Honestly, depending on the specifics here, not the worst. If they’re using an oil that will polymerize, then as they oil/heat/cool cycle it, the seasoning will further develop over time, as long as they’re somewhat scraping off remnants of their cooking as they finish, leaving it as clean as it can be without actually washing it, and then heat cycling it to sanitize any bacteria that might be there, I don’t really see a problem with it…
It’s not exactly up to modern hygienic standards, or social standards… And I’m pretty sure if any restaurant or food joint did the same they would get shut down by the health inspector before long… But you do you buddy.
For anyone not in the know, the thing with cast iron and cleaning is no longer a problem. Clean your cast iron. When cast iron was just about the only cookware, soaps included lye. Lye will erode the non-stick “seasoning” on cast iron. Modern soaps do not contain lye, so go ham.
Cleaning, however, introduces water… And water causes iron to rust, so it is generally advisable to clean your cast iron cookware, then immediately heat it up past the boiling point for water, to vaporize any liquid water and carry it off the surface of the iron. Once past that temperature, let the cookware cool, then treat it with a thin layer of oil. This will protect the surface from atmospheric moisture and allow the cookware to work over much longer periods of time without needing to be “re-seasoned” (which is removing the layers of polymerized oil on the cast iron, and then re-applying it using a slow method of oiling, then heating the cookware, allowing it to cool, oiling then heating again)…
Don’t be afraid of cast iron, it needs a little more attention than other cookware, but it’s a joy to actually cook with.
My ceramic pan isn’t even close on nonstick properties, it can cook eggs but needs more oil than cast iron. My smithey cast iron is king, so smooth the eggs slide around by default.
Yeah I feel like people who say that about ceramic haven’t cooked on well-seasoned cast iron. Both of my cast iron pans are nearly as nonstick as Teflon, and eggs slide around like you said. Cooking runny-yolked eggs on my ceramic is a pain without an egregious amount of oil though.
Not sure about the soap thing. It definitely strips more of the “seasoning” than just water in my experience. And it’s my understanding modern dish soap contains some synthetics, and cast iron is very porous (I use the cheap kind, I think the kind for camping, lol), so I avoid soap. I just use very warm water and sometimes mechanical means (stainless steel scrubbers) to clean my cast iron. Tbf, just cooking very fat/oil heavy stuff restores much of the seasoning whenever it’s lost.
Honestly, depending on the specifics here, not the worst. If they’re using an oil that will polymerize, then as they oil/heat/cool cycle it, the seasoning will further develop over time, as long as they’re somewhat scraping off remnants of their cooking as they finish, leaving it as clean as it can be without actually washing it, and then heat cycling it to sanitize any bacteria that might be there, I don’t really see a problem with it…
It’s not exactly up to modern hygienic standards, or social standards… And I’m pretty sure if any restaurant or food joint did the same they would get shut down by the health inspector before long… But you do you buddy.
For anyone not in the know, the thing with cast iron and cleaning is no longer a problem. Clean your cast iron. When cast iron was just about the only cookware, soaps included lye. Lye will erode the non-stick “seasoning” on cast iron. Modern soaps do not contain lye, so go ham.
Cleaning, however, introduces water… And water causes iron to rust, so it is generally advisable to clean your cast iron cookware, then immediately heat it up past the boiling point for water, to vaporize any liquid water and carry it off the surface of the iron. Once past that temperature, let the cookware cool, then treat it with a thin layer of oil. This will protect the surface from atmospheric moisture and allow the cookware to work over much longer periods of time without needing to be “re-seasoned” (which is removing the layers of polymerized oil on the cast iron, and then re-applying it using a slow method of oiling, then heating the cookware, allowing it to cool, oiling then heating again)…
Don’t be afraid of cast iron, it needs a little more attention than other cookware, but it’s a joy to actually cook with.
I’ve got a ceramic and it has all the advantages of cast iron without the disadvantages.
My ceramic pan isn’t even close on nonstick properties, it can cook eggs but needs more oil than cast iron. My smithey cast iron is king, so smooth the eggs slide around by default.
Yeah I feel like people who say that about ceramic haven’t cooked on well-seasoned cast iron. Both of my cast iron pans are nearly as nonstick as Teflon, and eggs slide around like you said. Cooking runny-yolked eggs on my ceramic is a pain without an egregious amount of oil though.
Ceramic coated cast iron is very nice.
No it doesn’t. They cost more and everything I see says that you can’t use metal tools on it.
It did say you can on this one, so…
Not sure about the soap thing. It definitely strips more of the “seasoning” than just water in my experience. And it’s my understanding modern dish soap contains some synthetics, and cast iron is very porous (I use the cheap kind, I think the kind for camping, lol), so I avoid soap. I just use very warm water and sometimes mechanical means (stainless steel scrubbers) to clean my cast iron. Tbf, just cooking very fat/oil heavy stuff restores much of the seasoning whenever it’s lost.
So I HAVE to cook this bacon to fix this pan? Oh noooo 😏
Yep, its required. Best do it again for good measure.
I don’t know if that thick amount of oil would polymerize well though, you want a thin layer for that.