They're way cheaper and they last multiple lifetimes. I don't know what you're on about.
this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2025
436 points (88.1% liked)
196
18425 readers
598 users here now
Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.
Rule: You must post before you leave.
Other rules
Behavior rules:
- No bigotry (transphobia, racism, etc…)
- No genocide denial
- No support for authoritarian behaviour (incl. Tankies)
- No namecalling
- Accounts from lemmygrad.ml, threads.net, or hexbear.net are held to higher standards
- Other things seen as cleary bad
Posting rules:
- No AI generated content (DALL-E etc…)
- No advertisements
- No gore / violence
- Mutual aid posts are not allowed
NSFW: NSFW content is permitted but it must be tagged and have content warnings. Anything that doesn't adhere to this will be removed. Content warnings should be added like: [penis], [explicit description of sex]. Non-sexualized breasts of any gender are not considered inappropriate and therefore do not need to be blurred/tagged.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us on our matrix channel or email.
Other 196's:
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
People that can't handle cast iron are the same that can't get their car's oil changed on time.
After breakfast this morning I washed my skillets with the other dishes. The only difference is I put it on the stove to dry.
I don't know if people will be angry with me but I just cook in it for iron. So I just clean it normally with water later (no soap most of the time). Heat it to dry, and apply a bit of oil and store it. That way I never have grimes and dirty pieces there.
I never touched a cast iron pan in my life growing up, it simply wasn't a thing. My ex had one and shortly after we met I was cleaning up his kitchen for him, found his nasty crusty cast iron pan and washed it. (We didn't have Internet then so it's not like I would have looked it up). His Australian parents were horrified. I still hate the filthy things.
That is yuck. Sometimes you do need to wash them properly with soap and everything, and just re-season them or whatever the cast iron enthusiast say.
That's reminds when people don't clean their BBQ and it's this smelly source of fat going bad.
Not sure where this superstition came from. You can clean your cast iron with soap, pretty much any kind. Seasoning is very tough, around the hardness of glass. Pretty much the only real guidelines are don’t use anything abrasive like bar keepers friend (unless you wanna reseason), and don’t leave it wet.
The people leaving a layer of uncleaned grease on their pans have no clue what they are doing.
The superstition is due to old soaps which contained lye. That will desire you seasoning.
Modern soaps don't contain any lye. You just want to make sure you dry it quickly after washing it.
Does it really make a difference? Personally I want my pan to sparkle but are these people really experiencing any negative effects? I realize food born illnesses exist but it doesn't seem like the practice is bad enough to matter.
Yeah you’re definitely over complicating it hommie
More expensive???
Most of the care tips you see on cast iron are just superstition.
It's actually super easy to care for. You just scrub it with some salt and a boar bristle brush, dry it with a linen towel, then store it in a marble sepulchre facing North.
if I don't have a sepulchre will a charnal house do?
If you're not going to take this seriously, just get a Teflon pan.
Absolutely fucking not
That better be magnetic north
My sepulchre hasn't been marble 100 percent of the time, I'll try harder
Folks love to harp on about how "iTs So HaRd To CaRe FoR" but honestly Teflon pans (the more common option) are worse
Cast iron:
- be a little careful when washing it
- will last longer than your grandkids
Teflon:
- don't get it too hot
- don't use metal tools
- don't use too much oil
- often not oven-safe
- will last like 10 years at most
Teflon Poisons the entire planet. Also when over heated, creates Florine gas that may be harmful if you are in close proximity.
The fuck? Nonstick lasts like one year, MAYBE two. It's not worth it.
Also cast iron also cooks different. Not better, different.
You're buying trash pans if they only last a year.
I cook everyday and throw them away as soon as there's any visible sign of wear. Then after the third buy that damaged so soon, stopped buying nonstick.
But also, yes, I was buying cheaper pans. (Edit: tramontania i think?) Those aluminum ones with the nice red silicone handles. Fantastic pans, but degraded far too fast.
Now, I just use my cast iron skillet from a hundred years ago and it's easier to cook in AND makes better eggs AND I can use my metal spatula.
To clean it, I'll wipe it out with a paper towel, rinse it with warm water really fast, then every week or few days or if it smells, use a dollop of dawn and some warm water and sponge wash it for like 10 seconds and rinse it out, then one paper towel it clean, add in a tiny bit of canola oil, wipe it around, heat it until it starts to smoke on the stove, then turn it off. That process takes like, maybe 30 seconds, not including heating it until it smokes, which realistically is like only another 30-90 seconds.
The eggs are runny yolks and browned and crispy bottoms. And I'm not eating teflon, which to me is absolutely fantastic!
I exclusively use stainless steel pans in my kitchen. None of the weird chemicals from teflon, I can scrape the shit out of them with metal tools and I can toss them in the dishwasher with no second thought. The only downside is that I have to deglaze from time to time while cooking to get stuck bits off, but it's really not that bad.
Can you explain the deglazing process and reasoning. I just got two stainless pans and I'm very curious.
Sometimes brown bits get stuck to the bottom of the pan while cooking and the best way to get them off is to toss some water into the pan before those bits can burn. Not much, maybe like a tablespoon - it dissolves all the brown bits into a very tasty brown sauce that coats the rest of the food in the pan. It's really not complicated, but the added moisture sometimes makes the cooking take a bit longer and isn't ideal when your goal is to cook something very dry and crispy (like when frying tofu)
Very interesting thank you. I'll have to give this a try.
You can deglaze with alcohol as well, and then reduce it into a delicious sauce.
Now, that being said those browned bits are delicious and are the starting point for a lot of sauces. A dirty steel pan is an opportunity for loads of flavor (provided were talking about a seared or sauteed food, not like pasta or something.
I agree with you on the stainless. I do still have one cast iron pan that I swear by for certain things but I also don't baby it in any way. I also have a couple of ceramic coated pans for specific things that love to stick to stainless. I mostly use the stainless and the cast iron, though.
I thought Teflon coatings were only good for 5yrs before the shit PFAS start leeching out.
It's entirely possible, I've actually never even had one last even that long and just kinda guesstimated how long a pan that had been absolutely baby'd would last.
Sorry for linking R*ddit, but this thread seems to mirror my suspicions, 3-5 years on average, 10 if you treat it insanely well.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Yeah i dont wanna bother having to sort through all the misinformation and contradictory advice on cast iron pans at this point. Cuz I'll read someone say "I wash it all the time" and then the next comment will be "I washed mine and it rusted instantly"
I just use carbon steel and it treats me right.
I mean, carbon steel is basically the same thing in terms of how you care for it.
Even with rust, it can be fixed with a decent scrubbing. Small trace amounts of rust shouldn't harm you either, just give you more small metals than usual.
load more comments
(9 replies)
view more: next ›