I scrubbed my grandma's skillet with soap for 12 years, now I just wipe it with a paper towel and I feel like a traitor | Cast Iron Comrades - The Community Guide
I scrubbed my grandma's skillet with soap for 12 years, now I just wipe it with a paper towel and I feel like a traitor
So here's the thing. For 12 years I washed my cast iron with hot water and a drop of Dawn after every single meal, then dried it on the stove and rubbed it with a little Crisco. My grandma God rest her always said soap would ruin the seasoning and I never believed her. Last spring my buddy Dale in Akron watched me do my whole routine and just shook his head, said I was scrubbing off a layer every time. So I tried his way for 3 months. Just wipe it out with a paper towel while it's still warm, scrape the stuck bits with a chainmail rag, done. My skillet is darker and slicker than it has been in a decade. But now I feel weird about it, like I'm leaving flavor or germs or something in there. Dale says the heat from cooking kills everything and the oil left behind just adds to the seasoning. I get that. But the pan doesn't feel clean to me when I can still smell onions on it the next morning. So which side are you on? Soap and water every time, or the dry wipe crew? I want to hear from somebody who has done it both ways for real.