The 'no dish soap' myth has some truth in it. Back in grandmother's day, dish soap was based on lye which does strip the seasoning. So grandmother's dish soap actually was bad for seasoned iron cookware. Modern dish soap on the other hand no longer contains lye. Therefore it no longer strips the seasoning, it only removes the oil absorbed by the seasoning. Therefore it is perfectly fine to wash your iron cookware with a little dish soap if necessary. Just remember to reapply a thin layer of oil afterwards to protect it from rust. The dish washer, however, is a different beast. The detergents used for dish washers, are very aggressive (they have to remove all sorts of stuff without manual wiping) and will eat away the seasoning. Combined with heat and moisture over an extended period of time, that will not only ruin your seasoning, it will also result in flash rust.
That's an interesting take on it, Fat + Lye = Soap. As a test, about a year ago I put one of my NEW CI pans in the dishwasher to see what would happen... knowing full well that there would be some rust. My pan stood up fairly well, but more than once and it would need some major TLC. I personally don't wash my pans with any type of soap or detergent, I use them every day, a quick wipe out and we're finished.
I have never used soap on my CI, never had any reason to….I always preheat my irons, and when I’m done cooking, I wipe out with paper towels, and every so often , finish with a super fast stove top seasoning round. Only every once in a great while to I use hot water, and a plastic scraper or chain mail, but that’s rare.
I told my wife to wipe the outside of my cast iron frying pan with liquid dish soap before she put it over the campfire grill, as it makes cleaning of the fire's soot and stuff much easier. She couldn't believe I said this as I'm so particular with my cast iron and cleaning at home. But a well-seasoned cast iron pan can take a little dish soap now and then when needed.
I’ve always washed my skillets with soap because I don’t want my eggs tasting like last nights pork chop. I’ve never had an issue and glad someone finally proved what I’ve always suspected.
Good point, couldn't agree more about the taste, normally I heat the pan a little and then run it under hot water, there are people that don't like this method, but it works well for me. What I still have yet to explain is why seasoning still allows rust to form, even after a relatively short time with water in the pan, or below it. I know it is a polymerized coating with a high carbon content and it is extremely thin, maybe it is porous, letting certain chemicals in/out (they say iron leeches out of the pan and into our food).
The problem is not that soap destroys the seasoning but that it penetrates in the seasoning… So when you cook, you then eat some soap. That is why it is important to clean it only with ingredients you accept to eat (salt, water, carbonate sodium…)
I think where folks go wrong is adding the oil or butter and eggs to the pan before it heats up. That would be one thing to try. Adding the oil \butter\eggs before the pan heats.
I have a video in the works on testing different types of oils I don't know if I'll release that one because I've learned a lot during the testing and can probably do a better job, but a cold pan is not a good thing even with oil, the eggs would stick (not too bad that it couldn't be easily removed). The other test that I just did was using clarified butter with a hot pan, I found that the regular butter that bubbled performed better, maybe because of that bubbling action, or the moisture in the butter creating a steam barrier possibly. It's tough to know exactly what's going so I'll need to zoom right in and see if I can see something different between the two. If you'd like to see a video on this, I'm up for it.
I'll be making a quick video coming up about this, I've accidentally found an even easier way to make it and figured I should share. There is always waste and I didn't like that, so it takes care of this problem as well. I also learned that Ghee and Clarified butter are a similar process, Ghee is made by cooking the butter and after any extra moisture is driven off, the milk solids will cook giving the butter a nutty flavor, it gets filtered afterward. I haven't tried this, but I'd like to see for myself what kind of difference it makes. Thanks for the comments!
@@NeedItMakeIt I have learned a little secret from a favorite chain restaurant, and that is to brown, regular butter, it gives a rich nutty flavor, that just intensifies flavor!!
The other difference with dishwasher is twofold, soaps designed for dishwashers are more aggressive because you won't be putting your hands in the water with them and dishwashers use very hot water which together make them better at cleaning. However soap will take of seasoning given time, dishwashers do it fast enough that it can be a problem.
Dishwasher soap is more aggresive because there is no manual wiping the dishes to clean them. They have to be cleaned only by dissolving most of the dirt which then can be removed by the water.
@@NeedItMakeIt Those skillets You are cleaning are probably 80 yrs old . The only way You are going to strip the seasoning would be with some kind of acidic . New Lodge pans don't have that deep baked on seasoning . If You scrub those with harsh soap , then wipe out w/ achol ... I'm guessing it'll be stick city .
Lodge even recommends to clean a new skillet with soap ... 70 year old seasoning or brand new factory seasoning, if done correctly, the seasoning oil turns into polymer. Modern dish soap does not dissolve that polymer, it only dissolves oil. If your seasoning is removed / damaged by modern dish soap, is was no seasoning, it was just sticky oil. Next time, try applying thinner layers of oil and let them smoke long enough to completely polymerize. Then dish soap will be no issue at all.
I exclusively cook with modern Lodge, dont sand them or modify them in any way. Wash them with soap every time I use them, ironically the only time I usually dont is plain scrambled or fried eggs. They work just fine comparatively the exact same as my carbon steel pans (similar alloy composition but ironically less carbon than cast iron) carbon steels come bare and silver gray just like old cast iron did, and the surfaces are extremely smooth just as vintage and antique iron. The pebbly surface makes little if any difference on how well the pan can make sticky foods like eggs or doughy foods like noodles. If anything strips my seasoning its abrasive scrubbers, whether I use soap or not. I also don't torture myself drying iron on the stove after a wash, if its decently seasoned a throurough towel dry will be fine if you live in dry climate, if not or if you will store it for significant time without use, just add a thin layer of a drying/semidrying oil like soybean (vegetable oil) not only does it not rancidify, but it seasons your hibernating wares.
The issue is you're not using soap. Soap is made with lye. Dish soaps are almost all Surfactants. I've be really interested to see the results with actual soap which is what this is all based on. Also I do believe it matters how recently you seasoned the pan. A well used pan has a well established polymer and isn't going to be impacted like one recently seasoned.
My concern is what the results of continual soap washing will do to the pan. Until I see a side by side of a regularly soap washed pan vs and traditionally seasoned pan, I don’t really see your point. One washing is, of course, not going to make a difference when you’ve seasoned your pans every time you cook with them for years.
A good idea, there are a lot of variables in everyday cooking, so it would have to be controlled. A possibility for future for sure. Thanks for the comment.
Exactly what I was thinking. My guess is, after repeated washing the seasoning will come off and the food will begin, if it doesn't right off the bat start having a soapy taste to it. Cast is not a modern development and should not be treated as one. Stick with the old school methods. It's only worked for 150 years! Why change it?
Normal dish soap only removes the oil from your skillet. It will not dissolve the polymerized patina unless you soak the skillet for hours or use abrassives like steel wool which manually remove the seasoning. Of course, you should oil the skillet afterwards to protect it from rust. As I tend to completely dry my skillets on the stove top before applying the oil, it only takes a minute to then crank up the heat and let the oil smoke for a moment. That not only prevents the oil from getting rancid fast, it also helps maintaining the patina. I wash my cast iron and carbon steel skillets with dish soap whenever necessary. I normally clean them with hot water and a brush. If that gets the job done, I will not use dish soap. But if they're not clean after hot water and the brush, I won't bother using salt + oil / water (which would also work fine). Sometimes I deglaze the skillet with boiling water and a spatula / scraper (wood or plastic, no metal). Sometimes I use dish soap and a brush or chainmail cleaner. It depends on the kind of residue in the skillet. Burnt / dry stuff => deglazing, sticky / wet stuff => dish soap. Dish soap is also necessary if you didn't use the skillet for a while and the oil in the skillet got rancid. Then, as mentioned above, I then dry the skillet on the stove top and then apply a thin layer of oil (or my self made beeswax + oil paste). While I could put it away then, I often raise the heat after applying the oil and let it smoke for like 30 seconds. It's not mandatory, but it helps developing / maintaining the seasoning. The myth not to use dish soap on iron cookware comes from grandmother's days when dish soap contained lye. Lye actually WILL remove the seasoning (that's why it is used to restore old iron cookware). But today's dish soap no longer contains lye.
I was in the shop a few days ago and a braided steel angle grinding attachment didn't do too much to a well seasoned pan, it took a little off, but not as much as I was hoping. I show a clip in the next video I am releasing. SOS may also have some abrasive in it, so you're probably right, best to stay away from abrasives just in case.
It's polymerized oil, not Vibranium. Of course steel wool will remove seasoning if you keep scrubbing like mad. But that has nothing to do with dish soap.
When you were washing the pan and continuued to get crud off the pan to me the pan was not ckean, do I really want to cook my food in that. could be nothing or it could impart nasty flavor. If after washing and then gave the pan a good dry then oil and wipe and bake it would the same crud come off in a second wash? I know this is a matter of taste, but my prefrence is nice clear rendered bacon grease to fry my eggs.
I'm not sure what you mean, I took the pans inside and re-washed with water and rinsed then dried, that's noted in the video. I will try the bacon grease, I can say that I cannot eat an egg just cooked with vegetable oil, but maybe with a little salt?
There are a few factors, how thick of a coating is on there, and the cycle chosen etc. but I don't really know why anyone would unless they just didn't know. I did this once myself just to see and the pan came out fine, but it had a really thick coating and I always have the heated drying on too. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Can you try cooking pancakes, to see if they will stick. I use an electric oven and I don't have any success making pancakes with my cast iron. They are always sticking.
True, the reason for this is that with no oil there is no chance to slide, so I had to leave them a little longer for the tops to solidify, normally for over-easy I like a lid, but you can't see what's going on, so this is what I came up with. I can try something different for future though. I was surprised that the eggs tasted good with no butter.
Everything is great with the video you are just a bit to monotone. (Boring). But you are def got the right video set up down just need to work on the personality of the video itself. ( im not trying to come off as harsh either just some feed back) put more personality into your voice.
Finally someone with a common sense proof video. The people who say you can’t use soap on cast iron are just ridiculous
Thank you very much. Someone commented that I could have done long-term testing also. For that I will be providing updates in the description.
Can’t use metal spatulas either😂
No soap on cast iron came from the days when soap had lye in it so it's true, but irrelevant nowdays...
My grandmother had one longer than Ive been alive and Im n my 40s she never washed it with soap.
He didn't use soap tho. smh.
A suggestion: Next time cook an egg before and after so we can see the difference in the way that the iron cooks before and after.
No problem, thanks for the comment on this.
The 'no dish soap' myth has some truth in it. Back in grandmother's day, dish soap was based on lye which does strip the seasoning. So grandmother's dish soap actually was bad for seasoned iron cookware. Modern dish soap on the other hand no longer contains lye. Therefore it no longer strips the seasoning, it only removes the oil absorbed by the seasoning. Therefore it is perfectly fine to wash your iron cookware with a little dish soap if necessary. Just remember to reapply a thin layer of oil afterwards to protect it from rust.
The dish washer, however, is a different beast. The detergents used for dish washers, are very aggressive (they have to remove all sorts of stuff without manual wiping) and will eat away the seasoning. Combined with heat and moisture over an extended period of time, that will not only ruin your seasoning, it will also result in flash rust.
That's an interesting take on it, Fat + Lye = Soap.
As a test, about a year ago I put one of my NEW CI pans in the dishwasher to see what would happen... knowing full well that there would be some rust. My pan stood up fairly well, but more than once and it would need some major TLC. I personally don't wash my pans with any type of soap or detergent, I use them every day, a quick wipe out and we're finished.
I have never used soap on my CI, never had any reason to….I always preheat my irons, and when I’m done cooking, I wipe out with paper towels, and every so often , finish with a super fast stove top seasoning round. Only every once in a great while to I use hot water, and a plastic scraper or chain mail, but that’s rare.
I told my wife to wipe the outside of my cast iron frying pan with liquid dish soap before she put it over the campfire grill, as it makes cleaning of the fire's soot and stuff much easier. She couldn't believe I said this as I'm so particular with my cast iron and cleaning at home. But a well-seasoned cast iron pan can take a little dish soap now and then when needed.
I’ve always washed my skillets with soap because I don’t want my eggs tasting like last nights pork chop. I’ve never had an issue and glad someone finally proved what I’ve always suspected.
Good point, couldn't agree more about the taste, normally I heat the pan a little and then run it under hot water, there are people that don't like this method, but it works well for me. What I still have yet to explain is why seasoning still allows rust to form, even after a relatively short time with water in the pan, or below it. I know it is a polymerized coating with a high carbon content and it is extremely thin, maybe it is porous, letting certain chemicals in/out (they say iron leeches out of the pan and into our food).
Anyone that uses Ghee can't be all bad. Good work.
Thanks, I was wondering last night what homemade popcorn would taste like with Ghee... maybe some "Testing" for tomorrow night.
@@NeedItMakeIt Have you tried it yet? Ghee and a little salt is how I like to make my popcorn in a skillet!
@@NeedItMakeItIt tastes great. I’ve done much “testing”.
The problem is not that soap destroys the seasoning but that it penetrates in the seasoning… So when you cook, you then eat some soap. That is why it is important to clean it only with ingredients you accept to eat (salt, water, carbonate sodium…)
I think where folks go wrong is adding the oil or butter and eggs to the pan before it heats up. That would be one thing to try. Adding the oil \butter\eggs before the pan heats.
I have a video in the works on testing different types of oils I don't know if I'll release that one because I've learned a lot during the testing and can probably do a better job, but a cold pan is not a good thing even with oil, the eggs would stick (not too bad that it couldn't be easily removed). The other test that I just did was using clarified butter with a hot pan, I found that the regular butter that bubbled performed better, maybe because of that bubbling action, or the moisture in the butter creating a steam barrier possibly. It's tough to know exactly what's going so I'll need to zoom right in and see if I can see something different between the two.
If you'd like to see a video on this, I'm up for it.
Thanks for the tip on clarified butter!
I’m always making the kitchen smoky when cooking eggs or pan frying a steak, I’ll have to give it a try.
I'll be making a quick video coming up about this, I've accidentally found an even easier way to make it and figured I should share. There is always waste and I didn't like that, so it takes care of this problem as well.
I also learned that Ghee and Clarified butter are a similar process, Ghee is made by cooking the butter and after any extra moisture is driven off, the milk solids will cook giving the butter a nutty flavor, it gets filtered afterward. I haven't tried this, but I'd like to see for myself what kind of difference it makes.
Thanks for the comments!
@@NeedItMakeIt I have learned a little secret from a favorite chain restaurant, and that is to brown, regular butter, it gives a rich nutty flavor, that just intensifies flavor!!
Good video. I'll be doing a bit more cleaning in the future even if, ultimately, I need to refresh the seasoning.
For sure, I like to re-season all of my pans at the same time in the barbecue, it really doesn't take that long.
I use detergent to clean my dishes. Soap is chemically different.
The other difference with dishwasher is twofold, soaps designed for dishwashers are more aggressive because you won't be putting your hands in the water with them and dishwashers use very hot water which together make them better at cleaning. However soap will take of seasoning given time, dishwashers do it fast enough that it can be a problem.
Dishwasher soap is more aggresive because there is no manual wiping the dishes to clean them. They have to be cleaned only by dissolving most of the dirt which then can be removed by the water.
I challenge You to do that experiment with a new lodge skillet !
What is it that you're keen on finding out with the Lodge?
@@NeedItMakeIt Those skillets You are cleaning are probably 80 yrs old . The only way You are going to strip the seasoning would be with some kind of acidic .
New Lodge pans don't have that
deep baked on seasoning . If You scrub those with harsh soap , then
wipe out w/ achol ... I'm guessing
it'll be stick city .
Lodge even recommends to clean a new skillet with soap ... 70 year old seasoning or brand new factory seasoning, if done correctly, the seasoning oil turns into polymer. Modern dish soap does not dissolve that polymer, it only dissolves oil. If your seasoning is removed / damaged by modern dish soap, is was no seasoning, it was just sticky oil. Next time, try applying thinner layers of oil and let them smoke long enough to completely polymerize. Then dish soap will be no issue at all.
I exclusively cook with modern Lodge, dont sand them or modify them in any way. Wash them with soap every time I use them, ironically the only time I usually dont is plain scrambled or fried eggs. They work just fine comparatively the exact same as my carbon steel pans (similar alloy composition but ironically less carbon than cast iron) carbon steels come bare and silver gray just like old cast iron did, and the surfaces are extremely smooth just as vintage and antique iron. The pebbly surface makes little if any difference on how well the pan can make sticky foods like eggs or doughy foods like noodles. If anything strips my seasoning its abrasive scrubbers, whether I use soap or not. I also don't torture myself drying iron on the stove after a wash, if its decently seasoned a throurough towel dry will be fine if you live in dry climate, if not or if you will store it for significant time without use, just add a thin layer of a drying/semidrying oil like soybean (vegetable oil) not only does it not rancidify, but it seasons your hibernating wares.
The issue is you're not using soap. Soap is made with lye. Dish soaps are almost all Surfactants. I've be really interested to see the results with actual soap which is what this is all based on. Also I do believe it matters how recently you seasoned the pan. A well used pan has a well established polymer and isn't going to be impacted like one recently seasoned.
My concern is what the results of continual soap washing will do to the pan. Until I see a side by side of a regularly soap washed pan vs and traditionally seasoned pan, I don’t really see your point. One washing is, of course, not going to make a difference when you’ve seasoned your pans every time you cook with them for years.
A good idea, there are a lot of variables in everyday cooking, so it would have to be controlled. A possibility for future for sure.
Thanks for the comment.
What I can do for now is wash with soap before I use this pan every time and provide an update in the description after 1 month / 3 mo. etc.
Exactly what I was thinking. My guess is, after repeated washing the seasoning will come off and the food will begin, if it doesn't right off the bat start having a soapy taste to it. Cast is not a modern development and should not be treated as one. Stick with the old school methods. It's only worked for 150 years! Why change it?
@@aaronwood3540 I use soap almost every time and have had no issues.
Normal dish soap only removes the oil from your skillet. It will not dissolve the polymerized patina unless you soak the skillet for hours or use abrassives like steel wool which manually remove the seasoning. Of course, you should oil the skillet afterwards to protect it from rust. As I tend to completely dry my skillets on the stove top before applying the oil, it only takes a minute to then crank up the heat and let the oil smoke for a moment. That not only prevents the oil from getting rancid fast, it also helps maintaining the patina.
I wash my cast iron and carbon steel skillets with dish soap whenever necessary. I normally clean them with hot water and a brush. If that gets the job done, I will not use dish soap. But if they're not clean after hot water and the brush, I won't bother using salt + oil / water (which would also work fine). Sometimes I deglaze the skillet with boiling water and a spatula / scraper (wood or plastic, no metal). Sometimes I use dish soap and a brush or chainmail cleaner. It depends on the kind of residue in the skillet. Burnt / dry stuff => deglazing, sticky / wet stuff => dish soap. Dish soap is also necessary if you didn't use the skillet for a while and the oil in the skillet got rancid.
Then, as mentioned above, I then dry the skillet on the stove top and then apply a thin layer of oil (or my self made beeswax + oil paste). While I could put it away then, I often raise the heat after applying the oil and let it smoke for like 30 seconds. It's not mandatory, but it helps developing / maintaining the seasoning.
The myth not to use dish soap on iron cookware comes from grandmother's days when dish soap contained lye. Lye actually WILL remove the seasoning (that's why it is used to restore old iron cookware). But today's dish soap no longer contains lye.
I’m thinking steel wool and soap will destroy that seasoning pretty well.
I was in the shop a few days ago and a braided steel angle grinding attachment didn't do too much to a well seasoned pan, it took a little off, but not as much as I was hoping. I show a clip in the next video I am releasing. SOS may also have some abrasive in it, so you're probably right, best to stay away from abrasives just in case.
It's polymerized oil, not Vibranium. Of course steel wool will remove seasoning if you keep scrubbing like mad. But that has nothing to do with dish soap.
Nowadays dish soap does not include any lye, so it really won't do anything. Next time, try with actual soap.
When you were washing the pan and continuued to get crud off the pan to me the pan was not ckean, do I really want to cook my food in that. could be nothing or it could impart nasty flavor. If after washing and then gave the pan a good dry then oil and wipe and bake it would the same crud come off in a second wash?
I know this is a matter of taste, but my prefrence is nice clear rendered bacon grease to fry my eggs.
I'm not sure what you mean, I took the pans inside and re-washed with water and rinsed then dried, that's noted in the video.
I will try the bacon grease, I can say that I cannot eat an egg just cooked with vegetable oil, but maybe with a little salt?
@@NeedItMakeIt
Look at the color of the crud coming off around 2:40.
To let you know, I like your videos.
My son put a cast iron pan in the dishwasher just the other day. Came out with surface rust all over it. It will ruin the seasoning.
There are a few factors, how thick of a coating is on there, and the cycle chosen etc. but I don't really know why anyone would unless they just didn't know. I did this once myself just to see and the pan came out fine, but it had a really thick coating and I always have the heated drying on too.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Can you try cooking pancakes, to see if they will stick. I use an electric oven and I don't have any success making pancakes with my cast iron. They are always sticking.
Eggs are too well done.
True, the reason for this is that with no oil there is no chance to slide, so I had to leave them a little longer for the tops to solidify, normally for over-easy I like a lid, but you can't see what's going on, so this is what I came up with. I can try something different for future though. I was surprised that the eggs tasted good with no butter.
@@NeedItMakeIt I think you'll see the importance of not using soap if you try and flip them over earlier, before they brown, with seasoned vs soap.
Everything is great with the video you are just a bit to monotone. (Boring). But you are def got the right video set up down just need to work on the personality of the video itself. ( im not trying to come off as harsh either just some feed back) put more personality into your voice.