taking care of a cast iron skillet?

BOTH of my grandmothers told me NEVER to use soapy water on my skillet. It pulls out all the grease and oil which is what you want to stay on it to get it "seasoned". I just scrub mine out with water and put it on the stove top til it dries. If it doesn't look shiny put a little oil in there and rub it around. Make sure it is completely dry or it will rust. If I get a little stuck on food in i put some salt in it will a little oil and put it in the oven til it gets hot then take a towel and rub the salt around to get the stuck on grime off. Plus it helps season it more.

First thing is to wash it in warm soapy water. Rinse.

Place on your stove burner. Turn on the heat. As it heats up it will dry off the water before it can cause rust.

Next put a thin layer of oil in the pan. You can pour a tiny amount in then with a paper towel rub all over the interior surface. Next you need to heat the skillet. This opens the "pores" so to speak so that oil is absorbed and stays all sides and bottom. You can put it in the oven on your lowest setting for several hours. Re-coat with oil and reheat again.

When you use the skillet for the first time or two at least, you want to spray it all inside with Pam. This will apply a further coating of oil. (don't use Pam when you are 'seasoning' it.) Then just cook in it.

Wash in hot soapy water, by hand, rinse put on the stove burner and heat to dry the water off. Then re-coat with oil using a paper towel. You shouldn't have to use any kind of scrubber on it. If you do, you need to re-season it immediately. When dry if there are "dry" looking spots re-season again. After doing this a time or two your skillet should not stick.

Do not wash it in dish washer. EVER! The dish washer will remove your seasoning and it will cause rusting and causing sticking when you cook with it. Do not use a steel wool on it. If it looks like food burnt on use a metal turner to scrap the bottom getting the burnt food off the surface before washing.

I hope the cooking surface of the skillet is smooth. The newer cheap ones are usually quite rough. The more expensive the more likely it is smoother. An older 'vintage' iron skillet will have a smoother surface.

It's not terribly unusual for the outside sides to become a bit ugly and have a build up of burnt oils.... Especially if you do a lot of frying. If that gets very bad and you want to clean it really well, the easiest way if you have a self cleaning oven is to put the skillet in the oven while it set to clean. The high heat will burn off all oil build up. You will have to re-do the seasoning like you did when new.

Enjoy cooking with it.

My dad always put his in a fire about once a year and left it over night. Then he washed it off, dried it, then oiled it.

He had his for as long as I can remember. My brother has it now and still cooks with it when camping.

Ya i'd go with what the queen said...growing up with my Mexican family LOL they've always thought me to oil it after

coat it in oil and all that stuff to keep it nice

Clean it good and then oil it