I'm a big fan of using Dobie pads to get a good scrub on my cast iron skillet. The power of steel wool without the harsh abrasiveness.

I have used steel wool with great success on stuck scrambled egg... didn't realize I was stripping the seasoning. That's probably why the egg stuck to begin with!

I don't have any kosher salt but I do have sea salt - will that have the same effect?

i was told NEVER to boil water in a cast iron skillet. anyone else hear this also?

i'm curious, what's the point of seasoning the outside of the pan?

I've heard that you are supposed to clean with hot oil. I tried it once and it worked about the same as hot water, but it didn't need the last step of oil coating. However it was a huge mess trying to remove and dispose of the oil once the pan was clean. Has anyone else tried this?

What about just tossing it into a raging bonfire, and then retrieving it the next morning, after the flames have died down and the coals have turned to ash?

i'm curious how people clean the cast iron pan after cooking meat in it. don't you want to clean with soap? this has always kind of kept me away from cast iron, since i didn't want to go through the seasoning process EVERY time i used the pan.

i guess it's only raw meat that would be an issue, and that should be taken care of with the whole cooking-in-the-pan... so maybe just a rinse with water is fine? i don't know. but anything that touches meat usually gets a good, solid treatment with soap...

I use a mild soap and a scrubby sponge to clean my skillet every night. I make sure to dry and oil it immediately and my seasoning has remained intact for years.

I soap my iron every time I use it. I don't want curry in my pancakes, or strawberry in my stir-fry... the only time I need to re-season is if I cook something gooey and don't clean it promptly. If it looks a little dried out after washing, a give it a swab of crisco, and it's good as new!

I know people say no soap, but my mom has always used soapy water and I always wash my cast-iron in soapy dish water just like everything else--I used to use 3M green scrubby pads if I had anything stuck. They work really well to get stuff off but they don't seem to affect the seasoning like steel wool. I give it a quick towel dry and then put it on low heat to completely dry. When its dry I put a tiny bit of oil in it and heat up the oil. I guess it amounts to a mini re-season every time, but it keeps it sooo good. Wipe off all the excess oil and I'm good to go. It doesn't take long.

@kate_kate22: to keep the outside from rusting. I have a little spot in the center of the bottom of my pan that didn't get seasoned and occasionally it gets a little rusty.

My brother-in-law once left my cast iron pan to soak all day. My heart broke when I got home. I had to go through the whole steel wool and re-season thing. It took a few years for it to get back. When my boyfriend moved in with me, I told him if he wrecked the seasoning on my cast-iron pan I would hit him with it. Do you think I'm a little possessive of my kitchen equipment???

I always use a soap and salt combo, oil it with vegetable and then turn put it in the oven. Let the oven preheat to 250 and turn it off - the pan is dry and doesnt get the small rusty spots you get with air drying.

I have renewed or rebooted cast iron skillets by running them through the self-clean cycle in my electric oven. This will not remove rust or severe damage but will clean off accumulations built-up oil that has gotten out of hand. Sometimes hand-me-down cast iron can be a little funky and this method gives you a fresh start and a clean palate for re-seasoning.

For re-seasoning I prefer vegetable shortening to oils, the hydrogenating process produces a more stable lipid. Ironic that one of the reasons that you don't want to eat the stuff is a reason to use it for this purpose.

Also, when re-seasoning, if you have room in your oven just leave the skillet in there on an unused rack and go on with your daily baking and such. The repeated heating and cooling benefit the seasoning. I can't speak to gas ovens since they are more humid during cooking for the combustion of the gas and could possibly contribute to rusting.

Frequently I use my grandmother's skillet that she got as a girl. She was born in 1898 and was married in her teens, the skillet was probably used by her all her life as well as my mothers life and will be used by me similarly and can be used by generations to come. It is one of my treasures.

My cast iron is over 20 years old, and I occasionally use dish soap to scrub it. I rarely have to re-season it - in fact, I can't remember the last time I oiled it. But it was seasoned about once a week when it was younger.

I've been using the Alton Brown method with great results. If done correctly you will not leave residue for your next meal.

The Alton way:
______
Cleaning the skillet is a simple process of not really cleaning it in the standard fashion.

Put a little fat in it (if there isn't any already).
Add about a tablespoon of kosher salt.
Scrub with a wad of paper towels.
Once clean, dump out the salt, wipe out the pan.
_______

Basically what I do is while the skillet is very warm I add some canola oil and course kosher salt, then use a wad of paper towels and rub the mixture around the pan. This will create a dark brown glob that is abrasive enough to scrape the crap out at the same time the fat fills in the pores and leaves you with a very slick, clean cooking surface.

what happens when it's rusted? how do you clean/reseason it? or is it a hopeless cause?

SirVilhelm that is what I do and have been using my iron skillet for 15 years and is in great shape. I do add water and heat not boil after cooking something harder to clean and take a spatula to help scrape off the harder to clean elements.

Try using Bar keeper Friend the rust should come off, then rinse in hot water like crazy. Then heat the pan over the stove or put into oven with a even layer of vegetable oil wipe down and repeat. You should be able to save it, you just want the nasty rust off.

@shakeyrpuddin Check the Additional Notes above -- you can use a scouring pad or potato to remove rust and then re-season your pan.

thanks emily! i suppose i should read things more carefully...

phoxx: An almost hundred-year old cast iron frying pan? From your Grandma? That's a treasure indeed!

@lkb You're right in thinking that most of the unsafe bacteria are killed once the raw meat hits the pan...still, I don't often cook for strict vegetarians/vegans in my cast iron, simply because I know it's been seasoned with a lifetime's worth of bacon grease.

And personally, I'm a big fan of the salt/water paste scrub. But I try to avoid paper towels--maybe I just use cheap ones, but I find the surface of the cast iron tends to make them shred.

I have a skillet that is at least 50 years old and I have never gotten it wet.  I clean in with oil when it's still pretty hot.  I don't get the germ thing because the pan is hot enough to cook the food safely so that takes care of the pan, right?

I'm glad these two posts have come up, because I think I have ruined my pan. I will reseason and not use steel wool.

I don't know why people are so paranoid about cooking meat on it. People have been using cast iron for hundreds of years and I'm sure they've been cooking meat all this time too. Soap doesn't kill anything anyway, it just removes dirt and grease.

I have a cast-iron grill pan, which can be a huge PITA to clean. The best solution I've found is to treat it as I would my barbecue - soak a barbecue brush in warm water and then scrub the still hot pan with the wet brush. Repeat until all bits of food come off. Rinse and re-season if needed.

Now, if I could just come up with a way to clean it after I grilled chicken in a honey-lime marinade ... baked in, candied, bits in those grooves = no fun.

Instead of steel wool or a plastic scrubber (which is a pain to clean after using it on cast iron anyway) I use a plastic pot scrapper on my cast iron to get the bits that won't come off with a quick rinse under water. Seems to work well without damaging the seasoning!

When you cook, heat it first before adding fat and items are unlikely to stick. This also maintains the seasoning. Doing this (always heating pan first, then adding fat) is the single most important step in preserving seasoned cast iron.

I wash mine like any other pan, and I even soak them occasionally (e.g., after eggs or a tomato sauce). I have never had any rust as a result of these practices. If one soaks the pan, it IS important to then wash it out and dry it after. I would discourage steel wool, but if you really, really needed it to get off a very tough spot, it would be okay.

I do agree that regularly boiling water in cast iron is not good practice, but once in a while shouldn't hurt the seasoning. I do it when I poach eggs, and then the next time I use the pan I just make sure to add a bit of extra fat after heating, and wipe out excess.

One trick I've used to scrape off bits is my wooden spatula (the same one I cook with). I'll typically cook breakfast in my cast iron, though I'll cook other things such as steak or veggie burgers. The wooden spatula while using hot running water I've found is much more effective than the rag/kosher salt, and faster than the boiling water. It'll scrape bits off, but not scratch the pan.

Afterwards I'll use my trusty misto oil sprayer and coat the pan to prevent rust.

I've seen some people who do much less than that for years with their cast iron. Depends on how much having bits left over bugs you.

I always use soap to clean mine which is at least 25 years old. I swipe it dry with a towel and put it on the burner on high and let the heat dry it. I've never re-seasoned it. That said, I always heat it up and add fat before cooking in it unless I'm already cooking something fatty (bacon). So, maybe that trick is what keeps it so slick. Nothing but sugar sticks to it!

Honestly, I just wipe it clean with a paper towel. It's rare when I've had to use water to clean it.

If I have stuck-on bits, I will fill the pan with hot water (but not too hot) and use the edge of a plastic pot scraper (an old credit card will work as well) to remove the bits. Then I wipe it down with a paper towel. If the pan looks parched I rub some vegetable oil on it, but I really only had to do that for the first year that I had the pans.

I use soapy water and a sponge. Then I put it on the burner (turned on) to make sure it gets completely dry, so no rust. I cook enough messy things in it (like stir fries) so that I feel like I need soap.

www.vegrun.blogspot.com

After every use I:

Try to remember to give a good scrape with a wood or plastic utensil right after cooking before eating.

Rinse with hot water scrape any large bits out.

Kosher salt scrub.

Rinse with hot water.

Dry.

Veggie oil rubdown.

What about cleaning woks?

I find seasoning takes a lot better with a saturated fat, like bacon grease or at least coconut oil, than with vegetable oil.

I used to soap mine, but stopped and now use regular table salt to give it a scrub. I sometimes dry it by heating it up a little on the stove. I've never had a problem with taste overlap.

I've always wavered between dying for a cast iron skillet, and being glad I don't have one to worry about! This post and the comments have given me plenty to consider.

I think what really turns me off, in addition to the constant maintenance, is the idea of years' worth of food grease in the pan. If I've had a pan for 100 years (while it would certainly be a treasured heirloom), I just can't honestly imagine cooking on ancient grime...it sounds so horrible. :)

I guess I don't understand the process...

i, um, just wipe mine out with a paper towel after it cools... *embarassingly peeks through fingers*

I re-seasoned a skillet I'd received and didn't use much last year. Used it once or twice; stuff stuck, since it wasn't well-seasoned; and now it's on top of the fridge because it's weight and size makes it hard to store elsewhere. I really should dig it out, use it more often, and find it a better home! I know once it's good and black it'll be the best nonstick pan ever, but getting it there...

I just use hot water and a stiff brush, and a plastic pot scraper if there's anything stuck - pampered chef sells 3 for $2.75 - they're perfect for cast iron.

http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=241&words=pan%20scraper

Niki- presumably everything you use to cook with has to be cleaned after you use it, so I wouldn't describe it as constant maintainence at all, its more that you do need to learn a bit more upfront about how to work with the material.

Like someone said, you can own a cast iron pan for decades, and I guess that's what's appealing about it- I take pride in knowing how to season it, I love that its not disposable, that its highly unlikely anyone will ever send a recall out saying that cast iron leaches some complex chemical into my food (yes teflon I am looking at you), its an object that makes me feel all hippy dippy connected to the past and also it makes some damn tasty foods.

Also the grease works like well oiled leather. The surface doesn't have blots of Crisco from 1960 on it from your aunt's latkes- its just smooth to the touch- and the amount of heat that the pan takes is enough to sterlize anything- so once you heat it back up again, its completely sanitary and non frightening.

Also i have one because my folks have one, and so I just see them as a normal and essential part of kitchen equipment.

Thanks e6 - hadn't thought about it being sterilized each time. :)

@villageveg- I've not heard that you aren't supposed to boil water in cast iron cookware, but doing so will strip the seasoning, and I can imagine that cooking most things that required boiling water (blanching vegetables, boiling pasta, etc) would cause them to pick up flavors from the seasoning being released.

But if you have a stubborn or sticky patina on your cookware (ie- someone tried to season with veg-based oil) then boiling water in your pan is a pretty common trick for loosening up residue before you do a salt scrub.

The nice thing about cast iron is that, short of letting a hole rust through it, you really can't destroy it like you can with other cookware (I inherited a century old set of Griswold pans when i was faaaaar too young to appreciate what I'd been given, and had no idea how to properly care for them, but those babies took all the punishment I could dish out and are still incredible in the kitchen) pretty much any mistake can be fixed with a bit of time and elbow (/bacon) grease.

I do use soapy water in mine but I use a soft sponge. After I dry it, I put a few drops of mineral oil in it and coat the inside and outside. I prefer mineral oil to vegetable oil or shortening because it's not as greasy. I also use it on my Stainless Steel pots and pans.

A little bit of soapy water will not harm well seasoned cast iron - the most important thing is to DRY the cast iron.

You need to season the exterior bc that is where rust most often develops - on the bottom.

Apparently I'm a bad cast-iron owner. I will use this to be more worthy of my Griswold.
I use soapy water (though I don't soak)...I've used steel wool on extra stuck-on food...I put it in the drying rack to dry. Hmm....
However, the pan seems no worse for wear (but I did get it very well seasoned from my mother).

I have a newer cast iron pan and I'm having fun learning to cook things in it (admittedly having less fun in my attempt to be responsible and keep it clean, dry, and seasoned). Sometimes it feels like the inside of the pan is perpetually... sticky, almost. Anyone else noticed that?

I think it's the oil making it sticky. Mine has done that, too. Not sure how to fix it--whether it's not rubbed in enough, overrubbed, etc.

@laureninboston: The stickiness should subside over time. I'm also going to guess that you're using a vegetable oil; you should consider switching to shortening, or coconut oil if you're vegetarian. That should cut down on the stickiness.

For the first 2 months of my pan's life, I rubbed it down after each use with coconut oil and then heated it over a low flame for about 10 minutes. It was frustrating to cook with for the first 2 months since I don't cook fatty meats, but now it turns out awesome omelettes and frittatas.

Like talby's, my cast iron skillets have been in the family for well over a hundred years. A Dobie and warm water is the most washing they get. Sometimes it's less - just a few good swipes with a dry paper towel. I heat them on the stove top on low, just until they get warm, to ensure they're thoroughly dry (overheating an empty skillet can damage the seasoning. )

I just rescued an old Griswold skillet from an antique shop- I was so gunky I had considered taking it to be sandblasted, but tried the self cleaning oven method first. An hour on the self clean cycle and a lot of smoke cooked all of the gunk off and revealed an almost perfect looking pan. I've been using grapeseed oil and putting it in the oven on low heat for a couple hours to season it. My grandma loved her cast iron, her skillets and griddles were something that the children drew names for- even eggs just slide right off!

How often should you season a cast iron skillet?

My mom taught me to pour boiling water into the pan, and loosen bits with a spatula. I then pour out the water and wipe with a paper towel. Never thought about salt, since the boiling water gets everything. I've never wiped with oil to finish either, and my pans seem fine.

I use the traditional Japanese palm fiber Tawashi brushes -- these are available in different sizes, and are fabulous for scrubbing cast iron pans and skillets -- like this one - http://www.amazon.com/Tawashi-TK-614-01A-Japanese-Scrubbing-Brush/dp/B001F6S40Q

I boil water in them to get off stuck on foods, scrape with a wooded spatula if needed.

Dry by heating them on a burner.

I don't use my cast iron for tomato sauces, I find it makes for both bad sauces and bad pans.

I have a 7 year old seasoning on my large frypan that has come off in two spots, big irregular spots that make things stick to those areas (like my previously perfect eggs). I've been working on building up the seasoning in those areas by doing extra oil rubs and heating it either on the burner or in the oven to build the seasoning back up. But it is slow going. Does anyone have any idea how I could speed up the process?

And, I know what I did to cause this so no need for the finger shaking, my friends! It won't happen again. :)

I need some help! I made an Apple Tart Tartine in my cast iron skillet and now I have burned (didn't go too well) caramel glued to my skillet. My friends started yelling at me because they saw me furiously scrubbing at the blackened caramel...but I wasn't using soap and was only using the green, scratchy side of the sponge. Now my skillet has hardened caramel on it! What do I do?

Thanks!

LAtoNY: I've made a few of those in my skillet as well. Just simmer some water and use a wooden (not metal or anything soft like nylon/silicon) spoon or spatula to scrape up the bottom once the water gets heated. The caramel should come off. Then once it's all up and you've rinsed out the skillet, dry it and do an application of oil and sit it in a warmed up oven for a while. I have to do this everytime I make something sticky like ATT, even when I don't burn it! :) It's always worked for me.

(And if you're nervous that this is how I got the spots mentioned in my earlier post, it isn't. I forgot myself and made a large batch of shrimp creole in my pan. Tomatoes bad!)

I'm late to the party for comments, but maybe it will still help someone. I have a full set of every size cast iron pans, plus a 2-burner griddle, and a Dutch oven from my grandfather, who taught me how to cook and died just 3 months short of his 100th birthday. Cooking was his hobby all his life, so between the two of us, I'm sure the pans have had 100 years of use. That's assuming he bought al of his new, which he probably didn't. My favorites are the 7 1/2" slope-sided omelet, the giant 12" skillet that I put a rack on and use to roast things w/vegetables below, and the 10" skillet w/ a lid that can be used separately as a small griddle. I've used all of the techniques above to clean them, depending on how funky they are after using. I always dry them on the burner after washing, and then wipe w/ a paper towel and a little oil. They keep their seasoning just fine. I've even used oven cleaner when there gets to be too much build-up between the ridges in the grill pan ! I just re-season it after. I've found that if a pan looks a little dry or has a sticky spot, I just deep-fry something in it in about an inch of grapeseed oil, or less if it's one of the small saute pans. I have a Le Creuset Dutch oven for use w/ tomatoes. Would have no other cookware...tried my friends fancy stainless, have antique copper myself. Nothing compares to the cast iron. And when I touch it, it's like I'm touching my Grandpa's hand.

My mom gave me a iron skillet that hasn't been used in probably 30 years ago. It was all rusted and well nasty looking. I've been using steel wool to clean it, however when I try to oil it and wipe it with a paper towel. The towel is brown. Im not sure what else to do to get it clean. Is it safe to go ahead and fry potatoes or is there something else I should try??

I've cooked in cast iron for 50 years, and one small skillet was used by my mom for at least 35-40 years before me. I clean it and others in very hot soapy water and use a brush. Before we had good brushes I used a Dobie pad. I rarely have to add any shortening to it. I did buy some old ones at a garage sale once that had to be cleaned in the oven cleaning cycle, but had to start from scratch to season again, and itakes time - a few weeks at least to become truly non-stick. NEVER, ever use steel wool; you will ruin the seasoning. Mine are as non-stick as the slipperiest non-stick stuff, and they outcook anything made of aluminum, no matter how thick it is. Plus you get a bonus of extra iron in your food! Best cookware one can own!
asmyer: stop using steel wool. Just wipe it dry, put some shortening in it and put it in a low oven for an hour. Use it and don't worry about the brown stuff. You're wiping it out, so don't worry; it isn't harmful. It's OK, and it will stop rusting once you get a good seasoning on it and stop scrubbing away what you need to build up. It takes time and patience, but it is so worth it.

Tip on seasoning: Oil will make it sticky. Don't use it. Always use plain - not butter-flavored - shortening. Crisco is perfect for it. Keep the coating light - not heavy. Wipe it out with a paper towel so there isn't too much left behind. I'm sure that mine came so well pre-seasoned by mom because she always cooked with bacon grease, and not oil or shortening - until her arteries became clogged. I never cooked that way, but I still will season with shortening. I think I would prefer seasoning with lard over oil.

What's a "Dobie"? Is that a Brillo pad?

Some of the comments here have me 2nd-guessing my steel wool strategy for attacking a rusty cast iron skillet forgotten in my garage. (No worries ... the rest of my cast iron has always been pampered in my kitchen).

What do you recommend?
- Potato/salt method
- Steel wool
- metal scrubbie (the kind that's usually by the plastic scrubbbies)

I can cook pretty much anything in my cast-iron...except eggs. Eggs stick like nothing else. Does anyone have tips for this?

Also, for cleaning tips, I never wash my cast-iron. When the pan is still warm I scrub it out w/ coarse sea salt and it's good! On days that I do some baking I swipe on some shortening and put it into the oven too for some quick seasoning.

There is new data (~Dec 2010) on the best method and oil to use for seasoning cast iron. For those of you that are put-off by using cast iron because of the maintenance and/or cleaning, or the thought of "cooking on ancient grime" then this technique is going to be especially good for you. Why? The resulting seasoned finish is tough enough to put through a commercial dishwasher and come out unscathed.

This is a game-changer for cast iron.

I have not tried it yet, but Cook's Illustrated wrote it up on their website in January and they attest to the worthiness of this technique. The process takes six hours, so I'm going to do as many pieces at once as my oven will allow. A pain, yes, but I love the results when cooking with cast iron, so I can't ignore this. It will be interesting to see how well cornbread comes out of the cornbread pan. (Cornbread has always been tricky.)

Sheryl Canter's website is the source for this technique and she has some good science explaining what is going on, too:
http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron

I have a couple of my Mom's cast iron skillets. I use a little dish soap, and use a steel scrubbie as needed, and they are in great condition. I never let a cast iron pan sit in the sink, or in water. If it gets a bit rusty, it's time to make bacon.

If eggs stick, you probably need to work on the pan's seasoning. There may be an area or two with less coating then the rest of the pan. Seasoned cast iron should be slicker than teflon, and only require wiping out with a paper towel. No washing. For generations, my family has wiped them clean, put them on a hot burner for a couple of minutes to cancel any possible sanitary issues and tossed them in the oven to store. Sometimes, after years of use, there will be some build up in areas. The awesome thing about cast iron is that you can scour it down to the bare metal and begin anew by seasoning from scratch again. Even old, rusty, scary-looking pans clean up and season beautifully.

Wait, no one here reads Cook's Illustrated? They just had a great article on using flaxseed oil, scooped from Sheryl Canter: http://goo.gl/v6GNY

@kogan - thank you so much for posting this link. Sheryl Canter is genious ... excellent resource! I'm going to try her method (& her popover recipe ;-) on some cast iron I neglected in my garage. She makes me want to reseason alll of my cast iron!

You're welcome, lifeabundant. I found my flaxseed oil yesterday (fridge door) and will begin re-seasoning items this week. The popover recipe will have to wait until after the cornbread test, however.

@kogan, please post again to let us know how it works for you. I may try her method with my cast iron that rusted when I stored in my garage for awhile when we moved. I posted a question about this for Sheryl Canter; but, I see she hasn't responded on her site in quite awhile. She may be taking a break. Do you know if I need to fully strip it down to the iron first or just get rid of the rust b4 reseasoning?

Thanks. the information is very helpful. I’ve just started working with cast iron pans and was totally clueless. Fortunately, my hubby cleaned my pans for me. Next time it will be my turn. Also in the additional notes it's good to know how to remove rust from the pan

I've always lived in Mississippi, and let me tell you, cast iron skillets are precious and there are rules. We have a separate, small skillet that we use only for making cornbread. It must never be washed. After removing the cornbread, we just wipe it out with a paper towel. That's it. If we use our other cast iron cookware for anything else, it usually does get washed, but very gently. Dish soap and warm water with a cloth, no scrubbing. Ours are very well-seasoned, and since they're never scrubbed, nothing ever sticks to them.

A wok brush is a good, stiff brush to use for cast iron (and woks!), with the added bonus of being made from natural materials, inexpensive and (at least in Australia) readily available from Asian cookware shops.

I have three cast iron skillets that I inherited from my grandmother. I was taught never to wash them in the sink with water. I have never gotten them wet. I clean mine with a soft cloth and kosher salt for light cleaning and rock salt for heavier cleaning. My pans are sparkling clean, as non-stick as Teflon and have never gotten rust.

I was given an introduction to seasoning by a woman I babysat for when I was in high school an aeon ago. One night, bored after the kids went to bed I spent an hour scrubbing the grill on their Wolf stove until it was sparkly clean. The next time I went over, she asked me not to clean anything, stating that they had spent the previous month trying to season the grill plate on the stove. Ooops!

As for my cast iron now, I save all aluminum foil we use in baking and what not, rinse it clean, ball it up and use that to get the stuck on bits off my cast iron. Doesn't seem to take the seasoning off. When the foil gets really ratty, we recycle it as we would have before we had used it as a scrubber.

Does anyone's skillet get sticky after the oil is put in it? Is that normal?

@Turbo+Elba. If you read the comments, you'll see it happens to lots of folks. It used to happen to me. One comment suggested that it if you are using vegetable oil, switch to shortening or coconut oil, I no longer oil the pan. When I decided the stickiness had to go, I re-seasoned in the oven, and then made a point of using the pan only for bacon for several times, and switched my cleaning method. I fill the pan more than halfway with very hot water, put between one and three drops of dish soap in the water, swish if a couple times, pour out the water, pour in table salt and scrub with a folded up, lightly dampened paper towel. I put it over a flame until 90 percent of the water has evaporated. That's it. No oil. All my cast iron are beautifully seasoned, and no stickiness.

I ALWAYS use dish soap to clean my cast iron skillets. They are VERY old. I do NOT oil them with vegetable oil or shortening after cleaning though. If you do use the shortening or oil, it can go rancid and your food will taste sour after cooking. I have learned this from experience, as well as reading about it (which made me realize what was causing the sour taste when it had been awhile since using and 'seasoning' my skillets). However, I have found a great way (at least for me) to season my skillets. I wash them with dish soap, rinse, and immediately dry with paper towels before putting them away. When I use them again, I spray them well with cooking spray and then wipe them out with a paper towel. I will spray them again and then cook as normal. I never have a problem with my corn bread sticking or my fried potatoes sticking. These two things are what I primarily cook in my skillets. Of course, when I cook other things in them, I don't have a problem with sticking either.