How to clean up carbon build up? Does it matter?
How to clean up carbon build up? Does it matter?
I was trying to apply a coat of oil to my pan after cooking when I noticed the towel catching on a whole bunch rough spots from carbon build up on the pan. So I took a chain mail scrubber to the worst parts of the pan, and managed to peel off a bunch of build up. But after a few minutes of scrubbing, there was still a lot of carbon build up on the pan (as you can see in the picture), and the remaining stuff is going to be much harder to clean off.
So: Is there a better way to get all this stuff cleaned off of my pan other than elbow grease and time? Am I being foolish for trying to clean it off? Should I let it go and just cook?
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Another thing to do, if you're not doing it already, is to use metal spatulas when you cook. You want to use ones with a straight edge and rounded corners. Then use that straight edge to scrape as you're cooking. It's like the opposite of a non-stick pan, that metal on metal scraping is a good sound and helps to even things out.
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Don’t be afraid to use soap and a green scotch brite scrubber from time to time. I have used soap with the chain mail scrubber as well to get some baked on crud off. Weak, flakey seasoning doesn’t belong on my cast iron!!
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Agreed, soap won't hurt it if it's got a good season
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Have you tried scrubbing with salt?
For me, I think that tends to help get some of the more smaller stubborn patches off vs. the chain mail.
I’ve only done it once, but you could try to boils little bit of water in it, and then retry your scrub cycle and see if that helps.
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Regularly after I cook with the pan, I pour in some salt with warm water and then try to clean it with the chain mail scrubber. Clearly I haven't been doing that good of a job though, probably from the times where it's still too hot and I can barely stand keeping my hands in the water long enough to actually clean it. But I thought it was better to clean it before everything completely cools, so who knows what the right thing is to do.
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I like to deglaze the pan while it's hot, after I'm done cooking so I can dislodge any burned on bits. Much easier to clean later once it's cooled down.
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Looks like its due to be deep cleaned with a wire wheel on a drill and reseasoned to me. The carbon will mostly just prevent a non-stick surface.