Skillet Cleaning

So I was complaining about the mouse in my house the other day and how it was living under my sink. He had also moved into the house next to the sink, The pots and pans cabinet. So anyway I was complaining about how I had to clean out under my sink and wash all my pots and pans now that the mouse had ran all over them. I mentioned I had a cast iron skillet and I was asked if I knew how to properly season it.

Season wah??
(for the record the Mouse gone and his house is clean)

Anyway Caroline informed me that after using the skillet clean it out with Vegetable oil and put it in the oven until it dries. Don't use soap and water it will ruin the seasoning of the pan. Thanks Caroline!!

So Sean's mom gave me another cast iron skillet the other day to make corn bread in. It has individual holes for each little slice of bread. It had also been sitting somewhere unused for a few decades and was covered in rust. (I think it was Sean's grandmother's) 

Anyway I couldn't figure out how to remove the rust.  So I surfed on over to Ehow.com and got some directions.  When they didn't work I called Sean's mom who gave me some extra tips

So here are the steps I used to remove Rust From my Cast Iron Skillet

• Use equal amounts of Salt and Veggie Oil about 3 table spoons and pour into pan and work it into the pan. 
• Scrub the pan with steel wool to get all the loose dirt out.  Just fair warning this is going to take some elbow grease if it's really dirty.
• If it's really rusty, as mine was, fill with water and boil on stove for about 20 minutes
• Repeat salt and oil scrub.  Scrub with the steel wool until you think your arm is going to fall off.
• Finish with soap and water and let dry (for the record this takes a while)

Next I started the Seasoning process

• Brush Veggie oil all over the pan
• Put in the oven for thirty minutes on 250
• Re brush the veggie oil on the pan, burn finger.
• Put it back in the oven for thirty minutes, don't forget that it's in the oven and let it sit for another hour then jump up in the middle of the movie you're watching and run to the oven and turn it off.  Not that I did that or anything...
• Let cool and wipe out with papertowel  and store for future use. 

Don't ever use soap on a seasoned pan, use veggie oil and put it in the oven to dry!!  And don't ever accept a rusty skillet because it's really a pain to clean. 

Now, if only I would use my cast Iron Skillet to cook....

All you girls that read this probably already knew this info, but it was news to me so I thought I'd share!