Question About Cleaning A Rancid Dutch Oven...

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

I've got a rancid dutch oven that I need to clean...
I've been told that the best way to do this, is to simply run it through a self cleaning oven.
My range is just your basic gas range, no self cleaning feature...
I was gonna take the oven over to my sister's house and run it through her oven... Until my brother-in-law inquired as to why.
He swears that the best way to clean a rancid piece of cast iron, is to coat it with tomato paste and just let it set over night.
Anyone ever heard of this technique???

BTW-I'm a bit wary of sticking it in a fire, 'cause I let that happen at the first and only DO class I took. I'm guessing that the oven wasn't heated evenly, because it is now warped.

[rainjer]

From Byron's Dutch Oven Cooking Page.

"http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/dutch-oven-care.htm

"If you don't have a self cleaning oven or would prefer not to heat up your house then you can use an outdoor propane stove to accomplish the same thing. I like to use my Cache Cooker for this because it has a large burner that generates a lot of heat. The secret to successfully stripping an oven over a propane burner is to keep moving the oven around so every surface of the oven has a chance to be diretly over the burner, this also helps prevent warping should the metal become to hot. Light the burner and adjust it to generate a medium blue flame. Place the Dutch oven upside down over the flame and let it slowly heat for 10 minutes or so. Once the oven is hot turn up the burner to it's hottest setting and let the oven heat until it smokes heavily for about 5 minutes then rotate the oven to burn a new surface. Make sure to burn both the inside and the outside of the oven. As the metal burns it will take on a shiny oily look and may look white in some areas which is fine, keep heating the oven until all surfaces inside and out have this look then remove the oven from heat and allow it to cool slowly.

Once the Dutch oven has been burned and allowed to cool the remaining detritus must be removed from the oven surfaces. This is done by scrubbing the oven with a piece of steel wool or a metal scouring pad under hot running water until all surfaces are clean. Once clean, towel dry the oven then allow it to air dry. The Dutch oven is now ready to re-season."

[madjack]

...had a very rancid DO once...it had sat for a week with a left over squirell stew from hunting camp...very nasty, I just set on it the fish fryer and filled it about 2/3 with water and boiled it out...after finishing with a scrub pad, it was just as clean as could be, I then simply re-seasoned it...worked just fine and still use it today...
madjack

[BILLYL]

When my Mom had this problem she would simply throw the pan into the fire and burn the stuff off. Once done - reseason and off you go.

Bill

[Geron]

If it's only been sitting up for a while and the grease coating is rancid, I simply put them in my propane grill at the highest setting and leave for and hour or two. That'll ususally burn the old grease off and a good scouring will get what's left. If after that it doesn't stink, She's ready for reseasoning. (my grill gets HOT on high with the top down - runs the thermometer all the way up! 500F or better) I feel safer this way because the iron is not subjected to the direct flame.

I've cracked a cast iron griddle by getting it too hot over an open flame. Direct hot heat (with nothing in the oven) can (not necessarily will) also warp as well as crack cast iron. I think the problem may be putting cold empty iron directly on a very hot flame.

I season the same way but at around 375 - 400 F for about an hour and maybe put it through two cycles of seasoning.

Not necessarily the right way but it works for me.

Geron

[Larwyn]

Back when I was on the farm, if the ladies in the community found out we were having a brush fire, someone would always want some cast iron "burned out". Usually skillets, muffin pans, and griddles, dont remember actually burning any dutch ovens. But once the fire was going good and there were some hot coals under a large tree trunk, we would preheat the cast iron in a cooler part of the fire for a while, then using a long pole we would push it into the hottest part of the fire, leve it till it was orange for a while, then pull it back a bit to a cooler part of the fire, with the barb wire leash we had attached, to "cool" for a while before actually pulling it all the way out. Never had any breakage or warpage that I can remember. Only thing is this requires a rather large fire, usually burning fallen trees after a big storm or land clearing.

If you try this be careful with that hot "bob war", sorry barbed wire..............

Just the way I remember it, not something I necessarily recommed you try.

[kirtsjc]

The way my Mom did her DO was campfire burnout.

She would keep the fish frying grease in all summer, then sometime over Labor Day weekend she would pour out the grease (sour dough style addition over the summer), set the DO in the fire, add coals from the fire, and keep burning as such the life of the fire. Then a good scrubbing in the sink, wipe with oil, and put away for next summer's fish frying.

She learned that from her mother, and her from her mother, etc.

It is sitting in the garage, rust and rancid free these past twenty years... Waiting for it's space in my trailer gallery.

I will do some DO and CI cooking, but not at the level that other members here pursue.

[Miriam C.]

Dean,
I loaned my DO once and the person left it sit with hamburger grease for a week. It was rusted on the bottom and disgusting on the inside. All I did was add boiling water and leave it sit. Keep adding water until the white grease ring goes away. It doesn't always remove the seasoning. Reseason if needed.

Miriam

[Ma3tt]

Just to be difficult..... I have done the fire thing and soaking it in Coca Cola (not the off brands) but Electrolosys is the best way to clean a dutch oven not the easiest but deffinately the most fun......

http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp

[Ira]

I've got a rancid dutch oven that I need to clean...

If you put mayonnaise and lettuce on pizza, what do you expect?

[Joanne]

Hey Guest!

When my ovens are crusty and dirty I'll boil them out to clean them. It works pretty well.

When an oven goes rancid I've not had any luck getting rid of the nasty taste simply by boiling. I've tried to clean it but the food still seems to pick up some of the rancid flavor that is down in the grain of the cast iron.

I put mine in the gas BBQ, set it to high, put the top down, and let it cook out for an hour or so. Then I turn off the gas, and leave the top down to let it cool for another hour or so. This burns off *all* of the seasoning and it is raw cast iron once again. At this point you need to get the seasoning back on it before it starts to get surface rust.

That's just how I do it.

Joanne

[Ira]

Joanne--do you know that Guest is actually Dean?

[Ma3tt]

Or is Dean actually a Guest?

[Joanne]

Joanne--do you know that Guest is actually Dean?

Hi Ira,

Yep, I know it's Dean. I just felt like teasing him a little about being a "guest". We've have a dialog going back and forth in private mail about Dutch Ovens and cooking. (we didn't want to bore everyone)

Oh yeah, love those fenders! Your trailer is "the BOMB".

Joanne

[Ira]

Joanne--do you know that Guest is actually Dean?

Hi Ira,

Yep, I know it's Dean. I just felt like teasing him a little about being a "guest". We've have a dialog going back and forth in private mail about Dutch Ovens and cooking. (we didn't want to bore everyone)

Oh yeah, love those fenders! Your trailer is "the BOMB".

Joanne

Okay--that's a plan:

You kid him about Guest, and I'll stay on top of that mayonnaise and lettuce on pizza madness.