F@&*!!! Never loan cast iron!...

[fanaudical]

So - I won't go into the details so as to protect the guilty. End result from somebody who knows better is that my two Lodge deep cast iron Dutch ovens got cleaned with soap.

Anybody got suggestions for removing the soap from the seasoning? I've attempted a couple of steaming/light scrubbing cycles and you can still smell the soap. Is my only recourse to scrub off the seasoning and then re-season?

[drkshdw]

I know I'm in the minority here but I always wash my cast iron with soap. If the pan/pot is seasoned correctly, no soap will ever take it off.

That said, to get the smell of soap out, fill the pot with water, bring it to a boil, drain, rinse and repeat until the soap smell is gone.

[LWJ]

Smelly soap? Like Irish spring?

I use soap lightly to remove the nasties if needed. What the heck? Cast iron is sacred stuff! Like my carbon knives!

Good luck.

[tabs]

Lodge....ewwwww

Griswald or Wagner.

The difference is the interior has been milled smooth in the gris and wag. Lodge remains rough.

You can put it in a oven on self clean cycle. Reseasoning was easy peezy.

[cabmandone]

Boil water and re-season IMO

[craigster59]

I read somewhere that old adage of not using soap on cast iron goes back to the days when it contained lye. No lye in soap these days so it shouldn't be a problem, I would re season.

[Instrument 41]

Yeo, time for a scrubbing with rack salt and tin foil, then re season.

[vash]

pop it into the oven to self clean?

that's the superpower of cast iron..you really cant eff it up..well, maybe if you use it to smelter lead for shotgun shot..

[kach22i]

Boiling water will also take off burnt on stains in stainless steel pots.

Boil water and re-season.

I had to ask my wife not to touch my cast iron, every time she touched them they would get all F'd up and I would have to re-season them.

She never would disclose what she was doing to them, it was always "nothing".

I'm sure it was "nothing" to her, but the pots said different.

[tabs]

Ohhh yeah when reseasoning USE LARD.

[drkshdw]

Dang, what are you guys doing to your cast iron that you need to re-season after boiling water in them? If that harms your seasoning then it's not seasoned correctly.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

I clean mine with a light amount of soap, I eez heethin.


To sterilize you can use oil with salt, bring to high and remove, scrub, and rinse. Re-season.

I like lard, prefer bacon grease.

[Jeff Higgins]

Geez, don't worry about it. Once you're through using them to beat the culprit about their head and shoulders, you'll need new ones anyway.

[aigel]

Maybe I am missing something, but my cast iron has seen soap before and survived fine without soapy tasting meals. How is that even possible, the surface isn't porous and could hold significant amount of soap / fragrance, especially after repeat cleans.

Re-season and start using it, it will be fine in a few rounds.

G

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by tabs

Griswald or Wagner.

Just pissed an hour of my life away on Griswald and Wagner pans.

I want one of those Erie, pre-Griswald pans now.

Don't know how to really utilize them but I need that heat ring, I think.

[fanaudical]

Thanks for all the thoughts on this.

Lodge cast iron is relatively porous to hold the factory seasoning they apply. I'm not sure what the guy did, but they reeked of soap. Looks like I'm boiling them and then reseasoning the next time the wife is out of the house for a few hours.

Tabs - These are big camping ovens - and it's not like I'm going to find any Griswald or Wagner stuff around here.

[vash]

i love my Griswolds..

but there is nothing wrong with Lodge. it's a cast iron skillet..the "Hammer" of the kitchen. simple dumb tool.

you'll never hear a carpenter say.."that Vaughn hammer?..."no Stilleto baby!"

well, you might if Tabs was a carpenter. i'm old enough to not poo-poo other peoples stuff, and not put my crap up on some pedestal.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by vash

i love my Griswolds..

but there is nothing wrong with Lodge. it's a cast iron skillet..the "Hammer" of the kitchen.

+1 - bought my lodges when I was a poor guy and they have lasted me well for 20 years or so. Nobody has refused my food from them. Also, they have a lot of mass, so works for me ...

G

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Boiling water will also take off burnt on stains in stainless steel pots.

Boil water and re-season.

I had to ask my wife not to touch my cast iron, every time she touched them they would get all F'd up and I would have to re-season them.

She never would disclose what she was doing to them, it was always "nothing".

I'm sure it was "nothing" to her, but the pots said different.

I have an old cast iron dutch oven with the lid that I got from my grandmother that she used for well over 50 years. It was seasoned with a lifetime of use. When I was single I made a few thousand gallons of spaghetti sauce. chili, and Yankee pot roast dinners in it.

Then I got married and my wife put it in the dishwasher. I almost cried. It took me a lot of work to get it re-seasoned. My wife now knows to just leave it alone.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by kach22i

I had to ask my wife not to touch my cast iron, every time she touched them they would get all F'd up and I would have to re-season them.

She never would disclose what she was doing to them, it was always "nothing".

I'm sure it was "nothing" to her, but the pots said different.

You would not be happy in my kitchen if you saw the skillet. I have learned plenty since last night from everybody's input here on things I have been doing wrong and all the things I have not done right.

Pretty excited about setting that thing straight.