Cast Iron Cleaning for Beginners!

Hey blog world, in wake of my wife's broken blogging hand I will be trying post on here a little bit more. It is the Crunchy MARRIAGE, after all.

Today, I want to let you all in on a trick I recently learned.   Like many of you, we use cast iron cookware  regularly and almost exclusively.   I could spend a lot of time telling you all the virtues of cast iron but I won't. You all know them anyways.  However, cleaning and seasoning these skillets without soap or water is a task the has always befuddled me.   But one day I was shown a simple way to keep our skillets clean and seasoned!

Step 1: Get your cast iron skillet dirty. I chose to get ours dirty with some farm fresh bacon.
Step 2: With the skillet still hot, put a generous dose of salt, any variety will do. 
Step 3: Roll up a cotton kitchen towel and grab with a pair of tongs. If you don't have tongs thats ok. Remember the skillet is still hot, so be as careful as possible.
Step 4: Scrub your heart out!

The salt will absorb the excess grease and act as an abrasive for any stuck on muck. Since the skillet is hot the iron will be absorbing it as well.  In the end this leaves a clean and seasoned skillet for all your non-skick cooking needs.  So skillet-season away world! 

I think I am going to go make some more bacon...