If he can afford a housekeeper then he can also afford to buy a new skillet.

I recommend he donate the ruined skillet to goodwill or the salvation army.  

My cast iron directions have always said to wash with warm soapy water, dry, and then to coat with a thin layer of oil. Perhaps it's even better to avoid the soap, but a little soap won't kill it.

If he's old enough to afford a housekeeper, he'll still easily outlive his cast iron.  :geezer:

There are some articles talking about never washing and people go overboard and get too attached to this.

I wash mine often with soap and water, not all the time, but often, and it's fine. The oil has already baked deeply into the pan, nothing else is going to replace it.

You soap it up, wash it, give it another light coat of oil, and it's fine.

If a pan were ever truly over soaped, you'd just have to oil it up and bake the oil back in again and it'd be fine.

Neil O, I'm of the camp that never uses soap to preserve the seasoning and flavor when cooking, but some do, as noted here, so if your friend just re-seasons the pan, no harm no foul.

Mathieu, one can always find excellent information at The Art of Manliness.

Neil O, I'm of the camp that never uses soap to preserve the seasoning and flavor when cooking, but some do, as noted here, so if your friend just re-seasons the pan, no harm no foul.

Mathieu, one can always find excellent information at The Art of Manliness.

I generally don't use soap if I can avoid it.  Usually wiping the pan with a damp cloth or paper towel before things dry on works.  Or, I'll bring some water to nearly a boil i the pan then using spoon scrap the dried on portions off and wisk a wash cloth around it.  As has been said, a pan can always be reseasoned.  I had a room mate put one of my cast iron skillets through the dishwasher once.  It didn't take long to get it back into shape.

Also, refering to previous comments, I doubt much soap "gets into the pores".  Vinegar is not a bad idea though.  I've heard that resturantes will sometimes strip their grill with vinegar or a commercial solution, then reseason it.

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All of these posts are great.  You guys didn't let me down.  Thank you!  

Quote from: MaterDominici

… he'll still easily outlive his cast iron.

I've got a hunch you meant to put the quoted sentence the other way round: his cast-iron pan will easily outlive him. Yes?

I think you're right.  M-D was using a quip about people outliving stuff but that's just out of habit.  I think she meant as you say, the pan will outlive its owner.

My own cast-iron pans—small, medium, large—were all objets trouvés from my first apartment; the year was 1970. I soon discovered that they had originally belonged to the former tenant's mother, who died in the fifties, and she had had them since early in her marriage. In other words, it's a pretty safe bet that my pans are at least a century old.

Despite the fact that I invariably scrub them with a Brillo or SOS pad after each use—any edible oil will go rancid sooner or later; so much for the wisdom of seasoning!—they show nary a sign of wearing out. Alas, no one would ever say the same of me.

The thing about cast iron is, if it's intact, it's still cast iron.  And as such, it can still be used as a cooking pan, regardless of its age.  I suppose several hundred years might leave you with a rough surface that doesn't let you fry eggs without sticking.  But then you could GRIND the high points off and get down to a smooth substrate, losing some thickness.  At some point, there won't be enough thickness left, though, like cast iron disc brake rotors.

Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta

Neil O, I'm of the camp that never uses soap to preserve the seasoning and flavor when cooking, but some do, as noted here, so if your friend just re-seasons the pan, no harm no foul.

Mathieu, one can always find excellent information at The Art of Manliness.

I generally don't use soap if I can avoid it.  Usually wiping the pan with a damp cloth or paper towel before things dry on works.  Or, I'll bring some water to nearly a boil i the pan then using spoon scrap the dried on portions off and whisk a wash cloth around it.  As has been said, a pan can always be re-seasoned.  I had a room mate put one of my cast iron skillets through the dishwasher once.  It didn't take long to get it back into shape.

Also, referring to previous comments, I doubt much soap "gets into the pores".  Vinegar is not a bad idea though.  I've heard that restaurants will sometimes strip their grill with vinegar or a commercial solution, then re-season it.

I tried telling my friend that I've washed my cast iron skillet many times, and it still works fine, but he's not hearing it.  He has a lot of hangups regarding how to cook and how not to cook.. cooking to him is an art form, and he never has enough time to have the fun he likes to have preparing elaborate meals.  So when something gets in the way of his routine, like being able to use his skillet just the way he believes it should be used, he has an emotional over-reaction.

I think the "over-dramatic" assessment is correct.  But I'll have to be careful since he's obviously sensitive to this.  

The subject reminds me of a book I read 40 years ago, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is a very clever title.  And it's a great book, if you have the stomach for the quasi-heresies in it.  It was perhaps one of the driving forces of the popularity of the "spirit of Vatican II" in America.  That, and the popularity of the "Spirit of St. Louis," which was an airplane.  But I digress.

In the book, a major theme is the emotional attachment people form over how to cope with particular aspects of mechanical things.  They get a kind of sentimentalism going whereby a particular commercial product, or a certain kind of packaging, is the only thing they will accept for the care or maintenance of their own car, musical instrument, motorcycle or, in this case, cast iron skillet.  

In the book, the nature and substance of shims is prominent.  Shims in this case are thin strips of sheet metal, whether rectangular or circular with a hole in them, like washers.  One character is unshakable in his demand for a box of shims that is labeled, "shim stock," whereas another character argues that any metal strips of the correct thickness will do just fine.  

As for the Brillo pad use, and the dishwasher, I really enjoyed hearing about that.  If I were to repeat this to my friend, I'm sure he'd think I was a heretic!  

He said he's going to go ask Star Restaurant Supply (commercial kitchenware-house) about washing cast iron cookware.  They have knowledgeable salespeople and a very helpful attitude.  IOW:  he's not going to believe me, if I'm in conflict with the "industry pros" he knows.

Facebook says:  
"Chef's Toys, DBA STAR Restaurant Equipment & Supply Co., Van Nuys, CA."



I can't believe they don't have any website.  What are they THINKING?  


Regarding my friend, it's possible he might run into a salesperson who wants to make a sale, and will then feed his prejudice that his pan is "ruined" so he can make a commission.  In regards to that, my friend MIGHT be willing to know about the disinterested opinions of a nice group here on CI who have a combined total of 200 years of experience cooking with cast iron, reading articles and answering questions about soap-getting-into-the-pores.  So I really appreciate the input, folks!  


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If any of you are Facebook users, maybe you could go to the STAR Facebook site and register, then ask this question there.  I really want nothing to do with Facebook, so I don't want to register.  STAR might be of the opinion that 'everyone' uses Facebook, so why would they need a website?  

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