When cooking with cast iron bacon is your friend. No wonder I love it! I have always used regular handwashing with detergent, rinse well, dry on a medium hot burner and use a paper towel to smear some bacon grease in the hot pan, let it cool and wipe out the excess. The other great thing about cast iron is that it is very forgiving, if you screw up just clean it good and start over....hmmm bacon & eggs is starting to sound like dinner