Stop washing your cast iron with soap and acting like it's fine

I saw a post last week where some guy said he scrubs his Lodge with Dawn every night and his pan is 'perfect.' No buddy, it's not perfect, you just can't tell because you burned off all the seasoning. I've been using the same 12-inch skillet for 7 years at the house and I only use hot water and a stiff brush. If I get something really stuck, I boil a little water in it for a minute then scrape with a metal spatula. Has anyone else noticed more people treating cast iron like nonstick these days?

3 comments

3 Comments

graceblack1mo ago

SEVEN YEARS with the SAME pan and you think boiling water in it is fine? That's stripping oil faster than soap could ever dream of. You're basically eating off bare iron right now and calling it "seasoning.

thomas.parker1mo ago

@graceblack has a point. Seven years is a good run but boiling water regularly will strip it down to bare metal.

margaret_williams53d ago

My favorite pan is a cast iron skillet I got for $8 at a yard sale about ten years ago. I think its seasoning is mostly wishful thinking and leftover bacon grease at this point. Honestly, I boil water in it all the time for deglazing and I just scrub it with a chainmail scrubber after. The thing is so pitted and uneven that I'm pretty sure I'm eating layers of old seasoning and carbon with every meal. Maybe that's what gives it that special flavor, lol. But I hear you, seven years is a solid run for any pan that gets used hard like that.