6 ms·

Nothing short of steel wool is going to affect the patina. Actually, if you throw it in the oven and set it to self-clean it'll strip the seasoning right off.

Nothing short of steel wool is going to affect the patina. Actually, if you throw it in the oven and set it to self-clean it'll strip the seasoning right off. I've done it with my cast iron pan before. Washes completely clean and ends up gun-metal grey; a non-oxidized pure iron surface. This is a great way to start over with the seasoning process if you're unhappy with it.

gambiting 6y ago
Yes, if you happen to own an oven that has this feature. It's not exactly common. Edit: because of course I triggered a storm. Maybe it's common elsewhere. I've lived in few EU countries, rented then owned a few houses, exactly only one of them had an oven with the self cleaning(by heating up to like 500C) feature, I don't think we ever used it. When we bought our current oven none of the ones we looked at had that function. A fancy Candy we looked at had a function where it cleans itself with steam(where you fill up a provided container with water and then it heats it up to fill the oven with steam and in theory that softens the gunk. No idea if that actually works). If it's common where you live, then my apologies for this comment.
- philwelch 6y ago
  I’ve never had a non-self-cleaning oven.
- butterfi 6y ago
  Really? I figured most ovens had a self-cleaning option... I did this trick to recondition several cast iron pans and it works great, but be prepared for massive amounts of greasy smoke.
  - onli 6y ago
    Afaik it's just not a thing in europe. Only high end models have it, and even then it's an optional feature that costs extra. Even in a kitchen I rented where just the sink faucet did cost 1000€ the self-cleaning module of the oven was not installed.
    - iamacyborg 6y ago
      We tend to have pretty different ovens in Europe vs the US.
      - ros86 6y ago
        Just a random thought (lived both in the US and in the EU): could it be that US ovens are more often gas ovens while in the EU it's mostly electric? (might be easier to get higher temperatures with gas). Couldn't find statistics on this with a quick search...
        slavik81 6y ago
        I'm in Canada, but I don't think I've ever seen a gas oven. All my ovens have been electric, and nearly all of them had a self-clean option.
        iamacyborg 6y ago
        I’ve lived in the US and EU too. My experience was we have fan assisted ovens in the EU whereas ones I saw in the US had a top and bottom element with no fan assist.
        astura 6y ago
        Fan assisted ovens are also called "convection ovens." They certainly exist in the US, but I think they are more high end? I personally have one, it also has a self-clean function. The stove part is gas but I think (?) the oven is electric.
        iamacyborg 6y ago
        Ovens are smaller here typically and you’ll more often than not find the oven and hob (stove) as separate appliances.
        the_pwner224 6y ago
        It's the opposite... my oven in the US doesn't have the cleaning thing, turns out it's because it's gas only. The gas stovetop + electric oven version of this model has it. Seems to be a thing even with other manufacturers and models.
- soperj 6y ago
  I lived in some of the crappiest places, never had a fancy oven. Every single one had a self cleaning option.
  - mikepurvis 6y ago
    Some wackos disable the safety latch and then cook pizza in their ovens on the self clean cycle: https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=268.0 https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=268.0
    - giardini 6y ago
      Thank you for the most informative post on this HN discussion!
- nycticorax 6y ago
  Not sure where you're writing from, but it's very common in the US. This article (https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-almost-never-use-the-self-cleaning-function-of-your-oven-175110 https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-almost-never-use-th...) quotes someone who works for an appliance store in Cincinnati who says it's difficult to sell an oven without that feature. And as others have said, every oven I have every owned (or that my parents owned when I was around and capable of forming memories) has been self-cleaning. Maybe it sounds fancier than it is? Is not like it has a little robot that cleans the oven. It's just a mode where the oven can get the internal temperature very high (up to 1000 degrees F according to that article) that just incinerates any organic material stuck to the oven walls.
  - saiya-jin 6y ago
    Its not fancy, but I guess it requires a bit more resilient engineering/materials than 250C ovens. Its definitely not a norm in budget/medium priced ovens in Europe, even for new. I mean brands like Bosch mostly don't have it here, I never had one (house, 2 apartments, couple of rental apartments all with full kitchen, kitchen < 10 years old).
    - rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
      Do you guys use electric ovens? Most ovens in the U.S. burn natural gas, which burns at 1000 degrees F (which is the self-cleaning temperature).
  - astura 6y ago
    In my experience it was fairly uncommon 30+ years ago, but common today.
- chipsa 6y ago
  Mine doesn't, but that's because it's too fancy, and has a special coating on the inside that's supposed to make stuff just come off. Freaking Whirlpool. It doesn't work.
- BikiniPrince 6y ago
  You can do it with a propane grill as the temperatures are hot enthused to carbonize any polymers. Or just use easy off which is a spray on acid.
  - drjasonharrison 6y ago
    Easy Off is a spray on with a pH well above 7, thus a base. Not an acid. http://www.rbnainfo.com/product.php?productLineId=2704 http://www.rbnainfo.com/product.php?productLineId=2704
mdtusz 6y ago
I've tried this a few times and none of the ovens I've had over the years have been successful in removing seasoning with their self-cleaning, so at this point I'm trying to find a machine shop that will be happy to bead blast it and mill the surface flat again. So far, most shops have given me quotes in the hundreds of dollars so I've been waiting until I meet someone that has the capability to just do it in their garage. Most new cast iron cookware now has a raw surface with lots of pits and bumps from the casting process as well, which doesn't seem to get nearly as smooth and non-stick as "vintage" cookware.
- chipsa 6y ago
  Self cleaning should reach a high enough temp for it, because most of what you use the self-cleaning to take off is effectively seasoning. If it's not getting hot enough, use something else to get it hot enough (blowtorch, maybe). For smoothing out the surface, you could just use a flapwheel. You can get them for angle grinders. This will also take off seasoning if necessary (but it's a bit worse for the pan if you're not also trying to smooth it out). Be sure to wear a respirator and googles if you're doing this.
- captrb 6y ago
  I used a propane grill and it was very, very effective. I removed the grates and (if I recall correctly) rested the pan on the heat deflection sheets. I left all burners on for about 2 1/2 hours. After cooling, the previous coating was reduced to a thin dust. After blowing it off, the pan was gun metal grey. I then used a cheap corded drill and inexpensive flap wheels and similar attachments from the hardware store to make it smooth, wearing an N95 mask to protect my lungs.
- slacka 6y ago
  Since quarantine life, I've been cooking multiple times a day. My oven's self-clean makes my pans look exactly like new. Takes all of the black off leaving them with a shiny, silvery shine. I then have to season them to regain a nonstick coating as good as any Ceramic/Teflon pan that I've used. As far soap. My experience is that it definitely damages the nonstick coating, depending on how much you use. You can get by with a soapy sponge, but putting detergent directly on it and the nonstick coating will be lost. The best way to avoid need to avoid soap or scrubbing and re-seasoning is to put hot water in the pan while it's still hot and scrape. Meat is the worst for leaving a coating and this technique removes 99% of it.(If not blackened use that water for a delicious sauce with all the best flavors of your cooking). This routine allows me to use the same pan for months without a deep cleaning. I have tried to put cold oil on after heaving soaping, but I'm not happy with the pan until I season it with high heat. The only reason I'd do it for rust and still would pan on seasoning it properly later.
im3w1l 6y ago
How does this work?
- sircastor 6y ago
  Self cleaning ovens bake as hot as they can to vaporize material. After the cycle is complete, you take a brush and sweep out the ash.
gnicholas 6y ago
Apparently there is some controversy over whether the self-cleaning cycle is bad for ovens. [1] [2] 1: https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-almost-never-use-the-self-cleaning-function-of-your-oven-175110 https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-almost-never-use-th... 2: https://lifehacker.com/dont-use-your-ovens-self-cleaning-function-1845793413 https://lifehacker.com/dont-use-your-ovens-self-cleaning-fun...
denton-scratch 6y ago
If you're planning to re-season an old pan, easily the best way of stripping off old crud is caustic soda. Leave the pan in a bath of caustic for 24 hours, then scrub with wire wool. Voila - a clean iron surface. Use rubber gloves, and wash off any splash with lots of water - caustic soda is nasty stuff. I use flaxseed oil. It works. Unless you have an awful lot of pans, your small bottle of flaxseed oil will only be 10% used by the time it goes rancid; swallow the cost. I've tried this on a goood carbon-steel omelette pan. The result was mixed; a grubby-looking polymer layer that comes off in the wash, but a pan that still works well, and has reasonable non-stick properties. I suspect that with carbon steel, the oil only needs to get into the pores in the metal, and doesn't need to form a layer on the surface at all. But my best experience has been with cast iron: a mexican comal, to be specfic. I stripped and seasoned my comal about 8 years ago, and the finish is still flawless.

gambiting 6y ago

Yes, if you happen to own an oven that has this feature. It's not exactly common. Edit: because of course I triggered a storm. Maybe it's common elsewhere. I've lived in few EU countries, rented then owned a few houses, exactly only one of them had an oven with the self cleaning(by heating up to like 500C) feature, I don't think we ever used it. When we bought our current oven none of the ones we looked at had that function. A fancy Candy we looked at had a function where it cleans itself with steam(where you fill up a provided container with water and then it heats it up to fill the oven with steam and in theory that softens the gunk. No idea if that actually works). If it's common where you live, then my apologies for this comment.

philwelch 6y ago
I’ve never had a non-self-cleaning oven.
butterfi 6y ago
Really? I figured most ovens had a self-cleaning option... I did this trick to recondition several cast iron pans and it works great, but be prepared for massive amounts of greasy smoke.
- onli 6y ago
  Afaik it's just not a thing in europe. Only high end models have it, and even then it's an optional feature that costs extra. Even in a kitchen I rented where just the sink faucet did cost 1000€ the self-cleaning module of the oven was not installed.
  - iamacyborg 6y ago
    We tend to have pretty different ovens in Europe vs the US.
    - ros86 6y ago
      Just a random thought (lived both in the US and in the EU): could it be that US ovens are more often gas ovens while in the EU it's mostly electric? (might be easier to get higher temperatures with gas). Couldn't find statistics on this with a quick search...
      - slavik81 6y ago
        I'm in Canada, but I don't think I've ever seen a gas oven. All my ovens have been electric, and nearly all of them had a self-clean option.
      - iamacyborg 6y ago
        I’ve lived in the US and EU too. My experience was we have fan assisted ovens in the EU whereas ones I saw in the US had a top and bottom element with no fan assist.
        astura 6y ago
        Fan assisted ovens are also called "convection ovens." They certainly exist in the US, but I think they are more high end? I personally have one, it also has a self-clean function. The stove part is gas but I think (?) the oven is electric.
        iamacyborg 6y ago
        Ovens are smaller here typically and you’ll more often than not find the oven and hob (stove) as separate appliances.
      - the_pwner224 6y ago
        It's the opposite... my oven in the US doesn't have the cleaning thing, turns out it's because it's gas only. The gas stovetop + electric oven version of this model has it. Seems to be a thing even with other manufacturers and models.
soperj 6y ago
I lived in some of the crappiest places, never had a fancy oven. Every single one had a self cleaning option.
- mikepurvis 6y ago
  Some wackos disable the safety latch and then cook pizza in their ovens on the self clean cycle: https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=268.0 https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=268.0
  - giardini 6y ago
    Thank you for the most informative post on this HN discussion!
nycticorax 6y ago
Not sure where you're writing from, but it's very common in the US. This article (https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-almost-never-use-the-self-cleaning-function-of-your-oven-175110 https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-almost-never-use-th...) quotes someone who works for an appliance store in Cincinnati who says it's difficult to sell an oven without that feature. And as others have said, every oven I have every owned (or that my parents owned when I was around and capable of forming memories) has been self-cleaning. Maybe it sounds fancier than it is? Is not like it has a little robot that cleans the oven. It's just a mode where the oven can get the internal temperature very high (up to 1000 degrees F according to that article) that just incinerates any organic material stuck to the oven walls.
- saiya-jin 6y ago
  Its not fancy, but I guess it requires a bit more resilient engineering/materials than 250C ovens. Its definitely not a norm in budget/medium priced ovens in Europe, even for new. I mean brands like Bosch mostly don't have it here, I never had one (house, 2 apartments, couple of rental apartments all with full kitchen, kitchen < 10 years old).
  - rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
    Do you guys use electric ovens? Most ovens in the U.S. burn natural gas, which burns at 1000 degrees F (which is the self-cleaning temperature).
- astura 6y ago
  In my experience it was fairly uncommon 30+ years ago, but common today.
chipsa 6y ago
Mine doesn't, but that's because it's too fancy, and has a special coating on the inside that's supposed to make stuff just come off. Freaking Whirlpool. It doesn't work.
BikiniPrince 6y ago
You can do it with a propane grill as the temperatures are hot enthused to carbonize any polymers. Or just use easy off which is a spray on acid.
- drjasonharrison 6y ago
  Easy Off is a spray on with a pH well above 7, thus a base. Not an acid. http://www.rbnainfo.com/product.php?productLineId=2704 http://www.rbnainfo.com/product.php?productLineId=2704

mdtusz 6y ago

I've tried this a few times and none of the ovens I've had over the years have been successful in removing seasoning with their self-cleaning, so at this point I'm trying to find a machine shop that will be happy to bead blast it and mill the surface flat again. So far, most shops have given me quotes in the hundreds of dollars so I've been waiting until I meet someone that has the capability to just do it in their garage. Most new cast iron cookware now has a raw surface with lots of pits and bumps from the casting process as well, which doesn't seem to get nearly as smooth and non-stick as "vintage" cookware.

chipsa 6y ago
Self cleaning should reach a high enough temp for it, because most of what you use the self-cleaning to take off is effectively seasoning. If it's not getting hot enough, use something else to get it hot enough (blowtorch, maybe). For smoothing out the surface, you could just use a flapwheel. You can get them for angle grinders. This will also take off seasoning if necessary (but it's a bit worse for the pan if you're not also trying to smooth it out). Be sure to wear a respirator and googles if you're doing this.
captrb 6y ago
I used a propane grill and it was very, very effective. I removed the grates and (if I recall correctly) rested the pan on the heat deflection sheets. I left all burners on for about 2 1/2 hours. After cooling, the previous coating was reduced to a thin dust. After blowing it off, the pan was gun metal grey. I then used a cheap corded drill and inexpensive flap wheels and similar attachments from the hardware store to make it smooth, wearing an N95 mask to protect my lungs.
slacka 6y ago
Since quarantine life, I've been cooking multiple times a day. My oven's self-clean makes my pans look exactly like new. Takes all of the black off leaving them with a shiny, silvery shine. I then have to season them to regain a nonstick coating as good as any Ceramic/Teflon pan that I've used. As far soap. My experience is that it definitely damages the nonstick coating, depending on how much you use. You can get by with a soapy sponge, but putting detergent directly on it and the nonstick coating will be lost. The best way to avoid need to avoid soap or scrubbing and re-seasoning is to put hot water in the pan while it's still hot and scrape. Meat is the worst for leaving a coating and this technique removes 99% of it.(If not blackened use that water for a delicious sauce with all the best flavors of your cooking). This routine allows me to use the same pan for months without a deep cleaning. I have tried to put cold oil on after heaving soaping, but I'm not happy with the pan until I season it with high heat. The only reason I'd do it for rust and still would pan on seasoning it properly later.

im3w1l 6y ago

How does this work?

sircastor 6y ago
Self cleaning ovens bake as hot as they can to vaporize material. After the cycle is complete, you take a brush and sweep out the ash.

gnicholas 6y ago

Apparently there is some controversy over whether the self-cleaning cycle is bad for ovens. [1] [2] 1: https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-almost-never-use-the-self-cleaning-function-of-your-oven-175110 https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-almost-never-use-th... 2: https://lifehacker.com/dont-use-your-ovens-self-cleaning-function-1845793413 https://lifehacker.com/dont-use-your-ovens-self-cleaning-fun...

denton-scratch 6y ago

If you're planning to re-season an old pan, easily the best way of stripping off old crud is caustic soda. Leave the pan in a bath of caustic for 24 hours, then scrub with wire wool. Voila - a clean iron surface. Use rubber gloves, and wash off any splash with lots of water - caustic soda is nasty stuff. I use flaxseed oil. It works. Unless you have an awful lot of pans, your small bottle of flaxseed oil will only be 10% used by the time it goes rancid; swallow the cost. I've tried this on a goood carbon-steel omelette pan. The result was mixed; a grubby-looking polymer layer that comes off in the wash, but a pan that still works well, and has reasonable non-stick properties. I suspect that with carbon steel, the oil only needs to get into the pores in the metal, and doesn't need to form a layer on the surface at all. But my best experience has been with cast iron: a mexican comal, to be specfic. I stripped and seasoned my comal about 8 years ago, and the finish is still flawless.