Cleaning Tip for Your Cast Iron

[Steve E]

Saw this hint in the newspaper and thought I'd pass it along....
Scrub the pan with coarse sea salt and a soft sponge. The salt absorbs oil and scrapes away bits of food without ruining the pan's seasoning.......

[whisper]

This may have already been posted but in case not - I don't have a teardrop yet - still day-dreaming but I use my cast iron pans and dutch oven all the time. Every few years the build up of cooked on oil and "stuff" on the outside gets too much and stops washing off.

I put them into my self-cleaning oven when I am running the cleaning cycle. They come out looking all clean but sort of red and rusty looking. I wash all that off and do the complete seasoning drill and they are as good as new. My Dad used to put their's into a hot fire to do the same thing.