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Had a neighbor show me his rusty skillet trick that made me rethink everything
So I was out in my driveway last Saturday cleaning a carbon buildup off my old Lodge pan with a chainmail scrubber and my buddy Mark from two houses down walks over. He's like 70 and has been cooking on cast iron since the 70s at least. He looks at what I'm doing and just says "you're making it harder on yourself" and pulls out this beat up pan he found in his shed that was totally crusted with rust. He grabs a potato cuts it in half dips the cut side in baking soda and started scrubbing the rust off like it was nothing. I stood there watching him for 10 minutes while he explained that the acid in the potato helps break down rust without stripping the seasoning underneath. On one hand it sounds like an old wives tale but on the other hand that pan looked brand new when he was done. Has anyone else tried this potato method or am I just getting pranked by an old timer?
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walker.alex28d ago
Ironically, that potato trick is more of a cheat code than a prank." Actually, the science is pretty solid. Potatoes have oxalic acid in them, same stuff in rhubarb that strips rust, but it's mild enough not to eat through good seasoning. What people miss is the grit part. The baking soda isn't just for scrubbing, it acts as a mild abrasive that keeps the potato from gunking up too fast. I've tried it on a few rusty thrift store pans and it works way better than steel wool because you're not gouging the surface. The real hidden benefit is that it doesn't stink up your kitchen like vinegar does, which is a huge plus for apartment dwellers. Mark probably learned that trick from his grandmother, those old timers knew what they were doing.
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kelly33827d ago
@walker.alex beat me to it with the science explainer, but I can confirm the no-stink bonus is real. I used this on an old cast iron skillet from a garage sale and it saved my sinuses from vinegar hell. Plus the potato starch leaves a light coating that actually helps with the initial reseasoning.
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