How do you clean a carbon steel pan with salt?

Cleaning burned protein residu from a carbon steel pan can be tricky as you cannot use any detergent. Therefore scrubbing with salt is an ideal solution. You scrub out the salt on a low-medium fire (watch your fingers!) and thereby get rid of all residu.

[TheArteditors]

surprised at the comments. guys if you have no idea about (cast) iron just stay silent. the point is not to smooth or clean or anything. the heating of salt absorbs excessive oils, thus deodorising the pan, you may have cooked something that smells, fish, some cured meat or even eggs. the heated salt removes the funk. that's all. thanks, I do it all the time I want to cook something else in my (cast) iron pans that I may have fried eggs. thanks for the demonstration, de buyer also recommend this method for removing smells. that's where I also learnt about this one.

[izzyestranged]

In my opinion this is the best way to clean both carbon steel and iron cast pan

[justinzaff]

I used fine grade wet and dry sandpaper sanding in circular motions with a bit of water and it worked well.
I had a serious build up of sticky gunk and uneven seasoning .
Now it's silky smooth to the touch .
I got it back to raw steel and then re seasoned it .
The pan was so bad I thought it wasn't savable .

[stratojack]

Salt and a little bit of water with a Lodge scrub brush does the trick for me.

[davidc]

I learned this by accident. Cook a tomato sauce in it for about two hours. For an especially dirty pan, store the sauce in the pan over night. Cleans it down to bare metal. Must be the acid.

[TheBibabibab]

You need about 1/10th the amount of salt you used, and you don't need heat. This is just wasteful. Of course I am talking about getting rid of carbon residue on a seasoned pan, and not to get rid of the seasoning.

[ruinsaneornot]

I don't see any difference before and after. Am I too old to spot it?

[khealthy]

Thanks for the video. I am new to carbon steel. What do you suggest for a bigger mess such as protein with a sugary sauce? I cooked pork chops with a wine and fruit sauce the other day. My pan was filled with protein pieces and stick gunk. I really don't want to nuke it down to bear metal. What is the best solution to this situation? I may have to nuke it this time but I would like to find a smarter way to clean up next time.

[tomtommyl]

Do not agree. I had to take a carbon steel pan down to bare metal.
The seasoning HAD to come off. I tried everything:
heavy duty oven cleaner
Acetone.
Salt (just like you showed)
Ajax and a scour pad.
nothing worked.
Finally, A wire brush on the end of a hand held drill and then to polish off the scratches I used a 600 grit sandpaper.
that worked.