/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I wash my cast iron and carbon steel pans vigorously with tons of soap every night and their seasoning has never been stronger. Soap destroys lipids, your seasoning is not a lipid anymore if you seasoned right. I also never re-season, if you just cook in them with enough oil their seasoning self regulates. I do avoid cooking acidic ingredients for a long time, eg I'd reach for my stainless pans for a tomato sauce-- that really does destroy the seasoning, but small amounts like vinegar seasoning is fine. The no soap thing is a total myth though, left over from the fact that soaps used to have lye in them that would destroy the seasoning. Modern soap doesn't have that.