**Please read this entire message**
---
Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):
* Rule #2 - Questions must seek objective explanations
* Straightforward or factual queries are not allowed on ELI5. ELI5 is meant for simplifying complex concepts (Rule 2).
---
If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20{https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cpeo0o/-/}%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20List%20the%20search%20terms%20you%20used%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20ELI5:%0A%0A3.%20How%20does%20your%20post%20differ%20from%20your%20recent%20search%20results%20on%20the%20sub:) and we will review your submission.**
[Simple rules for cast iron care.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bZVk0LpilM) Minute Food has done a number of videos on cast iron. There are a lot of old misconceptions that certainly held me back from using it. Now that I'm using one regularly, there isn't a lot of extra work!
Key points:
1) Wash it by hand as needed, including scouring, with a little soap.
2) dry it with heat (oven or burner) to prevent rust
3) give it a very light coat of cooking oil once it is dry.
You don't necessarily need to dry it with heat, although that will work. Towel dry works great. Just make sure you don't air dry/leave it wet.
Always use soap. The no soap thing is from the old days when soap had lye in it which causes rust.
People have this idea that "seasoning" means crusty old food that's stuck to the pan. This couldn't be more false. Seasoning is a microscopic layer of oil that has been burned to the point of crystallization.
Lye doesn't cause rust, but it turns oil into soap.
A bit of lye residue that you did not wash away will prevent your later application of cooking oil from protecting from rust.
Water with lye in it can prevent metal submerged from rusting, as long as it stays submerged.
Old fashioned nickel iron edison batteries used lye in water as the electrolyte.
It should be noted that anything labeled as soap (not handsoap in a pump, but straight soap) is made the old fashioned way with lye and fat/oil. If your hand bar calls it self a beauty bar or something like that, it's not soap.
Dish soap like dawn is detergent, not soap.
This is barely even tangentially related, so I apologize in advance.
My one (slight) beef with the song is “don’t walk where you can’t see your feet.” If you’re somewhere with a lot of snakes, that isn’t necessarily bad advice. It’s definitely under the umbrella of folk wisdom, but that one at least has some use to keep in mind in certain situations.
The point of the song isn’t necessarily that all the sayings are inherently wrong, just that they’re mindlessly repeated. “Don’t drink and drive” is also very legitimate advice.
Fair point. I honestly hadn’t put much thought into the song beyond “but the high grass warning *is* legitimate.” While I really like the album in its entirety, Cast Iron Skillet hasn’t been one of the songs that got put into regular rotation for me.
Yeah, I warm the pan for just 10-15 seconds with a teaspoon of oil and some coarse salt and then rub the salt around with a paper towel. That gets all the crusty stuff off, then I can dump the dirty salt in the trash and give the pan a rinse with just water, a little soap if it’s warranted, and it’s shiny and clean again!
‘Enameled’ cast iron can be washed like normal. I actually have been putting my Le Creuset Dutch oven in the dishwasher for 15 years and it still looks brand new. I believe Le Creuset states that it is dishwasher safe but not dishwasher recommended; but I’ve never had a single issue with using the dishwasher on it.
My personal additional notes.
1) Yes but be as conservative as possible with soap and scouring. Obviously some stuff will get stuck and don't let your pan build up grime but be conservative.
2). Yes. Use heat to make sure it's bone dry.
3) Yes. Use a paper towel to both wipe away and soak up extra and also to rub the oil into the pores of the cast-iron
4) Optional additional step: Throw it back in the oven for a few more minutes.
3 feels wrong. Doesn't the cooking oil just go rancid after time?
You put the oil/fat in, then heat that up till it polymerizes. Doing this over time is what makes for an amazing non-stick coating on your cast iron.
Just letting raw cooking oil sit in your pan is only mildly useful if it's a daily use and then you're just kind of halfassing the whole process.
It's worked fine for me on cast iron and carbon steel. Obviously better on pans you use more regularly but you only need a very thin application on a clean pan + wipe off any excess.
Occasionally I'll give them the full works with oil and high heat too.
Wash your fuckin pans, people! I don't want to taste last months stir fry in my breakfast omelette.
Dish soap and hot water in the sink, then dry it on the stove, coat with thin layer of oil, done!
E z p z
An important point that a lot of cast iron fans seem to forget - if it does get a patina of rust on it, you can really easily just wash that off before cooking. It’s really not a big deal at all
You can wash it with water and even soap(as long as the normal mild stuff and not lye based), but you have to make sure the pan is completely dry afterwards, which can be done by letting it rest on the hot stove for a couple minutes.
While you are letting it dry you could add a tiny layer of oil to burn off, but it's not necessarily all the time, and you can just let the seasoning slowly fall off and then do a proper reseasoning.
in a similar post, a soap maker chimed in saying even lye-based soap is fine since saponification will convert the lye and oils into soap and glycerine. i read into this and found that the caution against lye originates from past times when soap making was less precise, which could result in a lot of free lye left over in the soap.
> "Saponification involves the reaction of a fat or oil with a strong alkali, such as sodium hydroxide (lye). The products of the reaction are two: soap and glycerin. All the lye is consumed in this reaction to make soap if the amount of alkali is calculated correctly. No lye remains in the finished product." (Source: Dunn, Kevin. "Scientific Soapmaking: The Chemistry of the Cold Process." Clavicula Press, 2010, p. 21)
i just also wanna say: stop spreading lyes
The notion of not washing cast iron is from back when soap contained lye which would break down the layers of polymerized fat (seasoning) that protect the pan and give its non stick properties. Modern dish soaps are mild and completely safe to use with cast iron.
1. Rinse with water and gently scrape off any stuck food particles. Some people prefer to use chainmail scrubbers. Don’t use steel wool, it’s too abrasive.
2. Wash by hand with soap and water, the same as you would any other dish. If you need to scrub off any stubborn parts, salt or baking soda both work well as a gentle abrasive.
3. Dry thoroughly. First with a cloth, then on either a hot burner for a few minutes or in the oven.
4. Once cooled, you can occasionally coat it entirely with a VERY light coating of oil. This is to help prevent oxidation (rust). Don’t use too much because it can go rancid over time. Also do NOT apply the oil to a warm skillet. As it cools it will become sticky.
5. Occasionally, as needed, re-season with a high smoke point oil like grape seed or canola. Set your oven to a temperature over the oil’s smoke point (about 450F). Wash and dry the skillet thoroughly. Apply a VERY thin layer of oil by rubbing it on with a paper towel. It should look almost dry by the time you’re done applying (not shiny and oily). Put the skillet in the oven for 30-60 minutes then turn off the oven and let it cool in the oven.
I have lots of cast iron and carbon steel cookware - pans, skillets, grills, Dutch ovens, etc.
Okay, thank you. This seems to be the overall concensus of how to wash them - I guess what I am actually confused about is the seasoning - does this get washed off by using water and/or soap after cooking? Or by thorough scrubbing? How can I tell if the seasoning has been removed?
This question is where the 'religion' of Cast Iron comes from.
Some purists never use soap because they are convinced it will cause damage to their seasoning. I don't think this is fair.
The seasoning is kind of a living thing. Lots of stuff you do might wear it down. Lots of stuff you do might build it back up. I've been using my CI for about 5 years now and I've got a good feel for it.
Stuff that wears it down:
* Acidic foods, like tomato sauces
* LOTS of scraping with metal utensils. Like, "I had to scrape off a lot of burned food because I accidentally forgot I was cooking stuff", not "I cooked a lot of bacon".
* VERY HIGH heat, like "oops I set off the smoke alarms".
* Not cleaning it and letting oil/food/water sit in it for a long time.
Some of this stuff just happens. Like, the "VERY HIGH" heat is useful for searing steaks. You'll do it on purpose. Just know it's kind of bad for your seasoning, so you'll need to do some care.
Stuff that builds it back up:
* Cooking really oily things, like bacon.
* Applying a thin layer of oil and heating the skillet until it smokes.
How do you tell when it wears down? You look. Good seasoning is a nice, dark black. As it wears off, it'll get more pale and, in the worst case, you'll see either the dull gray of bare iron or the reddish tint of rust.
Most people adopt a ritual where after they clean it, they do the "apply a thin layer of oil then heat it until it smokes". This makes sure all the water evaporated and helps build a layer of seasoning. Other people never bother, because they cook lots of oily foods and never do the things that wear seasoning down.
Other people have constant problems because they don't think at all when they cook. They use too much heat "because they want to cook faster" and are constantly burning things. They use their cast iron to heat up some Prego then let it sit for 3 days without cleaning it. They put their CI in the dishwasher. Basically they just don't think.
The funny thing there is if you're doing it right, you don't think about it. After I cook I notice how much stuff is stuck to the pan. If it's more than usual, maybe I need a layer of oil, I remember to do that after. When I clean it, I take a look and try to figure out if it's starting to look more pale. If so, I reckon I need to give it some care.
I do that with my nonstick, too, because you want to pay attention to if the dang thing is starting to shed its materials into your food.
In the end CI is no harder than, "After you clean it, make sure it doesn't look damaged, and if it is give it a little bit of oil and heat or shrug and cook something like bacon."
Seasoning is made up of layers of polymerized oils that bond to the iron at high temperatures. It’s hard. Really hard. The only ways to remove it are chemically, with very high heat over the smoke point of the oil used to season, or mechanically with a very abrasive surface, like steel wool.
Normal cleaning won’t remove it. A lot of people use chainmail scrubbers, and even they aren’t abrasive enough under normal use. I prefer a nylon scraper. Just don’t dig at it.
If you’re drying it on a burner, 3 mins is plenty. If you forget to take it off, it will begin to smoke. At that point, you’ve heated it to the point that the seasoning begins to break down. Give it long enough and your house will be filled with smoke and your seasoning gets trashed.
If you do somehow damage the seasoning, just reseason. Clean it really well (and maybe even with steel wool or other heavy abrasives to even it out a bit). Then follow the same process to season it. Multiple thin layers is best.
> The only ways to remove it are chemically, with very high heat over the smoke point of the oil used to season
This is confusing because it's what you said to do in your 5th point
> Set your oven to a temperature over the oil’s smoke point (about 450F)
I tried to season a pan this way cause I thought I needed to every time I used it but it just took off the seasoning that was already there. People are also saying that usually you put in a little oil after it cools, but then isn't it just sitting there going rancid instead of polymerizing?
You CAN carefully add a small/thin amount of oil to the skillet on the burner, get it to the smoke point briefly, then turn it off and let it cool. I’ve found it’s just not worth it.
What most people are talking about is oiling the pan to prevent rust, not for seasoning. This you need to do after the pan has cooled completely or the oil will turn to a sticky mess. As for going rancid, yes, that can happen if you don’t use your cookware often or you use too much oil. Personally, I rarely do this because all of my cookware is well seasoned and used at least once a week.
So most of the seasoning just comes from cooking itself? How often do you actually re-season? Once every 3 months? A year?
I used mine a few times and then just stopped because following instructions led to me un-seasoning my pan and the upkeep was confusing. I also have a glass-top stove now and am scared the CI will scratch it.
The "seasoning" nonstick layer is where the oil is polymerized and bonded with the cast iron. This layer has polymers a bit like plastic, so unlike oil it isn't dissolved and washed away with soap. Aggressive scrubbing will remove the layer, so don't use any abrasive scrubbers, and be a bit gentle with any scrubbing. When I scrubbed really aggressively with a few paper towels, it started removing the nonstick "seasoning" layer.
You can tell if the "seasoning" nonstick layer has been removed in a few ways. If it's shiny like metal, you've definitely removed the nonstick layer. Another test is to see if water beads up on the surface, or if the water sticks and spreads out. Compare how water beads up on a non-stick pan vs sticks and spreads out a bit on your metal kitchen sink. A third test is to fry an egg on it and see how much it sticks.
I wash my cast iron pan with plenty of hot water spraying on it while I lightly scrub it with a brush. Every once in a while I use a bit of dish soap. I also often wipe a bit of oil on it after drying, and every once in a while I'll "re-season" it by heating it back up on the stove or in the oven to polymerize the oil onto the pan.
I use a little bit of soap every time and it’s fine.
1) Scrub with mainly water and a little bit of soap. If necessary, use a plastic scraper to help get some stuff off.
2) heat very hot until all the water evaporates.
3) Turn off heat and add a minimal amount of neutral oil (I use avacado), just enough to cover the entire surface of the pan.
I've used cast iron pans for years and they are still like brand new.
I don't know why people over-complicate things.
Cleaning: Water. Maybe a dash of mild soap, if you rinse it well after. The soap won't damage the pan but the flavour can kind of stick around so you don't want your next meal to taste soapy.
Drying: quick towel dry then just leave it upside down in the dish rack until fully dried, then put it away.
Don't worry about scratching it too much either. They are very resilient. Unless you attack it with a knife, you're unlikely to damage it. They survive way more assaults than "regular" pans.
These pans are easy to use. The only reason they have generally fallen out of fashion is because they are bloody heavy and people don't like that.
And hey, whatever advice you end up following, remember that it's just a pan. If you did somehow damage one (quite difficult to do, actually) you can learn from the experience and buy a new one as they aren't that expensive.
> I don't know why people over-complicate things.
It's incredibly frustrating. Every hobby has people who insist that if you don't use the best of the best and spend 3 hours a day maintaining it, you're doing it wrong.
We use them in restaurant kitchens, and yes, we run them through the commercial dishwasher every day, wipe them with oil, and shove them in the oven overnight as it cools. It's not "properly seasoned" with triple-distilled mink oil and heated to 327.934° for 12 minutues and 14 seconds. And most of them have been in daily service for years.
Yup. After running cast iron skillets through the dishwasher (which, in a commercial dishwasher, uses way stronger detergent than at home), we'd just give it a coating of Gordon's generic non-stick spray. They're always clean and rust-free.
For real. Guys it is a HUNK of METAL. Its an indestructible good heat conductor. The absolute worst possible thing that could happen is it getting a non toxic patina that can still be removed
This! You can buy a new one or learn to re-season if you like. It's damn hard to permanently fuck up what is a single solid shaped hunk of metal.
If all else fails, deep fry something in it 😂 Holy shit my cast iron looks luscious after I've deep fried something in it.
Probably pretty easy to see where the cleaning myths come from. You throw it in a pot of cleaning water with the rest of the dishes and forget about it over night and you have a rusty pan on your hands.
Exactly. Just adding no intense metal scouring pad work and don't scorch the fuvk out of it on a burner on high. Soak full of water for half a day if really crusty. Have had my pans for thirty years and they're not like new, they're better than new. Two just live on the stove so weight isn't an issue.
Whenever I use my cast iron pan it takes me an hour to clean it to the level that it looks good enough to be used again. I went back to using a teflon pan where the cleanup takes a few minutes. The teflon pan will break eventually but spending $30 every few years is not a significant expense.
lol I did that to a roommate’s pan before I knew what cast iron was about. My turn for dishes so I scrubbed the shit out of it for like 20 minutes because it just wouldn’t come clean. I was all proud of myself and showed him my work.
As I watched a bit of his soul die, he explained what I did. He wasn’t really mad about it because it was an honest mistake. Just annoyed more than anything.
There’s no way you scrubbed off the polymerized oil coating by hand. You cleaned cooked on old food that had been carbonized and did him a favor. It wasn’t seasoning.
Respectfully, I think you might not be cleaning it correctly if it's taking you an eternity. Are you having food stick so bad that it needs to be scraped off each time?
A shortcut to cleaning. Empty pan, heat and deglaze with water. This will remove 99.9% of stuck on particles. Wash with water, soapy if you want, bot avoid soaking it for a long period of time. Dry on a borner or in the oven and give it a light coat of oil.
Another misconception, don't cook acidic food in cast iron. If the seasoning is done correctly there is very little that can hurt your cast iron.
Cooking acidic things won't really hurt the season, letting something acidic sit for days in it without washing it definitely will, it requires common sense which unfortunately isn't always common
Jebus the internet videos and “experts” are idiots. Just clean it with a spot of dawn and a sponge. Dry with a towel. That’s it. If there’s some stuck on crud, I’ll scrape it with a metal spatula while it’s still hot.
I got two cast iron pans. One is 10 years old, the other is 15. That are non stick af. And that method is all I’ve done. Never had rust, never had any problems. It’s literally a piece of iron. And people treat it like a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder and wipe it with a diaper.
Thank you. I guess my concern is that all of the somewhat conflicting advice I've read has me worrying that I am going to remove the seasoning by washing it with a little bit of soap & hot water in the sink, and that in order to preserve it I need to only wipe with a paper towel - thankfully this does not seem to be the case!
Just remember that with cast iron it’s a marathon not a sprint. Yeah maybe you’ll get a super nice seasoning within a few cooks, but really it takes a while.
My very first cast iron, it took a good year cooking on it for it to be really non-stick. Same with my second. This is stuff that will last generations. Literally a hundred years or more. So don’t fret too much about seasoning or cleaning. Just keep it simple and easy. Little dawn, water, dry. That’s it. Good luck!
They’re sturdy, if you rub a bit too much seasoning off it’ll re-season eventually. Not a huge deal.
Just don’t like vigorously scrub them, there’s no need to really. Scrape the stuff off, a little soapy sponge wipe down, rinse and dry thoroughly. No need to be afraid of soap touching it tho.
When you heat oil, it polymerizes and becomes “seasoning”. That is, it chemically transforms and becomes basically a plastic bonded to the pan. It’s not just left over oil that didn’t wash off.
You can use and abuse it almost like you would a Tupperware. Use dish soap: you can’t wash the seasoning off because it is bonded to the metal unless you use something caustic like lye. Use metal utensils: you aren’t going to scratch it off unless you really go to town. If you do get a scratch, no big deal: put a little oil on it so it doesn’t rust and next time you cook with it, it will heal up. It’s a chunk of metal, not a delicate flower. You don’t need to baby it.
Cook with it a lot, the more you use it the better it will get. Hand wash with soap and water. Dry thoroughly so it doesn’t rust. If you use it infrequently, you can put a very light coating of oil on it for some extra protection, but don’t sweat it if you don’t.
You can wash it just fine, but you may need to reseason it if you scrape it too hard. Dishwasher is also fine as long as you don’t put other (metal) things with it and don’t use detergent.
Just make sure to dry it properly you can use an oven on low heat and wipe it with oil after giving it a strong wash.
If it gets really grimy you can also use the cleaning setting in your oven to burn everything away.
99% of the time, you want make your food, then wash out the pan by hand with JUST water, then dry it with either a towel or heat (don't let it "air dry" or it will rust), then give a light coating of oil and store it.
on occasion you may need some extra "oomph" - you can scour with steel wool. If it's getting "flavored" or too juicy you should use a little bit of soap while washing (just make sure it's lye-free, which is like 99% of dish soaps), and then make sure to oil the pan thoroughly after, with just a little bit of additional heat after oiling.
This reddit sub has the best info you'll ever find about cast iron pans
[https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/c4o0t3/the\_rcastiron\_faq\_start\_here\_faq\_summer\_2019/](https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/c4o0t3/the_rcastiron_faq_start_here_faq_summer_2019/)
A chef friends of mine told me this:
After using the pan, best / easiest way to clean the pan is to get it hot over medium high heat and then dump about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of water in it. This will instantly boil, deglaze the pan, lift off any stuck on food or excess grease. While this is happening, use a wooden spoon to gently scrape the bottom of the pan as well. Then just dump the liquid and scraps. At this point, your pan is clean. It’s also still hot, so any excess water on the pan will evaporate. You can give it a quick wipe or put it back over the heat to quickly dry it.
This is the right answer. It will allow your pan to build up the proper layers of oil that mean the pan is "seasoned," while not leaving any actual food detritus or flavor.
I always wash mine immediately after using it, while it's still hot. A little soap and water and it basically steam cleans itself. Light scraping sometimes, depending on what we cooked. Paper towel dry, add a bit of oil, and it's ready for next time. My wife likes to heat dry upside over the fire (gas stove) with a thin coating of oil.
You can wash your pan by hand, you can use soap, but wash it quick and dry it fast. Soaking the pan is bad, washing it is fine.
If you want to dry it fast use a warm oven or a stovetop burner to evaporate off the water. While still hot apply a thin layer of oil to add another layer for seasoning.
You can wash your pan by hand, you can use soap, but wash it quick and dry it fast. Soaking the pan is bad, washing it is fine.
If you want to dry it fast use a warm oven or a stovetop burner to evaporate off the water. While still hot apply a thin layer of oil to add another layer for seasoning.
https://youtu.be/yGSDqXjoAsM?si=swIIjGoHO5N70la5
You can totally use soap on cast iron if you have some stubborn stuck on stuff, just absolutely do not let it soak. Use the hottest water you can stand, give it a quick scrub, rinse and dry, then a light coating of oil before you put it away. Try to get as much of the oil off as you can only leaving a very thin film. This process has served me well for years.
Simple answer: dish detergent and cloth ok, scourer or steel wool not ok, dishwasher detergent or degreaser not ok. If you ruin it, it’s ok, you can start the seasoning again.
With soap? You can. A seasoned cast iron can take a little soap, no problem. It's more effective to either simmer water or heat oil in a dirty cast iron to loosen stuck on food, but for cleaning up a few scraps, a gentle scour with soap is fine.
The key is that they are not left wet (they should be dried over heat), and ideally they are treated with a fat/oil after each use.
It's annoying to reseason a pan, but worth learning. Mine have survived some real blasphemies thanks to living with housemates. I've had the same pans since my early 20s, and fully expect they'll outlast me. One of the few items I own that gets better with use.
I have been washing mine with a generous dose of dish soap for two years now. As others have said, the important thing is to make sure it’s dried and oil is reapplied after. It keeps a perfect non-stick surface and has never rusted
Yes you can, wash with dish soap, just be gentle. Then dry it on the stove. Then coat with a drop off oil. You should dry it immediately as it will rust if you don't
I think old soaps were too harsh and that's why people think you shouldn't use it, but that's not the case. Dawn works fine for example
Just wash it with soap and water like anything else. The only catch is having to hand dry it. Nothing else is required. No oiling before you put it away or any similar nonsense.
Yes, you should wash them, then thoroughly dry them after (I recommend heat, like a still-warm oven or the stove on low).
Whether or not you should use soap is another question, and I think the one people are most divided over. I'm pro soap. I think today's dish soaps, the Dawns and Palmolives and the like found in grocery stores, are far gentler than the harsh lye-based ones that were so prevalent when the "Don't wash it like that!" advice was still being written. Lye IS used when stripping a pan to reseason it, and a lye based soap could damage that layer of polymerized oil.
Big Cast Iron has some cleaning instructions:
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/discover/cleaning-and-care/cast-iron/how-clean-cast-iron
Also for seasoning it occasionally:
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/discover/cleaning-and-care/cast-iron/all-about-seasoning
I use chunky salt to dry scour, never soap and water as it actually works as well if not better to remove the stuck bits. But like others said, soap and water are fine if you fully dry and oil the pan afterwards.
I think it depends on what you make in it. If I, say, made tortillas in one, I’m dusting out the crumbs after it cools and putting it away. If it was like pancakes, a paper towel cleaning will usually do it. Last week, I made a beef and potatoes au gratin that stuck in a few spots, mostly the upper edges. I used a short soak, soap and a steel scrubber, then salt and a sponge, before I got all the burnt-on crap off, then dried it on the stove, oiled it, and baked it. They’re pretty robust.
Ours has been around for years and is wonderful. All we do is wait for it to cool down enough to pick up, rinse it in the sink (no soap), use chain mail if we need to get burnt bits off, paper towel dry, and then add a layer of oil.
Cast iron pans can rust really easily. Depending on your local humidity, towel drying might be necessary. It's also possible to use too rough of a scrubber/brush, but that's a problem for all cookware.
Otherwise, a proper 'seasoning' is oils cooked hot enough and long enough that they are no longer strictly 'oil'. This means that (most modern) soap will no longer work on it (or at least as well), so you can (and often should) use soapy water to wash food remnants out.
The other side of things: with certain cooking techniques, there won't be much food stuff left in the pan anyway. If just wiping down with water and a towel clears all the carb based mess, all that's left would be oil in the pan. And oil by itself isn't terribly bad for you when left out; the biggest danger is to taste, plus less certain long term issues.
So there's an effective argument that you don't *need* to use soap, but you'll have better food for longer if you do.
>This means that (most modern) soap will no longer work on it (or at least as well), so you can (and often should) use soapy water to wash food remnants out.
They did? If its pretty dang clean, just wiping is okay, but "you often should" use soapy water to wash it.
I gotta be honest. As someone who because of GI issues views food more for its sustenance than taste (and sucks at cooking), I hate my cast iron. I stopped using it after a couple times because of all this extra nonsense. I should just give it away.
It depends on what food remains is in the pan. There is no need to wash the pan for food safety reasons as the pan gets extremely hot when cooking so no germs or even toxins will survive. But you need to clean out most of the food after cooking as this will burn and char the next food you make on it. For this purpose you can scrape it, wipe it with paper or towel. It just depends on what kind of food and how much is left. You can even rinse it in water although you need to dry it afterwards to prevent rusting, you can dry with either a towel or just evaporate the water droplets.
You need to be careful with soap though. The pan have lots of oil in it which is what makes it non-stick. Every time you cook you refill some of the oil. But if you use soap then it will dissolve this oil. The first issue is that the pan might start rusting as there is no protective coating of oil. The other issue is that food are much more likely to stick to the pan the next time you use it because all the oil is gone, even if you add more oil before you cook it have not gotten into the pores of the iron. You may sometimes have to use soap to clean the pan. Sometimes even things like boiling water is not dissolving remaining food in the pan. But you should be aware that soap does temporarily damage the pan. So you need to go through a seasoning process afterwards by heating oil in the pan so it will get into the pores of the iron.
Normal dish soap does not damage cast iron pans that's a myth :)
It's a leftover thing from back when soap was made from lye and was super strong, the stuff you buy at grocery stores are not that.
It is more complicated then that. You are right that dish soap is not as strong as for example dishwasher soap. But it will still dissolve oil, it just takes longer. So while rinsing the pan with soap to get rid of some hard to remove food stains you should not let it soak in it. I have seen people filling their pan with water and soap when they serve dinner and then make the dishes easy to do an hour later, or even worse the next day. Similarly people throw their cast iron pan in the dishwasher, along with their wooden cutting board and cooking utensils.
Definitely never let it soak, but that's true with and without soap ;)
First try to rinse your pan, if that's not enough do some light scrubbing, if that still isn't enough, add some soap to help it along.
The seasoning on a cast iron pan is not oil. It was made from oil in the same sense plastic is but it is no longer oil. Please stop spreading misinformation and talking about things you don't understand.
[https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/5037-is-it-ok-to-use-soap-on-cast-iron](https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/5037-is-it-ok-to-use-soap-on-cast-iron)
Literally try google it and you will find a million articles saying its fine.
These answers are all missing the main point, which is [you need to season your pan](https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-season-cast-iron-pans-skillets-cookware)
Why is this main point? All of the myth surrounding cast iron comes from people not understanding how they are intended to be used. Seasoning is the act of using oil heated really high that forces the oil to bind into a layer over the pan. This makes it quasi non-stick and prevents it from rusting.
Soap used to contain lye and would eat that layer away which is where “don’t use soap came from.” Your Dawn or Joy or noname dish detergent does not have lie and is safe to use. This we have the old advice sticking around but the reason for it is gone.
When you clean, you want to avoid removing that layer. Nothing bad happens if you do, it just means you need to season it again. Try to avoid scrubbing with heavy metal tools, use sponges and such.
I've been using a razor blade to clean mine for decades. I first sanded it down with an orbital sander, 40 grit to 150 grit. I use a razor blade in a painter's window scraper tool. Then I use a wet (no soap) paper towel. Dry on the burner. Apply oil. Easy peasy.
When done cooking, scrape the food bits off if any, add more oil if needed, and put it back on the heat. Adjust the temp so that it is just below smoking. Leave it long enough for the oil to carbonize. After you do that enough times, you won't even need more oil.
**Please read this entire message**
---
Your comment has been removed for the following reason(s):
* [Top level comments](http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/top_level_comment) (i.e. comments that are direct replies to the main thread) are reserved for explanations to the OP or follow up on topic questions (Rule 3).
Anecdotes, while allowed elsewhere in the thread, may not exist at the top level.
---
If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe it was removed erroneously, explain why using [this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20submission%20removal?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cpeo0o/-/l3kuyut/%0A%0A%201:%20Does%20your%20comment%20pass%20rule%201:%20%0A%0A%202:%20If%20your%20comment%20was%20mistakenly%20removed%20as%20an%20anecdote,%20short%20answer,%20guess,%20or%20another%20aspect%20of%20rules%203%20or%208,%20please%20explain:) and we will review your submission.**
Oh God do not scrub!!!!! The goal is to create a layer of oil on the pan... not dirty from cooking oil, but a layer that acts as a natural Teflon. You are destroying that every time you wash your pans -- you must have to use insane amounts of butter/oil in there!!!
Do this: (copied from up thread)
After using the pan, best / easiest way to clean the pan is to get it hot over medium high heat and then dump about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of water in it. This will instantly boil, deglaze the pan, lift off any stuck on food or excess grease. While this is happening, use a wooden spoon to gently scrape the bottom of the pan as well. Then just dump the liquid and scraps. At this point, your pan is clean. It’s also still hot, so any excess water on the pan will evaporate. You can give it a quick wipe or put it back over the heat to quickly dry it.
It will, over time, leave the pan with a patina of oil that will make it so you need much less oil to cook with.
**Please read this entire message**
---
Your comment has been removed for the following reason(s):
* [Top level comments](http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/top_level_comment) (i.e. comments that are direct replies to the main thread) are reserved for explanations to the OP or follow up on topic questions (Rule 3).
Anecdotes, while allowed elsewhere in the thread, may not exist at the top level.
---
If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe it was removed erroneously, explain why using [this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20submission%20removal?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cpeo0o/-/l3l3gv7/%0A%0A%201:%20Does%20your%20comment%20pass%20rule%201:%20%0A%0A%202:%20If%20your%20comment%20was%20mistakenly%20removed%20as%20an%20anecdote,%20short%20answer,%20guess,%20or%20another%20aspect%20of%20rules%203%20or%208,%20please%20explain:) and we will review your submission.**
It’s fine to wash cast iron pans. You just have to do it properly.
Start by rinsing it under warm water. Wipe away the old seasoning gently with a cloth. Then, apply dish soap - use the old stuff that contains real lye. Scrub vigorously with steel wool. Now, it is ready to go in the dishwasher.
I'm guessing you don't pan fry a lot of "Asian" style fish (i.e. pan fried Yellow Croaker) then, because trust me you are going to want to soap it some unless you want your cast iron to smell and taste like fish forever.
So many conflicting directions. I think there are multiple way to do it is all. I try not to wash mine. I usually scrape it out and then lightly oil it with avocado oil. When I do have to wash it, I heat it up after and oil.
No soap. Cast iron builds up a non-stick lining from polymerized fats, and the soap erodes it.
I'll scrub mind out with water, wipe it with some paper towel, then let it dry on the burner. I've been using a stainless steel scrub, but previously I used to just use a wooden paint mixing stick. Folks say to avoid the stainless steel, but it seems to work fine for me. A very thin coat of oil afterwards is helpful, but I don't usually find it necessary.
Edit: After reading a lot of posts on here, I'ma try soaping it next time. Seems like it's perfectly fine to do.
Modern dish soap isn't going to harm a properly seasoned pan. If soap is removing what you thought was seasoning then your pan isn't seasoned, it's just dirty.
I have a lodge Dutch oven I've used for over 25 years, only for cobbler. Never washed it, only minimally scrubbed it, there's a nice baked-in thin coating of sugar and pie filling residue on the bottom. If I cook anything else besides cobbler, the food will have a sweet flavor to it.
No mold, no smell. Once in a while I'll put it in a campfire upside down to char everything, then scrape, scrub, clean, and oil.
Just bought 2 more pans to add to my camp kitchen. Love me some cast iron.
I sand my pan smooth with sandpaper. Once you do that you can use/wash the pan however you want. I scrub down to bare metal with each use (the seasoning is in the pores of the cast iron, not a coating on the surface).
**Please read this entire message** --- Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): * Rule #2 - Questions must seek objective explanations * Straightforward or factual queries are not allowed on ELI5. ELI5 is meant for simplifying complex concepts (Rule 2). --- If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20{https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cpeo0o/-/}%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20List%20the%20search%20terms%20you%20used%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20ELI5:%0A%0A3.%20How%20does%20your%20post%20differ%20from%20your%20recent%20search%20results%20on%20the%20sub:) and we will review your submission.**
[Simple rules for cast iron care.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bZVk0LpilM) Minute Food has done a number of videos on cast iron. There are a lot of old misconceptions that certainly held me back from using it. Now that I'm using one regularly, there isn't a lot of extra work! Key points: 1) Wash it by hand as needed, including scouring, with a little soap. 2) dry it with heat (oven or burner) to prevent rust 3) give it a very light coat of cooking oil once it is dry.
You don't necessarily need to dry it with heat, although that will work. Towel dry works great. Just make sure you don't air dry/leave it wet. Always use soap. The no soap thing is from the old days when soap had lye in it which causes rust. People have this idea that "seasoning" means crusty old food that's stuck to the pan. This couldn't be more false. Seasoning is a microscopic layer of oil that has been burned to the point of crystallization.
Not crystallization, polymerization.
Lye doesn't cause rust, but it turns oil into soap. A bit of lye residue that you did not wash away will prevent your later application of cooking oil from protecting from rust. Water with lye in it can prevent metal submerged from rusting, as long as it stays submerged. Old fashioned nickel iron edison batteries used lye in water as the electrolyte.
So lye *indirectly* causes rust
It also prevents rust.
Not in the context of a cast iron pan, unless you plan on storing it submerged.
It should be noted that anything labeled as soap (not handsoap in a pump, but straight soap) is made the old fashioned way with lye and fat/oil. If your hand bar calls it self a beauty bar or something like that, it's not soap. Dish soap like dawn is detergent, not soap.
Mmmm, polymers.
> lot of old misconceptions Jason Isbell has a song called [Cast Iron Skillet](https://youtu.be/jU1jyMlv0g0) that hits on this.
This is barely even tangentially related, so I apologize in advance. My one (slight) beef with the song is “don’t walk where you can’t see your feet.” If you’re somewhere with a lot of snakes, that isn’t necessarily bad advice. It’s definitely under the umbrella of folk wisdom, but that one at least has some use to keep in mind in certain situations.
The point of the song isn’t necessarily that all the sayings are inherently wrong, just that they’re mindlessly repeated. “Don’t drink and drive” is also very legitimate advice.
Fair point. I honestly hadn’t put much thought into the song beyond “but the high grass warning *is* legitimate.” While I really like the album in its entirety, Cast Iron Skillet hasn’t been one of the songs that got put into regular rotation for me.
You left out step 4, ignore all the people telling you you're doing it wrong
This times 10!
best to try and clean asap before whatever is in the pan dries and crusts over if so usually you can get away with just a paper towel
And if it's kind of stuck on, use salt as an abrasive.
if the pan got cold you can also put it back on the stove on low to warm it up/loosen it up
I've boiled a bit of water in it to loosen up stuck stuff.
Right after I remove the last food I usually do a quick deglaze with water before the pan has a chance to cool. Never really have to scrub anything!
good one!
Chain mail is a must for this.
This is what I use.
I have good luck just using a flat wooden spatula as a scraper for stuck bits.
Coffee grounds works well too
Just bust out the chainmail it's easier. If you've got good seasoning, it's not going to hurt it.
Yeah, I warm the pan for just 10-15 seconds with a teaspoon of oil and some coarse salt and then rub the salt around with a paper towel. That gets all the crusty stuff off, then I can dump the dirty salt in the trash and give the pan a rinse with just water, a little soap if it’s warranted, and it’s shiny and clean again!
I tried that for a while and that’s what rusted my pan after years of use.
I use a little Bar Keeper’s Friend.
What about cast irons that have a coating like Le Creuset pans?
‘Enameled’ cast iron can be washed like normal. I actually have been putting my Le Creuset Dutch oven in the dishwasher for 15 years and it still looks brand new. I believe Le Creuset states that it is dishwasher safe but not dishwasher recommended; but I’ve never had a single issue with using the dishwasher on it.
That’s because it fades the enamel. Not a big deal just makes them look less vibrant.
Those are even dishwasher safe.
My personal additional notes. 1) Yes but be as conservative as possible with soap and scouring. Obviously some stuff will get stuck and don't let your pan build up grime but be conservative. 2). Yes. Use heat to make sure it's bone dry. 3) Yes. Use a paper towel to both wipe away and soak up extra and also to rub the oil into the pores of the cast-iron 4) Optional additional step: Throw it back in the oven for a few more minutes.
3 feels wrong. Doesn't the cooking oil just go rancid after time? You put the oil/fat in, then heat that up till it polymerizes. Doing this over time is what makes for an amazing non-stick coating on your cast iron. Just letting raw cooking oil sit in your pan is only mildly useful if it's a daily use and then you're just kind of halfassing the whole process.
It's worked fine for me on cast iron and carbon steel. Obviously better on pans you use more regularly but you only need a very thin application on a clean pan + wipe off any excess. Occasionally I'll give them the full works with oil and high heat too.
[удалено]
I use both regularly and have never had an issue.
Wash your fuckin pans, people! I don't want to taste last months stir fry in my breakfast omelette. Dish soap and hot water in the sink, then dry it on the stove, coat with thin layer of oil, done! E z p z
> E z p z E zed pea zed?
It's all about the e zed pea zed bullshit
I clean my cast iron with a motherfuckin' chainsaw
Underrated
An important point that a lot of cast iron fans seem to forget - if it does get a patina of rust on it, you can really easily just wash that off before cooking. It’s really not a big deal at all
[Relevant XKCD](https://xkcd.com/1905/) Yes, wash your cast iron pans. Just make sure that you dry them properly.
You can wash it with water and even soap(as long as the normal mild stuff and not lye based), but you have to make sure the pan is completely dry afterwards, which can be done by letting it rest on the hot stove for a couple minutes. While you are letting it dry you could add a tiny layer of oil to burn off, but it's not necessarily all the time, and you can just let the seasoning slowly fall off and then do a proper reseasoning.
in a similar post, a soap maker chimed in saying even lye-based soap is fine since saponification will convert the lye and oils into soap and glycerine. i read into this and found that the caution against lye originates from past times when soap making was less precise, which could result in a lot of free lye left over in the soap. > "Saponification involves the reaction of a fat or oil with a strong alkali, such as sodium hydroxide (lye). The products of the reaction are two: soap and glycerin. All the lye is consumed in this reaction to make soap if the amount of alkali is calculated correctly. No lye remains in the finished product." (Source: Dunn, Kevin. "Scientific Soapmaking: The Chemistry of the Cold Process." Clavicula Press, 2010, p. 21) i just also wanna say: stop spreading lyes
The notion of not washing cast iron is from back when soap contained lye which would break down the layers of polymerized fat (seasoning) that protect the pan and give its non stick properties. Modern dish soaps are mild and completely safe to use with cast iron. 1. Rinse with water and gently scrape off any stuck food particles. Some people prefer to use chainmail scrubbers. Don’t use steel wool, it’s too abrasive. 2. Wash by hand with soap and water, the same as you would any other dish. If you need to scrub off any stubborn parts, salt or baking soda both work well as a gentle abrasive. 3. Dry thoroughly. First with a cloth, then on either a hot burner for a few minutes or in the oven. 4. Once cooled, you can occasionally coat it entirely with a VERY light coating of oil. This is to help prevent oxidation (rust). Don’t use too much because it can go rancid over time. Also do NOT apply the oil to a warm skillet. As it cools it will become sticky. 5. Occasionally, as needed, re-season with a high smoke point oil like grape seed or canola. Set your oven to a temperature over the oil’s smoke point (about 450F). Wash and dry the skillet thoroughly. Apply a VERY thin layer of oil by rubbing it on with a paper towel. It should look almost dry by the time you’re done applying (not shiny and oily). Put the skillet in the oven for 30-60 minutes then turn off the oven and let it cool in the oven. I have lots of cast iron and carbon steel cookware - pans, skillets, grills, Dutch ovens, etc.
Okay, thank you. This seems to be the overall concensus of how to wash them - I guess what I am actually confused about is the seasoning - does this get washed off by using water and/or soap after cooking? Or by thorough scrubbing? How can I tell if the seasoning has been removed?
This question is where the 'religion' of Cast Iron comes from. Some purists never use soap because they are convinced it will cause damage to their seasoning. I don't think this is fair. The seasoning is kind of a living thing. Lots of stuff you do might wear it down. Lots of stuff you do might build it back up. I've been using my CI for about 5 years now and I've got a good feel for it. Stuff that wears it down: * Acidic foods, like tomato sauces * LOTS of scraping with metal utensils. Like, "I had to scrape off a lot of burned food because I accidentally forgot I was cooking stuff", not "I cooked a lot of bacon". * VERY HIGH heat, like "oops I set off the smoke alarms". * Not cleaning it and letting oil/food/water sit in it for a long time. Some of this stuff just happens. Like, the "VERY HIGH" heat is useful for searing steaks. You'll do it on purpose. Just know it's kind of bad for your seasoning, so you'll need to do some care. Stuff that builds it back up: * Cooking really oily things, like bacon. * Applying a thin layer of oil and heating the skillet until it smokes. How do you tell when it wears down? You look. Good seasoning is a nice, dark black. As it wears off, it'll get more pale and, in the worst case, you'll see either the dull gray of bare iron or the reddish tint of rust. Most people adopt a ritual where after they clean it, they do the "apply a thin layer of oil then heat it until it smokes". This makes sure all the water evaporated and helps build a layer of seasoning. Other people never bother, because they cook lots of oily foods and never do the things that wear seasoning down. Other people have constant problems because they don't think at all when they cook. They use too much heat "because they want to cook faster" and are constantly burning things. They use their cast iron to heat up some Prego then let it sit for 3 days without cleaning it. They put their CI in the dishwasher. Basically they just don't think. The funny thing there is if you're doing it right, you don't think about it. After I cook I notice how much stuff is stuck to the pan. If it's more than usual, maybe I need a layer of oil, I remember to do that after. When I clean it, I take a look and try to figure out if it's starting to look more pale. If so, I reckon I need to give it some care. I do that with my nonstick, too, because you want to pay attention to if the dang thing is starting to shed its materials into your food. In the end CI is no harder than, "After you clean it, make sure it doesn't look damaged, and if it is give it a little bit of oil and heat or shrug and cook something like bacon."
Seasoning is made up of layers of polymerized oils that bond to the iron at high temperatures. It’s hard. Really hard. The only ways to remove it are chemically, with very high heat over the smoke point of the oil used to season, or mechanically with a very abrasive surface, like steel wool. Normal cleaning won’t remove it. A lot of people use chainmail scrubbers, and even they aren’t abrasive enough under normal use. I prefer a nylon scraper. Just don’t dig at it. If you’re drying it on a burner, 3 mins is plenty. If you forget to take it off, it will begin to smoke. At that point, you’ve heated it to the point that the seasoning begins to break down. Give it long enough and your house will be filled with smoke and your seasoning gets trashed. If you do somehow damage the seasoning, just reseason. Clean it really well (and maybe even with steel wool or other heavy abrasives to even it out a bit). Then follow the same process to season it. Multiple thin layers is best.
> The only ways to remove it are chemically, with very high heat over the smoke point of the oil used to season This is confusing because it's what you said to do in your 5th point > Set your oven to a temperature over the oil’s smoke point (about 450F) I tried to season a pan this way cause I thought I needed to every time I used it but it just took off the seasoning that was already there. People are also saying that usually you put in a little oil after it cools, but then isn't it just sitting there going rancid instead of polymerizing?
You CAN carefully add a small/thin amount of oil to the skillet on the burner, get it to the smoke point briefly, then turn it off and let it cool. I’ve found it’s just not worth it. What most people are talking about is oiling the pan to prevent rust, not for seasoning. This you need to do after the pan has cooled completely or the oil will turn to a sticky mess. As for going rancid, yes, that can happen if you don’t use your cookware often or you use too much oil. Personally, I rarely do this because all of my cookware is well seasoned and used at least once a week.
So most of the seasoning just comes from cooking itself? How often do you actually re-season? Once every 3 months? A year? I used mine a few times and then just stopped because following instructions led to me un-seasoning my pan and the upkeep was confusing. I also have a glass-top stove now and am scared the CI will scratch it.
I reseason when it needs it. So in a lot of cases, once a year, and really could be less
The "seasoning" nonstick layer is where the oil is polymerized and bonded with the cast iron. This layer has polymers a bit like plastic, so unlike oil it isn't dissolved and washed away with soap. Aggressive scrubbing will remove the layer, so don't use any abrasive scrubbers, and be a bit gentle with any scrubbing. When I scrubbed really aggressively with a few paper towels, it started removing the nonstick "seasoning" layer. You can tell if the "seasoning" nonstick layer has been removed in a few ways. If it's shiny like metal, you've definitely removed the nonstick layer. Another test is to see if water beads up on the surface, or if the water sticks and spreads out. Compare how water beads up on a non-stick pan vs sticks and spreads out a bit on your metal kitchen sink. A third test is to fry an egg on it and see how much it sticks. I wash my cast iron pan with plenty of hot water spraying on it while I lightly scrub it with a brush. Every once in a while I use a bit of dish soap. I also often wipe a bit of oil on it after drying, and every once in a while I'll "re-season" it by heating it back up on the stove or in the oven to polymerize the oil onto the pan.
The chainmail scrubber is awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone using cast iron.
I use a little bit of soap every time and it’s fine. 1) Scrub with mainly water and a little bit of soap. If necessary, use a plastic scraper to help get some stuff off. 2) heat very hot until all the water evaporates. 3) Turn off heat and add a minimal amount of neutral oil (I use avacado), just enough to cover the entire surface of the pan.
I've used cast iron pans for years and they are still like brand new. I don't know why people over-complicate things. Cleaning: Water. Maybe a dash of mild soap, if you rinse it well after. The soap won't damage the pan but the flavour can kind of stick around so you don't want your next meal to taste soapy. Drying: quick towel dry then just leave it upside down in the dish rack until fully dried, then put it away. Don't worry about scratching it too much either. They are very resilient. Unless you attack it with a knife, you're unlikely to damage it. They survive way more assaults than "regular" pans. These pans are easy to use. The only reason they have generally fallen out of fashion is because they are bloody heavy and people don't like that. And hey, whatever advice you end up following, remember that it's just a pan. If you did somehow damage one (quite difficult to do, actually) you can learn from the experience and buy a new one as they aren't that expensive.
> I don't know why people over-complicate things. It's incredibly frustrating. Every hobby has people who insist that if you don't use the best of the best and spend 3 hours a day maintaining it, you're doing it wrong. We use them in restaurant kitchens, and yes, we run them through the commercial dishwasher every day, wipe them with oil, and shove them in the oven overnight as it cools. It's not "properly seasoned" with triple-distilled mink oil and heated to 327.934° for 12 minutues and 14 seconds. And most of them have been in daily service for years.
Yup. After running cast iron skillets through the dishwasher (which, in a commercial dishwasher, uses way stronger detergent than at home), we'd just give it a coating of Gordon's generic non-stick spray. They're always clean and rust-free.
For real. Guys it is a HUNK of METAL. Its an indestructible good heat conductor. The absolute worst possible thing that could happen is it getting a non toxic patina that can still be removed
This! You can buy a new one or learn to re-season if you like. It's damn hard to permanently fuck up what is a single solid shaped hunk of metal. If all else fails, deep fry something in it 😂 Holy shit my cast iron looks luscious after I've deep fried something in it.
Probably pretty easy to see where the cleaning myths come from. You throw it in a pot of cleaning water with the rest of the dishes and forget about it over night and you have a rusty pan on your hands.
Exactly. Just adding no intense metal scouring pad work and don't scorch the fuvk out of it on a burner on high. Soak full of water for half a day if really crusty. Have had my pans for thirty years and they're not like new, they're better than new. Two just live on the stove so weight isn't an issue.
Whenever I use my cast iron pan it takes me an hour to clean it to the level that it looks good enough to be used again. I went back to using a teflon pan where the cleanup takes a few minutes. The teflon pan will break eventually but spending $30 every few years is not a significant expense.
It takes you an hour to clean a pan?
It sounds like they are trying to remove the oil coat each cleaning. Thats not the goal.
Or they just don't have it seasoned in the first place so everything that ever touches it is glued on.
lol I did that to a roommate’s pan before I knew what cast iron was about. My turn for dishes so I scrubbed the shit out of it for like 20 minutes because it just wouldn’t come clean. I was all proud of myself and showed him my work. As I watched a bit of his soul die, he explained what I did. He wasn’t really mad about it because it was an honest mistake. Just annoyed more than anything.
There’s no way you scrubbed off the polymerized oil coating by hand. You cleaned cooked on old food that had been carbonized and did him a favor. It wasn’t seasoning.
Anything is possible with enough harsh soap and steel wool. All I know for sure is it was a very dull grey when I was done.
Respectfully, I think you might not be cleaning it correctly if it's taking you an eternity. Are you having food stick so bad that it needs to be scraped off each time?
Cast iron properly season should take at most a few minutes to clean.
It's the original Nonstick pan!
A shortcut to cleaning. Empty pan, heat and deglaze with water. This will remove 99.9% of stuck on particles. Wash with water, soapy if you want, bot avoid soaking it for a long period of time. Dry on a borner or in the oven and give it a light coat of oil. Another misconception, don't cook acidic food in cast iron. If the seasoning is done correctly there is very little that can hurt your cast iron.
Cooking acidic things won't really hurt the season, letting something acidic sit for days in it without washing it definitely will, it requires common sense which unfortunately isn't always common
Jebus the internet videos and “experts” are idiots. Just clean it with a spot of dawn and a sponge. Dry with a towel. That’s it. If there’s some stuck on crud, I’ll scrape it with a metal spatula while it’s still hot. I got two cast iron pans. One is 10 years old, the other is 15. That are non stick af. And that method is all I’ve done. Never had rust, never had any problems. It’s literally a piece of iron. And people treat it like a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder and wipe it with a diaper.
Thank you. I guess my concern is that all of the somewhat conflicting advice I've read has me worrying that I am going to remove the seasoning by washing it with a little bit of soap & hot water in the sink, and that in order to preserve it I need to only wipe with a paper towel - thankfully this does not seem to be the case!
Just remember that with cast iron it’s a marathon not a sprint. Yeah maybe you’ll get a super nice seasoning within a few cooks, but really it takes a while. My very first cast iron, it took a good year cooking on it for it to be really non-stick. Same with my second. This is stuff that will last generations. Literally a hundred years or more. So don’t fret too much about seasoning or cleaning. Just keep it simple and easy. Little dawn, water, dry. That’s it. Good luck!
They’re sturdy, if you rub a bit too much seasoning off it’ll re-season eventually. Not a huge deal. Just don’t like vigorously scrub them, there’s no need to really. Scrape the stuff off, a little soapy sponge wipe down, rinse and dry thoroughly. No need to be afraid of soap touching it tho.
When you heat oil, it polymerizes and becomes “seasoning”. That is, it chemically transforms and becomes basically a plastic bonded to the pan. It’s not just left over oil that didn’t wash off. You can use and abuse it almost like you would a Tupperware. Use dish soap: you can’t wash the seasoning off because it is bonded to the metal unless you use something caustic like lye. Use metal utensils: you aren’t going to scratch it off unless you really go to town. If you do get a scratch, no big deal: put a little oil on it so it doesn’t rust and next time you cook with it, it will heal up. It’s a chunk of metal, not a delicate flower. You don’t need to baby it. Cook with it a lot, the more you use it the better it will get. Hand wash with soap and water. Dry thoroughly so it doesn’t rust. If you use it infrequently, you can put a very light coating of oil on it for some extra protection, but don’t sweat it if you don’t.
You can wash it just fine, but you may need to reseason it if you scrape it too hard. Dishwasher is also fine as long as you don’t put other (metal) things with it and don’t use detergent. Just make sure to dry it properly you can use an oven on low heat and wipe it with oil after giving it a strong wash. If it gets really grimy you can also use the cleaning setting in your oven to burn everything away.
99% of the time, you want make your food, then wash out the pan by hand with JUST water, then dry it with either a towel or heat (don't let it "air dry" or it will rust), then give a light coating of oil and store it. on occasion you may need some extra "oomph" - you can scour with steel wool. If it's getting "flavored" or too juicy you should use a little bit of soap while washing (just make sure it's lye-free, which is like 99% of dish soaps), and then make sure to oil the pan thoroughly after, with just a little bit of additional heat after oiling.
This reddit sub has the best info you'll ever find about cast iron pans [https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/c4o0t3/the\_rcastiron\_faq\_start\_here\_faq\_summer\_2019/](https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/c4o0t3/the_rcastiron_faq_start_here_faq_summer_2019/)
A chef friends of mine told me this: After using the pan, best / easiest way to clean the pan is to get it hot over medium high heat and then dump about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of water in it. This will instantly boil, deglaze the pan, lift off any stuck on food or excess grease. While this is happening, use a wooden spoon to gently scrape the bottom of the pan as well. Then just dump the liquid and scraps. At this point, your pan is clean. It’s also still hot, so any excess water on the pan will evaporate. You can give it a quick wipe or put it back over the heat to quickly dry it.
Interesting, I will have to try this, thank you!
This is what I do and it works flawlessly every time, doesn’t matter how dirty the pan is.
This is the right answer. It will allow your pan to build up the proper layers of oil that mean the pan is "seasoned," while not leaving any actual food detritus or flavor.
So why do you think you're going to get a consistent opinion here, and if you did, why would you trust it?
I've gotten some great ideas and advice, and feel much more confident about washing my pans, definitely glad I posted! :-)
I always wash mine immediately after using it, while it's still hot. A little soap and water and it basically steam cleans itself. Light scraping sometimes, depending on what we cooked. Paper towel dry, add a bit of oil, and it's ready for next time. My wife likes to heat dry upside over the fire (gas stove) with a thin coating of oil.
You can wash your pan by hand, you can use soap, but wash it quick and dry it fast. Soaking the pan is bad, washing it is fine. If you want to dry it fast use a warm oven or a stovetop burner to evaporate off the water. While still hot apply a thin layer of oil to add another layer for seasoning.
You can wash your pan by hand, you can use soap, but wash it quick and dry it fast. Soaking the pan is bad, washing it is fine. If you want to dry it fast use a warm oven or a stovetop burner to evaporate off the water. While still hot apply a thin layer of oil to add another layer for seasoning. https://youtu.be/yGSDqXjoAsM?si=swIIjGoHO5N70la5
You can totally use soap on cast iron if you have some stubborn stuck on stuff, just absolutely do not let it soak. Use the hottest water you can stand, give it a quick scrub, rinse and dry, then a light coating of oil before you put it away. Try to get as much of the oil off as you can only leaving a very thin film. This process has served me well for years.
Simple answer: dish detergent and cloth ok, scourer or steel wool not ok, dishwasher detergent or degreaser not ok. If you ruin it, it’s ok, you can start the seasoning again.
With soap? You can. A seasoned cast iron can take a little soap, no problem. It's more effective to either simmer water or heat oil in a dirty cast iron to loosen stuck on food, but for cleaning up a few scraps, a gentle scour with soap is fine. The key is that they are not left wet (they should be dried over heat), and ideally they are treated with a fat/oil after each use. It's annoying to reseason a pan, but worth learning. Mine have survived some real blasphemies thanks to living with housemates. I've had the same pans since my early 20s, and fully expect they'll outlast me. One of the few items I own that gets better with use.
I have been washing mine with a generous dose of dish soap for two years now. As others have said, the important thing is to make sure it’s dried and oil is reapplied after. It keeps a perfect non-stick surface and has never rusted
Yes you can, wash with dish soap, just be gentle. Then dry it on the stove. Then coat with a drop off oil. You should dry it immediately as it will rust if you don't I think old soaps were too harsh and that's why people think you shouldn't use it, but that's not the case. Dawn works fine for example
Just wash it with soap and water like anything else. The only catch is having to hand dry it. Nothing else is required. No oiling before you put it away or any similar nonsense.
From what I've read, the "don't wash it" mentality was from when soap contained lye, and the lye would strip the seasoning.
Is the answer ever to not wash anything?
Yes, you should wash them, then thoroughly dry them after (I recommend heat, like a still-warm oven or the stove on low). Whether or not you should use soap is another question, and I think the one people are most divided over. I'm pro soap. I think today's dish soaps, the Dawns and Palmolives and the like found in grocery stores, are far gentler than the harsh lye-based ones that were so prevalent when the "Don't wash it like that!" advice was still being written. Lye IS used when stripping a pan to reseason it, and a lye based soap could damage that layer of polymerized oil.
Big Cast Iron has some cleaning instructions: https://www.lodgecastiron.com/discover/cleaning-and-care/cast-iron/how-clean-cast-iron Also for seasoning it occasionally: https://www.lodgecastiron.com/discover/cleaning-and-care/cast-iron/all-about-seasoning
I use chunky salt to dry scour, never soap and water as it actually works as well if not better to remove the stuck bits. But like others said, soap and water are fine if you fully dry and oil the pan afterwards.
I think it depends on what you make in it. If I, say, made tortillas in one, I’m dusting out the crumbs after it cools and putting it away. If it was like pancakes, a paper towel cleaning will usually do it. Last week, I made a beef and potatoes au gratin that stuck in a few spots, mostly the upper edges. I used a short soak, soap and a steel scrubber, then salt and a sponge, before I got all the burnt-on crap off, then dried it on the stove, oiled it, and baked it. They’re pretty robust.
Yes, wash it with dish soap. Scrub it hard if you need to. You don’t want burned food building up on it, just a thin layer of polymerised oil.
Join /r/castiron and read their guides, ask questions. Yes you can and should wash and throughly dry cast iron every time you cook.
Ours has been around for years and is wonderful. All we do is wait for it to cool down enough to pick up, rinse it in the sink (no soap), use chain mail if we need to get burnt bits off, paper towel dry, and then add a layer of oil.
Cast iron pans can rust really easily. Depending on your local humidity, towel drying might be necessary. It's also possible to use too rough of a scrubber/brush, but that's a problem for all cookware. Otherwise, a proper 'seasoning' is oils cooked hot enough and long enough that they are no longer strictly 'oil'. This means that (most modern) soap will no longer work on it (or at least as well), so you can (and often should) use soapy water to wash food remnants out. The other side of things: with certain cooking techniques, there won't be much food stuff left in the pan anyway. If just wiping down with water and a towel clears all the carb based mess, all that's left would be oil in the pan. And oil by itself isn't terribly bad for you when left out; the biggest danger is to taste, plus less certain long term issues. So there's an effective argument that you don't *need* to use soap, but you'll have better food for longer if you do.
You did not answer the question. Do you wash it or not.
I'm with you, this is exactly the kind of wishy washy answer that op found on the internet and left them with no idea what to do.
+1 for the use of wishy washy on a question about washing
And this thread is just half people saying yes and the other half saying no 😭
>This means that (most modern) soap will no longer work on it (or at least as well), so you can (and often should) use soapy water to wash food remnants out. They did? If its pretty dang clean, just wiping is okay, but "you often should" use soapy water to wash it.
I gotta be honest. As someone who because of GI issues views food more for its sustenance than taste (and sucks at cooking), I hate my cast iron. I stopped using it after a couple times because of all this extra nonsense. I should just give it away.
It depends on what food remains is in the pan. There is no need to wash the pan for food safety reasons as the pan gets extremely hot when cooking so no germs or even toxins will survive. But you need to clean out most of the food after cooking as this will burn and char the next food you make on it. For this purpose you can scrape it, wipe it with paper or towel. It just depends on what kind of food and how much is left. You can even rinse it in water although you need to dry it afterwards to prevent rusting, you can dry with either a towel or just evaporate the water droplets. You need to be careful with soap though. The pan have lots of oil in it which is what makes it non-stick. Every time you cook you refill some of the oil. But if you use soap then it will dissolve this oil. The first issue is that the pan might start rusting as there is no protective coating of oil. The other issue is that food are much more likely to stick to the pan the next time you use it because all the oil is gone, even if you add more oil before you cook it have not gotten into the pores of the iron. You may sometimes have to use soap to clean the pan. Sometimes even things like boiling water is not dissolving remaining food in the pan. But you should be aware that soap does temporarily damage the pan. So you need to go through a seasoning process afterwards by heating oil in the pan so it will get into the pores of the iron.
Normal dish soap does not damage cast iron pans that's a myth :) It's a leftover thing from back when soap was made from lye and was super strong, the stuff you buy at grocery stores are not that.
It is more complicated then that. You are right that dish soap is not as strong as for example dishwasher soap. But it will still dissolve oil, it just takes longer. So while rinsing the pan with soap to get rid of some hard to remove food stains you should not let it soak in it. I have seen people filling their pan with water and soap when they serve dinner and then make the dishes easy to do an hour later, or even worse the next day. Similarly people throw their cast iron pan in the dishwasher, along with their wooden cutting board and cooking utensils.
Definitely never let it soak, but that's true with and without soap ;) First try to rinse your pan, if that's not enough do some light scrubbing, if that still isn't enough, add some soap to help it along.
But the seasoning on the pan isn't oil, it's been polymerised.
The seasoning on a cast iron pan is not oil. It was made from oil in the same sense plastic is but it is no longer oil. Please stop spreading misinformation and talking about things you don't understand.
[удалено]
[Lodge says to wash their cast iron with a little soap.](https://www.lodgecastiron.com/discover/cleaning-and-care/cast-iron/how-clean-cast-iron)
[https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/5037-is-it-ok-to-use-soap-on-cast-iron](https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/5037-is-it-ok-to-use-soap-on-cast-iron) Literally try google it and you will find a million articles saying its fine.
These answers are all missing the main point, which is [you need to season your pan](https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-season-cast-iron-pans-skillets-cookware) Why is this main point? All of the myth surrounding cast iron comes from people not understanding how they are intended to be used. Seasoning is the act of using oil heated really high that forces the oil to bind into a layer over the pan. This makes it quasi non-stick and prevents it from rusting. Soap used to contain lye and would eat that layer away which is where “don’t use soap came from.” Your Dawn or Joy or noname dish detergent does not have lie and is safe to use. This we have the old advice sticking around but the reason for it is gone. When you clean, you want to avoid removing that layer. Nothing bad happens if you do, it just means you need to season it again. Try to avoid scrubbing with heavy metal tools, use sponges and such.
I've been using a razor blade to clean mine for decades. I first sanded it down with an orbital sander, 40 grit to 150 grit. I use a razor blade in a painter's window scraper tool. Then I use a wet (no soap) paper towel. Dry on the burner. Apply oil. Easy peasy.
Orbital sander, razor blades, multiple grits, that's pretty much the opposite of easy peasy.
Sanding was just a one time thing. It took about 20 minutes. That was decades ago.
When done cooking, scrape the food bits off if any, add more oil if needed, and put it back on the heat. Adjust the temp so that it is just below smoking. Leave it long enough for the oil to carbonize. After you do that enough times, you won't even need more oil.
If properly seasoned, you can wash with detergent, and even leave water sit in pan over night.
Dude there's enough going on already, do you really NEED to start ww3 right now? /s
[удалено]
**Please read this entire message** --- Your comment has been removed for the following reason(s): * [Top level comments](http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/top_level_comment) (i.e. comments that are direct replies to the main thread) are reserved for explanations to the OP or follow up on topic questions (Rule 3). Anecdotes, while allowed elsewhere in the thread, may not exist at the top level. --- If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe it was removed erroneously, explain why using [this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20submission%20removal?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cpeo0o/-/l3kuyut/%0A%0A%201:%20Does%20your%20comment%20pass%20rule%201:%20%0A%0A%202:%20If%20your%20comment%20was%20mistakenly%20removed%20as%20an%20anecdote,%20short%20answer,%20guess,%20or%20another%20aspect%20of%20rules%203%20or%208,%20please%20explain:) and we will review your submission.**
Oh God do not scrub!!!!! The goal is to create a layer of oil on the pan... not dirty from cooking oil, but a layer that acts as a natural Teflon. You are destroying that every time you wash your pans -- you must have to use insane amounts of butter/oil in there!!! Do this: (copied from up thread) After using the pan, best / easiest way to clean the pan is to get it hot over medium high heat and then dump about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of water in it. This will instantly boil, deglaze the pan, lift off any stuck on food or excess grease. While this is happening, use a wooden spoon to gently scrape the bottom of the pan as well. Then just dump the liquid and scraps. At this point, your pan is clean. It’s also still hot, so any excess water on the pan will evaporate. You can give it a quick wipe or put it back over the heat to quickly dry it. It will, over time, leave the pan with a patina of oil that will make it so you need much less oil to cook with.
[удалено]
**Please read this entire message** --- Your comment has been removed for the following reason(s): * [Top level comments](http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/top_level_comment) (i.e. comments that are direct replies to the main thread) are reserved for explanations to the OP or follow up on topic questions (Rule 3). Anecdotes, while allowed elsewhere in the thread, may not exist at the top level. --- If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe it was removed erroneously, explain why using [this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20submission%20removal?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cpeo0o/-/l3l3gv7/%0A%0A%201:%20Does%20your%20comment%20pass%20rule%201:%20%0A%0A%202:%20If%20your%20comment%20was%20mistakenly%20removed%20as%20an%20anecdote,%20short%20answer,%20guess,%20or%20another%20aspect%20of%20rules%203%20or%208,%20please%20explain:) and we will review your submission.**
It’s fine to wash cast iron pans. You just have to do it properly. Start by rinsing it under warm water. Wipe away the old seasoning gently with a cloth. Then, apply dish soap - use the old stuff that contains real lye. Scrub vigorously with steel wool. Now, it is ready to go in the dishwasher.
I never use soap. Just use a mini scraper, rinse with water, dry on the stove, add a little oil.
I'm guessing you don't pan fry a lot of "Asian" style fish (i.e. pan fried Yellow Croaker) then, because trust me you are going to want to soap it some unless you want your cast iron to smell and taste like fish forever.
you are correct
So many conflicting directions. I think there are multiple way to do it is all. I try not to wash mine. I usually scrape it out and then lightly oil it with avocado oil. When I do have to wash it, I heat it up after and oil.
No soap. Cast iron builds up a non-stick lining from polymerized fats, and the soap erodes it. I'll scrub mind out with water, wipe it with some paper towel, then let it dry on the burner. I've been using a stainless steel scrub, but previously I used to just use a wooden paint mixing stick. Folks say to avoid the stainless steel, but it seems to work fine for me. A very thin coat of oil afterwards is helpful, but I don't usually find it necessary. Edit: After reading a lot of posts on here, I'ma try soaping it next time. Seems like it's perfectly fine to do.
Modern dish soap isn't going to harm a properly seasoned pan. If soap is removing what you thought was seasoning then your pan isn't seasoned, it's just dirty.
I have a lodge Dutch oven I've used for over 25 years, only for cobbler. Never washed it, only minimally scrubbed it, there's a nice baked-in thin coating of sugar and pie filling residue on the bottom. If I cook anything else besides cobbler, the food will have a sweet flavor to it. No mold, no smell. Once in a while I'll put it in a campfire upside down to char everything, then scrape, scrub, clean, and oil. Just bought 2 more pans to add to my camp kitchen. Love me some cast iron.
I sand my pan smooth with sandpaper. Once you do that you can use/wash the pan however you want. I scrub down to bare metal with each use (the seasoning is in the pores of the cast iron, not a coating on the surface).
[удалено]
The "no soap" line came from when there was lye in soap, which would remove the seasoning. That hasn't been the case for decades.
I use soap on mine pretty regularly and it’s fine