Endgrain Cutting block

[Paraffin]

I have never understood where this thinking comes from. So you're saying if I need to strip the seasoning off cast iron and reseason all I need to do is wash it with soap?! And here I thought I needed to sand it, use oven cleaner or other harsh means to remove the old seasoning.
As a kid I watched my grandmother and mother wash cast iron in the same dishwater the rest of the dishes got washed in after a meal. I've always used soap on my cast iron and it never hurt the seasoning. If cast iron doesn't need to be washed with soap then way use it on anything else?

I think the "rule" about not washing cast iron with soap is more about the early days, weeks, months, of getting a seasoning going on cast iron cookware. Once the seasoning is built up as a layer -- especially with modern Lodge type cast iron where the surface isn't smooth and needs to be "filled in" -- it's probably impervious to soap scrubbing.

That said, once a good hard seasoning is built up, I've just never found I needed soap to clean the pan. If I haven't cleaned it right away when it's hot and left it for the next morning (yeah, lazy home cook), I just set it on a burner with some water to boil and loosen any crud in the pan. Then it just needs a stiff nylon brush scrub under the faucet's hot water to clean the pan.

Soap is just irrelevant at that point. It's how I clean my DeBuyer carbon steel pans and my carbon steel woks too. Soap doesn't contribute anything to the cleanup, and it's faster if I don't have to make SURE I've got all the soap out of the pan. Hot water alone does the job.

 

[Michi]

The pans' non stick dies the same way ...death by a thousand imperfections
...soap and acid both eat polymerized oil because <science>

I bought this one:

https://www.kitchenwarehouse.com.au/Jamie-Oliver-Premium-Stainless-Steel-Frypan-30cm

It's been in daily use for over three years, and shows no signs of wear or the coating giving up. We do treat it carefully though. No metal tools in the pan, only wood and plastic, or silicon-covered tongs.

It's expensive, and heavy. Has good thermal mass though, almost as good as cast iron, I'd say. It means that it takes a while to heat up and, if you want instant temperature change for something, it's the wrong pan. But it's better than my German Fissler stainless steel one, which is just as heavy, but tends to stick. And the Fissler literally cost an arm and a leg way back when I bought it. In today's terms, about $500.

 

[madelinez]

I've got two cast iron pans, I use the bigger one every day and it has a perfectly smooth surface. The following steps have helped improve the finish over the years

1. Wash with a little soap immediately after using. Dry immediately.
2. Add a teaspoon of oil (I use canola) and rub over the entire surface until there's only the thinnest sheen left.
3. Heat pan up until oil reaches smoking point, reduce temperature slightly and leave it for another few minutes.

The only exception I make is when I cook bacon or plain fatty mince, I just leave the solidified fat coat the surface until the next use. I'm not sure if it's in my head but leaving solid bacon fat on it for a day seems to help a lot. Worst thing I've ever done was reduce a soy/lime marinade in it, that took a month to restore the gaps fully.

 

[podzap]

...soap and acid both eat polymerized oil because <science>

Most people don't understand that cast-iron's seasoning is polymerized oil. Most of the ones who do understand it have no clue how to actually polymerize oil in practice or which oil to use. Out of the ones who do understand how to polymerize oil and which oil to use, most of those don't understand how to keep from inadvertently stripping it off (hello, don't cook tomatoes and lemon in cast-iron).

Prior to the 1970s, grandmas used to know this stuff and passed the knowledge down. The advent of consumer teflon and the breakdown of the nuclear and grand family during the last 40 years in large swaths of western society pretty much turned cast-iron skillets from an everyhome item into something that today some people buy and even fewer of actually know how to use. Amazon has no shortage of negative product reviews from these type of people who think that cast iron should come baby-butt smooth from the factory or be able to withstand being plunged into a sink of cold water straight after coming off the stove. Sigh.

 

[Michi]

Amazon has no shortage of negative product reviews from these type of people who think that cast iron should come baby-butt smooth from the factory or be able to withstand being plunged into a sink of cold water straight after coming off the stove. Sigh.

From that, I take it that you advise against grinding/sanding a new skillet? I don't want to completely hi-jack this thread, I opened a new one here.

I'm also interested in your thoughts about how to season and which oil to use. Can you elaborate?

 

[podzap]

From that, I take it that you advise against grinding/sanding a new skillet? I don't want to completely hi-jack this thread, I opened a new one here.

I'm also interested in your thoughts about how to season and which oil to use. Can you elaborate?

I replied on your other thread.

 

[bahamaroot]

.

 

[bahamaroot]

Most people don't understand that cast-iron's seasoning is polymerized oil. Most of the ones who do understand it have no clue how to actually polymerize oil in practice or which oil to use. Out of the ones who do understand how to polymerize oil and which oil to use, most of those don't understand how to keep from inadvertently stripping it off (hello, don't cook tomatoes and lemon in cast-iron).

Prior to the 1970s, grandmas used to know this stuff and passed the knowledge down. The advent of consumer teflon and the breakdown of the nuclear and grand family during the last 40 years in large swaths of western society pretty much turned cast-iron skillets from an everyhome item into something that today some people buy and even fewer of actually know how to use. Amazon has no shortage of negative product reviews from these type of people who think that cast iron should come baby-butt smooth from the factory or be able to withstand being plunged into a sink of cold water straight after coming off the stove. Sigh.

My grandmother washed her cast iron in the same dishwater with the rest of the dishes, with soap. She had the slickest cast iron around. Sigh.