[TheForge] Re: Cast Iron Cookware

[Phlip]

Gladish Family wrote:

> What gives it bad flavors?
>
> > Oh, I agree, but this is for initial clean up. Even with used
> > cast iron, I'll
> > tend to limit any clean up I do, unless a test egg indicates off
> > flavors, when
> > I give it a good and thorough scrubbing with very hot water and a steel
> > scrubble, and reseasoning. If it still has off flavors, a less
> > picky friend has
> > a new piece of cast iron, as long as the flacors aren't chemical ;-)

Anything, actually ;-) Cast iron is porous, and should not be washed with
anything you don't want to taste. Soap is a big offender, and occasionally
you might get a rotten food taste, but most of this can be cleaned out by
hard scrubbing and lots of hot water, then by heating to red hot on the stove
and reseasoning. Some people are more sensitive to soap flavors than others,
and I'm one of them, so if I can't get that flavor out, I'll give it away.
Chemical flavors mean that something odd has been used on the metal- if I
taste insecticide or something I don't recognize, I'll throw it away. Caustic
soda does taste, but enough water will clean it out, and, while bad for you
in largish quantities, isn't a poison.

Phlip