You would probably like cast iron more if you stopped committing war crimes against it.
this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2024
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it's just a pan
You can take care of your pans anyway you want. But it's telling when people treat neglect like it's an ethic.
Also throw in the metal fork you used to scrape your expensive non-stick pan.
I used to love cast iron but carbon steel has stolen my heart
I bought my first carbon steel pan (a wok specifically) last week and I did a bad job at seasoning it for the first time. I had to scrub the shit out of it with steel wool and vinegar to reset. My second season was a little better but it’s still not fully non stick. I hope it will just naturally get better as I keep using it.
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This thread is full of people claiming that dish soap doesn't contain lye, but the most popular dish soap I'm aware of, Dawn, contains lye and that's easily found in a two second Google search.
I love cast iron for cooking. It's also very forgiving. Depending what I am cooking it gets treated carefully for the seasoning, or scrubbed with dish soap. The beautiful thing is I can take it camping, come home and scrub all the 'seasoning' off, then re-season with 30 min in the oven an a bit of olive oil.
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Wash it all you want, should be fine as long as you hand dry it after.
I put mine in the clothes dryer with a load of socks. Is that wrong?
I just reseasoned my 12” Lodge today! A lot of nasty smells coming out as I took off layers and layers of old seasoning with barkeeper’s friend. But now it has a non sticky, glassy smooth new sunflower oil seasoning. Very slick!
Does anyone know how to avoid having bacon foul up the seasoning? Seems like it always reacts chemically and incorporates proteins into the seasoning which make it nasty and dry and flaky rather than smooth and glassy.
Try washing it.
So long as you're not using the lye-based soaps your grandparents used to wash their dishes, you're fine. Dishwashing detergent does not damage seasoning.
That’s what led me to redoing the seasoning today. I washed up the grease with a few drops of Dawn and the pan came out with large areas of brown/white and dry/powdery rather than black and shiny.
I definitely have had the pan have a really strong seasoning that maintains a hard, glossy black finish even after washing with soap before. I’m hoping the current seasoning holds up a bit better.
I think maybe sometimes I burn the seasoning from cooking with too high heat? I really love to put a good sear on a burger or a steak and I love how cast iron is like a deep cycle battery that can store and release a large amount of heat into a piece of food.
I think maybe sometimes I burn the seasoning from cooking with too high heat?
That will happen around 450-500F. One method of stripping seasoning is to run it through an oven self-cleaning cycle.
Ahhh I probably get it over 500 for a big sear. Kinda crazy that my stove’s burner can get there even on medium.
If you want it that high, I would suggest using wok seasoning methods instead of cast iron. Basically, you "blue" the pan (develop a black iron oxide layer) by holding it at 550F for an hour or so. You'll burn off the oil every time you use it, but the black oxide layer is relatively non-stick. This will work better with carbon steel than cast iron.
Alternatively, you might consider an even heavier pan, to hold a 400-450F temperature even longer.
The burner will get well over a thousand. Without something cooling it off, a pan can overheat even on low.
Scrub it clean with soap, then put the pan on a burner to heat dry it. At the end, rub a very thin layer of fat on it. I use clarified butter. It's a cumulative process, you won't see all the benefits of nonstick all at once.
That butter is going rancid on the surface.