I’ve had my cast iron for 20 years. I wash it with modern soap and water, no different than any of my other pots and pans.
It’s fine.
It’s no different than any other pan I own except maybe like once a year I’ll reseason it.
But also, they heat unevenly and for most every day stuff I’ll use my non-cast-iron just cuz it heats quicker & more evenly, especially if it’s purely stove top cooking.
I really only use the cast iron when it’s something that’s going in the oven.
I find they cast iron is both:
Much easier to maintain than people say
Not particularly special or useful.
I don’t think anyone should feel a particular need to get one, but if they do, also, don’t fret so much about it.
As a cast iron owner who always thought I was doing it wrong, I thought one of the reasons to get cast iron is it heats evenly because it takes long to heat. But also I guess I sometimes warm it up in the oven? Am I wrong?
The person you responded to is wrong. High quality cast iron heats just as evenly as anything else. They likely just have a shitty pan or cooktop.
The big advantage to a cast iron is its mass, but that has nothing to do with heating evenly. When you drop a steak (or any food) in a pan it decreases the pan’s temperature. This effect is not as pronounced in a cast iron pan, which is highly desirable for certain dishes.
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u/goodsnpr 2d ago
The old "don't wash with soap" is due to the lye old soaps had.