Best place for pots and pans

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Macman

I have a Lodge cast iron pan and I season it each time I clean it. I just use dish soap and water and one of those stainless steel scrubbies, works good.

Once it's all cleaned I'll dry it off with a cloth and put a bit of canola oil in the pan and wipe it all around with a separate cloth and that's the seasoning part. Put it back on the stove until the next time I use it.

I also never turn the heat up more than medium on the stove to get it hot and will just use a little bit of oil when cooking.

Just skip the soap and you’ll be in way better shape. It doesn’t help clean off the food, it just eats your polymerized oil layer (seasoning).

I mean, it sounds like it’s working for you. I basically do the same thing (except the oiling each wash) and my 10 year old pans look brand new and nothing sticks (I also use a metal spatula in it). They’ve had maybe 3 proper long oven baked seasonings. I just encourage you or others to skip the soap.

[zamler]

Do you also have to make sacrifices to the gods so your cookware is ready for the next day?

[activeStick]

https://www.seriouseats.com/the-truth-about-cast-iron

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by activeStick

https://www.seriouseats.com/the-truth-about-cast-iron

Well he doesn’t agree about soap and apparently lodge thinks it’s fine, but it’s always seemed to cause me problems personally. I never feel the need to do it as it cleans easy, but sometimes guests will wash it like the rest which I just fix later.

https://www.lodgecastiron.com/cleani...iron-seasoning

Seasoning is fairly resilient, but it's not bulletproof. It can withstand a little soap and water and a good scrub with a brush, but we don't recommend using anything too abrasive on your cast iron like harsh detergents.

[Macman]

I don't even use that much soap and rinse quite a bit after cleaning and still using the scrubbie just to make sure all the soap residue is off.

My pan is about 5 years old and it's just around the top edges where you can notice some of the layers coming off a bit but the bottom and the rest of the pan are still very much intact.

It's been a good pan and you can make a really nice steak in it, look up Chef Ramsay and how to make a steak in a cast iron pan, really easy and good.

[Fuzz]

https://www.amazon.ca/BK-Cookware-CC...1/ref=sr_1_13?


I picked up this carbon steel pan about 6 months ago. It's fantastic. I find it great for eggs and omelets, the pan is super smooth. You treat it just like cast iron, but it is thinner, so has different heat retention properties.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Carbon steel heats faster, so it's better when you're in a bit of a hurry.

I use a bit of soap when there's a lot to clean out of my pan (like if it had a bunch of sauce in it) but not very much. Water and a brush will generally do it.

[Cappy]

Thanks everyone!

I think i could have it heated a bit high - not like i cook anything on high, but i will try taking it down a bit. (EDIT: also preheating! I am most likely not letting it heat long enough)

I also will look into a non-metal bristle brush.

I also found a couple food to help increase the seasoning and non-stickiness.

A few times i have used soap and water, then dried in the oven and re-seasoned in the oven. I also heard salt with water is a decent option as it acts as an abrasive

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://www.amazon.ca/BK-Cookware-CC...1/ref=sr_1_13?


I picked up this carbon steel pan about 6 months ago. It's fantastic. I find it great for eggs and omelets, the pan is super smooth. You treat it just like cast iron, but it is thinner, so has different heat retention properties.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I went with this carbon steel flat bottomed wok and it's been awesome. It's basically the same weight as a cast iron pan of the same diameter. This thing is also pretty inexpensive and after using it for over a year now, I definitely think there's a decade worth of usage I can get out of this thing.

I made sure to pay extra attention to ensuring I seasoned the carbon steel well before I started using it. I also always make sure when I cook that the oil is added only after the carbon steel is a bit hot. This allows for the best non-stick properties with less oil required when cooking the food (adding oil when the wok is cold makes it more likely that the food will stick to the pan).

As for cleaning, I use hot water, soap and those metal sponges. It works fine for me. I'm not going to baby this thing as it's only like $50. I re-season the pan every 2-3 months or so.

[Barnes]

For cleaning cast iron, I rarely need to use soap. If there's some stuck on gunk that cant be cleaned with water and a sponge, I put it back on the burner and fill it 1/4 full with water to deglaze and steam the gunk off and then wash with water and a sponge.

If there's burnt on stuff, I dump a bunch of kosher salt and oil into the pan, cut a potato in half and buff out burnt bits away.

Using soap is fine. If your pan is properly seasoned, it cannot wash away the polymerized oil.

[Hack&Lube]

I downsized my cabinet full of annoying pots and pans down to four things:

1. No-Name Cast Iron Pan/Skillet for any pan frying/grilling/searing

2. Corning Visions Glass Pot (survived someone leaving it the stove on for an hour with a silicone spatula turning into ash), 30 years old and indestructible

3. Carbon Steel Wok (for when you need to cook a lot of stuff at once, fits full length spaghetti too)

4. Instant Pot - anything that needs to slow cook or simmer