How
to use your self-cleaning oven for cleaning cast iron:
- Lower both your
oven racks to the two bottom positions in the oven.
- Line the lowest
rack with aluminum foil (to catch any drippings from the pan).
- Place the
cookware upside down the the top rack in the oven.
- Bake for 1 hour,
turn off oven, and leave the cookware in the oven until it is cooled.
WARNING!
Question:
I was looking for a technique to clean some very
dirty cast iron pans and found your site "What's Cooking America".
I tried the self
cleaning oven technique one time and I wanted to let you
know about my experience. My mom had told me about this so
I thought I'd give it a try. Well, you know how the door
locks when you self clean? I put a pan in the oven that had
been thoroughly cleaned; however, I must say it was
thoroughly blackened with who knows what. It actually
caught fire. I didn't know what to do besides turning off
the breaker. Even this didn't unlock the stove:( So,
I patiently sat in front of the stove with a fire
extinguisher until it burnt out. Talk about being nervous.
I read through
all the comments from other readers and I didn't really see
anyone talk to much about the dangers of cleaning those
baked on cast iron pans in an oven that locks. Just thought
you might want to mention it.
I'm going to try
to put them in the oven at 450 degrees F. today rather than
use the self cleaning cycle so if it does catch fire I can
promptly throw baking soda on the darn thing.
Found your
website very informative and will visit again. - Angie
(2/23/08)
Answer:
Oh my goodness!! I will
definitely add your comments to my web page. How did you cast
iron pan turn out?
Feedback:
Well, the one I did that day I didn't
finish because of the fire incident. I did one today with the oven
on 550 degrees F, and after 3 hours it still looks bad. My mom just
reminded me of something she remembers trying. She said she used to
spray them with easy off and then put them in a closed plastic
garbage bag for a day or two. So, I'm gonna try this and I'll let
you know how it works on my extremely baked on black Griswold.
Jeffery D. Skinner (3/21/07) send the following comments on using
the self-cleaning oven:
First off, I love the information you have on your website. I was
looking for information on cleaning some very heavily carboned up
cast iron skillets when I came across your site.
First I had tried to scrape off the gunk, but it was rock hard. Then
I put them in my trunk and finally yesterday they had the sand
blaster out. I took them out to see what that would do. It got off
the lighter stuff but the thicker stuff was taking too long. They
finally gave up.
So I came home and took my dremel tool with a sandpaper drum to it.
That worked, but the resulting mess was awful. I was covered in a
fine black powder when I got done. That was only on one 8" pan. I
had another 8", a 5" and a 12" to do.
There had to be an easier way. I came in and found your site and
the information on the self cleaning oven. So I figured I didn't
have anything to loose and put them in to bake. These were my
in-laws pans and over the years have cooked many pans of spaghetti
sauce and pork chops. I don't think they were ever seasoned right
to start with. Anyway I got up this morning and opened the oven and
all the hard baked on gunk was just a white to rust colored powder,
with plenty in the bottom of the oven. I took them to the sink and
hit them with steel wool and a green 3M pad. They were just like
new, nice and smooth except for a few pits and imperfections in the
original casting. I dried them off and put them on the stove burner
to make sure they were good and dry, then gave them a light coat of
olive oil to protect them until I can season them again. I just
couldn't believe that the 50 years of hard gunk, a sandblaster
couldn't even get off, came off like nothing in the oven. One
note, make sure you can vent the kitchen well if you do this. It
looked like our kitchen was on fire from all the smoke and I had to
put a fan in the window to exhaust it.
Thanks again for the great information on your site. It saved me
tons of work and our pans!
Linda M. Suarez-Ioia (8/29/07) send the following comments and
warning on using
the self-cleaning oven:
I decided to do the oven cleaning method. My husband
took all the racks out of the stove (didn't want them to discolor)
and since we have no heating element on the bottom, we laid the foil
on the bottom of the stove and placed the pan upside down on it.
We turned on the self clean cycle (which cannot be adjusted to less
than 3 hours) - the door locked and we were on our way. The fumes
started in about 20 minutes and we had the blower going and all our
windows and doors open because I have asthma and couldn't handle the
odor. We had no smoke, just odor. We canceled the cleaning cycle
after an hour on the timer and waited for the stove to cool and
unlock. One look at the pan and I saw that this method works very
well. I probably should have left it in a little longer, but most of
the gunk came off and I couldn't handle the odor anymore. I waited
for it to cool and took steel wool and soap & water and cleaned off
the rest of the mess. We dried the pan and then seasoned it. It
looks almost new!
Now for the bad part - ( I went to remove the
foil from the bottom of the stove and part of it was stuck. I got
most of it up but there were several spots I couldn't get the
aluminum foil off of. I scrubbed and rubbed and even tried to use a
plastic scraper and could not get it off. My husband was
surprisingly calm as we tried to get it off and took it quite well
that the enamel actually peeled off the stove along with one of the
pieces of foil. The foil literally fused to the enamel in some spots
- there was no removing it without doing more damage. So, we left it
alone, went to bed and in the morning my husband announced that he
was going to order a new bottom (it is a brand new GE stove by the
way) which he did today (cost $60 plus shipping). I should have just
put the pan on the rack in the first place or used an old rack
placed on the bottom, but I had no clue this would happen to the
stove.
Please caution your readers and put this
information on your website not to put the foil on the bottom of the
stove because of the potential damage it can cause. I would like to
prevent it from happening to someone else. I'm not sure if anyone
else has ever had this problem or not, but better to let them know
even if it seldom does.
Nevertheless, lesson learned and I now have a clean frying pan. I
intend to do the Dutch oven next (BEFORE) my husband replaces the
bottom of the stove. All in all, it is a very effective method for
cleaning the pans, it would have been a perfect success if not for
the stove dilemma.
Question:
I recently bought a cast iron baking pan from an Ebay auction. It is
for Halloween and has cats, pumpkins and ghosts. The pan was used,
but not well taken care of. It had a few spots that were getting
rusty and it had gooey spots in all the crevices.
Needless to say I
need some deep cleaning ideas for this pan. What
can I use to break down the goo and what would you recommend for
getting into the tight spots? I noticed the outside of my regular
cast iron pans get these sticky goo spots too. What is it and how
can I avoid them?
Halloween is just around the corner and I'd love to pop out some
fun Halloween cornbread with a autumn soup after we set out to
decorate the yard. Any help is appreciated. - Kathy Saucier
(9/26/06)
Answer:
Using the
self-cleaning oven method might be the best for you:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/SelfCleanOven.htm.
You might also have to do some additional sanding.
Feedback:
Well I gave the
self-cleaning oven treatment a try, the oven needed cleaning anyway!
What a difference! I have a cast iron Halloween mold that I got on
Ebay. It has cats, pumpkins and ghosts. Lots of nooks and crannies!
When I received it I was worried. Lots of old gunky goo and dust
settled into the crevices. I tried a good washing, with soap and
very hot water. About 80% came out, but the last 20% was horrible.
The self cleaning method really did
wonders. The only thing left was a bit of rust way deep down. I took
Pam and lightly sprayed the nooks and went after it with Q-tips.
They got way down and removed all the rust! I blotted with a paper
towel and repeated till the Q-tips were virtually free of rust
color. I reseasoned and it looks GREAT! I'm ready for some wonderful
Autumn soup with little Halloween cornbread muffins. The kids are
decorating the yard and this will be a treat for them! Thank you for
your help! :-)
Maxine
Sullivan (9/02/06) sent the following comments:
Quite a few years ago, I cleaned my cast iron
frying pan in a self-cleaning oven. It worked well—too well! I would
NEVER again put one of my pans in a self-cleaning oven. The “like new”
finish some of the writers talk about means that it takes a lot of
seasoning and frying to get those pans back to a nonstick finish. New is
not what you want when it comes to cast iron! In my experience—I grew up
with cast iron pans and have cooked on them through 38 years of
marriage—a simple re-seasoning does NOT make a pan nonstick. It seems to
take several seasonings, followed by a year or so of daily use. This was
especially true with the Lodge pan--with a pebbly finish—that my son has
been using for about 8 years.
If you have a self-cleaning oven, you can leave the racks inside while
the cleaning cycle is on. The racks will darken and discolor slightly,
but it doesn’t create any problems. The ash that falls to the floor of
the oven can be easily wiped up with a damp rag.
I used your sandpaper technique to clean a rust-stained pan I found in
one of our rentals. Seemed to do the trick, and didn’t remove all of the
seasoning…which is what I wanted. I re-seasoned it (and will do it
again) as a housewarming gift for a young friend. It has a smooth
surface and a ridge all the way around the bottom, like Lodge, but no
markings whatsoever.
Can’t stress enough the importance of pre-heating the
pan and not cooking on too high of heat. Thanks for your very
informative website.
Carla Shaffer (4/02/06) of Iowa send the following information:
I have quite a variety of sizes of cast iron skillets
mostly collected from second hand stores and garage sales. Many
years ago, I read in a magazine to set the skillets in an electric oven
when you are planning to use the self-cleaning cycle. The high
temperature turns ALL the black crusted grease (inside and out) to
ashes.
It is so simple, but don't be shocked when you
open your oven, the pans will be coated in a film of rusty ashes. Just
rinse and scour lightly any rusty areas with a nylon or steel wool pad,
dry immediately and proceed to seasoning your new pan. Hint: When you
oven cools use a vacuum hose to suck up the ashes.
Gina Lettieri (3/21/06) of Fort Lauderdale, Florida sent the following
information:
I'm a
frequent user of cast iron cookware. Old Griswold is my favorite and I
have several pieces that were my Mums & G'mothers so they go
way back. Because they were always kept well seasoned, they're in
what I consider perfect cooking condition.
I've had these two old and very corroded looking Griswold cast iron skillets
sitting in the garage since I picked them up about 2 years ago at a yard
sale. For sure they were yucky, bumpy, and rusted.
"Were" is the key word.
This morning I came across them and was about to pitch them out when I
remembered reading about the self-cleaning oven method and you asking
for feedback.
Figured what the heck, I'll throw them in the oven and see what happens.
I put both skillets bottom up on the middle oven rack.
There was some smoke coming out the stove vent and I did put the exhaust
fan on for a period of about 1/2 hour or so to keep the smoke moving
outside.
My stove has an automatic self-clean cycle that runs a little more than
3 hours.
When all was cooled down and the safety latch released, I opened the oven
door and thought "this was not a good idea" because there was dusty
rusty stuff all over the skillets and on the bottom of the oven. I
didn't put any aluminum foil on the bottom because I know it can
actually cause fire at high temperatures and didn't want to screw up my
oven.
BUT once I took the pans out and gave them a good wash and brillo cleaning
they were like grayish when brand new & and smooth as could be...I was
AMAZED!
I didn't have time to season them so I just rubbed a quick light coat of
PAM original on them to protect them till I can season them tomorrow
night after work.
The rusty looking dust cleaned up easily off the oven
bottom (there was a pretty good amount), gave it a good wipe over and it
was clean as a whistle. (If I had a shop vacuum handy it would have vaccumed up with
ease.)
In my opinion the self-cleaning oven method works GREAT and would
recommend it over the EZ Off and other methods.
In the future if I come across any grungy cast iron cookware cheap I
won't hesitate to buy it and I will always give it a good soap, hot
water, brillo scrub, dry it, and put it in the self-cleaning oven cycle
first before anything else.
WOW!!!!!!
Season your cast iron cookware right and it will serve you well for all
seasons of many, many years.
Aleta Shea (3/02/06) send the
following information on using a gas oven:
This is in regards to cleaning cast iron in a gas
oven using the self cleaning feature. I found it did a great job on
the pan but messed up the finish on the bottom of the oven where I
sat the pan upside down. I used tin foil which stuck to the bottom
but will peel up with some work, the bottom is etched in sprays.
The others didn't mention any damage to the oven
bottom as I have experienced. My stove is a gas Amana range. Just
a word of warning to those thinking of trying their self cleaner to
clean cast iron pans. The good news is I can replace the oven
bottom and keep the old for any future cleaning. Thank you for all
the info you have provided, it has proved very interesting to me.
Question:
I discovered your site when searching for a Dutch oven. I have an
old skillet which is dark in color and there is some rust. It was a
wedding gift 40 years ago. I don't think I used it that often but
here is my question.
Should I put it in the self cleaning oven which goes for 3 1/2
hours at very high temp? I should tell you that I scrubbed it
with hot soapy water to clean and remove rust. I then dried it
on my electric stove top. The self-cleaning method sounds too
easy and I don't want to destroy the skillet. What do you
recommend? Thanks for your help. - Audrey (12/18/05)
Answer:
As you read on my cast iron web site, there are many great
methods for seasoning your Dutch oven. You can’t hurt or ruin
your pan, so give it a try. Just remember, that you can always
reseason with a different technique if this doesn’t work the way
you want.
Feedback:
Audrey: The below photos show the
before and after the self cleaning oven. My husband then scoured it
with steel wool.
Linda: Your
pan looks beautiful now! Question - Did you leave your oven racks
in when using the self-cleaning cycle? I recently had a question
about this, because their instructions say not to leave oven racks
in when using self cleaning mode.
Audrey: I did remove the
shelves. I put aluminum foil on the bottom of oven but there was no
residue on the foil. I think my husband's 'elbow grease' with steel
wool did the trick.
I don't think I would use the self clean oven again, as I read that
high heat could warp or crack the cast iron. It didn't happen to my
pan.
I roasted a chicken in the oven
using an old Griswold Dutch oven. I used a recipe on the Old Bay
Seasoning can for the rub. It was delicious and so moist - and to
think after all these years of marriage I never thought to use the Dutch oven. I just bought a Lodge
Dutch oven for my daughter for
Christmas. Merry Christmas!
Question:
Oh how wonderful to find
your site! My four cast iron skillets have served me faithfully
for 57 years. I always wash them and have had no problems. Somewhere
in the past I did season them and two days ago decided I should do
them again. Well, I used Olive Oil, as that is what I cook with,
turned the oven to 450 and baked the skillets for 45 minutes per
directions in a cookbook. What a mess! My beautiful trusty skillets
look awful and have a sticky feel on the insides. Thank you for the
advice on your page. I will try the 'oven cleaning' method as steel
wool is not doing the trick. Food has never stuck and they brown
food beautifully. It is difficult to find iron skillets with the
smooth inside surface. However, my daughter does like the one with
the pebbly inside surface that I bought her. Then I found her an
old one so she now has two. - Patricia (12/13/05)
Answer:
I
use olive oil when seasoning my pans. Your pan sounded like it
didn’t need re-seasoning, as it was working great for you.
Following is what I do after using my pan:
Every time, after I use my cast iron skillet, I do the following
(1) Wash it
with soap and water (do not soak)
(2) Lightly oil inside of pan.
(2) Place on hot burner of stove for a few minutes. Remove from
stove and wipe excess oil off the pan with a paper towel.
(3) Store. If you need to place another pan on top of your season
cast iron pan, place a paper towel between them. I hang mine from my
pan rack.
Feedback:
Thank you for the note.
I agree that I probably did unnecessary work which required much
more work. However, the oven cleaning worked great, but the
skillets were covered with a rusty powder. Washing in hot soapy
water, drying as I usually do, greasing with Crisco, etc. brought
them back to their splendor. I used my #9 tonight and it was
great. I plan to find an older Dutch Oven for my one daughter. I
do not care for the inside pebbly surface of the new ones on the
market.
Question:
I really appreciate your HUGE
knowledge on cast iron, cleaning in particular. I picked up a
cast iron John Wright teddy bear muffin pan at the thrift store.
It's got lots of nooks and crannies that are rusting inside.
These are hard to scrub at by hand. It's a very intricate teddy
pose. Will time in the "clean" cycle of the oven burn the rust
off, or just left-on food? And when seasoning something like
this, would you season the whole thing, back side included,
every time? Thanks for such a useful website, can hardly wait
to try some of your recipes! - Lynette (11/12/05)
Answer:
I, personally, have
never tried the cleaning cycle of the oven, but other people
seem to recommend this technique. This does seem like the
technique you should try with the intricate design on your cast
iron. Please let me know how this works for you if you decide to
try it.
Yes, I would season the inside
and outside of your muffing pans for the first seasoning.
After that, you probably would only need to season the
insides. I do hope this works for you, as you have found
yourself a treasure.
Kari (10/07/05) send the following information:
I
was reading all the advice on restoring an old pan. Someone
was asking if you could put them in a self cleaning oven. I
did this with two of the really small ones that I don't
really use to see what it would do to them before I try it
on my Grandmas pans. It worked I could not believe it they
look brand new a medium grey color. I put them in the oven
clean with no lard on them and my oven cleans for 3 hours.
Then I washed them with a soapy steal wool pad and
re-seasoned them in the oven.
Patricia Regan (1/18/04) sent the following information:
Hi, I just wanted to share with you how I clean my cast iron skillets. I
put them in a self-cleaning oven upside down and clean for 3 hours. My
oven and pans are like new. My sister could not clean our Mom's skillet
that was very old. I cleaned it in my oven and it looks like new. I
re-seasoned them after cleaning. I could not believe all the burned ash
from these pans that was left in the oven. Hope this helps someone. It
requires no physical work.
Kari Berg (10/05/05) sent the following comments:
I was reading
all the advice on restoring an old pan. Someone was asking if
you could put them in a self cleaning oven. I did this with
two of the really small ones that I don't really use to see what it
would do to them before I try it on my Grandmas pans. It worked I
could not believe it they look brand new a med grey color. I
put them in the oven clean with no lard on them and my oven cleans
for 3 hours. Then I washed them with a soapy steal wool pad
and re-seasoned them in the oven.
