc. Who you talk to determines which is best, all will work. If yours is heavily pitted, you will have to clean it more aggressively (sand blasting, wire brush, or muratic acid), but light rust is not too big of a deal (use soap & water or a stiff bristled nylon brush). I am getting into cast iron pretty heavily and I cannot get a concensus of opinion on cleaning or seasoning, I get different answers from different folks.
I have a friend who uses soap & water to clean his dutch oven, but almost nobody would recommend that. If you do that (which you can, I've seen him do it many times), you have to re-season it every time. Soap removes most of the seasoning from the cast iron.

The big thing is to season it afterwards, and again, you have a lot of ways to do this that all work for the most part. Probably why so many of the responses are talking about seasoning is because it's the more important of the two processes to most folks.

hickuleas
01-16-13, 23:03
I have always cleaned dirty or rusty cast iron by putting the cast iron in a little wood pile. Then light a fire and let the fire burn it off but leave skillet in fire so it doesn't cool too fast but it must get red to remove the rust. People in the south have been using this method for many years. Then after you have skillet seasoned only wash with hot water as soap detergent will remove seasoning.

Atchcraft
01-16-13, 23:05
I'd rather have a sister in a whore house, than use soap on my cast iron.

romadant
01-16-13, 23:11
I'd rather have a sister in a whore house, than use soap on my cast iron.

Nice. My wife would agree with you. She'll beat my ass if I come at her cast iron with soap. :D

dikroundtree
01-16-13, 23:16
Ive learned that using the cleaning cylce is easiest and works best. I also use crisco or other vegetable shortening to season. It is solid boils to liquid then turns solid again. Its easy foe cleaning and easy to dispose of. Plus your house doesnt smell and feel like oil in the air.

Not sent from an IPhone

LMT Shooter
01-17-13, 02:49
Nice. My wife would agree with you. She'll beat my ass if I come at her cast iron with soap. :D

My Mom DID beat my ass for using soap on the cast iron skillet when I was a kid! Nothing like an ass whipping to help learn a lesson. I was just glad she didn't use the skillet to beat my ass.

ICANHITHIMMAN
01-17-13, 07:02
Oh my dad is super into this, he cleans them at my house with my sand blaster and aluminum oxide. Then he uses a conditioner made just for cast iron cook wear. Remember don't was your cast iron

tb-av
01-17-13, 07:43
The old way to season cast iron was simply grease and salt in a fire.

If you cut all the old cure out of that pot it will take a long long time to get that non-stick-like surface back. You can look at videos on Youtube and see where people re-cure their pans and see the uneven surface when they are done. It should look like a black flat surface and yours sounds like that is what you have. Try to save that.

If you have that just do this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8z3c3_CB-2s

If not and and you want to start new, do this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fqUPz8U5Nk4

This shows how to work down an over cured pan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13-d2KDjKfc

WhiskyNiner
01-17-13, 09:35
OP, for your initial clean there's no power like elbow grease. Clean in ever-increasing power modes until whatever it is infesting your new pot is gone. Then season with bacon fat as many times as you can stand (at least twice.)

The web is great for learning about living with cast iron. Best o' luck.

hatidua
01-17-13, 13:19
I purchased an old Griswold 12" cast iron skillet that was neglected and in need of help. I used a cupped wire bit on a drill and took it down to bare shiny metal and then seasoned it repeatedly in the oven with high-temperature oil (grape seed oil, etc). That was years ago and I'd use the same technique again if I found another one, that skillet is a prized possession now.

montanadave
01-17-13, 13:32
Read this gal's blog on cleaning an old piece of cast iron (http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/perfect-popovers-and-how-to-clean-reseason-cast-iron/) and her subsequent entry on the "science" of seasoning cast iron (http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/).

Probably more detail than you'll ever want to know, but the lady knows a little somethin' about cast iron.

halfkorean
01-17-13, 13:41
I have always cleaned dirty or rusty cast iron by putting the cast iron in a little wood pile. Then light a fire and let the fire burn it off but leave skillet in fire so it doesn't cool too fast but it must get red to remove the rust. People in the south have been using this method for many years. Then after you have skillet seasoned only wash with hot water as soap detergent will remove seasoning.

We used this method on an old cast iron pot we found under a old house when we demoed the house and it worked great. We seasoned it a few times back to back and it is our go to pot now.

HK

Typos and mistakes brought to you by my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

6933
01-17-13, 16:26
The fire method works well. Will get rid of any mold spores as long as you get it really, really hot.

Plenty of good seasoning methods mentioned, but the spray "Pam" works really well.

When you put it in the oven covered in your seasoner of choice, be ready for some smoke to be made as it heats and settles in. I bake at 450F for a couple of hours and periodically have to open some windows to let smoke out. Maybe I'm just sensitive; to smoke that is.:D

tb-av
01-17-13, 16:49
I purchased an old Griswold 12" cast iron skillet that was neglected and in need of help. I used a cupped wire bit on a drill and took it down to bare shiny metal and then seasoned it repeatedly in the oven with high-temperature oil (grape seed oil, etc). That was years ago and I'd use the same technique again if I found another one, that skillet is a prized possession now.

Those are the best. There is one other brand that's really good too. Th ename escapes me right now though.

Griswold is the Colt of cast iron.

Atchcraft
01-17-13, 22:21
Those are the best. There is one other brand that's really good too. Th ename escapes me right now though.

Griswold is the Colt of cast iron.

Wagner maybe?
I have Lodge and a Lewis & Clark. Not sure where they rank on "the list".

LMT Shooter
01-18-13, 00:10
Wagner is the shit according to the folks I visit in SC