Perpetual stew vibes
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99% of all the old "don't wash cast iron!" shit you hear is antiquated information from back in the day when they used lye for soap.
There is absolutely no reason today to not wash your cast iron today. That doesnt mean you always have to, though. Often just wiping it out with a damp rag is more than enough, and if you have a lot of really stuck on shit.. You can scrub it with a slurry made up of salt, water, and soap (Make sure you use little water so the salt doesnt dissolve into the water and disappear). The salt will provide some abrasive scrubbing without damaging the cure.
outside of that, again, if you choose to, you can absolutely wash it. Warm water and soap, dry it off, put it on a hot burner for a bit to dry off any remaining water.. and if you are using it again tomorrow, you're done. If you're not gonna use it for a while, then a very very light coat of oil would be wise until you use it next time.
and just in case anyone wants a good way to cure.. I cover my cast iron in a thin layer of lard, and put it on a rocket hot grill, and leave it until it stops smoking. then i take it off, let it sit until i can handle it again.. put another coat of lard on, and repeat. a couple coats should give you a great starting base to build your cure up from.. and its not something you have to do often unless you really abuse your cast iron.
Unless you live in a humid area, a microscopic amount of water isn't going to harm anything before it dries. Clean it with soap then use a dry towel to dry it and leave it on the stove, it'll be fine.
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Which is apparently why burritos from old-school eateries taste so good: they don’t wash the griddle, and the secret sauce is the essence of the entrails of generations of pigs and chickens
That least touches an open flame.
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Any pathogens would be cooked anyway.
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Clean it, don't clean it, oil it, salt it, water it, "season it", season it by not cleaning it so your french toast gets all that good hamburger flavor from the night before...
I've read so many different ways to treat cast iron that at this point I'm convinced that it's all just superstition.
As long as you're not cleaning with lye, soap is generally fine. But if you're going to be a bit lax on cleaning, the only real downside in my opinion is potentially introducing flavors you didn't intend.
I think for the most part, you do you. If it looks visually fine, it's probably good enough.
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Again, this isn't true. Extra virgin olive oil of decent quality has a smoke point similar to canola oil.
The chart at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point would disagree
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The chart at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point would disagree
wrote last edited by [email protected]No, at least read it properly before commenting.
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Any pathogens would be cooked anyway.
But more likely to ingest benzopyrene which can be carcinogenic
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No, at least read it properly before commenting.
wrote last edited by [email protected]207 as opposed to 230-250 for the oils people typically recommend (rice bran, peanut, refined sunflower, ghee...) and 270 for avocado. Sounds lower to me.
Edit: oh you were talking specifically about canola. Well, since they put mustard oil (basically the same thing) at 240 later, I'm not sure about that number, but yeah maybe specifically canola is also not great.
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Honestly, depending on the specifics here, not the worst. If they're using an oil that will polymerize, then as they oil/heat/cool cycle it, the seasoning will further develop over time, as long as they're somewhat scraping off remnants of their cooking as they finish, leaving it as clean as it can be without actually washing it, and then heat cycling it to sanitize any bacteria that might be there, I don't really see a problem with it....
It's not exactly up to modern hygienic standards, or social standards.... And I'm pretty sure if any restaurant or food joint did the same they would get shut down by the health inspector before long.... But you do you buddy.
For anyone not in the know, the thing with cast iron and cleaning is no longer a problem. Clean your cast iron. When cast iron was just about the only cookware, soaps included lye. Lye will erode the non-stick "seasoning" on cast iron. Modern soaps do not contain lye, so go ham.
Cleaning, however, introduces water.... And water causes iron to rust, so it is generally advisable to clean your cast iron cookware, then immediately heat it up past the boiling point for water, to vaporize any liquid water and carry it off the surface of the iron. Once past that temperature, let the cookware cool, then treat it with a thin layer of oil. This will protect the surface from atmospheric moisture and allow the cookware to work over much longer periods of time without needing to be "re-seasoned" (which is removing the layers of polymerized oil on the cast iron, and then re-applying it using a slow method of oiling, then heating the cookware, allowing it to cool, oiling then heating again)...
Don't be afraid of cast iron, it needs a little more attention than other cookware, but it's a joy to actually cook with.
Not sure about the soap thing. It definitely strips more of the "seasoning" than just water in my experience. And it's my understanding modern dish soap contains some synthetics, and cast iron is very porous (I use the cheap kind, I think the kind for camping, lol), so I avoid soap. I just use very warm water and sometimes mechanical means (stainless steel scrubbers) to clean my cast iron. Tbf, just cooking very fat/oil heavy stuff restores much of the seasoning whenever it's lost.
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Clean it, don't clean it, oil it, salt it, water it, "season it", season it by not cleaning it so your french toast gets all that good hamburger flavor from the night before...
I've read so many different ways to treat cast iron that at this point I'm convinced that it's all just superstition.
Yup, just go with stainless steel. I wouldn't recommend teflon coated pans anymore, because it's literally poison.
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Yup, just go with stainless steel. I wouldn't recommend teflon coated pans anymore, because it's literally poison.
wrote last edited by [email protected]It's not about teflon, but the chemicals used to attach this (or any other) extremely non-sticky plastic to a pan.
Imagine the kind of chemistry needed to make a thing that a cooked egg slides off on it's own stick to a metal surface in high temperatures.
* This is mostly incorrect, I don't want to spread misinformation.Teflon is otherwise inert and shouldn't have health implications on it's own (that we know of).
Obviously I'll still avoid ingesting any more plastic myself, as much as I can help it. Not suggesting anyone chews on PTFE tubes.
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As long as you're not cleaning with lye, soap is generally fine. But if you're going to be a bit lax on cleaning, the only real downside in my opinion is potentially introducing flavors you didn't intend.
I think for the most part, you do you. If it looks visually fine, it's probably good enough.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I'm just going to keep cleaning mine with three drops of goat's blood, drying it with a linen towel, then storing it in a humidity-controlled cabinet with the handle pointing north, just like my guidance counselor taught me.
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Clean it, don't clean it, oil it, salt it, water it, "season it", season it by not cleaning it so your french toast gets all that good hamburger flavor from the night before...
I've read so many different ways to treat cast iron that at this point I'm convinced that it's all just superstition.
Leave it outside for 2 years, use acid and scrubbing to get the rust off, reseason. Good as new!
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I'm just going to keep cleaning mine with three drops of goat's blood, drying it with a linen towel, then storing it in a humidity-controlled cabinet with the handle pointing north, just like my guidance counselor taught me.
You don't rotate the handle in sync with the precession of the vernal equinox? Your cast iron's going to be fucked when the age of Aquarius begins. I'll bet the Priestmunty who proclaimed your pans wasn't even a bake-borne by the eight transcendental Broilers of Avalon. Poser.
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Honestly, depending on the specifics here, not the worst. If they're using an oil that will polymerize, then as they oil/heat/cool cycle it, the seasoning will further develop over time, as long as they're somewhat scraping off remnants of their cooking as they finish, leaving it as clean as it can be without actually washing it, and then heat cycling it to sanitize any bacteria that might be there, I don't really see a problem with it....
It's not exactly up to modern hygienic standards, or social standards.... And I'm pretty sure if any restaurant or food joint did the same they would get shut down by the health inspector before long.... But you do you buddy.
For anyone not in the know, the thing with cast iron and cleaning is no longer a problem. Clean your cast iron. When cast iron was just about the only cookware, soaps included lye. Lye will erode the non-stick "seasoning" on cast iron. Modern soaps do not contain lye, so go ham.
Cleaning, however, introduces water.... And water causes iron to rust, so it is generally advisable to clean your cast iron cookware, then immediately heat it up past the boiling point for water, to vaporize any liquid water and carry it off the surface of the iron. Once past that temperature, let the cookware cool, then treat it with a thin layer of oil. This will protect the surface from atmospheric moisture and allow the cookware to work over much longer periods of time without needing to be "re-seasoned" (which is removing the layers of polymerized oil on the cast iron, and then re-applying it using a slow method of oiling, then heating the cookware, allowing it to cool, oiling then heating again)...
Don't be afraid of cast iron, it needs a little more attention than other cookware, but it's a joy to actually cook with.
I've got a ceramic and it has all the advantages of cast iron without the disadvantages.
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I've got a ceramic and it has all the advantages of cast iron without the disadvantages.
Ceramic coated cast iron is very nice.
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Leave it outside for 2 years, use acid and scrubbing to get the rust off, reseason. Good as new!
Why would you wait two years when you can just melt it down in a crucible and re-cast it after every use?
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lye (sodium hydroxide) has all sorts of uses and for cleaning your pan you don't need it dry. Just buy a cleaning agent containing it.
It is one of the most used chemical products and i strongly doubt that anyone having normal uses for it will ever get a government visit.
It depends. Usually no, but if there are any mysterious disappearances in your area, a person that has recently bought large amounts of lye will certainly be questioned at least.
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Which is apparently why burritos from old-school eateries taste so good: they don’t wash the griddle, and the secret sauce is the essence of the entrails of generations of pigs and chickens
They don't scrub them with soap and water, but they do scrape them clean with a razor sharp spatula after every portion is cooked.
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You don't necessarily need to do that every time. The thing about cast iron is that even if you actually "ruin" it, you can just redo the seasoning.
So it's fine to be a little lazy about it. The one thing you want to avoid is rust, as you mentioned. I wash mine with a tiny amount of soap involved and most of the time I just dry them off with a paper towel. If I put on a coat of oil, I leave the pan on the induction stove for a bit, with the stove timer on. Easier than the oven.
Only if the seasoning looks like it might need a couple more layers, do I go the oven route.
Yes to oil and stove.
Totally forgot about the stove timer thanks!
