Charlie S. wrote:
> On the recommendations from either this group or another cooking group I
> bought some cast iron frying pans. (I have to blame someone:-) From a
> cooking point of view I've been very happy. The meats cook evenly and there
> is plenty of heat. The problem I'm having is cleaning.
>
> I initially followed the seasoning directions. Cleaning wasn't that
> difficult. My biggest problem was determining what I should wipe the pan
> down with afterwards. I found the paper towels left a lot of lint behind.
> A soft cotton cloth leaves a lot less. When these is a lot of grease in the
> pan... I'm at a loss as to where to begin.... paper towel or cloth?
>
> I'm finding it more and more difficult to clean the pan. It seems even a
> little meat burning leaves a lot of crud on the pan and I can't scrape it
> off. I guess you are not suppose to use steel wool. So, cleaning is nearly
> impossible.
>
> I am wondering why meat is sticking to the pan. Is the heat too high? Not
> seasoned properly? Or, is it normal, and I should boil water in the pan
> after cooking to dissolve it. How long after cooking should I begin
> cleaning the pan?
>
> I was thinking of following the cleaning directions from the following site
> and starting all over again. However, I don't want to keep repeating the
> same mistake over and over again.
> http://antiques.about.com/cs/miscell...anCastiron.htm
>
> I apologize in advance if this is a redundant question.
>
>
The great thing about cast iron is that you can reseason it anytime. Try
that with Teflon that's been scraped off!

If the pan's crusty, scrap the hell out of it until it meets your
cleanliness standards, and if you've polished off the seasoning, just
re-season it.