Black soot on pots and pans

[Yogi]

One thing about cooking over a wood fire is the black soot that accumulates on the outsides of your pots and pans. It gets on everything! How do yu deal with this issue?

[dinosaur]

I take it back home and sand blast it.

[twodogs]

I have found that with cast Iron and the black soot that forms on the bottom of them , If you pour some vegetable oil on a rag or some paper towel and spread it around on the cast iron mixed in with the soot then leave it on low heat or the coals of a fire , this will help to season your cast iron and blacken it really nice . I also have use melted bees wax and soot and that works real good .

[Scout]

If you wipe a light layer of liquid soap on the bottom of your regular pots & pans (not cast iron) prior to useing them over the fire it will wipe right off easily. You do this every time prior to use. I wipe everything clean making them as clean as possible before actually washing too (outsides 1st then insides) Whether I cook over a fire or my cookstove. I use paper towels & throw them in the fire.

I keep 3 wash pans for washing (1-soapwater 2-rinse 3-sanitize water using a capful of bleach in it) I stack them together to store & carry both my pots & pans plates utensils soap sml. bottle of bleach clotheslines & paper towels & scrubies etc. My coffee pot fits in there too. One standard simple equipment for camp that sits on top of the same size rubbermaid tote which I have 2 of (1-food 2-things always in it for camping) A cooler & campstove if needed all pack nicely alongside the pile of ...tent chair canopy table stacked like firewood btw the firewood is in the floorboard. Throw my laundry bag with my sleepin' bag pad&pillow small eastport backpack of clothes ... I am ready to go! Tie down the kayak on the roof toss in the paddle & PFD & I am on my way LOL!! All with clearance to see out the back!

If heading to a dutch oven gathering add a couple of DOs & charcoal & my YARIS yes YARIS & me are gone!!!

[ChadTower]

My solution has always been to avoid using stainless anything over a fire. Seasoned cast iron is definitely the way to go unless weight is a concern.

[Joe S.]

In a pinch you can also use Ivory hand soap to soap up your pots. Soaping makes the soot issue easier to deal with, but it still tends to be sloppy, so I nest my pots and stow them in a nylon bag when not in use.

[MreNow]

I use a lot of the enamial-ware it cleans off rather easy by rubbing it in the sand along the riverside.

[jloomis]

I cook with an aluminum pot in the fire on most of my back-country trips. I wait till I get home and clean the outside of the pot with rubbing alcohol. It takes off most the sticky residue and black soot fairly easily.

I might try the soap idea before my next trip and see if that makes it even easier.