# Cleaning a cast-iron skillet

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-a-cast-iron-skillet/226364>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 28, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-a-cast-iron-skillet/226364 "2004-01-28T01:14:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-a-cast-iron-skillet/226364/1 "2004-01-28T01:14:51Z")

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I finally got my first cast-iron pan. I know it can’t go in the dishwasher, and I can’t use a scouring pad. I made New York Strips last night and want to do Swordfish tonight. how the hell am i supposed to clean it? The juices and all are kinda carmalized, so a dishrag and soap ain’t doing it. And, yes, I seasoned it first.

Any suggestions? Thanks

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-a-cast-iron-skillet/226364/2 "2004-01-28T01:41:12Z")

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You got the pan to hot. If used right all you should have to do is wipe the pan out with a dry rag. I would just gently scour the pan then re-season it.

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**Author:** ![Geoduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c37758/32.png) [@Geoduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geoduck)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-a-cast-iron-skillet/226364/3 "2004-01-28T04:45:12Z")

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Always have a plastic non-soapy scrubbie/scrunchie-thing around for cleaning cast iron and cast aluminium pots. They don’t scratch the cast iron like a Scotch bright pad does. Soak the pan in very hot water for a few minutes. If scrubbing doesn’t do it, soak the pot longer. If you have to use a more abrasive material like a white Scotchpad, then you will have to re-season the pan. Never use dish soap because it will be absorbed by the cast iron.

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-a-cast-iron-skillet/226364/4 "2004-01-28T22:50:16Z")

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Best cleaning tool I’ve ever found for cast iron frying pans is called a [Golden Fleece](http://makeashorterlink.com/?R43E12937). It is much more formidably abrasive than those little plastic things but contains no metals, and the little suckers last forever.

[heresy]  
It doesn’t really do a cast iron frying pan a damn bit of damage to hit it up with the dish soap and scrub, all castiron fetishes beside the point. If you’ve gunked up the pan badly enough to need it, do it, and then rinse it fully clean, pop it back on the stovetop with a tablespoon or so of a hi-temp vegetable oil like grapeseed or safflower and heat it up, distribute the oil, take it up when it starts to smoke. People who twist their faces up in anguish and say “Oh no you should never never never wash your cast iron pot with soap” are mostly trendaholic extremists. I wouldn’t leave my pans immersed in soapy water for hours but iron doesn’t instantaneously react to ordinary dish soap and become useless or anything.  
[/heresy]