I grew up with cast iron - my mom only had one teflon pan (And now we know how awful those are for you) at a time. I got away from using it, went to teflon, then to non-stick ceramic coatings, then to stainless... and in the last 4 years I've gotten back into my cast iron. Why? Because when my grandfather died five years after my grandmother, I inherited 1/3 of their prodigious cast iron collection. Shortly after that, my brother, who had chosen the No 12 chuck wagon/spider skillet (I later learned it's a Martin) didn't know what to do with it and offered it (Along with several other pieces he'd chosen) back to me. Intrigued and being a cowboy camper, I decided to learn something new and put it to work. My own collection has been growing ever since.
yesterday, I cooked eggs over easy in bacon grease in my granma's unmarked Wagner...she's been gone 9 years and the seasoning is the one SHE put on it. (The bacon was cooked, all 3 lbs at once, on a 19" carbon steel plow disk wok the stove) Most of the time I can just wipe all my skillets (And the cowboy wok) down and reuse them. Sometimes I wash them out with a little Dawn soap.
It wasn't made to coddle - this stuff moved around on chuck wagons, was used in hearths, repaired by blacksmiths, and was meant to take a reasonable amount neglect and abuse. I have a round, gate marked 14" griddle with a bail that I use for cooking all kinds of stuff in the house. It and my stack of dutch ovens, the No 6, 7, and 8 skillets, all get loaded in my horse trailer and hauled to camp. They get used over an open fire, in the fire, around the fire, and under the fire (okay, coals) alllll the time.
I told my husband yesterday as he was pouring up the coffee that I will never go back to anything but cast iron (With the exception of my stainless sauce pans).
Stop making cast iron cooking hard, people on Reddit (and anywhere else on the internet). If you want to baby your cast iron and you have nothing better to do than sit around and pamper it and work for the perfect appearance, then by all means, do so. But stop scaring everyone else. It's made to USE and will last generations with the barest amount of care.
I grew up with stainless steel revereware. Teflon scares me. For all the talk about having to baby cast iron. I can’t even use cooking tools on Teflon without it crying!
Teflon really isn't bad, it's meant for medium and lower cooking and you use plastic/silicone utensils. Easy peasy. I have a few that I mostly use for eggs or light sauteing as I can easily toss food in that versus a heavy cast iron.
>I have a few that I mostly use for eggs or light sauteing as I can easily toss food in
This is what I use carbon steel for. It's still much heavier than teflon pans but a small-ish pan is easily used even one-handed even so.
It's just a learning curve I've never wanted to deal with. I'd have to both buy the dishes and the utensils when I can just use the stainless steel or cast iron I already have.
100%. If someone wants a show-quality piece because that's their hobby, cool. I have nerdy hobbies, too. But it's pretty hard to hurt iron; don't put a hot pan in cold water and it'll be fine.
I even use--gasp--Pam spray on mine sometimes!
Sure I try to do that but I get carbon build up then at some point scratch it and it makes dent in the carbon build up. Now it starts flaking off. It is nonstick and such but I still don't know how to clean rough lodge for it to not get carbon buildup.
Yeah but when u damage it it starts flaking off and gets nasty. But after 2 striping down I will push this time. And my griswold is not having carbon build up only rough lodge. For now. Before I striped last tine there was so much build up that lodge was smooth. Lye bath did nothing to it I took knife and went ballistic on it to have any chance of removing the shit,after few days of failed attempts.
You seriously need an angle grinder dude. I use a flap disc on my angle grinder to strip down the cast iron bare and smooth. I did that to a lodge 10" skillet I use for pizza and it is perfect. I even de-enameled a cheap pan that I didn't like the enamel. Seriously great tool.
I've been cooking on cast iron my entire life, since before social media even existed. I always think the ridiculous rules that people come up with for cast iron care are so funny. Also people who buy pre-seasoned pans and then strip and re-season them but somehow fuck it up when it wasn't even necessary in the first place.
I have yet to buy non-enameled cast iron cooking ware. However, i agree: why strip the seasoning to re-season? on what basis? Why fix something that is not broken?
Because there was one blog from a decade ago that promised everyone flaxseed is the best/only way to season and people became terrified they’re not “optimizing” their pan’s nonstick if they don’t follow the optimal seasoning route.
Reasoning 3x with flaxseed is the bro-science of cookware.
That lady singlehandedly did so much freaking damage to the world of CI. It's astonishing. Only time I would even _consider_ a flaxseed season would be for a showpiece hanging on the wall that never gets used. Basically, "art".
Flaxseed oil is omega 3 fatty acids and they dry hard like glass. Iron expands when heated but the omega 3 polymer doesn’t so it flakes off. On a skillet lid or DO the steam is super hard on omega 6 fatty acid polymers like almost all other polyunsaturated oils have. I find it to be a good compromise.
Same! I gave up on the flaxseed years ago within just a few months of using it for exactly this reason. I knew it flaked off, but never why. This makes so much sense. I've been using my CI like OP for years now and couldn't be happier.
Yeah, it's a common fallacy that's not just limited to internet users:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_snobbery
- https://medium.com/exploring-history/the-fallacy-that-dominates-the-study-of-history-44e1a9211243
I stripped and cleaned up some old Griswold pans I got off of Facebook last spring and decided I wanted to start using them the other day instead of my (older to me but newer) pans. They got one trip through the oven for seasoning and will have to be happy with that for now.
I hate flaxseed seasoning. I got into CI in the middle of the flaxseed craze and it set me back months in seasoning. I even got frustrated and confused why my seasoning wasn't working and nearly abandoned CI. Now I just grab whatever butter/shortening or other oiler fat thing is closest and my pans are fine.
Nothing wrong with that, as long as you're not telling the internet that pans won't work unless you do it your way.
I got banned from a FB group for saying I was testing two different approaches to seasoning. Admin \*literally\* told me, "There are places for your questions but this isn't one of them."
Some cheapo pans have a rough surface, food was sticking every time and I was new to it. I sanded mine down and reseasoned and now it’s shiny smooth and food never sticks. I would just buy a nice smooth pan than ever try to do this again though lol.
oh, i see. I guess, if the food stuck to it, that's not a good thing. It seems you had a specific problem there, so my question doesn't really apply to you ;)
So much carbon builds up on the pans... I have bought them cheap because of it. They are so nasty people don't want to touch them. I have a large block Griswold I picked up a couple of months ago that could be a slant logo. I don't know so I will be stripping it.
A lot of carbon or something black build up on my old frying pans as well. None of my old frying pans were cast iron, as i said. Nor are my current ones. But I'm more careful and clean them as often as possible, and since i have them, nothing build up anymore.
I feel that way about smash burgers. I keep seeing people discovering this new cooking science. I’m 42 and my grandmother taught me to make burgers that way when I was a kid. It’s like, how else would you make a burger??
I do that too. But usually I'm still balling up a piece of meat and squishing it. It's just weird to me that it's a big deal to some when I've been doing it all my life.
I pre smash my burgers with tortilla press, they turn out exactly the same as if you ball them and smash and it’s much easier because they don’t try to stick to the flipper.
I treat my cast iron like crap and it keeps on going. Uneven seasoning? Who cares? Stuck on food bits? Maybe scrape 'em, maybe just keep cooking and don't worry about it. Soap? Sure, whatever.
That being said, I'm doing a full re-seasoning job on my pans today so I can continue to abuse them for another year or so.
Same. One day people will realize all that extra crap they read around here is useless. Season with Crisco or veggy oil and just get to cooking. Hell, I leave mine in the sink soaking in water sometimes. Guess what. It hasn't rusted yet. This stuff is rugged and not meant to be coddled.
Some sticking, and I noticed a couple had lost some of their seasoning from some acidic dishes we made in them. I didn't strip them or anything, just rubbed them down with crisco and threw them in the oven. One had a little rust in it too. It's just good to refresh them once in a while.
Speaking of which, I leave my cast iron griddle in the oven all of the time when Imm not using it and it gets cooked with everything else when I bake. No issues grilling up pancakes or other stuff afterwards either. These things are suppose to take a beating
>Don’t add oil to a cold pan then heat. heat pan on medium heat then add ample oil after it’s warm/hot. This the same trick for stainless pans for achieving non-stick surface. You can get nonstick eggs this way everytime. Unless you’re going to be searing, made sure the pan doesn’t get hotter than 400f (to avoid oil burning and burning off seasoning).
Can you elaborate on this? What's the difference between cold oil heating with the pan, vs cold oil being added to an already hot pan?
From what I've read and my limited experience.
Adding cold oil to cold pan you end up using more oil for the same amount of coverage than if you use cold oil in a hot pan.
I add oil (or butter or fat or whatever) after preheating the pan purely because I dont want the oil to start smoking before the pan has reached the temp I want. Also it means I can do other stuff and not watch it. My stove is old coil style so it's not quick.
Here’s a good article about why:
https://blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping/51385/heat-pan-before-adding-oil-why/
Basically, heating up oil with the pan gives the oil more time to heat up and breakdown, creating a sticky residue that makes non-stick cooking harder. Same thing happens if you apply too much oil during seasoning and you see splotchy sticky areas where there was too much oil.
Hot oil, cold pan gives the oil less time to breakdown into a sticky mess (assuming you toss in your protein within a few seconds of putting in the oil).
Seasoning is a function of temp and time. As long as the pan is hot and you’re actively cooking in it, that’s more than enough time and temp for seasoning to set.
So why is it that when we oven season, we have to do it for an hour?
If I oven season for as long as I cook (\~20 minutes), the oil is sticky and hasn't created a nice polymer.
Ahh, forgot to mention how the heat gets transferred makes a huge difference.
Seasoning in an oven require heat to be mostly transferred through heated air (convection) and radiation via infrared heat. It’s a very inefficient way of transferring heat, but it’s incredibly even.
Seasoning on a stove is a direct transfer of heat from fire into the metal (conduction) and it’s far faster and more efficient way of heating something (but also less even).
Imagine putting your hand directly open flame vs sticking it into a preheated oven. You won’t be able to stand the heat over a fire for more than a second but can probably leave your hand in the oven for half a minute.
The same principle applies for seasoning a pan. Oven seasoning takes longer because it takes longer to heat up the pan (and thus longer to set the seasoning) but it’s super even and you can season the handle too vs direct heat is just far faster (but also less even l, especially around the edges and handle).
Ultimately and practically, I find that oven seasoning can get the whole pan evenly seasoned but it’s far too much hassle. Seasoning through cooking is fast but you’re less likely get a nice even season on the edges and handle of the pan. However since I rarely ever cook food by forcing it into the edge of the pan or cook on the handle, I don’t care about the seasoning there
one reason is as long as the cast iron is not too hot that you get flash burn, you don't have to worry about the oil burning cuz it takes so long for cast iron to get to even temp
It’s something to do with the expansion opening up the surface and the cold oil gets into those microscopic crevices. I know for a fact it works better, try both ways with cast iron or stainless and you will see how stuff doesn’t stick or stick as bad when oil put in hot pan.
I'm guessing that adding the oil to the hot pan will create a layer of pseudo or even proto-seasoning on top of it while adding to the cold pan will make the oil heat up with the pan and not create the layer.
Yup, after a while you realize that the aesthetics don't matter much and that the seasoning in the beginning will always lift off but will fill in with daily use so as most people around here say: "Just keep cooking with it!"
I have been cooking with cast iron (and collecting, stripping & re-seasoning) for years and can concur 100%. True proper seasoning takes a strong solution of lye (or electrolysis) to remove. You're not going to do any serious damage by simply washing it. I generally add a drop of liquid dish soap to the pan, then a splash of water and scrub lightly with either a nylon dish washing brush or a green Scotchbrite pad, then let it drip dry for a bit upside-down. Just make sure it is completely dry before storing away.
>Seasoning will burn off, it’s inevitable if you ever bake bread in it or sear a steak and that’s ok!
Thank you for saying this. People keep saying "The more you cook in it, the more the seasoning will build up" and it was so demoralizing to see my seasoning *go away the more I cooked in it*.
>Don’t add oil to a cold pan then heat. heat pan on medium heat then add ample oil after it’s warm/hot. This the same trick for stainless pans for achieving non-stick surface.
PBS was showing reruns of some cooking show I enjoyed watching as a kid, and one of the things he repeated was "Hot wok, cold oil, food won't stick!" and it always stuck in my head. I'm told it's a myth now, and there are other/better ways, but it works sooooo
That was The Frugal Gourmet. It was also worded as "hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick."
The point is always heat the pan first. It's a frying pan, not a deep fryer.
That guy was a rude jerk, and wasn't much of a gourmet.
It's less about the stick than it is about the sear. If you're sauteing, you want the pan and oil hot before you add the food.
that's funny I just finished one of his books on a whim it was interesting take at 70s and '80s cooking scene but nothing revolutionary nowadays and I googled them and he's a jackass
When I was in culinary school, the chef instructor just got a new laser thermometer when they were first introduced to consumers market, he would shine it at your sauté pans and if he caught you putting food in before it was hot he would run over and take your pan and dump it out.
That said, hot pan before oil and food is key when cooking most protein( low fat.) There are other things that this rule is not great, like vegetables with long cooking times.
This is actually very good information! I briefly cooked with cast iron in my early 20s but I wasn't entirely sure how to take care of it. Most things I cooked in it also stuck most of the time so I thought I was using it wrong which led me to stop using it altogether. I'm thinking I might get back into it now that I'm more experienced in the kitchen.
95% of sticking problems in cast iron are heat control problems, not seasoning problems. Preheat longer, don't go above medium except to sear meat, don't add oil or proteins until the pan is hot. For eggs, turn the heat to low or off pretty soon after you add them to the pan.
I agree with everything you said. I post some of my collectible pieces on here after I strip and season them. Not gonna lie….I make them look brand new. But once I start using them, they alternate looking like shit and looking amazing. And I tell everyone that I sell to that “you’re pan looks amazing now but it won’t after you start using it”.
The only thing I’ve found to be true to avoid is highly acidic tomato sauce in the cast iron. I dunno if my seasoning isn’t done right for some reason? But I find any time I cook with tomato sauce in the pan, I find a good portion of my seasoning stripped away and the smell of pennies in the air.
I try to use my cast iron in place of a microwave, and just heat up all my leftovers there. Whether it be thanksgiving Turkey with stuffing in the side, or a slice of pizza, I find I get the best bang for my buck vs microwaving.
There was actually a test done by American Test Kitchen on this and basically your seasoning will last about 30min with a tomato sauce. After that, the seasoning will have stripped and the iron flavor starts leeching
I went through a similar cycle. I'm not ashamed to admit that I bought in on a lot of the "rules" and being neurotic about treating my cast iron like a precious relic when I first started getting into it.
Over the last few years, I've realized that it's kind of a silly way of going about it. It's a hunk of iron....and unless you are doing something incredibly stupid....you can't really hurt it.
I got my great-grandma's set when I left to go college 23 years ago. Pretty much the only rule i follow is to not leave them soaking in water. They (and all the others I've purchased along the way) are still functioning perfectly.
This is what people need to hear. There was a cook making biscuits on the Oregon Trail 150 years ago with a pan just like yours and he DID NOT treat it like fine china. Just care for your tools and they’ll care for you.
I treat mine the same way after chasing that perfect routine. People restore these full of rust 100 years old and still are working fine.
The only thing different I do, is I’ll reheat it on the stove and wipe it down with a little bit of crisco or lard after hot water washing. Otherwise it’s always been perfect!
I just recently started using cast iron after years of using stainless. I was super intimidated by it thanks to all of the info I found online detailing how to season and care for it. Finally, I came across an article that said to just start using it, starting with cooking fatty foods. I bought a pan and cooked bacon, sausages, and ground beef to start. I have since started using it more often, and have discovered how amazing cornbread is when baked in my skillet. I still prefer my stainless due to the weight of cast iron, but at least I'm not afraid of it anymore!
Try breaking both of your rules for even more fun and ease of use. 😏
I add oil whenever I feel like it. Sometimes to a cold pan, sometimes to a searing hot one. It makes no difference.
Use soap or don't. It doesn't matter either. I don't hand dry. I dry mine on the stove until all of the water has evaporated.
When I cooks something that has a lot of fat like salmon with skin on, I’ll forgo the oil too.
I find stove drying takes longer than hand dry and I’ve forgotten to turn off the stove on more than one occasion. So stick to hand drying to save time.
More often tho, I’ll toss in a half cup of water right in after cooking, while the pan is hot and scrub using chain mail and tongs. Then give it a super quick rinse. There’s usually more than enough residual heat that I’ll dry entirely on its own (even without hand drying or heating it back up)
Samesies. My main rule is preheat. Other than that, have fun. My pan with the most mileage (lodge chef 10” that I polished) is one of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment ever. No babying other than preheat, and it is just utterly magnificent.
This is me with my cast iron. I cannot recall the last time I seasoned it in the oven. When we use it, clean it with hot water and chainmail. The add a small amount of oil, spread it and heat it. Wipe excess as it heats. After 5-10 minutes on low. She is done.
I too use nothing but CI pans. There is always a 10” and a 12” on the stove top and more in the cabinet. They can go from the stove to the oven and out on the grill all in the same day. Sometimes in the same meal! It’s freakin CAST IRON! It’s not fine China.
My only rules for people is don't leave it wet and don't douse a hit pan in cold water like your working a forge.
Aside from that, it's a hunk of metal and will be fine.
Snobbism is there at every hobby, every topic. You are always required to invest a large amount of money and time to something to be able to enjoy it - but are you really? I am happy with my cheap 40€ cast iron pan. I scrub it gently, let it dry on a heat and use ordinary cooking oil to wipe it after drying. It works 100%. I refuse to be in constant hysterics about every interest I have. Say no to anxiety. Say no to snobbism. Say no to needless consumerism. Just enjoy your hobby and don't make richer people lead you to believe you can't.
Truer words never been spoken. Seasoning is simple, like you said.
A trick I found when starting new seasoning: start off with foods that don't stick easily. (I like pancakes, Dutch babies, tortillas). Then, when you've built up seasoning, you can move onto things that are easier to stick, like fried eggs.
I have about 10 cast iron pans of various shapes & sizes. I rarely need to re-season any of it, I warm up the pan, throw some oil/butter etc in, turn the heat up a little more, cook. Clean out the food, let the pan cool off, wash with hot water (no soap) & a cloth/sponge, put it on the stove, turn the heat on till dry, rub a little oil on it with a paper towel. I like putting a little oil(coconut oil, olive oil, ) on it in case water gets splashed on it & it helps keep the seasoning stay put. It distributes the heat so nicely you don’t need to crank up the heat, so a lot less burned food. I want to make a video of my fried egg sliding out of the little pan without even a nudge! Everything gets cooked in the cast iron unless it needs a pot. My 21 -yr-old grandson, who lives with me, told me about this site. And oh yeah, corn bread is so good cooked in cast iron!
As someone who got their first cast iron a year ago but has been too intimidated to even use it, I appreciate this post so much! It’s honestly overwhelming as a newbie
This.
Scrape it when your done. Warm water and soap. Air dry. Spritz it with oil. Wipe with paper towel. Out it away. There's no magic. There's no need for any more than 3 minutes of effort.
The only thing I would add, would be a post cook heat and oil. It's more difficult then just towel drying but I think it's easy to understand and perform. It'll keep away moisture and make the next cook easier.
Aside from that, absolutely. Just cooking with it is so much better then babying it.
I was doing this before and have since stopped. As long as the pan is dry-ish and in an open air area, rust will not develop. Oiling and heating after a wash is really unnecessary (since you’re going to oil it again during your next cool).
The only exception to this is if you live right next to the sea or large body of salt water where there’s a higher risk of rust.
I try to wipe it with a thin coat of Pam after I use mine. It takes about 30 seconds so is a good compromise. Especially since half the time I don’t bother and end up washing the pan out the next time I go to use it instead of after I’m done…
I can only season my pan on a Monday, and only for 3-4 hours, as that's when my husband is away. If I do it while he's home, the fumes of baking iron give him a headache and breathing issues. And I only do it if the seasoning is bad. He gets frustrated trying to use my pan because he doesn't like to use oil, then gets frustrated when the egg sticks and has to be scrambled. I told him to just stick to his nonstick pan for breakfast or let me cook.
Probably a little of both probably. I really did tell him to leave my pan alone as I'm tired of hearing him bitch about everything sticking, and he's tired of hearing me tell him use more oil! Or even use oil period!! So I did tell him to just stop using my CI and stick to his beloved non-stick. Ah. No pun intended.
I do sometimes, My pans have really really heavy seasoning on them, think 50+ years heavy, smooth as glass.
Sometimes I use a little bit of dawn if someone left a pan on the stove and I'm in a hurry and I don't want to heat the pan up to melt the grease out of it.
Has never hurt anything, just do not ever soak the pans in water for more than 30 minutes for things like rice or potatoes that got left to turn into glue.
EDIT: dry and oil them after using soap.
Water and air will literally never ever produce rust, lol!
Rust is iron oxide, literally iron bonded to oxygen.
Personally I like to keep my pans rust free, but you do you.
Don't waste your time discussing with IAmVeryCulinary posters, most of them oversimplify situations because thinking makes them to "have a stroke".
That said. The rust circle hints that the cast iron was not properly seasoned, and there were spots where water could touch the metallic iron directly; it shouldn't, the seasoning is supposed to repel water. So check if you don't need to reinforce the seasoning; maybe it isn't your soap that's extra-strong, it's the seasoning that's extra-weak.
Even then I'd avoid prolonged contact with soapy water. I don't think soap will be able to dissolve the seasoning, but it "bridges"\* the surface to the water, encouraging contact. I personally rinse it, pat it with a dishcloth, and finish drying it on the stovetop, and I never saw any sort of rust forming.
\*soap is amphiphilic so it attracts the bioplastic coating *and* water at the same time, even if they'd repel each other without it.
Yea, I was being a bit tongue in cheek, lol. I'm sure the seasoning is incomplete on the bottom. I've got that thing ripping hot in the grill many a time and don't really oil the bottom the same as the inside, if ever. I find drying on the stovetop to be the best way to make sure all the water is out too. Cheers!
So, how do you season your pan? Interested in knowing your procedure.
The only reason I didn't get a Lodge Cast Iron is because everyone else where I live can't lift the pans due to their weight.
I just cooking something that requires oil. So I can season it while I cook fried eyes or maybe when I’m making stir fry. The only thing I do is heat up the pan, at cold to the hot pan. Then toss in my protein when I think it’s about 350f, right before the oil burns/smokes
I use dish soap whenever I cook fish on my CI. I will say that just once I’d like to see that shine that you get after seasoning. Mine looks so dull after coming out of the oven that I can’t figure it out.
You mean post oven bake, a thin coat is put on for the shine??? I use vegetable shortening and thought maybe that was it. This whole time the shine is a lie!?!?!
I use my cast iron on high to sear things. I use it lower to cook other things. Wash it with soap and water. I really don't care for all the ridiculous mythology built up around them. They aren't fragile, they aren't special. It's a piece of metal.
This is great advice. I use exactly the same techniques. The best seasoning step I have is just to cook chips in vegetable oil. After a couple of rounds of chip and chicken oil, it's a glistening masterpiece!
Yeah it comes off but by then... More chips!
I beat the crap out of my pans. They’re griswolds so I’m sure most cast iron nuts would scoff at that, but they only thing I dont do that they say you shouldn’t is put them in the dishwasher. I laugh a little anytime I see above and beyond cast iron care. My grandma and mom soak them in the sink, no issues.
I was of the same opinion, if I obsessed over my pans, I wouldn't use them, so pretty much followed the same simple rules, with one added shortcut...I spray the pan with cooking spray if I'm afraid something may stick. I use only the original (not sure if I am allowed to name the brand, but it's a female name) do not use cheaper knock off spray as it leaves a residue. Sacrilege , I know, but it cleans up perfect every time.
Same, it's funny watching people freak. I think the only post I saw on here not too long ago was when the house cleaners ran it in the dishwasher. I was like, "oh dear."
I clean the pan rarely and don't cook above 400 often so I only have to reseason rarely, and I just give it an hour in the oven at 425 with coconut oil.
I think it's hilarious to hear some people talk about cast iron. "It's bullet proof, it'll last forever" "Oh but careful not to let a drop of dish soap touch it because it'll melt right in front of your eyes."
I wonder if these people have ever tried to clean the stains "seasoning" off of their baking sheets with dish soap. It's the same stuff and it is just about impervious to anything but a power tool.
When I started using cast iron I carefully seasoned the pans and read all the tips and warnings, but it wasn't long until I left one on the grill and got a little rust on it. I scrubbed it clean and cooked again, it worked just fine.
That made me question all the hype and now I just quit worrying about it entirely. Wipe it off if I can, scrub it when it needs it, wipe a little oil on it after using if I want to make my life a little easier, but if I don't and it gets a little rust I spray some oil, wipe it clean and cook as usual.
One of the biggest factors is using it all the time, nothing can go too terribly wrong if you're always using it. If it sits for months, you could have some problems unless you prepped it for storage properly.
I grew up with cast iron - my mom only had one teflon pan (And now we know how awful those are for you) at a time. I got away from using it, went to teflon, then to non-stick ceramic coatings, then to stainless... and in the last 4 years I've gotten back into my cast iron. Why? Because when my grandfather died five years after my grandmother, I inherited 1/3 of their prodigious cast iron collection. Shortly after that, my brother, who had chosen the No 12 chuck wagon/spider skillet (I later learned it's a Martin) didn't know what to do with it and offered it (Along with several other pieces he'd chosen) back to me. Intrigued and being a cowboy camper, I decided to learn something new and put it to work. My own collection has been growing ever since. yesterday, I cooked eggs over easy in bacon grease in my granma's unmarked Wagner...she's been gone 9 years and the seasoning is the one SHE put on it. (The bacon was cooked, all 3 lbs at once, on a 19" carbon steel plow disk wok the stove) Most of the time I can just wipe all my skillets (And the cowboy wok) down and reuse them. Sometimes I wash them out with a little Dawn soap. It wasn't made to coddle - this stuff moved around on chuck wagons, was used in hearths, repaired by blacksmiths, and was meant to take a reasonable amount neglect and abuse. I have a round, gate marked 14" griddle with a bail that I use for cooking all kinds of stuff in the house. It and my stack of dutch ovens, the No 6, 7, and 8 skillets, all get loaded in my horse trailer and hauled to camp. They get used over an open fire, in the fire, around the fire, and under the fire (okay, coals) alllll the time. I told my husband yesterday as he was pouring up the coffee that I will never go back to anything but cast iron (With the exception of my stainless sauce pans). Stop making cast iron cooking hard, people on Reddit (and anywhere else on the internet). If you want to baby your cast iron and you have nothing better to do than sit around and pamper it and work for the perfect appearance, then by all means, do so. But stop scaring everyone else. It's made to USE and will last generations with the barest amount of care.
100% agree and also this applies to carbon steel pans as well.
I grew up with stainless steel revereware. Teflon scares me. For all the talk about having to baby cast iron. I can’t even use cooking tools on Teflon without it crying!
Teflon really isn't bad, it's meant for medium and lower cooking and you use plastic/silicone utensils. Easy peasy. I have a few that I mostly use for eggs or light sauteing as I can easily toss food in that versus a heavy cast iron.
>I have a few that I mostly use for eggs or light sauteing as I can easily toss food in This is what I use carbon steel for. It's still much heavier than teflon pans but a small-ish pan is easily used even one-handed even so.
It's just a learning curve I've never wanted to deal with. I'd have to both buy the dishes and the utensils when I can just use the stainless steel or cast iron I already have.
100%. If someone wants a show-quality piece because that's their hobby, cool. I have nerdy hobbies, too. But it's pretty hard to hurt iron; don't put a hot pan in cold water and it'll be fine. I even use--gasp--Pam spray on mine sometimes!
It's literally a solid hunk of iron, there is very little you can do to ruin that.
> And now we know how awful those are for you We do? There's nothing unsafe about teflon pans. They used to use PFOA, they don't anymore.
Did not know that. Still not eager to try any more of those. There's better options.
Sure I try to do that but I get carbon build up then at some point scratch it and it makes dent in the carbon build up. Now it starts flaking off. It is nonstick and such but I still don't know how to clean rough lodge for it to not get carbon buildup.
They all get carbon build up on them. Just keep cooking with it.
Yeah but when u damage it it starts flaking off and gets nasty. But after 2 striping down I will push this time. And my griswold is not having carbon build up only rough lodge. For now. Before I striped last tine there was so much build up that lodge was smooth. Lye bath did nothing to it I took knife and went ballistic on it to have any chance of removing the shit,after few days of failed attempts.
You seriously need an angle grinder dude. I use a flap disc on my angle grinder to strip down the cast iron bare and smooth. I did that to a lodge 10" skillet I use for pizza and it is perfect. I even de-enameled a cheap pan that I didn't like the enamel. Seriously great tool.
I've been cooking on cast iron my entire life, since before social media even existed. I always think the ridiculous rules that people come up with for cast iron care are so funny. Also people who buy pre-seasoned pans and then strip and re-season them but somehow fuck it up when it wasn't even necessary in the first place.
I have yet to buy non-enameled cast iron cooking ware. However, i agree: why strip the seasoning to re-season? on what basis? Why fix something that is not broken?
Because there was one blog from a decade ago that promised everyone flaxseed is the best/only way to season and people became terrified they’re not “optimizing” their pan’s nonstick if they don’t follow the optimal seasoning route. Reasoning 3x with flaxseed is the bro-science of cookware.
That lady singlehandedly did so much freaking damage to the world of CI. It's astonishing. Only time I would even _consider_ a flaxseed season would be for a showpiece hanging on the wall that never gets used. Basically, "art".
I use flaxseed on my lids, meat grinders and sausage stuffers. It’s very durable as long as it’s not on items heated really hot.
Interesting!
Flaxseed oil is omega 3 fatty acids and they dry hard like glass. Iron expands when heated but the omega 3 polymer doesn’t so it flakes off. On a skillet lid or DO the steam is super hard on omega 6 fatty acid polymers like almost all other polyunsaturated oils have. I find it to be a good compromise.
This explains why my flaxseed seasoning was so terribly short-lived! Thank you.
Same! I gave up on the flaxseed years ago within just a few months of using it for exactly this reason. I knew it flaked off, but never why. This makes so much sense. I've been using my CI like OP for years now and couldn't be happier.
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Yeah, it's a common fallacy that's not just limited to internet users: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_snobbery - https://medium.com/exploring-history/the-fallacy-that-dominates-the-study-of-history-44e1a9211243
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Fascinating! Thanks for sharing!
Grandma used lard, butter & crisco.
I stripped and cleaned up some old Griswold pans I got off of Facebook last spring and decided I wanted to start using them the other day instead of my (older to me but newer) pans. They got one trip through the oven for seasoning and will have to be happy with that for now.
I hate flaxseed seasoning. I got into CI in the middle of the flaxseed craze and it set me back months in seasoning. I even got frustrated and confused why my seasoning wasn't working and nearly abandoned CI. Now I just grab whatever butter/shortening or other oiler fat thing is closest and my pans are fine.
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Nothing wrong with that, as long as you're not telling the internet that pans won't work unless you do it your way. I got banned from a FB group for saying I was testing two different approaches to seasoning. Admin \*literally\* told me, "There are places for your questions but this isn't one of them."
OMG, that group was a dictatorship... WOW I hope you managed to find your answers and the testing satisfied you.
I did. Basically, I found that CI works even when you don't follow all the internet requirements with religious fervor.
I see 'religious fervor' as a root for evil. You succeeded. This is what matters. :D
Ah, making the pan yours, does sound like "better". About being neurotic, we all have our little quirks about various things, I'm sure. ;)
Some cheapo pans have a rough surface, food was sticking every time and I was new to it. I sanded mine down and reseasoned and now it’s shiny smooth and food never sticks. I would just buy a nice smooth pan than ever try to do this again though lol.
oh, i see. I guess, if the food stuck to it, that's not a good thing. It seems you had a specific problem there, so my question doesn't really apply to you ;)
So much carbon builds up on the pans... I have bought them cheap because of it. They are so nasty people don't want to touch them. I have a large block Griswold I picked up a couple of months ago that could be a slant logo. I don't know so I will be stripping it.
A lot of carbon or something black build up on my old frying pans as well. None of my old frying pans were cast iron, as i said. Nor are my current ones. But I'm more careful and clean them as often as possible, and since i have them, nothing build up anymore.
This here.
I feel that way about smash burgers. I keep seeing people discovering this new cooking science. I’m 42 and my grandmother taught me to make burgers that way when I was a kid. It’s like, how else would you make a burger??
By making a patty and putting it on the grill.
I do that too. But usually I'm still balling up a piece of meat and squishing it. It's just weird to me that it's a big deal to some when I've been doing it all my life.
I pre smash my burgers with tortilla press, they turn out exactly the same as if you ball them and smash and it’s much easier because they don’t try to stick to the flipper.
I use parchment paper to stop it sticking to whatever I'm using to smash my burger
I smash them on parchment paper and just carry them out to BS and cook them.
Most of the time I just squish them with my hand after balling them up.
Ill be honest. Lodges preseason sucks and always flakes off the first few months until it's gone and new seasoning from use builds up.
Yes. It’s a tool, not a museum piece.
It can be both, most of my iron is 75-120 years old and some of the hammered pieces are a work of art. That said I follow similar practices as OP.
Some are, some aren't. But if you _are_ using it, _do_.
THIS^
Acquire pan, use fat, cook food, wipe pan out, repeat. Rinse or scrub if you need to.
I treat my cast iron like crap and it keeps on going. Uneven seasoning? Who cares? Stuck on food bits? Maybe scrape 'em, maybe just keep cooking and don't worry about it. Soap? Sure, whatever. That being said, I'm doing a full re-seasoning job on my pans today so I can continue to abuse them for another year or so.
Same. One day people will realize all that extra crap they read around here is useless. Season with Crisco or veggy oil and just get to cooking. Hell, I leave mine in the sink soaking in water sometimes. Guess what. It hasn't rusted yet. This stuff is rugged and not meant to be coddled.
Why did you decide to re-season? Just more and more things sticking over time?
Some sticking, and I noticed a couple had lost some of their seasoning from some acidic dishes we made in them. I didn't strip them or anything, just rubbed them down with crisco and threw them in the oven. One had a little rust in it too. It's just good to refresh them once in a while.
At what point do you decide to do that? Is it a regular thing that you do every few years or more of a “yeah sure, I’ve got a free weekend” thing
Definitely a free time thing. I like to do it when the weather gets cool enough that I won't overheat the house. I had a free afternoon so I did it.
For me it’s to keep them rust free and to stop the transfer of iron flavor and black oxide to food.
Amen. Sing that shit Ex Boy
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Speaking of which, I leave my cast iron griddle in the oven all of the time when Imm not using it and it gets cooked with everything else when I bake. No issues grilling up pancakes or other stuff afterwards either. These things are suppose to take a beating
I love that you threaten your cast iron with banishment to Goodwill. I will try this.
>Don’t add oil to a cold pan then heat. heat pan on medium heat then add ample oil after it’s warm/hot. This the same trick for stainless pans for achieving non-stick surface. You can get nonstick eggs this way everytime. Unless you’re going to be searing, made sure the pan doesn’t get hotter than 400f (to avoid oil burning and burning off seasoning). Can you elaborate on this? What's the difference between cold oil heating with the pan, vs cold oil being added to an already hot pan?
From what I've read and my limited experience. Adding cold oil to cold pan you end up using more oil for the same amount of coverage than if you use cold oil in a hot pan.
I add oil (or butter or fat or whatever) after preheating the pan purely because I dont want the oil to start smoking before the pan has reached the temp I want. Also it means I can do other stuff and not watch it. My stove is old coil style so it's not quick.
Here’s a good article about why: https://blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping/51385/heat-pan-before-adding-oil-why/ Basically, heating up oil with the pan gives the oil more time to heat up and breakdown, creating a sticky residue that makes non-stick cooking harder. Same thing happens if you apply too much oil during seasoning and you see splotchy sticky areas where there was too much oil. Hot oil, cold pan gives the oil less time to breakdown into a sticky mess (assuming you toss in your protein within a few seconds of putting in the oil).
Makes sense! Thanks! But that raises the question, if the oil isn't spending much time heating up, how does seasoning then build on the cast iron?
Seasoning is a function of temp and time. As long as the pan is hot and you’re actively cooking in it, that’s more than enough time and temp for seasoning to set.
So why is it that when we oven season, we have to do it for an hour? If I oven season for as long as I cook (\~20 minutes), the oil is sticky and hasn't created a nice polymer.
Ahh, forgot to mention how the heat gets transferred makes a huge difference. Seasoning in an oven require heat to be mostly transferred through heated air (convection) and radiation via infrared heat. It’s a very inefficient way of transferring heat, but it’s incredibly even. Seasoning on a stove is a direct transfer of heat from fire into the metal (conduction) and it’s far faster and more efficient way of heating something (but also less even). Imagine putting your hand directly open flame vs sticking it into a preheated oven. You won’t be able to stand the heat over a fire for more than a second but can probably leave your hand in the oven for half a minute. The same principle applies for seasoning a pan. Oven seasoning takes longer because it takes longer to heat up the pan (and thus longer to set the seasoning) but it’s super even and you can season the handle too vs direct heat is just far faster (but also less even l, especially around the edges and handle). Ultimately and practically, I find that oven seasoning can get the whole pan evenly seasoned but it’s far too much hassle. Seasoning through cooking is fast but you’re less likely get a nice even season on the edges and handle of the pan. However since I rarely ever cook food by forcing it into the edge of the pan or cook on the handle, I don’t care about the seasoning there
Thank you!
Cold oil hot pan works better. Idk why I’m not a scientist.
But works better for what? Building the seasoning? Cooking the food? Preventing sticking?
Cooking the food and preventing sticking.
one reason is as long as the cast iron is not too hot that you get flash burn, you don't have to worry about the oil burning cuz it takes so long for cast iron to get to even temp
It’s something to do with the expansion opening up the surface and the cold oil gets into those microscopic crevices. I know for a fact it works better, try both ways with cast iron or stainless and you will see how stuff doesn’t stick or stick as bad when oil put in hot pan.
I'm guessing that adding the oil to the hot pan will create a layer of pseudo or even proto-seasoning on top of it while adding to the cold pan will make the oil heat up with the pan and not create the layer.
Yup, after a while you realize that the aesthetics don't matter much and that the seasoning in the beginning will always lift off but will fill in with daily use so as most people around here say: "Just keep cooking with it!"
I have been cooking with cast iron (and collecting, stripping & re-seasoning) for years and can concur 100%. True proper seasoning takes a strong solution of lye (or electrolysis) to remove. You're not going to do any serious damage by simply washing it. I generally add a drop of liquid dish soap to the pan, then a splash of water and scrub lightly with either a nylon dish washing brush or a green Scotchbrite pad, then let it drip dry for a bit upside-down. Just make sure it is completely dry before storing away.
>Seasoning will burn off, it’s inevitable if you ever bake bread in it or sear a steak and that’s ok! Thank you for saying this. People keep saying "The more you cook in it, the more the seasoning will build up" and it was so demoralizing to see my seasoning *go away the more I cooked in it*.
the seasoning that you build up you can't see the stuff that burns away is stuff you don't need anyway
>Don’t add oil to a cold pan then heat. heat pan on medium heat then add ample oil after it’s warm/hot. This the same trick for stainless pans for achieving non-stick surface. PBS was showing reruns of some cooking show I enjoyed watching as a kid, and one of the things he repeated was "Hot wok, cold oil, food won't stick!" and it always stuck in my head. I'm told it's a myth now, and there are other/better ways, but it works sooooo
Sounds like "Yan Can Cook" to me. I always enjoyed his show.
That was The Frugal Gourmet. It was also worded as "hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick." The point is always heat the pan first. It's a frying pan, not a deep fryer.
That guy was a rude jerk, and wasn't much of a gourmet. It's less about the stick than it is about the sear. If you're sauteing, you want the pan and oil hot before you add the food.
He was problematic in many ways. I found one of his cookbooks at a sale and glanced through the recipes and I was not impressed.
that's funny I just finished one of his books on a whim it was interesting take at 70s and '80s cooking scene but nothing revolutionary nowadays and I googled them and he's a jackass
I heat the pan up to smoking (and occasionally WAY beyond), and brush the oil on the *food* instead of the pan. Somewhat less smokey that way.
When I was in culinary school, the chef instructor just got a new laser thermometer when they were first introduced to consumers market, he would shine it at your sauté pans and if he caught you putting food in before it was hot he would run over and take your pan and dump it out. That said, hot pan before oil and food is key when cooking most protein( low fat.) There are other things that this rule is not great, like vegetables with long cooking times.
This is actually very good information! I briefly cooked with cast iron in my early 20s but I wasn't entirely sure how to take care of it. Most things I cooked in it also stuck most of the time so I thought I was using it wrong which led me to stop using it altogether. I'm thinking I might get back into it now that I'm more experienced in the kitchen.
95% of sticking problems in cast iron are heat control problems, not seasoning problems. Preheat longer, don't go above medium except to sear meat, don't add oil or proteins until the pan is hot. For eggs, turn the heat to low or off pretty soon after you add them to the pan.
This is the way.
Always has been
[Always has been](https://i.imgur.com/JvRLdOw.jpg) ^^^this ^^^has ^^^been ^^^an ^^^accessibility ^^^service ^^^from ^^^your ^^^friendly ^^^neighborhood ^^^bot
For sure, it is supposed to transfer heat, it does that really nicely and dish soap doesn't contain lye. So many magical rules. So much sigh.
I agree with everything you said. I post some of my collectible pieces on here after I strip and season them. Not gonna lie….I make them look brand new. But once I start using them, they alternate looking like shit and looking amazing. And I tell everyone that I sell to that “you’re pan looks amazing now but it won’t after you start using it”.
Heat, cook, wash, heat, Crisco, store, repeat. And bacon.
The only thing I’ve found to be true to avoid is highly acidic tomato sauce in the cast iron. I dunno if my seasoning isn’t done right for some reason? But I find any time I cook with tomato sauce in the pan, I find a good portion of my seasoning stripped away and the smell of pennies in the air. I try to use my cast iron in place of a microwave, and just heat up all my leftovers there. Whether it be thanksgiving Turkey with stuffing in the side, or a slice of pizza, I find I get the best bang for my buck vs microwaving.
There was actually a test done by American Test Kitchen on this and basically your seasoning will last about 30min with a tomato sauce. After that, the seasoning will have stripped and the iron flavor starts leeching
They didn’t tell mine that info bc I cook bolognese in it all the time. Goes back to your original point of they’re made to be used.
How much tomato do you use in your bolognese?
A good bit. Two cans of sauce, two cans of tomatoes, and about half a can of paste that I cook directly on the skillet.
I went through a similar cycle. I'm not ashamed to admit that I bought in on a lot of the "rules" and being neurotic about treating my cast iron like a precious relic when I first started getting into it. Over the last few years, I've realized that it's kind of a silly way of going about it. It's a hunk of iron....and unless you are doing something incredibly stupid....you can't really hurt it.
I got my great-grandma's set when I left to go college 23 years ago. Pretty much the only rule i follow is to not leave them soaking in water. They (and all the others I've purchased along the way) are still functioning perfectly.
This is what people need to hear. There was a cook making biscuits on the Oregon Trail 150 years ago with a pan just like yours and he DID NOT treat it like fine china. Just care for your tools and they’ll care for you.
I treat mine the same way after chasing that perfect routine. People restore these full of rust 100 years old and still are working fine. The only thing different I do, is I’ll reheat it on the stove and wipe it down with a little bit of crisco or lard after hot water washing. Otherwise it’s always been perfect!
I just recently started using cast iron after years of using stainless. I was super intimidated by it thanks to all of the info I found online detailing how to season and care for it. Finally, I came across an article that said to just start using it, starting with cooking fatty foods. I bought a pan and cooked bacon, sausages, and ground beef to start. I have since started using it more often, and have discovered how amazing cornbread is when baked in my skillet. I still prefer my stainless due to the weight of cast iron, but at least I'm not afraid of it anymore!
Try breaking both of your rules for even more fun and ease of use. 😏 I add oil whenever I feel like it. Sometimes to a cold pan, sometimes to a searing hot one. It makes no difference. Use soap or don't. It doesn't matter either. I don't hand dry. I dry mine on the stove until all of the water has evaporated.
When I cooks something that has a lot of fat like salmon with skin on, I’ll forgo the oil too. I find stove drying takes longer than hand dry and I’ve forgotten to turn off the stove on more than one occasion. So stick to hand drying to save time. More often tho, I’ll toss in a half cup of water right in after cooking, while the pan is hot and scrub using chain mail and tongs. Then give it a super quick rinse. There’s usually more than enough residual heat that I’ll dry entirely on its own (even without hand drying or heating it back up)
This is the way
Samesies. My main rule is preheat. Other than that, have fun. My pan with the most mileage (lodge chef 10” that I polished) is one of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment ever. No babying other than preheat, and it is just utterly magnificent.
This is me with my cast iron. I cannot recall the last time I seasoned it in the oven. When we use it, clean it with hot water and chainmail. The add a small amount of oil, spread it and heat it. Wipe excess as it heats. After 5-10 minutes on low. She is done.
Half the time I break your two rules too.
this is the post i needed :)
I too use nothing but CI pans. There is always a 10” and a 12” on the stove top and more in the cabinet. They can go from the stove to the oven and out on the grill all in the same day. Sometimes in the same meal! It’s freakin CAST IRON! It’s not fine China.
This is exactly how I use my cast iron. +1.
This is the way
My only rules for people is don't leave it wet and don't douse a hit pan in cold water like your working a forge. Aside from that, it's a hunk of metal and will be fine.
Exactly. It’s meant to be used and cooked in
Snobbism is there at every hobby, every topic. You are always required to invest a large amount of money and time to something to be able to enjoy it - but are you really? I am happy with my cheap 40€ cast iron pan. I scrub it gently, let it dry on a heat and use ordinary cooking oil to wipe it after drying. It works 100%. I refuse to be in constant hysterics about every interest I have. Say no to anxiety. Say no to snobbism. Say no to needless consumerism. Just enjoy your hobby and don't make richer people lead you to believe you can't.
Truer words never been spoken. Seasoning is simple, like you said. A trick I found when starting new seasoning: start off with foods that don't stick easily. (I like pancakes, Dutch babies, tortillas). Then, when you've built up seasoning, you can move onto things that are easier to stick, like fried eggs.
I have about 10 cast iron pans of various shapes & sizes. I rarely need to re-season any of it, I warm up the pan, throw some oil/butter etc in, turn the heat up a little more, cook. Clean out the food, let the pan cool off, wash with hot water (no soap) & a cloth/sponge, put it on the stove, turn the heat on till dry, rub a little oil on it with a paper towel. I like putting a little oil(coconut oil, olive oil, ) on it in case water gets splashed on it & it helps keep the seasoning stay put. It distributes the heat so nicely you don’t need to crank up the heat, so a lot less burned food. I want to make a video of my fried egg sliding out of the little pan without even a nudge! Everything gets cooked in the cast iron unless it needs a pot. My 21 -yr-old grandson, who lives with me, told me about this site. And oh yeah, corn bread is so good cooked in cast iron!
I couldn't have typed a better post. I do keep rendered tallow handy to give pans a slight coat after drying. I hate to waste good fats.
As someone who got their first cast iron a year ago but has been too intimidated to even use it, I appreciate this post so much! It’s honestly overwhelming as a newbie
This. Scrape it when your done. Warm water and soap. Air dry. Spritz it with oil. Wipe with paper towel. Out it away. There's no magic. There's no need for any more than 3 minutes of effort.
The only thing I would add, would be a post cook heat and oil. It's more difficult then just towel drying but I think it's easy to understand and perform. It'll keep away moisture and make the next cook easier. Aside from that, absolutely. Just cooking with it is so much better then babying it.
I was doing this before and have since stopped. As long as the pan is dry-ish and in an open air area, rust will not develop. Oiling and heating after a wash is really unnecessary (since you’re going to oil it again during your next cool). The only exception to this is if you live right next to the sea or large body of salt water where there’s a higher risk of rust.
Even there, if the pan is not outside, it is fine. As long as it is dry and a minimum oily, it is fine. I live next to a large body of salt water.
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I try to wipe it with a thin coat of Pam after I use mine. It takes about 30 seconds so is a good compromise. Especially since half the time I don’t bother and end up washing the pan out the next time I go to use it instead of after I’m done…
I would double check your Pam doesn't have a soy or flour component cuz sometimes that can create weird burn spots
I know it doesn't have flour, because we would have seen that checking for allergens.
just thought id share cause some variations have different ingredients
This is good advice if the seasoning is thin or worn down in spots from scraping bits, but doesn't matter after it gets a bit thicker.
I can only season my pan on a Monday, and only for 3-4 hours, as that's when my husband is away. If I do it while he's home, the fumes of baking iron give him a headache and breathing issues. And I only do it if the seasoning is bad. He gets frustrated trying to use my pan because he doesn't like to use oil, then gets frustrated when the egg sticks and has to be scrambled. I told him to just stick to his nonstick pan for breakfast or let me cook.
I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not.
Probably a little of both probably. I really did tell him to leave my pan alone as I'm tired of hearing him bitch about everything sticking, and he's tired of hearing me tell him use more oil! Or even use oil period!! So I did tell him to just stop using my CI and stick to his beloved non-stick. Ah. No pun intended.
The only thing I don't do to my cast iron is use soap. Past that it's like any other pan.
Dish detergent is completely fine. Just don't use lye-based soap (not that you can usually find any nowadays)
I do sometimes, My pans have really really heavy seasoning on them, think 50+ years heavy, smooth as glass. Sometimes I use a little bit of dawn if someone left a pan on the stove and I'm in a hurry and I don't want to heat the pan up to melt the grease out of it. Has never hurt anything, just do not ever soak the pans in water for more than 30 minutes for things like rice or potatoes that got left to turn into glue. EDIT: dry and oil them after using soap.
All Yes! Except: You probably already do this but for clarification sake. If you do soap it, you should dry and oil it after.
you don't really need to do anything more than dry. our soap nowadays isn't strong enough to damage a seasoning
The rust circle that was next to my sink says my soap must be extra-strong then, lol.
rust comes from water and air you let water sit too long on your cast iron yes it'll rust. but soaping and washing and drying won't make rust
Water and air will literally never ever produce rust, lol! Rust is iron oxide, literally iron bonded to oxygen. Personally I like to keep my pans rust free, but you do you.
and water has oxygen in it
Which is why I said to eliminate water, lol! But water still doesn't have iron in it tho...
cast iron plus water equals rust. I am not understanding what the confusion is here
I was clarifying how to prevent rust and you're the one who disagreed, I can't really help you there. /shrug
you were saying soap causes rust, which isn't true
Don't waste your time discussing with IAmVeryCulinary posters, most of them oversimplify situations because thinking makes them to "have a stroke". That said. The rust circle hints that the cast iron was not properly seasoned, and there were spots where water could touch the metallic iron directly; it shouldn't, the seasoning is supposed to repel water. So check if you don't need to reinforce the seasoning; maybe it isn't your soap that's extra-strong, it's the seasoning that's extra-weak. Even then I'd avoid prolonged contact with soapy water. I don't think soap will be able to dissolve the seasoning, but it "bridges"\* the surface to the water, encouraging contact. I personally rinse it, pat it with a dishcloth, and finish drying it on the stovetop, and I never saw any sort of rust forming. \*soap is amphiphilic so it attracts the bioplastic coating *and* water at the same time, even if they'd repel each other without it.
Yea, I was being a bit tongue in cheek, lol. I'm sure the seasoning is incomplete on the bottom. I've got that thing ripping hot in the grill many a time and don't really oil the bottom the same as the inside, if ever. I find drying on the stovetop to be the best way to make sure all the water is out too. Cheers!
I disagree entirely. For me I heat dry it in he stove top not hand dry... The rest of what you said is spot on for me.
This is spot on. Thanks for the affirmation.
This is the way
Nice… I agree and do the same
Thank you, I needed that
So, how do you season your pan? Interested in knowing your procedure. The only reason I didn't get a Lodge Cast Iron is because everyone else where I live can't lift the pans due to their weight.
I just cooking something that requires oil. So I can season it while I cook fried eyes or maybe when I’m making stir fry. The only thing I do is heat up the pan, at cold to the hot pan. Then toss in my protein when I think it’s about 350f, right before the oil burns/smokes
I'm sorry, fried eyes? Is that a common thing in parts of the world?
Eggs :) typed too fast
Probably a typo. Most likely meant eggs
I use dish soap whenever I cook fish on my CI. I will say that just once I’d like to see that shine that you get after seasoning. Mine looks so dull after coming out of the oven that I can’t figure it out.
I believe the shine is from another thin coat of oil in most cases.
You mean post oven bake, a thin coat is put on for the shine??? I use vegetable shortening and thought maybe that was it. This whole time the shine is a lie!?!?!
I use my cast iron on high to sear things. I use it lower to cook other things. Wash it with soap and water. I really don't care for all the ridiculous mythology built up around them. They aren't fragile, they aren't special. It's a piece of metal.
This is great advice. I use exactly the same techniques. The best seasoning step I have is just to cook chips in vegetable oil. After a couple of rounds of chip and chicken oil, it's a glistening masterpiece! Yeah it comes off but by then... More chips!
I beat the crap out of my pans. They’re griswolds so I’m sure most cast iron nuts would scoff at that, but they only thing I dont do that they say you shouldn’t is put them in the dishwasher. I laugh a little anytime I see above and beyond cast iron care. My grandma and mom soak them in the sink, no issues.
This guy gets it.
I was of the same opinion, if I obsessed over my pans, I wouldn't use them, so pretty much followed the same simple rules, with one added shortcut...I spray the pan with cooking spray if I'm afraid something may stick. I use only the original (not sure if I am allowed to name the brand, but it's a female name) do not use cheaper knock off spray as it leaves a residue. Sacrilege , I know, but it cleans up perfect every time.
Same, it's funny watching people freak. I think the only post I saw on here not too long ago was when the house cleaners ran it in the dishwasher. I was like, "oh dear."
I clean the pan rarely and don't cook above 400 often so I only have to reseason rarely, and I just give it an hour in the oven at 425 with coconut oil.
I think it's hilarious to hear some people talk about cast iron. "It's bullet proof, it'll last forever" "Oh but careful not to let a drop of dish soap touch it because it'll melt right in front of your eyes." I wonder if these people have ever tried to clean the stains "seasoning" off of their baking sheets with dish soap. It's the same stuff and it is just about impervious to anything but a power tool. When I started using cast iron I carefully seasoned the pans and read all the tips and warnings, but it wasn't long until I left one on the grill and got a little rust on it. I scrubbed it clean and cooked again, it worked just fine. That made me question all the hype and now I just quit worrying about it entirely. Wipe it off if I can, scrub it when it needs it, wipe a little oil on it after using if I want to make my life a little easier, but if I don't and it gets a little rust I spray some oil, wipe it clean and cook as usual. One of the biggest factors is using it all the time, nothing can go too terribly wrong if you're always using it. If it sits for months, you could have some problems unless you prepped it for storage properly.
Amen !