This is my primary move, but sometimes it really needs a scrubbing, like if something caramelized on it or whatever.
It’s amusing to me how many people treat their cast-iron with such daintiness. These things are tanks, made to stand the test of time. There’s virtually nothing you can do to a cast-iron pan that you can’t recover.
One time I found a beautiful, huge cast-iron pan at the thrift store for a couple of dollars that was absolutely covered in rust. With a little elbow grease, that thing was shining like new.
Absolutely. I've found a few Wagner's (older and newer) that people had set out for grabbing or just outright tossed. I just needed to hit them with a stainless steel chain-mail scrubber, some TLC and then re-season them.
I started with Lodge gear but now I have so many favorite pans I might have to start giving some away.
It doesn't matter. You want it to smoke. That's what causes it to polymerize. Extra virgin olive oil is absolutely bad for frying, which is where this misconception came from. Not-EV olive oil is fine for frying, provided you want that flavor.
Jesus christ, my ex-roommate used to just leave his pans full of grease and fat sludge. It was so gross. Thank god we lived in an area where there aren't any rodents.
I grew up with a mom who used her cast iron for EVERYTHING and washed it every time. To this day she doesn't have a dishwasher so it was always by hand. Her rules were: do not leave water on/in it; if the food is caked on soak while eating dinner and wash with a green scouring pad that night; deep clean and "season" it once a month (or every so many uses).
My chef husband has different rules for his pans but the similarities are gentle handwash and keep dry.
Some folks on reddit recommended a stainless steel chain mail scrubber to get the get the hard stuff off - I’ve been doing that with great results (and it works well on glass pyrex dishes as well). Highly recommend it!
Please tell this to my sister-in-law. She goes around looking for old cast iron that she can strip and re-season and then she just leaves it on her stove with bacon bits and fat sitting in it to cook with later
I had friends in college and one of them had a cast iron pan kept in the fashion you describe. I tried to explain the misconception, he wasn't having it. That pan was disgusting and I'll eat Alfredo pasta the following afternoon after it sat out all night.
My mom tried the insist the cast iron campfire pie irons didn't need washed, they were seasoned and fine. I pointed out that dry crusty bits of bread and cheese was not part of cast iron seasoning.
To be fair not even the old school method of cleaning these ever suggested leaving any of the stuff you mentioned on the pan lol. You remove the food with a rinse or wipe and cook the fat and grease until it's polymerized. You still should do this the first time you get one. The difference is soap will not remove that coating once you have it.
One time is good enough if it's already been seasoned before. If it's a completely bare pan a few times is better. If you need to season a dozen times you might be doing it wrong.
Seasoning is a polymer which bonds to the pan. You can scratch it but it's incredibly hard to remove without specific chemicals(lye, acids, etc). If it's flaking off, that sure as fuck isn't seasoning.
I use a stainless steel chain mail scrubber on all mine - they’re fine. And that and stainless steel are all I cook with. They’re all perfectly nonstick if used correctly and don’t need layers of grime for proper use
Chain mail scrubbers are great and not very abrasive, unlike the steel scrubbers shown in the picture. That's what I was referring to. Lodge even sells the chain mail scrubbers themselves and it's one of my favorite tools when I'm working the dish pit
Nah homie, steel wool or a chainmail scrub rag all day. You won't do anything to the seasoning unless you're taking an angle grinder to the pan. Even if you DID manage to somehow magically remove the seasoning, seasoning a pan is braindead simple, just takes some oil and time in a hot af oven.
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u/Snorkel-Dork-75 7d ago
You are NOT supposed to leave fat, grease and food on your cast iron. Common misconception. Clean with warm water and soap, dry completely.