Besides Using Chisel, How Does One Get Burnt, Caked On Food, Off An Old Cast Iron Skillet?
 Cast Iron Victor Griswold Skillet 8 722B  US $9.99
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 VINTAGE 8" CAST IRON SKILLET US $.99
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I found an 8", old cast iron skillet for a quarter. I used a chisel and removed a lot of the gunk, and have put in the dishwasher several times, but the inside still isn't as clean as I'd like. This isn't a joke either! I like cooking with cast iron cookware.
In the olden days they let it burn off in an open fire pit
Oven cleaner. Don’t use the fumeless ones, they do not clean well. Regular Easy off will do it. Then you will have to re-season it using cooking oil, and a warm oven, 250 degrees until sticky. The sticky will come off the first time you preheat it on the stovetop.
Never put it in the dishwasher. To keep the non-stick finish, it needs to be seasoned, and when washed (in the sink), dried thoroughly immediately.
Try pouring some cooking oil on it & let it set for a while. In time, the oil will loosen up the caked on food. If that doesn’t seem to work, put the skillet to soak with Dawn dish soap & hot water in it. Cast iron should “never” be put in a dishwashwer as it will ruin the finish. Wash it by hand only & once in a while, wipe it out lightly with a paper towel & some cooking oil. I learned this in my early years of working in Food Service. I also have a cast iron skillet, that I inherited from my mom & I love cooking in it. It was well used before I got it & is well seasoned. I hope my advice helps. Just be careful what you use so you won’t be tasting something nasty for weeks to come.
COARSE STEEL WOOL!
Just keep going around & around & over & over & I guarantee it will come off.
Wear protective gloves if you have sensitive hands.
I have also used a razor blade (the single edge type that is used to remove paint from around windows)…you must be VERY careful when using this method.
After it is clean, place the pan on your burner until all moisture has evaporated & take a papertowel & spread any type of oil on the metal…it will leave a lot of black residue on the towel…that’s normal.
If you reapply oil after every wash & hot drying session, your pan will never rust again! I use dawn & water with my steel wool after each use…then I heat & apply the oil & put the pan away until I use it again! I never need to use more oil to cook the food.
Get a plastic washing up bowl, boiling water & washing powder ( the biological kind) & dissolve the washing powder in the boiling water before carefully putting the skillet into the bowl. Leave it in there for a couple of hours & then rinse the skillet free of the suds etc., You might have to give it a little scrub but I doubt it because all the burnt on, caked on food should just fall straight off the skillet.
I do this for the racks inside my oven too although I lay a towel in the bottom of my bathtub & lay the racks on them so they don’t scratch the bathtub. The enzymes in the biological washing powder work on the burnt on food & as if by magic it all drops off!!!!
There is a lot of good advice out there I see. Myself, If I knew someone with a glass bead machine, I would have it glass beaded to remove everything. Check with auto parts store. They might charge you 15 bucks to clean it for you. I know, my suggestion is way out there, but I have seen what those machines can do.
No,DON’T USE WD-40. It will get into the
pores and will leach out into the food.
Hint: Put 1″ water into skillet, bring to boil
and let boil until gunk gets soft. then take
a metal spatula and scrape the bottom.
If not clean enough, do the same thing with
2 tblspns baking soda.
This is how it is done. put water in it, put it on the stove and boil the water.till the stuff starts to loosen. shut off burner. and let it sit. when it is cool , wash. if it all does not come off the first time ,repeat. then season the pan with oil. Works like a charm.
If you have a self cleaning oven, just put the skillet in the oven and run the cleaning cycle. It will burn off any junk and leave it like new. You just have to rub vegetable oil into it after it cools down. We do that with ours, and it works great.
I don’t know if it would leave a stink or make food taste bad later but I bet a good spray with WD-40 would loosen all the gunk on your old cast iron skillet. Let it soak in good then scrub the skillet with steel wool.
Ya gotta put it’s fire back in it. Rub it in cookin oil and put it in a good hot fire fer an hour or 2. Cool er down with air coolin then scrub er down, but ye gotta keep her oiled up all the time.
put it on a heat source with nothing in it, let it get very very hot and you will find that any thing that has been left on the skillet will carbonise and fall off.
Use a strong solution of bleach. Bring to the boil in a well-ventilated location. After 10 minutes or so the gunge should be loosened.
I have tried what Cheryl P said,
but after cleanning I was told to coat with oil (vegetable) on a paper towel and let it sit.
Good Luck!!!
I use a small amount of sand with cooking oil and keep scrubbing. Then re-seaon the pan when done.
clean sand lots of elbow grease. Then when it is clean you have to season it again with cooking oil.
I’d put it on a slow boil for about an hour for the water to seep in. then use crumpled aluminum foil to attack it.
Boil up some baking soda in it for awhile (don’t let it get dry)