The House Witch: Your Complete Guide to Creating a Magical Space with Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Home - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2018

Caring for a Cast-Iron Cauldron
The Magic of the Cauldron

It’s important to know how to take care of a cauldron if you wish to have it around for a while. Before you use the cauldron as anything more than a visual symbol, it must be prepared and sealed, a process known as seasoning. New cast ironware is often a dull silvery color, but cast iron that has been used is black. This does not affect the efficiency. Raw cast iron is very porous, and it has to be sealed before you use it. This is called seasoning the pot.

Make sure to wash your new cast-iron pot well with soap and hot water before seasoning it to remove any coating the production company may have put on it. If you’ve bought a secondhand cast-iron cauldron at a flea market or garage sale and it’s rusty, it can very easily be salvaged: scrub it down with a steel-wool pad, then wash it well in hot, soapy water and season it as directed here.

1. Preheat the oven to 250—300°F.

2. Rub the cauldron inside and out with shortening or lard. (Vegetable or olive oil usually leaves a somewhat sticky residue, so avoid them.)

3. Set the cauldron on a foil-lined baking sheet and place the sheet in the preheated oven. After 15 minutes, remove the cauldron with potholders and pour or wipe out any excess grease (it will have melted and collected in the cauldron).

4. Replace in the oven and bake for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and allow the cauldron to cool inside.

To care for cast-iron cookware, clean it while it is still warm by rinsing with very hot water and wiping it out with a paper towel. Make sure it is absolutely dry before you put it away. Some people say that you should never use dish soap, but the occasional wash with soap helps break down the food grease that may be left behind, which can go rancid. Never use a scrub pad, as it breaks down the seasoned surface. If you must, scrub the whole pot and then season it again as directed previously. Never allow the pot to sit with residue in it or to stay wet after you rinse it, or it will rust.

An alternative to washing the cauldron in water is cleaning it with salt.

1. Pour a 1—3 mm (just under ¹/₄") layer of salt in the cast-iron pot or pan.

2. Heat it on the stovetop or in the oven at a very low temperature for at least a half hour. The salt will darken from the grease and dirt it absorbs.

3. Remove from heat and allow the pan and salt to cool.

4. Use a dry, stiff brush (a brush designed for cleaning woks is good; under no circumstances use steel wool!) to scrub the salt off (remember, don’t rinse it with water).

5. Finish by wiping the surface down with a paper towel or a soft cloth.

The dry salt method ensures that you don’t need to worry about making sure the cast iron is bone-dry before you store it, and there is no chance of rust.

To store cast-iron cookware, line the inside of the pot with a sheet of paper towel to absorb any moisture and to reduce the chance of rust. If you have a lid for your cauldron, store it off the pot itself so as to allow the air to circulate freely around it; this also reduces the chance of rusting.