Soap and cookware..?

[Cheezy]

What are everybody's opinion on soap. When I was young my grandmother taught me that soap was taboo. Never more than a drop and that was only if it was really necessary. If some thing was stuck on a pan she would use salt as an abrasive agent to help scrubbing. The majority of her cookware were black cast iron pans that were WELL seasoned.

As I got older I tended to stray from this and started using soap. Some pots always had a faint soapy smell when I would cook. I couldn't detect it in the food, but every now and then I lift a pot top off of something cooking and smell
soap. I just got a new set of cookware and am having arguments with my wife about not using soap any more unless necessary.

Any opinions...???

 

[Andy M.]

If you smell soap in a pan I'd guess it either wasn't rinsed properly or your grandmother's advice is haunting you.

Soap aids in cutting through grease and in lifting foods off the pan surface. Once well rinsed, the soap is gone until next time.

Do you use soap in the dishwasher?

 

[Cheezy]

Hi Andy. You are definitely right about grandma's advice haunting me. I also thought about the not rinsed properly. But even when I rinse them repeatedly I still swear I smell soap. I don't use the dishwasher as I feel it's too much work.
By the time I rinse, load and unload I could have just washed them.

 

[Andy M.]

Hi Andy. You are definitely right about grandma's advice haunting me. I also thought about the not rinsed properly. But even when I rinse them repeatedly I still swear I smell soap. I don't use the dishwasher as I feel it's too much work.
By the time I rinse, load and unload I could have just washed them.

I don't know that I can help you other than to say soap aids in the cleaning process. Perhaps your grandmother was just trying to save money by not using soap. I can't say.

Good luck.

 

[Cheezy]

Well she did use soap, just not on her pots.

 

[Andy M.]

Well she did use soap, just not on her pots.

What kind of pots did she use? Cast iron?

 

[GotGarlic]

Hi, Cheezy. You said most of her pans were seasoned cast-iron. It's generally advised not to use soap on cast iron because it washes off the seasoning. Are your pans stainless steel or cast iron or something else?

I use soap on my stainless and (one) non-stick pans, but not on my cast-iron.

 

[Cheezy]

I am using SS.

 

[Snip 13]

Maybe it's your dishwashing liquid that leaves an odour. I use Sunlight lemon dishwashing liquid and it never leaves a soapy smell.

 

[forty_caliber]

I suspect that your dishes are not getting rinsed well. Do you have hard-water in Poughkeepsie?

.40

 

[Cheezy]

I suspect that your dishes are not getting rinsed well. Do you have hard-water in Poughkeepsie?

.40

Yes we do.

 

[forty_caliber]

Soap doesn't dissolve well in hard water. Hard to rinse it off things.

Try an experiment. Buy a gallon of drinking water at the store. Wash your pan in the normal way using only this drinking water and soap in the usual way. See if the soap smell remains.

Long term, a water softener for your house will improve the washing of all things, people, dishes, clothes.

.40

 

[GLC]

Given granny's haunting, you had better make it a blind test. I can make you smell soap just by suggesting that you might. Or smoke. Or whatever. I have some of the hardest water around and have no hint of detergent odor, either the soapy smell or the added fragrance smell on stainless steel. I do often see some iridescent sort of coloration when I don't use Barkeepers Friend, but I think that's maybe the slightest oil left behind. But since I cook a lot of things hot and fast, I most often use BF.

 

[Andy M.]

...I do often see some iridescent sort of coloration when I don't use Barkeepers Friend, but I think that's maybe the slightest oil left behind...

I've seen that iridescent surface on my SS pans and have attributed it to starches. When I cook a starch such as rice, I see that coloration.

 

[Oldvine]

I don't run my cast iron in the dishwasher, and neither do I allow them to soak sitting in the sink, but cast iron still gets washed with soap, a good rinse and turned upside down for a few seconds over a stove burner. I can't remember ever smelling soap when cooking. Almost every other cooking vessel, except the super large pieces or electrical, takes a ride in the dishwasher.

 

[Cheezy]

Wow! Guess I'm the only one. I will take the water softener into consideration as I have been meaning to for some time anyway.
Thanks for the replies..