I am just going to talk about a few things.
It will seem like heresy to almost everyone who cooks on cast iron.
So what.
The age old received wisdom is that you always season, often just by using, and then forever leave seasoned, sometimes merely by light wiping out between uses, sometimes also with detergent and sometimes not, your cast iron pans.
What is wrong with that picture?
Here's a passage from a prior post:
You do whatever you want. Oil left in a skillet to
' season' becomes like hydrogenated fat, or a species of plastic. It doesn't stick, or sticks less, but who cares? You might as well use teflon, or spray non stick plastic in the skillet. You end up eating it in dribs and drabs, plastic.
Here's another authority telling the truth:
"The Theory: Seasoning is a thin layer of oil that coats the inside of your skillet. Soap is designed to remove oil, therefore soap will damage your seasoning.
Reality: Seasoning is actually not a thin layer of oil, it's a thin layer of polymerized oil, a key distinction. In a properly seasoned cast iron pan, one that has been rubbed with oil and heated repeatedly, the oil has already broken down into a plastic-like substance that has bonded to the surface of the metal. This is what gives well-seasoned cast iron its non-stick properties, and as the material is no longer actually an oil, the surfactants in dish soap should not affect it. Go ahead and soap it up and scrub it out.
The one thing you shouldn't do? Let it soak in the sink. Try to minimize the time it takes from when you start cleaning to when you dry and re-season your pan. If that means letting it sit on the stovetop until dinner is done, so be it."
Here's a passage from a prior post:
You do whatever you want. Oil left in a skillet to
' season' becomes like hydrogenated fat, or a species of plastic. It doesn't stick, or sticks less, but who cares? You might as well use teflon, or spray non stick plastic in the skillet. You end up eating it in dribs and drabs, plastic.
Here's another authority telling the truth:
"The Theory: Seasoning is a thin layer of oil that coats the inside of your skillet. Soap is designed to remove oil, therefore soap will damage your seasoning.
Reality: Seasoning is actually not a thin layer of oil, it's a thin layer of polymerized oil, a key distinction. In a properly seasoned cast iron pan, one that has been rubbed with oil and heated repeatedly, the oil has already broken down into a plastic-like substance that has bonded to the surface of the metal. This is what gives well-seasoned cast iron its non-stick properties, and as the material is no longer actually an oil, the surfactants in dish soap should not affect it. Go ahead and soap it up and scrub it out.
The one thing you shouldn't do? Let it soak in the sink. Try to minimize the time it takes from when you start cleaning to when you dry and re-season your pan. If that means letting it sit on the stovetop until dinner is done, so be it."
I scour cast iron after every use. I do not leave any cooked on oil, to season.
There are cast iron so called experts who will disagree. Oh well.
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