Can anyone tell me what the best way is to clean the top of a wood cook stove? Ya know, the bit of egg that I drop on it, the grease spatters, the food that gets accidentally dropped on the hot top. Yeah, I'm kinda a messy cook.

I've seasoned the top and it looks good until I mess it up by dropping stuff on it. I've only been cooking on the Pioneer Maid for a month now and I love it.

Thanks for any help and Happy Holidays to all.

Doug

-- Doug Shutes (toadshutes@yahoo.com), December 25, 2000

Answers

I cleaned the inner parts of my cook stove yesterday. To clean up spills (if you don't just let them burn off) scrape most of it off with a plastic pancake flipper. Then buff with a piece of steel wool...works like magic. Removes rust quickly too. I season the top of my stove with a very light coat of oil...just like cast iron.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), December 26, 2000.

When my old Homecomfort gets really dirty (about once a month), I clean the top with a razor blade and follow up with a ScotchBrite pad. I have found that areas that do not get hot enough to cure, like the corners and away from the firebox, get a buildup of veg. oil that looks pretty bad after a while. Once the cleaning is done I coat the top with a light coat of veg. oil.

-- Tim Price (TimNCaseyPrice@aol.com), December 26, 2000.