If you own a cast iron skillet, you likely know that it can be both a cook’s greatest dream and house cleaner's worst nightmare if you don’t know how to clean it. From cornbread and pork to frittatas and steak, cast iron cooks a lot of things exceptionally well. 

Unfortunately, the seasoning process means soap and soaking—the most common method for getting rid of stuck-on food—shouldn’t be used. How can you clean your skillet, then?

The best thing you can use to clean cast iron is actually already sitting in your kitchen cabinet—salt. Here’s how you do it:

Step #1: Rinse the pan off as well as you can in hot, hot water. You can use a soft sponge to get off as much of the food particles and grease as possible.

Step #2: Create a paste of salt and water. Put this in your pan and scrub the pan with a soft sponge. The salt will act as an abrasive without scratching the pan or ruining the seasoning.

Step #3: Remove the salt. Using the sponge, pull all of the salt out of the pan and into the trash. The grease will go with it!

Step #4: Re-season. For an already seasoned cast iron skillet, this is easy: a clump of shortening on a paper towel rubbed around the inside of the pan is enough. 

Seasoning a cast iron skillet is extremely important for keeping it in great condition for years to come, but it doesn’t take a lot of work—only a little time.

Get a large amount of shortening on your paper towel and rub all over the skillet, inside and out. Then, put it in the oven at 350 for and hour. Turn the oven off and don’t touch the pan again until it’s cool.

That’s all there is to it! Do you use cast iron? Do you love it or hate it?