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Just realized I was hand washing my cast iron skillet wrong for 6 years
I was scrubbing my Lodge skillet with soap and a steel wool pad every time I cooked, thinking I was keeping it clean. Then my buddy watched me do it last weekend and laughed his ass off, said I was stripping the seasoning every time. How do you clean your cast iron without messing up the finish?
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ivan_murphy802mo ago
People get weirdly obsessive about cast iron, it's a hunk of metal not some heirloom. A little soap and scrubbing isn't going to ruin anything, just cook some bacon in it and move on with your life.
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vera1952mo ago
See I gotta push back a little here @ivan_murphy80. Yeah it's just a hunk of metal but the whole point is that seasoning builds up over time to make it nonstick and that's kinda the magic of it. If you scrub too hard or use too much soap you're basically starting over from scratch every time. @shane_clark has a solid point about the chainmail scrubber and a quick oil wipe, that's exactly what I do and my pan is like glass after years of use. I'm not saying you need to treat it like a museum piece but taking two extra minutes to dry and oil it saves you from having to reseason the whole thing which takes way longer. Bacon isn't gonna fix a stripped seasoning either, you need thin layers of oil baked in over time. It's more about not having to redo the work later lol.
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shane_clark2mo ago
You tried steel wool on cast iron for six years? I've done the same thing, man. Here's the deal: you don't need all that. A stiff plastic brush or a chainmail scrubber will take off stuck food without killing the seasoning. If you must use soap, a tiny bit of mild dish soap is fine, but rinse it off quick and dry it on the stove immediately. After drying, rub a thin layer of vegetable oil into it while it's still warm, then wipe off the excess like you made a mistake. That five minute routine means you never have to reseason the whole thing again.
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