How to clean a cast iron pan

One of the things I learned from my father--your grandfather--is the beauty of a cast iron pan. They're relatively inexpensive, hold heat really well, and develop a non-stick surface when you season them well.

Seasoning is another way of saying that they don't get washed. At least not with soap. The oils from whatever you're cooking coat the pan, creating a layer between the pan and whatever you cook next. Sounds gross, but the heat kills anything nasty. Plus, you get a bunch of flavors--seasoning--that get imparted to anything you cook with it.

There are a lot of ways that people care for their cast iron pans. My father--your grandfather--takes a pretty hard line. No cleaning. You can rinse it out, and maybe wipe some of the bigger chunks off, but that's it.

My approach is a little less dogmatic. You're still not allowed to use soap, but I figure food doesn't taste any better just because it's cooking on chunks of burned stuff.

What I do is run the pan under hot water, then pour salt into it. Using a paper towel, I scour the pan. Then I rinse it off and put it on a burner to warm it up and wipe it with another paper towel.

Sometimes, if I've cooked something really smelly or greasy, I'll scrub with the salt a few times to get all the nastiness out.

And don't tell your mom, but if things get really nasty I'll even take some soap to it. Okay, I did once. But that was because your mom cooked teriyaki in the pan and the sugar burned onto it. I couldn't get it off with just salt, so I had to scrub it with detergent.

Once I did, though, I dried the pan thoroughly and then wiped it with a layer of oil. You have to. If you don't, your pan will rust.