The Best Way To Clean and Season a Cast Iron Skillet | Epicurious 101

[00:00] i'm frank proto i'm a professional chef

[00:02] and a culinary instructor and today i'm

[00:03] going to teach you everything you need

[00:04] to know about cast iron care we'll be

[00:06] going over seasoning cleaning and

[00:08] storing your cast iron and everything

[00:10] you need to know to keep it looking

[00:11] brand new

[00:12] [Music]

[00:14] this is cast iron care 101

[00:17] part of the reason i love cast iron is

[00:19] because they retain heat really well

[00:21] compared to the aluminum pan which is

[00:22] super light cast iron is dense and heavy

[00:25] you get a better sear better color on

[00:26] your food when you use a cast iron pan

[00:28] cast iron is super versatile it can go

[00:30] from the stove to the oven to the

[00:32] campfire if you bring it camping it's

[00:33] also really nice to serve in it looks

[00:35] really rustic you can use it for a range

[00:36] of different things hashbrowns are great

[00:38] you can do a dutch baby in it not only

[00:40] is cast iron great for cooking it's

[00:42] great for home protection too

[00:44] over the head

[00:46] you can pass these down to your kids and

[00:47] grandkids and as long as they take care

[00:49] of them they'll be around forever hey

[00:51] mom where's my cast iron pan

[00:54] she doesn't have any i know she doesn't

[00:56] even if your cast iron's in bad shape

[00:58] you can bring it back to life with these

[00:59] simple steps

[01:02] cast iron is iron you put it away damp

[01:05] it's gonna rust if your pan is rusted

[01:07] over you can use a chain male scrubber

[01:08] like this and you basically just get in

[01:10] there and scrape the pan down the chain

[01:12] mill really works well that'll bring it

[01:14] down to the raw metal you can also use

[01:16] this to protect yourself from daggers

[01:18] right but for the most part i like to

[01:20] use kosher salt which is a little milder

[01:23] of an abrasive it takes a little bit

[01:24] more work but i find sometimes with

[01:26] things like the chainmail it kind of

[01:28] marks up your pan so i want to just kind

[01:30] of keep it nice and flat nice and even

[01:32] sometimes people will heat the pan

[01:33] sometimes they will put some oil in with

[01:35] the salt i'm just going to go dry and

[01:37] i'm putting a fair amount of salt in

[01:38] there right and then i'm going to get a

[01:40] kitchen towel and i'm just going to get

[01:42] in there and scrub it

[01:45] and i'm just going to scrub around and

[01:47] just keep going in circles

[01:49] pull the salt in

[01:52] hold your pan down nice and firm and you

[01:54] can actually see the salt starts to

[01:56] change color gets that rust color to it

[01:58] this will also get off any debris on the

[02:00] bottom of the pan it's not ready yet i

[02:02] can still see a little rust right here

[02:03] and what i might do is this get rid of

[02:05] this salt because that's kind of getting

[02:07] ground up now and get a little fresh

[02:09] salt like i said this takes a little

[02:11] more elbow grease but i think you get a

[02:13] good finish on your pan

[02:16] it's looking much better now i think

[02:17] we're pretty much done here this salt

[02:19] unfortunately right now is garbage but

[02:21] you can see most of the rust is gone i'm

[02:24] not really worried about that once i

[02:25] season this that's gonna all go away now

[02:27] we're gonna rinse it down and get it

[02:28] ready for seasoning here we have some

[02:30] water and dish soap

[02:32] now i know i'm gonna get a lot of uh

[02:35] comments about this that don't do that

[02:36] don't ever put soap on your cast iron

[02:38] pan but the pan has the salt in it now

[02:41] it also has some debris left over from

[02:43] the scrubbing and i just want to get

[02:45] that clean before i season it you just

[02:47] get in there you don't even need a towel

[02:50] or a sponge or anything like that and

[02:52] any kind of chunks that are still in

[02:54] there get that out okay and look it's

[02:56] really nice i'm gonna rinse it

[02:58] i'm gonna dry it really well with a

[03:00] towel you can use paper towels for this

[03:02] i'm gonna dry the inside i'm going to

[03:04] dry the handle i'm going to dry

[03:05] everything and just get as much water

[03:07] off as we can now we're going to move on

[03:09] to greasing up our pan for seasoning

[03:13] what we're going to do is we're going to

[03:14] put some oil in it and we're going to

[03:15] bake the pan so that the oil kind of

[03:17] gets into the pores of the pan and seals

[03:19] it up that process is called

[03:20] polymerization polymerization is when an

[03:23] oil is heated at a high temperature and

[03:25] it forms a slick solid surface in our

[03:27] pan basically it means you're putting a

[03:29] non-stick coating on it most people

[03:31] season their pans with vegetable oil or

[03:33] canola oil and it works really well i

[03:35] like to use crisco crisco is just oil in

[03:38] solid form it sticks to the pan a little

[03:40] bit better i can see where it's coated

[03:42] it's a paste it's a little easier to

[03:44] work with so all i do is get a paper

[03:46] towel or a napkin and i just rub my

[03:48] crisco all around make sure that i get

[03:51] into every corner

[03:53] i'm gonna put a fair amount so i can

[03:54] still see the crisco and i'm gonna do

[03:56] the whole pan turn it over i'm gonna get

[03:59] the backside too because even though

[04:01] we're not cooking on the backside of the

[04:03] pan or the underside of the pan i still

[04:05] want it to be protected from rust when i

[04:07] put this in the oven i'm gonna turn it

[04:08] upside down so any excess fat will shed

[04:11] off the pan and give me a nice even

[04:13] coating this looks good i preheated my

[04:15] oven to 350 and we're gonna put it in

[04:17] there for about an hour

[04:19] this is what a properly seasoned pan

[04:21] looks like it has a nice black shine to

[04:23] it there's no rust spots let's move on

[04:25] to our next chapter cleaning your cast

[04:27] iron

[04:30] once your pan is seasoned you're

[04:32] obviously going to use it and it's

[04:34] really kind of gross

[04:36] let's talk about how we're going to get

[04:37] this back to its original season

[04:39] splendor the first step is getting all

[04:41] the big chunks out of the pan right i

[04:44] got a bowl i got some paper towels so

[04:47] i'm just going to wipe this out

[04:50] and get as many big chunks as i can out

[04:52] of this pan

[04:54] and this is why you should clean your

[04:55] pans right after you use them because

[04:57] otherwise it gets dried on and stuck

[05:00] there's a lot of ways to clean off this

[05:01] gunk you can use the chain mail that we

[05:03] use to get the rust off some people also

[05:05] use brillo with soap that's not really

[05:07] my preference part of the reason i don't

[05:08] like using brillo is that it'll ruin my

[05:10] seasoning

[05:11] that's why i prefer the salt this is

[05:13] pretty much the same type of step that

[05:15] we use to get the rust off this pan what

[05:17] i'm looking for is that all of the big

[05:19] chunks come off if you have any pieces

[05:21] that you're having trouble getting off

[05:22] the sides of the pan you can always heat

[05:24] it up and a little bit of heat will help

[05:26] lift that off as well next thing we're

[05:28] going to do is just rinse this in some

[05:29] warm soapy water

[05:31] [Music]

[05:34] if you've seasoned your pan right you

[05:35] have a nice hard coating on here and

[05:37] soap and water is not going to ruin that

[05:39] i'm not going to scrub it with anything

[05:41] more than a paper towel at this point

[05:43] just to get off any leftover flavors the

[05:46] last thing you want is your apple

[05:48] crumble to taste like fish i'm going to

[05:50] rinse this off and dry it on the inside

[05:52] and on the outside so there's no water

[05:55] let's move on to how we store and

[05:57] maintain these pans

[06:01] once it's clean and dry i always like to

[06:02] put a light coating of oil on not only

[06:05] is this going to help keep our seasoning

[06:06] it's going to make sure that this does

[06:08] not rust at all and this time i'm just

[06:10] going to put it on the cooking surface

[06:12] everything else is already seasoned and

[06:14] it has that nice coating on it i'm going

[06:15] to take this pan and put it in a warm

[06:17] oven and let the oven in the pan cool

[06:19] down together

[06:20] and that's where i store it

[06:22] now we have a perfectly seasoned cast

[06:23] iron pan i hope these tips help you keep

[06:26] your pan in great condition for your

[06:27] next cooking adventure don't come in my

[06:29] house i'll do a backhand right

[06:32] [Music]