The Best Way To Clean & Season Your Potjie Pot / Cast Iron Pot / Clean Your Dutch Oven

Potjiekos is one of the most social and tastiest meals you’ll experience. Unfortunately we sometimes forget to love and care for our potjie pots (cast iron pot or Dutch oven). I’ve tried and tested various ways of cleaning and seasoning cast iron potjie pots and cast iron skillets. Here is my preferred way.
If you have an old or very rusty pot, please don’t throw it away until you’ve tried this method.
If you have any tips for me, please add them in the comments below.

[@dawidkimberg]

Ive never seen the vegetables and water thing before. Ive just restored my #3 potjie the same way I do my cast iron pans. Scrubbed off the rust, mine had been sitting in a shed for years, covered in oil and put it in the oven at the highest heat for an hour. Came out looking beautiful.

[@londonsouthafrican]

I heard about the vegetable thing over twenty year ago and have used it since. It looks like you've had success with it. I recently acquired two small pots - very rusty so I'll restore them when I have some time. Thanks for your tips :-)

[@patriciamtsi1335]

Oven cleaner I have never heard about it

[@MickyBellRoberts]

Greetings, I came across your channel by mistake but am glad I did. My #3 Potjie Pot is 53 years old and still use it a bunch. We are expats living in Huntesville, Texas for the oast 33 years. Please keep in touch via our channels. I have just subscribed to supoort you.

[@londonsouthafrican]

Greeting, thank you for subscribing and getting in touch. I've subscribed to your channel too. It's interesting to see that we have similar interests - including vegetable gardening in a small garden. We just got back from a holiday in South Africa and found two old rust potjie pots. Restoring them will be a challenge :-)

[@wedgebas]

Got a potjie that's been a bit neglected... great video to help sort it out

[@londonsouthafrican]

Hey Wesley, let me know how the goes. I'm glad the video will help.

[@shabeermusthafagasee]

Great video, thanks

[@londonsouthafrican]

Many thanks 🙂

[@johanboshoff5554]

You don't need the newspaper if you use rice. Rica absorbs moisture, the newspaper might leave printers ink behind.

[@londonsouthafrican]

Thank you for the rice idea. I've started using rice too.

[@chickencoopguys]

Hey boet. I just got a #3 potjie... how do you clean the manufacturing oils out of it before the first cook?

[@londonsouthafrican]

Howzit boet, that's so exciting. I'd probably follow a similar process to the one in my video. Put a bigger emphasis on cooking old vegetables mixed in with cheap fatty meat or cooking oil. Let it boil on a high heat for a while then simmer. That way you'll be replacing the manufacturing oil with food oils. It's been a long time since I had a brand new potjie but I do remember boiling cabbage and fat for hours when I got my first pot.

[@londonsouthafrican]

Let me know if you have a favourite potjie recipe and I'll try it out.

[@chickencoopguys]

@@londonsouthafrican I'm looking for a Durban curry recipe that's actually good 😅 everyone has a recipe but none come close to what we had in durbs. I ended up boiling it and burning it dry multiple times almost all day, them doing your vegetable clean too. I've since seasoned it with oil in the oven 4x too so I think it's almost bulletproof now.... hopefully it doesn't taste bad. Maybe one more cookoff before actual food goes in.

[@londonsouthafrican]

You've done well and think your potjie will be good to go 👍🏻

[@londonsouthafrican]

Check out my Durban curry potjie - bunny chow video that I posted in February for a couple of ideas. It might not be 100% what you are looking for but I must say... it tasted very lekker. Enjoy!

[@SamSoosi]

I going to try this, I borrowed my potjie out and the guys left it on the fire and its almost like it got burnt. Never cooked in there again. If I can restore i, then my family and I can have lekker potjie kos again. Quick question do I have to put in the oven for the last stage of restoring it?

[@nathancarstens6103]

I've just done my potjie... I placed it upside over an open fire. And it worked. Just a pity I can't post pictures here

[@londonsouthafrican]

Ah, sorry about your potjie. Let me know if you manage to restore it - good luck. You don't need to put it in the oven - it is a step I saw somewhere else. You might want to heat it up another way - e.g. on a fire.

[@londonsouthafrican]

@@nathancarstens6103, this is a good suggestion. It is a pity you can't post photos because it would have been nice to see.

[@sumenthrirao8489]

🇬🇧🇰🇷

[@Lauritzbirch]

Mandela microwave 😂

[@londonsouthafrican]

🙂

[@boerplaas388]

Ag asseblief. Where can I find one of these potjies? I’m in California. Ek soek so lekker potjie pot . Help asseblief. Dankie 👍

[@londonsouthafrican]

I wish I would help you but I don't know the answer. If you look at the comments under one of my more recent potjiekos videos, you'll see that someone in the US managed to buy one. You can maybe ask them. Good luck 🙂

[@boerplaas388]

Baie dankie 👍