I pretty much do what's posted (stiff brush, rinse) *if* I even wash it at all (depends on what I cooked; strong flavors or lots of residue gets a wash, but leftover oil just gets wiped out). One thing that I reccommend is putting it back on the stove top and letting it heat up after you dry it to make sure that it's *really* dry. Just don't forget about it.

I've found that table salt and vegetable oil works pretty well to get gunk off. If it is pretty grody, I'll rub the oil and salt over the pan and let it sit for a bit before scrubbing. If I have time once it is rinsed and dried, I'll do a light seasoning: thin coating of oil on the inside and a quick heat on the stove. Our cast iron pans (our main cooking utensils) all now have great patinas and get easier to clean with each use/reseasoning.

I never thought to scrub with salt, thanks for that!

Wanted to second Alice's comment on drying the pan with a heat source afterward. I usually towel dry thorougly, oil, then throw mine in the oven. The next time I turn on the oven to preheat for something the pan gets a nice drying bake.

Fill it pan with koser salt and either put over a really hot BBQ or hottest oven you can get. This will carbonize the mess.

I normally jut wipe out with a paper towel if it's oil or butter. I used to do salt on anything grodier, but it's a bit abrasive on your fingertips/gloves. I recently started using this guy and love it: http://www.goodbyedetergent.com/index_product1.html

For stuck on food I fill the pan with water then boil on the stove for awhile to loosen the food, then scrub with a brush, rinse, and put back on the stove empty to dry (sometimes oiling first, sometimes not).

I too will heat my up on the stove after drying, to make sure it's really dry. Another useful tip, if you happen to have rust that won't go away, is to use a potato. I've done this and it works wonderfully, without the abrasiveness of salt on your hands.

I'm a big fan of scrubbing with kosher salt and oil if there's anything stuck to the inside of the pain.

another tasty way to season your pan: make a dutch baby. butter baked into the hot pan...my cast iron has never been so well seasoned!

While the pan is still hot, I rinse it out (if it's been sitting a while, put a little water in it and put it on the stove on high for a few minutes). Then wipe everything out of it, rub it with some oil and let it sit, or if you want, you can put it under the broiler or a really hot oven for a while to burn off any leftover bits. I have my Grandmother's set and it's almost 100 years old!

Rinse it, then i place it back on the stove, put a couple inches of water back in it, and bring back to a boil. I add salt and use my bamboo brush to scrub it, ( very carefully). Empty it, dry it fully and and a tbsp -/+ of oil, and rub it down. I keep mine inside the oven, and so back it goes-

How do you use a potato to remove rust? I have a castdental iron Dutch oven I can't use since it rusted after I left the stew in it for a couple of hours. It was factory seasoned.

I have several cast iron skillets in various sizes sitting in my basement waiting for a cleaning (I regularly use a newer Lodge skillet that is enameled exterior and has a glass glaze on the inside so that it is essentially permanently seasoned.

But yeah those rusty ones need cleaning, including an awesome, 19th century, 2-burner griddle with straight sides and round ends and cool handles and sides. I don't know that I'd ever use it on the stove (I have an electric stove that came with the rental) and it is very narrow, but how cool for cooking outdoors or on the hearth? You could do about 4 small pancakes in a row at once or a great deal of hash or meat for pan frying. Summer project to clean them all, methinks.

I have an 80 year old cast iron pan I inherited from my Grandma, and so far as I know, it's never seen water. It gets table salt (this is the only reason I even buy the stuff) poured into it after it's cooled off, and a wee bit of oil to make a paste. I use a paper towel (again, only reason I buy them) to give it a good scrub. Nothing sticks to it, so it's never a problem getting it clean.

It gets used almost daily. I re-season it 2 or 3 times per year. It does an amazing job on anything I cook in it, from scrambled eggs to pancakes to shortbread, and nothing tastes like what got cooked in it last.

It was almost 75 years old before I got it, and that's how Grandma said to take care of it.

"How do you use a potato to remove rust? I have a castdental iron Dutch oven I can't use since it rusted after I left the stew in it for a couple of hours. It was factory seasoned."

I cut a potato in half and use the exposed "meat" to scrub it. You will see the juices start to turn that rusty color. It takes a little time...cut potato, scrub, wipe out cast iron, repeat until the rust is gone.

My son found this site after moving into his first apartment and got me interested with the different tidbits he kept coming across.

I read the links provided for this question and have to say that I strongly disagree with the use of soap. My grandmother would roll over in her grave at the very idea of me using soap on her cast iron - whether it was about to be seasoned or not.

As to basic cleaning, I follow the steps many have outlined above, i.e. salt, bring water to boil and dry on stove after oiling slightly. I also store mine in the oven and this led to my accidental discovery of a sure fire cleaning method of even completely rusted cast iron.

I left my grandmother's skillet in the oven when I ran the cleaning cycle. After discovering the brand new looking skillet, I called my dad practically in tears because it had lost all of its seasoning. (All my cast iron at that point had been inherited and I never had to season any of it). He laughed at me, gave me the info on how to season it, and then told me I had just done what my grandmother did every few years. She would have my dad and his brothers build a big bonfire and she would use it to burn off all the seasoning from all of her pots and pans and then re-season them.

I've since found some GREAT deals on cast iron because it doesn't matter to me how rusted it might be. One oven cleaning cycle takes care of it.