They're way cheaper and they last multiple lifetimes. I don't know what you're on about.
this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2025
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People that can't handle cast iron are the same that can't get their car's oil changed on time.
After breakfast this morning I washed my skillets with the other dishes. The only difference is I put it on the stove to dry.
Most of the care tips you see on cast iron are just superstition.
It's actually super easy to care for. You just scrub it with some salt and a boar bristle brush, dry it with a linen towel, then store it in a marble sepulchre facing North.
if I don't have a sepulchre will a charnal house do?
If you're not going to take this seriously, just get a Teflon pan.
Absolutely fucking not
That better be magnetic north
My sepulchre hasn't been marble 100 percent of the time, I'll try harder
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I never touched a cast iron pan in my life growing up, it simply wasn't a thing. My ex had one and shortly after we met I was cleaning up his kitchen for him, found his nasty crusty cast iron pan and washed it. (We didn't have Internet then so it's not like I would have looked it up). His Australian parents were horrified. I still hate the filthy things.
That is yuck. Sometimes you do need to wash them properly with soap and everything, and just re-season them or whatever the cast iron enthusiast say.
That's reminds when people don't clean their BBQ and it's this smelly source of fat going bad.
Not sure where this superstition came from. You can clean your cast iron with soap, pretty much any kind. Seasoning is very tough, around the hardness of glass. Pretty much the only real guidelines are don’t use anything abrasive like bar keepers friend (unless you wanna reseason), and don’t leave it wet.
The people leaving a layer of uncleaned grease on their pans have no clue what they are doing.
The superstition is due to old soaps which contained lye. That will desire you seasoning.
Modern soaps don't contain any lye. You just want to make sure you dry it quickly after washing it.
Does it really make a difference? Personally I want my pan to sparkle but are these people really experiencing any negative effects? I realize food born illnesses exist but it doesn't seem like the practice is bad enough to matter.
I don't know if people will be angry with me but I just cook in it for iron. So I just clean it normally with water later (no soap most of the time). Heat it to dry, and apply a bit of oil and store it. That way I never have grimes and dirty pieces there.
More expensive???
Folks love to harp on about how "iTs So HaRd To CaRe FoR" but honestly Teflon pans (the more common option) are worse
Cast iron:
- be a little careful when washing it
- will last longer than your grandkids
Teflon:
- don't get it too hot
- don't use metal tools
- don't use too much oil
- often not oven-safe
- will last like 10 years at most
Teflon Poisons the entire planet. Also when over heated, creates Florine gas that may be harmful if you are in close proximity.
The fuck? Nonstick lasts like one year, MAYBE two. It's not worth it.
Also cast iron also cooks different. Not better, different.
You're buying trash pans if they only last a year.
I cook everyday and throw them away as soon as there's any visible sign of wear. Then after the third buy that damaged so soon, stopped buying nonstick.
But also, yes, I was buying cheaper pans. (Edit: tramontania i think?) Those aluminum ones with the nice red silicone handles. Fantastic pans, but degraded far too fast.
Now, I just use my cast iron skillet from a hundred years ago and it's easier to cook in AND makes better eggs AND I can use my metal spatula.
To clean it, I'll wipe it out with a paper towel, rinse it with warm water really fast, then every week or few days or if it smells, use a dollop of dawn and some warm water and sponge wash it for like 10 seconds and rinse it out, then one paper towel it clean, add in a tiny bit of canola oil, wipe it around, heat it until it starts to smoke on the stove, then turn it off. That process takes like, maybe 30 seconds, not including heating it until it smokes, which realistically is like only another 30-90 seconds.
The eggs are runny yolks and browned and crispy bottoms. And I'm not eating teflon, which to me is absolutely fantastic!
I exclusively use stainless steel pans in my kitchen. None of the weird chemicals from teflon, I can scrape the shit out of them with metal tools and I can toss them in the dishwasher with no second thought. The only downside is that I have to deglaze from time to time while cooking to get stuck bits off, but it's really not that bad.
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Yes this. Literally just handwash with soap and water. Season occasionally (clean & then scrub with steel wool to get an even surface, very small amount of oil/lard spread over pan very thinly, oven at 260c/500f until totally dried/hardened, repeat a couple times).
Oven safe, nonstick, durable.
Stainless steel pans are quite nice too.
The best ones imo. No microplastics, zero maintenance, extreme durability, not hard to wash and not so expensive nowadays.
My grandmother still uses her stainless steel pans that are like 50 or 60 yo, and they still look perfect, almost like new, if not for the scratches. They were a gift when she married, and she literally never bought pans for herself in her life.
They're better than cast iron for some things in my experience. Acidic dishes, eggs (scrambled always stick to cast iron for me). But cast iron's heat retention is superior, providing a more even cooking surface on electric ranges - good for searing meat and most other applications.
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Yeah you’re definitely over complicating it hommie
If you consider the lifetime, it's the cheapest type of pan by far.
Also you can clean them stop spreading misinformation pls 😘
If it's too heavy for you there is stainless steel or carbon steel which also last but those aren't as cheap.
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…why are you not cleaning your cast iron pan?
It's old wisdom from way back when soap was made from lye.
That kind of soap is much harsher and can dissolve the seasoning, which is just a bunch of layers of polymerized oil that protects the metal from rust and gives it a glossy, almost non-stick coating.
Modern dish soap is nowhere near that harsh and is completely safe to use on a seasoned cast iron pan. It's just that your grandparents and great grandparents beat that lesson into their kids and it stuck.
Cast iron is fine to cook on, but I much prefer stainless steel. It's a bit harder to get the results you want, but it's way easier to maintain.
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They last forever and don’t contain forever chemicals.
IIRC the forever chemicals are not the coating that stays on the pan. The Teflon coating is inert, the toxic part is the water soluble PFAS they use to apply it that would go away (away meaning everywhere, each and every corner of the planet) while or shortly after manufacturing, or with the first uses.
So if you already own non-sticky pans don't get rid of them, but look for another alternative when you buy a new one tho.
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I put mine in the dishwasher like maniac. And I don't season it, I just spray pam on it. Works fine, purists are just being weird about it.
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I saw some greentext about some list of caring for castioron/developing and maintaining seasoning. The list was some collection of a bunch of progressively more absurd tips. The comments were:
I own cast iron, and none of these are true.
I own cast iron, and all of these are true.
I own cast iron,, and some of these are true.
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