Cast iron cookware has a reputation for being hard to clean. There are so many different opinions about the “right” way to go about cleaning it, and almost any chef you ask will give you a uniquely mysterious answer. Generally, there are a few points that everyone agrees on. Namely, soap should not be used, the cast iron should not be left to soak for too long, and oil should be applied after cleaning to help protect the seasoning of the pan.
The difficulty is that cast iron cookware has a tendency to build-up grime and leftover bits of food over time, leaving many to wonder how to clean the pan without needing soap. A lot of people are advocates of using a stiff-bristled brush and a little elbow grease, while others stand firmly behind using kosher salt as an abrasive and letting warm water do the rest of the work.
To put it simply: brushes get gross after a few rounds of scrubbing over a well-worn cast iron pan. The bristles wear out quickly due to the rough nature of the cast iron, and food, along with other particles, begins to gather between them.
The kosher salt method works wonders, so long as you don’t have any serious food left clinging to the pan. The salt is useful for scrubbing off the finer particles left behind after cooking but fails to get rid of the tougher remnants. If only there were some method of cleaning that was both tough enough to get rid of heavy food grime and durable enough to last for a long time.
We need only to look back to medieval technology for the answer: chainmail. Chainmail was a form of armor, originating around the 4th century BC, and was made of many small rings linked together in an attempt to prevent strikes from enemy swords or spears from piercing through. Though its usefulness on the battlefield is surpassed by current technologies, chainmail finds its place in the modern kitchen as a unique tool for cleaning cast iron cookware.
Cleaning Cast Iron with Chainmail
Chainmail scrubbers work to clean cast iron by the process of abrasion, and the flexible nature of chainmail allows it to fit into all the crevices of the pan or griddle. After you’ve finished cooking, allow the pan to cool before beginning cleaning. Fill the pan up with warm water and scrub with the chainmail to remove any grit and grime left behind from the food. Rinse both the pan and the chainmail, and repeat as necessary until the pan is free of food bits. It’s important to dry your cast iron cookware as soon as possible after cooking, because if left to soak the iron will begin to rust and deteriorate.
Protecting the Seasoning After Cleaning
After the pan has been scrubbed free of any food debris and dried, you can oil it to improve its overall lifespan and quality. I recommend using high-quality pure flaxseed oil spray to season the cast iron pan, as it leaves a smooth and scratch resistant coating on the cookware.
Seasoning cast iron cookware is a huge topic in and of itself, but I’ll walk you through the basics of protecting the existing seasoning of a pan after cleaning to ensure that it maintains a protective finish. Seasoning, as it pertains to cast iron, is what we call the layer of oil that protects the pan from damage and is part of what allows cast iron to potentially last for generations. A well-seasoned pan will cause less food to stick and require less effort to clean.
Over time, the thin layer of oil that makes up the seasoning of the pan wears out, which is why cast iron cookware needs to be periodically oiled and re-seasoned. In order to make sure that the existing seasoning is maintained and well-preserved, it is important to oil the pan after at least every other use.
Apply the oil evenly over the pan and allow it to sit for a few minutes. Gently use a paper towel or rag to absorb any excess oil that remains in the pan, but don’t rinse again or wipe off all of the oil.
You may find that after several cycles of cleaning/oiling that the seasoning begins to wear down, and this is completely normal. The process of re-seasoning a pan is beyond the scope of this article, but there is plenty of information available online and elsewhere to guide you through it.
Tips
- Rinse the chainmail often to prevent gunk from building up, which will make it harder to properly scrub.
- Avoid pressing down too hard, while the chainmail will not harm the pan itself it may slowly wear down the seasoning.
- Use kosher salt in conjunction with the chainmail scrubber for maximum cleaning efficiency.
- If the grime will not budge, place the cast iron pan in the oven on the cleaning setting for a period of time. This will harden and dry out and remaining food particles and make them easier to scrub off.
