• cmac@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    It’s fine to wash them with modern dish soaps. The reason people say not to is because dish soaps used to have lye in them, which would destroy the seasoning. Just make sure you wipe the water off instead of letting it air dry or it can rust.

    • devfuuu@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I keep reading the word seasoning, and for non native speakers this is hard. What are you all meaning? You put some garlic, salt and pepper on the pan and let it be?

      • Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        English is dumb. We got the term “seasoned” to mean like a veteran fighter, something aging properly and using salt and spice from the French “assaisoner” which means “to ripen / to improve with time” which we expanded upon by being like “when things become tastier” which is how we started applying it to using spices and salt…

        In this case it means sort of speed running getting the oil sheen a cast iron cooking implement used to naturally get by just using it over and over when cooking over wood or peat hence “ripening” the pan. Way back in the day in England and France they didn’t really use soap for dishes. You washed them with water and left them outside in UV light to sterilize them so all iron cooking things tended to naturally develop that nice carbon coat. Time and use made them better hence “seasoned”.

      • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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        7 months ago

        Seasoning in this specific context means the residue of the food oil which forms a surface coating when heated up to a certain temperature. It protects the surface from rusting.

        • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          It does protect from rust somewhat(water can still cause rust if left on it) but the big deal is it makes the cookware non-stick without Teflon.

      • stankmut@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        It’s more like like a seasoned veteran, not cooking seasoning.

        You aren’t throwing garlic on the pan and then putting it in the cupboard. You build up layers of polymerized oil on the pan as you cook on it.

      • jjagaimo@lemmy.ca
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        7 months ago

        Oil is placed on the pan and then it is heated to form a non-stick coating. This layer can have small holes in it, so the process is repeated many times. The holes do not line up, which makes the path for water to get through much longer or blocks it. This means water can not easily make it through all of the layers. That also means any water that gets in can’t easily get out, and it can cause rust to form if it makes it through the coating and is left on there.