Dutch Oven cleaning help needed

EgginDawg

I cooked a cobbler Sunday and unfortunately left it on a little longer than should and some of the fruit burnt/melded on the bottom. :(
Luckily the burn did not get scaped into the rest of the dessert and it was great. My problem is for 2 days now I have tried to get that burn crap off the bottom and can't do it.
Any suggestions on how to loosen the remains off of it? Elbow grease and a scrub pad aren't working for me.

Hoss

I used a blow torch once to clean one.Had to reseason it.Just heat it up cherry red and let cool.It's the same thing as when you put your kitchen oven on self clean.

AZRP

Try kosher salt and a damp rag. -RP

Hoss

I used a blow torch once to clean one.Had to reseason it.Just heat it up cherry red and let cool.It's the same thing as when you put your kitchen oven on self clean.

Fidel

Heat it up, add a little water and a lot of salt. Enough salt to make a paste. Then scrub.

You may need to re-season it if it is really bad.

madmike

Put it on the stove on high and boil water in it to soften it up take a metal spatula and scrape it off....works for me and never had a problem with the finish...good luck

Rascal

Dynamite!

Old Salt

Something you can try is put a couple of cups of water in it, bring it to a boil, put the lid on it, remove it from the burner and let it sit. It works when rice is caked in the bottom of a pot. If not. Oven cleaner. You'll have to season the pot again what ever you use.

Mike in Abita

Should be able to find an answer here.

http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/dutch-oven-care.htm

Rusty Rooster

Boil water in it with the lid on. If that does not get it all loose, scrub with a rag & kosher salt as already said. If this does not do it, it was probubly not seasoned before you cooked in it. If you scrape it with a metal spatula, you will have to reseason. If you scrub with steel wool you will have to reseason.
Anything more that water & saly will require reseasoning. Be sure to put a light coat of oil after cleaning. Hope this helps,
Tom

Little Steven

ED,

I haven't read the other posts but I have a lot of experience in burning stuff in enemeled cast iron. I use oxi-clean powder, orange cleaner (Zep from Home Depot) and dish soap and hot water. Let it soak for a day or two and your stuff will come off. Not a good idea to scrub too much.

Steve

Grandpas Grub

It is important to know if you are dealing with Cast Iron or Enameled Cast Iron.

When fruit (sugar) liquefies and cools/sits, cleaning takes more heat or a lot of scrubbing. There have been a lot of responses in cleaning CI.

With CI and a lot of scrubbing or high heat you should season. ‘Cherry Red’ – I have never had the need to go that high and there is a possibility of breaking if one part of the oven gets extremely hot and another part doesn’t. To season view the link above or go to Lodge’s website and view their seasoning instructions. All CI ovens should season the same way.

If you think your egg would be a great place to season a DO, well it certainly can be. Be careful. I seasoned a large (would not fit flat in the egg at the bottom of the fire ring) DO in my large egg. Dome 400°, the CI in the lower end of the egg will be much hotter and that heat being held in the DO if anywhere close to the gasket will take it out in a heartbeat. My large was aligned properly and had over 40 low temp cooks. The gasket was toast after seasoning the DO.

GG

fishlessman

sometimes you can heat it sizzling hot on the stove top and then add a little water and work it quickly with a spatula. it will lift similar to making a gravey from the burnt drippings in a pan. ive also had luck heating kosher salt in the same pan then working it with a towell, use an old towell. this is for regular seasoned cast iron. the emamelled stuff can just be soaked with hot water and soap for several hours and everything will then wash out.

EgginDawg

on cleaning my dutch oven. I'll let you know how things turn out.

Mr. & Mrs Potatohead

A lot of good comments thus far, as for cleaning.
Do what ever you have / need to get it clean (Even an SOS pad if necessary)….But then, rinse well and season!
The best way I have found to season, is at a very high temp. with lard. Get it “smoking” then reduce the heat to about 200 F. for a “good, long, time” (a good six to eight hours).
Cast will hold a season when heated, cooked in and cleaned properly!
One comment I haven’t seen thus far is “””NEVER USE A SOAP TO CLEAN CAST!””” once you have a good seasoning.