this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2024
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[–] [email protected] 95 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] Couldbealeotard 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That just gets me excited to start a fresh new seasoning. Starting from bare metal is a good feeling

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[–] riodoro1 87 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

It’s insane to me that people don’t wash them and call it seasoning.

It’s apparently a different story when someone seasons their underwear.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Just FYI, you do wash cast iron, you just don't use detergents on it. One common method is to dump a handful of salt and a tiny splash of water into the pan and start scrubbing. You can use a gentle dish soap, but I'd avoid using the dishwasher, because those detergents will be a lot stronger and will actually ruin the seasoning (as well as linger on the surface and end up in your food, which is also bad).

[–] SchmidtGenetics 76 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

Modern soaps/detergents don’t contain lye, which is what ruins the seasoning. It’s the humid drying of a dishwasher that causes it to rust. Nothing to with the detergent.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I use a little dawn on mine now and then and it’s still basically like glass. Just put a little oil on it afterwards. Never the dishwasher though omg

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[–] blackbelt352 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

We do wash them, I clean mine by boiling water in them, scraping any stubborn bits with a wooden spatula, rinsing it out under running water and wiping them down with a clean towel and heating the pan again to evaporate any remaining water. No microbials will survive being boiled and then heated again, anything stuck to the pan dissolves away in boiling water and a clean towel will wipe away anything else. After that I add a few drops of oil and wipe down the still hot surface with the thinnest possible coating of oil.

Seasoning for cast iron doesn't mean holding onto previous flavors. It definitely shouldn't taste like last night's dinner. Seasoning in the context of cast iron is the build up of thin layers of polymerized oils from heating them up in a clean pan that forms a durable protective finish that is incredibly non-stick.

So more accurately parallel your underwear example how cast iron is cleaned, if you took your underwear, boiled the hell out of them, used something to give them a scrub, rinsed them out well and then heat dried them.

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[–] Takumidesh 14 points 2 weeks ago

I hate cast iron, but 'seasoning' is just a misnomer that was adopted to refer to the oils polymerizing on the pan. The oil (usually something like canola) is literally bonded to the metal.

Not cleaning a cast iron pan is gross, fats left in the pan will go rancid.

The only soap you can't use is lye based as that will strip the seasoning off.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

I just wash it as normal, you just need to re-fry/season it once in in 3-5 months or so. People that don't wash it usually let it become rusted and dirty as well.

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[–] waterore 10 points 2 weeks ago

Whatsa matter? You don’t like your pancakes to taste like last nights steak?

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 2 weeks ago (18 children)

The reverence and fear of cast iron cooking pots and pans is stupid on both sides. People have been using cast iron under every condition from the big fire place in a castle's kitchen to a fire pit in a peasant's hovel to open fires outdoors to Michelin Star restaurants in Paris and London. And they cooked EVERYTHING in it because it's what they had and all they had. There is no mystery to seasoning and care of cast iron. Just like there is little to fear from cooking with it.

Those that do worship in the church of cast iron-- just cook in it. There is nothing sacrosanct about it. If your Great Grandmother didn't worry about it, why should you? Any damage you can do it can be repaired quickly and easily. So get over yourselves.

And those that fear cast iron cookery, get over it.......They are often the same ones that are fearful of micro plastics getting ingested and yet have no care or concern while cooking with plastic cutting boards and utensils in plastic coated cookware.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

The mystery is that iron will rust if wet. The care instructions are "don't leave it wet for a long time".

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[–] Sir_Premiumhengst 55 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

¯\(ツ)/¯ wouldn't kill it. Just scrub any flakes off and re-season. The abuse they can take is almost unreasonable.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

You could leave it outside in the dirt for 5 years and still just give it a lye bath then reseason it to work like new

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (8 children)

I wash my cast iron with normal dish soap and steel wool, and if I'm too lazy, I put it in the dishwasher. I've been doing this for 20 years. I don't "season" it. It's a pan, no more, no less. The main advantage is that you don't need to worry about scratching the shit out of it.

Needs a tiny little bit more fat than a non-stick if you want to make an omelette.

[–] ignotum 11 points 2 weeks ago

Same here, though i don't use steel wool and i do season it every now and then
The pan handles it like a champ

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[–] Atlas_ 33 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] BlursedTarot 15 points 2 weeks ago

I am in flavor of this.

[–] victorz 31 points 2 weeks ago (12 children)

You... hate cast iron? Of all things people could hate, cast iron is the choice here. Mmaight.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 weeks ago

I use the washer and then let it sit wet over night to bring out its natural paprika seasoning.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

even putting it on the top rack, instead of the bottom where the pots go. Masterfull attention to detail in trolling.

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[–] NorthWestWind 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Gets angry over the fact that you have a dishwasher

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)

Carbon steel > cast iron. Lighter, basically the same heat properties, and you don't get peer pressured into unnecessarily babying a lump of solid metal.

Seriously no reason to dote on either of them so much. Only real care you need to take is that they can rust, so don't leave them wet. And don't needlessly scrub them with chain mail or angle grinders, or you might need to take a few minutes fixing them with cooking oil and the oven.

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[–] spankmonkey 17 points 2 weeks ago

You would probably like cast iron more if you stopped committing war crimes against it.

[–] MargotRobbie 16 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

The obsession with cast iron like it is some kind of magic ritual is honestly really weird. After you cook with it, wash it with water and dry it with some paper towels, that's it, no need to make it more complicated than it really is.

If things are sticking to your pan, use more oil in your pan; with enough oil, you can cook on a rock and make it nonstick.

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[–] PumpkinSkink 15 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

As long as you don't leave it sitting in water you'll be fine.

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[–] Rooty 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

It's your expensive quality cookware, if you want to ruin it I can't do anything about it.

Whispers gently to well seasoned dutch oven

Shh, it's okay, the bad man can't hurt you.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

A well-seasoned Dutch oven sounds like a fate worse than death.

[–] victorz 11 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)
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[–] Canopyflyer 15 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

Cooking has been a hobby of mine for decades now. I have gone through a lot of phases in cooking, especially early on.

I have used cast iron, carbon steel, stainless steel, and a dubious flirtation with all aluminum.

16 years on now and this is what I reach for 100% of the time:

Skillet/sautee: cladded stainless. Both standard side and high sided.

Dutch Oven: Enameled cast iron.

Pots Pans: Cladded stainless steel. For smaller 1qt to 2qt I like All Clads D5 for its heat retention. Larger than that I like the D3 for its lighter weight

Grill Pan: cast iron. Hate the excessive weight though

Non-stick: Ceramic coated aluminum. What ever Americas Test Kitchen recommends that year. I consider these disposable items. I stopped using TEFLON a long time ago.

I used cast iron skillets for several years. I found them to be finicky. Heat retention was stupidly high and that's not always a good thing. Excessively heavy and god forbid you attempt any sort of tomato based sauce or anything acidic for that matter. Circumstances forced me to use stainless steel and I just found it matches my needs in a kitchen much better than cast iron. It gets used, it gets cleaned and I put it away. No having to have the vaginal juices of a thousand virgins on hand to make sure it doesn't destroy the next egg I try to cook.

I consider cast iron skillets like safety razors. They had their day, but continue on because of a dedicated set of die hard users. Nothing wrong with that, just not my thing.

The above goes for carbon steel as well, although it usually isn't nearly as heavy.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago (14 children)

Ugh. You wanna know the secret to cooking on cast iron/carbon steel? Just cook with it. Put fat in, get it hot, put your food in. It's really that easy. Wipe it out when you're done, rub some oil on it. That's it. You can even cook tomato sauce in it, it'll be ok. People have been using cast iron to cook all kinds of things, acidic and not, for literal centuries. This myth that cast iron/carbon steel pans are these delicate special snowflakes that need constant attention and maintenance needs to die.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

I have a side business restoring antique cast iron pans and I use them for most of my cooking. I cook whatever the fuck I want in them, I leave the pan dirty on the stove a couple days sometimes when I'm busy, I use a scotch brite and scrub them clean with dish detergent, it really doesn't matter.

Go get a shitty Walmart pan and complain that CI is too hard to work with, it's ridiculous. My CHF #8 is an amazing piece of hardware

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Seasoning is a polymer, which is known for its strong resistance. It is unlikely to breakdown just with one dishwasher wash.

The seasoned surface is hydrophobic and highly attractive to oils and fats used for cooking (oleophilic).

The protective layer itself is not very susceptible to soaps, and many users do briefly use detergents and soaps.[28]

Unless you are dish washing it everyday and refuse to dry/reseason it, you will be fine.

However, cast iron is very prone to rust, and the protective layer may have pinholes, so soaking for long periods is contraindicated as the layer may start to flake off.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasoning_(cookware)

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

What weirdo takes a picture of their dirty dishes and posts it to the Internet? I'm unreasonably angry, mission accomplished.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

I mean, as long as it's your cast iron skillet.

[–] yesman 11 points 2 weeks ago

it's just a pan

You can take care of your pans anyway you want. But it's telling when people treat neglect like it's an ethic.

[–] houstoneulers 11 points 2 weeks ago

Lol I like cast iron cookware, but you do whatever with what's yours as long as you leave mine alone.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

The whole cast iron thing is such a cult. Always makes me laugh when someone tries to preach it to me, how it's great, then there's all this stuff you need to do that you normally wouldn't, oh right you can't do this and you need to do this and yes it's heavy as all hell but that's actually a good thing

lol

[–] BugleFingers 12 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

I'm not a fan boy, I actually resisted getting one for nearly a year before one was gifted to me. There are a couple perks and draw backs I've learned. Pros: heating is pretty even, cleaning is actually way easier (IMO), and I can use metal on it. Cons: needs to be seasoned, takes longer to heat, some people get the ick from seeing rust.

TBH it's pretty much the only pan I use now (cause I find cleaning easier and I'm lazy AF), but people should use whatever suits them.

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