How do you maintain a cast iron pan?

A cast iron pan needs a little more attention and maintenance than other pans, but because of this, they can last a lifetime. You can clean a cast iron pan in several ways, each way is explained below.

Cleaning

A cast iron pan is best cleaned with a little water and a soft sponge. Do not use a hard sponge or aggressive soap, as this can damage the natural non-stick coating. Is the pan very dirty? Then you can use the Blackwell Cleaning Chain. With this you can remove caked-on food residue without damaging the pan and without cleaning agents.

Sterile cleaning

Another way is to heat the plan briskly with a layer of water. Once it gets above 115 °C, the bacteria will be killed and the pan is sterile. Due to the high temperature, any food residue will loosen from the pan and all you have to do is run a cloth through it or the Blackwell Cleaning Chain.

Thorough cleaning

Should you want to clean the pan even better, you can also put a little salt in the pan and heat it. Preferably larger grains, such as sea salt. Once the pan starts to smell, you can use a cloth or the Blackwell Cleaning Chain to scrub the pan clean with the salt. You will see that the salt becomes discolored. After scrubbing, discard the salt and wash the pan with water. Then put a drop of oil, preferably peanut oil, not olive oil in the pan and wipe it out with a cloth all over the pan.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

Stays up to temperature for a long time - It takes a while before a cast iron pan is warm, but when the pan is hot, it will stay for a long time. You therefore prefer a frying pan of cast iron. You can stew and roast dishes at a low temperature.
Lifelong - A cast iron pan cannot actually break and will last for generations. You do have to be careful with temperature shocks and dropping the pan.
Better and better - A cast -iron pan is porous and by oiling it a lot, a natural non -stick coating forms. The oil sits in the pores of the pan and merge with the pan. This makes the pan bake better and better.

Disadvantage

Heavy weight - Cast iron pans are heavy and are therefore less suitable for shaking with the pan.
Fragile - The pan should absolutely not fall, because then it can break. You also have to be careful with large temperature differences, don't go from very hot to very cold in one go. This bursts the cast iron.
Maintenance - A cast iron pan does need maintenance and should never be completely dry. This can be prevented by rubbing a little oil in the pan after cleaning.
No non -stick coating - There is no chemical anti-stick layer in a cast iron pan. For the first few times you need some more oil. Protein -rich dishes are a bit more difficult to prepare in a cast -iron pan, because they stick more. For this you can put some more oil in the pan.

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