How to sanitize carbon steel after cutting raw meat?

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pomalo

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What’s the best way to sanitize a carbon steel (I specially have a blue#1), after cutting raw meat with it?

A damp towel with dish soap, followed by a clean damp, and then a dry?

A run under warm water with soap and then thoroughly dry and apply oil?

Thanks for the inputs and suggestions !
 
Nothing special, wash it the same way you would any other knife or dish that has had raw meat-hot water and soap. Raw meat is very gentle on carbon steel, blood and fat are slow to cause issues compared to many acidic vegetables and fruit, so you don't need to wipe it down during cutting. Just make sure you dry it well after washing.
 
I appreciate all the reply’s!! Hot soapy water + rinse + extra dry :). I’ve been reading too many threads of people who don’t dry their knife well enough after rinsing, and end up rusting them 😄
 
I appreciate all the reply’s!! Hot soapy water + rinse + extra dry :). I’ve been reading too many threads of people who don’t dry their knife well enough after rinsing, and end up rusting them 😄

After drying I let my knife sit on the counter for a bit before putting back on the knife rack to let evaporation do its thing so no moisture gets trapped between the blade and rack.
 
After drying I let my knife sit on the counter for a bit before putting back on the knife rack to let evaporation do its thing so no moisture gets trapped between the blade and rack.
Will definitely pay extra attention to drying it out completely before placing back in rack, thanks for the tip!
 
High temp dish will get it both clean and sanitized in a minute...

:flippingpan:
Hey Dave, thanks for the reply! Just want to confirm what you mean by high temp dish? Dish soap + high temp water? Or literally, placing in a high temp pan? Trying to learn the lingo :D
 
I didn't read the rest of the thread (It kinda got out of hand not that that's a bad thing) so ignore this if it's been mentioned.

When you're washing your knife give it a rinse water so hot that it heats the knife up a bit. The heat will help evaporate and residual moisture after drying. The heat from tap water is nowhere near beginning to be close to being hot enough to mess with the heat treatment
 
I didn't read the rest of the thread (It kinda got out of hand not that that's a bad thing) so ignore this if it's been mentioned.

When you're washing your knife give it a rinse water so hot that it heats the knife up a bit. The heat will help evaporate and residual moisture after drying. The heat from tap water is nowhere near beginning to be close to being hot enough to mess with the heat treatment
Has not been mentioned, just the evaporation before putting it back. That’s a great idea with the v hot water! Will def do that and allow to dry after wiping down
 
warm water first so the proteins don't denature. with sponge and soap.

then hot water rinse off

then flick the knife several times. do it with a lot of force. snap that wrist. ideally do it towards another person so that if it flies out of your hand, they catch it instead of the floor or some other hard object that could damage it.

with some of the water removed from flinging, next wipe it completely dry a couple of times with a super clean dish rag. not the one that you just cleaned the table with. not the sand-contaminated one that you keep in your beach bag.

the blade is now clean, dry, and warm. cuddle with it in bed.
 
Soap.

But what do I know? I use the same cutting board for everything from chicken butchery to tomato slicing.

🤷‍♂️
When cutting vegetables, I use other vegetables as my cutting surface. Likewise I cut meat on top of other meat.

Avoids any possibility of cross contamination.
 
It’s important to force a strong blue
— almost cyan — patina to protect the blade before any of these steps, for example, sanitizing in the dishwasher. I recall the steps are kinda involved. Anyone have a link?
 
A dishwasher will not sanitize enough. Only a forge will do that. If you use knives, and don't want to die quickly of food poisoning, setting up a forge needs to be your first priority.
 
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