[TheForge] Pineapple twist

[Bruce Freeman]

Phlip,
As you mentioned in a previous post, one of the purposes of seasoning pans it to fill the surface irregularities (which people persist in calling pores).  If those pores are filled, where is this soap residing?  

You are under no obligation to wash a pan with soap, but I do all the time and have no problem with it.  And I am quite sensitive to odors.  Actually, I run my cast iron through the dishwasher.  It may come out needing seasoning, but that's no big deal.  (I season pans on the stovetop, not in the oven.) 

 I even season cast aluminum this way.  Looks brown and ugly, but it's completely non-stick.

There's a great mythology surrounding cast iron pans.  Some of it based upon fact, some upon fantasy.  I find the application of scientific knowledge explains things quite well.

I expect a lot of the trouble surrounding seasoning is that some people persist in using saturated fats to season pans.  Saturated fats are not "drying oils."  They will not cross-link and form a "plastic" layer.  Hence, they are comparitively easily washed away.

By contrast, polyunsaturated oils will cross-link.  However any that do NOT cross-link are subject to going rancid - an unpleasant property of unsaturated oils.  Washing with soap will remove these before they go rancid.  However, you are free to wait till they go rancid, at which time you may boil baking soda in them to remove the traces.  (This makes soap of the rancid oil, but if you pretend it doesn't, you'll never notice any soapy taste.) 

BTW, "Canola" oil is free of peanut allergens, being in the mustard family.  "Rapeseed oil" is the original name, as the plant it comes from is rape.  Olive oil is less desirable for seasoning.  Not only is it more expensive, but also it is mostly MONOunsaturated, so is not as good a drying oil.

Bruce

>>> phlip at 99main.com 7/29/2005 10:05:52 AM >>>

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

Bruce, while your method is more or less what I'd intended to do, I'd like
to add that if you applied soap to anything that I seasoned for cooking
purposes, I'd have to consider murdering you ;-) Soap, particularly in cast
iron, gets into the pores and the coating and to sensitive people, the item
and foods cooked in it will forever after taste soapy- nothing you can do
about it except keep soap strictly away from seasoned iron/steel.

My method of seasoning, btw, is to heat the piece, wipe as you said, with an
oiled cloth (oil in this case going to be olive oil, to avoid the allergens
in peanut oil, my other favorite) and toss in the oven. Wiping it down with
vinegar while it's hot will also remove the excess oil, and won't leave you
with a soapy taste- the vinegar eventually evaporates or can be rinsed off.

Only things you use to clean iron/steel for eating purposes are vinegar, or
if you need to scrub with abrasive, baking soda- anything else will flavor
the metal and its coating, but vinegar and baking soda will rinse off.

Saint Phlip,