Cast iron and germs

[GB]

I am with everyone else here in that I do not use soap or detergent on my CI. I would not be opposed to using it sparingly from time to time once the seasoning was strong enough to be able to handle it, but right now I don't think my seasoning is not strong enough.

While I think the woman with the dry heaves over reacted, I also think that her reaction is not that crazy. Most people on this site know a lot about food and food safety and cooking materials and such. The average person does not know much about these things. How many people still think you have to cook pork until it is black and crispy to avoid getting sick for instance? Before I know about these things I would have been thinking the same thing the dry heave woman was probably thinking. If you went to someones house for dinner and they took a dirty plate from the table and dumped some salt on it and wiped it out with a paper towel and then served you dinner on that plate I think most of us would at least have a thought run through our heads about sanitation and washing with soap and if they do that with their plates then what else do they do that would make us think twice.

My point is that we all know that CI is fine treated the way we all treat it, but those not in the know really have no way of knowing that that is a sanitary thing to do and it is not unclean.

 

[CharlieD]

Salt here, the best cleaner for CI. I better stop here beore I get really mad and tell oyou what i really think about those, what did you people called the germofobs? Grrrrrrrrr

 

[Andy M.]

I sometimes start cleaning my CI by boiling water in it. That has to kill most anything. After rinsing off the crud, I put it back on the burner to dry it. That gets the temperature of the pan well over the 212F boiling point of water, an even better sanitizer.

I'd bet gag girl's pots and pans never see those temperatures!

 

[oneoffour]

Lodge cast iron grill/griddle NewYork strip steaks

This Lodge cast iron griddle was the magic to make these strip steaks. The steak prep was salt, pepper and evoo. Preheated oven and griddle to 450 F and then put on the steaks. Turned oven to broil. In 3 minutes rotated to get the sear lines after 6 min. flipped. At 10 minutes pulled out of the oven and set griddle on a cutting board to finish sizzling. Guess it was 3 minutes for the hissing to settle down. Done medium rare. Plated the steaks and put the very hot griddle in the sink. Cold water and it hissed... nylon dish brush to scrub clean then paper towel to lightly dry. Put in the hot oven well we ate the steaks. Best seaoned cast iron I have. Never any soap or steel wool.

 

[vagriller]

Thinking back, I cannot think of ever cooking anything in Cast iron that I didn't cook at a higher temperature, and a longer time, than any germ could survive. Using soap on the cast iron would not change the germ count. The heat and time, however, would.

I can't remember who said it, but another member here once said "if it can withstand the heat of frying, it will laugh at soap!"

 

[jennyema]

My mother put hers in the dishwasher and it's still glossy smooth.

I use soap occasionally because sometimes you just have to. It's fine, I assure you.

You don't remove the seasoning that way, unless you do it all the time.

Rinse thoroughly and dry completely on the heat.

 

[roadfix]

This Lodge cast iron griddle was the magic to make these strip steaks. The steak prep was salt, pepper and evoo. Preheated oven and griddle to 450 F and then put on the steaks. ...
..

Man, those look fantastic!

I just bought that same 20" reversible griddle last week to add to my very small collection of Lodge CI. It's a very nice grill. Heavy too, which I like. I'll be cooking up some tacos on it tonight.

 

[msmofet]

This Lodge cast iron griddle was the magic to make these strip steaks. The steak prep was salt, pepper and evoo. Preheated oven and griddle to 450 F and then put on the steaks. Turned oven to broil. In 3 minutes rotated to get the sear lines after 6 min. flipped. At 10 minutes pulled out of the oven and set griddle on a cutting board to finish sizzling. Guess it was 3 minutes for the hissing to settle down. Done medium rare. Plated the steaks and put the very hot griddle in the sink. Cold water and it hissed... nylon dish brush to scrub clean then paper towel to lightly dry. Put in the hot oven well we ate the steaks. Best seaoned cast iron I have. Never any soap or steel wool.

i never use soap on my CI, sometimes a little salt if needed.
people have used sand to "wash" pots and such when water isn't available.

i have never used my CI grillin the oven/broiler but i think i will try it.

i used my CI grill pan on top of the stove to do these Porterhouses.

this is a shell also done on top of stove on CI grill pan.

 

[sparrowgrass]

I use soap on mine, and a nylon scrubbie. When I am done cleaning, I put in back on the burner and rub some oil on with a paper towel. Leave it the heat til it is smoking hot.

No problems with sticking, seasoning is fine, they are black and shiny.

 

[DaveSoMD]

Soap is not a cleaning agent. What soap does is reduce the surface tension which allows water (the real cleaning agent) to work much more efficiently.

A simple test to prove - rub dirty hands on a bar of dry soap without using water and see how clean your hands get.

Exactly. People forget that soap and water clean the dishes... if you want to disinfect you need to rinse them in a weak bleach solution.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Wow, all those steaks done on the CI grill look sooooo good. Heck, I probably gained a couple of pounds just looking at them.

 

[msmofet]

Wow, all those steaks done on the CI grill look sooooo good. Heck, I probably gained a couple of pounds just looking at them.

thank you CG!!

 

[wanna be]

Pretty funny.

You didd'nt mention if this was a regular guest or a one time pain in the neck.If you had cleaned and sterilized your cast pans even a few times in a fassion that would satisfy this knuckle head.The heaves would have occured sooner and I bet they wouldnt be dry.

 

[letscook]

I have purchased alot of cast iron from garage sales for almost nothing- when that happens- i use soap-comet-soft scrub- steel wool - a wire wheel on a drill - due to they are usually pretty bad- but when im done they look brand new. I then heat up my grill outside and season the heck out it. once that is done ready to go. I cook in them and yes occasionally i have cooked something that isn't cleaning up well. I will use some soap mostly a brillo pad but when im done cleaning it I will put them on the burner to dry and then while warm will wipe it done with an paper towel with oil on it. all is good again. Like someone said once and while is good.

when cooking with cast you heat you pan up first so if there is germs they are burnt off at the start. Never had anyone get sick

 

[oneoffour]

Have to make and take some pics of a breakfast egg dish that I like to make in CI. Keep kicking myself as soon as anything is done we eat it and then I remember should have taken a picture. Anyone cook in soapstone?

 

[oneoffour]

i never use soap on my CI, sometimes a little salt if needed.
people have used sand to "wash" pots and such when water isn't available.

i have never used my CI grillin the oven/broiler but i think i will try it.

i used my CI grill pan on top of the stove to do these Porterhouses.

Our stove is a glass top with a small burner front right and a large front left. If you figure side to side or a small one front righ and a large back right figuring front to back. Your poterhouse steaks look great! I am curious did you get uniform heat to the grill over two burners? Lack of even heat lead me to the oven method.

 

[msmofet]

i never use soap on my CI, sometimes a little salt if needed.
people have used sand to "wash" pots and such when water isn't available.

i have never used my CI grillin the oven/broiler but i think i will try it.

i used my CI grill pan on top of the stove to do these Porterhouses.

Our stove is a glass top with a small burner front right and a large front left. If you figure side to side or a small one front righ and a large back right figuring front to back. Your poterhouse steaks look great! I am curious did you get uniform heat to the grill over two burners? Lack of even heat lead me to the oven method.

thank you!! well i also have the front burner is larger/higher fire than the smaller one in the back. it works out good because i like my steak less done then others in my family so they get the more done ones.

 

[oneoffour]

CI grilled pork chops

When it is to cold and rainy to be out with the BBQ this comes in a close second IMHO.

msmofet I think I'll try it stove top my wife likes them more done than I do. Dah of course I could just take mine out a few minutes sooner.

Dinner was a spinach salad with camelized pecans crumbled blue cheese, mung bean sprouts, porkchops, baked potato and basil sorbet for dessert

 

[msmofet]

When it is to cold and rainy to be out with the BBQ this comes in a close second IMHO.

msmofet I think I'll try it stove top my wife likes them more done than I do. Dah of course I could just take mine out a few minutes sooner.

Dinner was a spinach salad with camelized pecans crumbled blue cheese, mung bean sprouts, porkchops, baked potato and basil sorbet for dessert

they look fantastic!! i am going to have to try it in the oven/under broiler.

 

[Rob Babcock]

No offense to your dinner guest but she sounds like a nutjob. There's cleaning and sanitizing, and they're not the same thing. Cleaning= mechanically removing dirt & food residue. Santizing= killing off the vast majority of microbial life (not all, that would be sterilizing). Cleaning doesn't kill germs and sanitizing doesn't get stuff clean. Ideally you should have both. But any germ that can take the heat required to season a CI pan is gonna just laugh at a squirt of Dawn.