cast iron

[w3bny]

Nowadays I use clad-stainless for everything and scour them with Brillo (no detergent shall ever touch one of my pots or pans, least of all auto-dishwasher stuff).

Uhh...Just checking but isnt Brillo chock full-o-detergent just like an SOS pad? I even checked the Brillo website and yeah...Detergent!

Nevermind....strip and shine has no soap.

Anyhoo... I clean my cast iron with kosher salt then rub back down with lard or bacon grease. (kosher salt and swine...gawd...)

[n2ize]

Uhh...Just checking but isnt Brillo chock full-o-detergent just like an SOS pad? I even checked the Brillo website and yeah...Detergent!

Nevermind....strip and shine has no soap.

Anyhoo... I clean my cast iron with kosher salt then rub back down with lard or bacon grease. (kosher salt and swine...gawd...)

You can also use steel wool in place of Brillo. Matter of fact steel woll is basically iron so you'd be cleaning iron with iron.

My parents used to have a set of nice iron pans. Unfortunately they stopped using them when some health freak told them that iron is no good for your heath and it causes this, that and the other thing. Dunno what happened to the old iron pans. Probably laying in back of the garage somewhere.

[W1GUH]

Never use soap on cast iron. It'll take out the seasoning. Just get rid of the grease and scour with steel wool (NOT the kind with soap), or stainless-steel wool. Wipe it dry and it's ready for another go.

What's the problem with detergent on stainless steel? OTOH, I don't use upscale pots and pans. Good ol' Farberware is plenty good for this amateur chef.

[W3MIV]

To the best of my knowledge both SOS and Brillo pads are still impregnated with soap, not detergent. Brillo got its red color from a mixture of rouge and soap. Soap contains fat, and the fat will clean seasoned cast iron without destroying the seasoning -- of course, you cannot scrub with steel wool so hard that you negate the qualities of the soap.

I treat my cookware ONLY with Brillo or SOS pads. Test it by using a Brillo pad to clean a bright, polished stainless saucepan or skillet. Rinse and notice how the water wants to bead? That is the result of a waxy residue from soap, not detergent which contains surfactants that destroy water's surface tension.

Too many people cannot tell the difference between soap and detergent. Those people should stay the hell out of the kitchen. Go to Wendy's or some other such dive.

[kc7jty]

I'm not diving at Wendy's.
My seasoned cast iron used to get a light scrub with liquid dish DETERGENT and a knitted plastic scrubber ball on occasion way back when I made hamburgers on it. Just do it lightly to get the crud off without cutting into the surface patina, dry immediately, then re apply oil or melted grease to the entire surface on top.
My griddle right now looks like 25% in the center is raw cast iron, but it's perfectly seasoned.

[kc7jty]

Those are peeled tomatoes. When my Mom uses them she generally runs them through a strainer or a food processor to crush out as much of the juice from the tomatoes. She'll do that with three or four cans and add it to a large pot into which she has already added oil , cooked garlic and other stuff Then she'll add flavorings, i.e. bay leaves, basil, maybe some sugar if the tomatoes are bitter, meatballs, etc, Then she'll cook the sauce for several hours.

Yep... good 'ol meat gravy.

[KC2UGV]

To the best of my knowledge both SOS and Brillo pads are still impregnated with soap, not detergent. Brillo got its red color from a mixture of rouge and soap. Soap contains fat, and the fat will clean seasoned cast iron without destroying the seasoning -- of course, you cannot scrub with steel wool so hard that you negate the qualities of the soap.

I treat my cookware ONLY with Brillo or SOS pads. Test it by using a Brillo pad to clean a bright, polished stainless saucepan or skillet. Rinse and notice how the water wants to bead? That is the result of a waxy residue from soap, not detergent which contains surfactants that destroy water's surface tension.

Too many people cannot tell the difference between soap and detergent. Those people should stay the hell out of the kitchen. Go to Wendy's or some other such dive.

Not many people know the difference between soap and detergents :)

[kc7jty]

Well, I had the Cento maters on bread pizza, not bad. Quite sweet, good flavor, but I think the no salt plum tomatoes from Italia are best.

[W1GUH]

'UGV:

Not many people know the difference between soap and detergents

And even fewer care! I certainly don't. Soap is soap.

[W3MIV]

Soap is soap.

Yup. And detergent is detergent, and n'er the twain shall meet.