Thread: help cleaning dutch oven

I wash my pans so it don't happen to mine. I inherited some that were very crusty on the outside - tossed them in the campfire and let it burn off then washed them and re- coated them.

If your pans rust after washing them they are not seasoned enough. My first coats of seasoning are always done with lard. It will burn into the pan and create a hard coat. I do about 5 layers of that before even thinking about veggie oil or anything else. But i would say I have at least 8 coats on my pans. Nothing sticks to them including scrambled eggs. The only thing I will not cook in them is tomatoes - tomato acid will eat your layers of coating little by little and you will know when its almost gone when everything you cook tastes like tin.

My process does not happen over night. I use a clean cotton cloth to lightly coat the pan. Extra grease is just a waste. Then I burn that coat on - it does get stinky and smokey so a nice day and open windows (I use my attic fan) then I allow the pan to cool and repeat the process over and over. It's worth the effort and time it takes.

Well My Dad who used to go to a lot of yard sales and stuff collected cast iron stuff and when he bought things that really needed cleaning from being rusty and gunked up would just put them in the oven and run it through a cleaning cycle and they would come out like new then he would re-season them . But only if it is all cast iron , I have seen some with the ceramic coatins too but it will not work for those.
Gary