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That neighbor who insisted I was ruining my cast iron by using soap

Old guy next door saw me scrubbing my skillet with dish soap and literally grabbed my arm... I asked him if he ever eats at restaurants with cast iron and that shut him up pretty quick. Anybody else deal with people giving unsolicited cooking advice at 8am on a Saturday?
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2 Comments
margaret_chen
margaret_chen7h agoMost Upvoted
Did you know people used to season cast iron with lard straight from the pig? I read a thing about it online. It was just the way they did it back then. But yeah, modern dish soap won't hurt a seasoned pan unless you're scrubbing it with steel wool or something crazy. Your restaurant point is spot on, they definitely use soap on their pans.
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andrew_miller90
Margaret totally nailed it with the lard thing. People back then didn't have the same dish soap we do now, so they had to use lard or oil to keep the seasoning intact. Modern soap is way milder and won't strip a well-seasoned pan unless you're using something like barkeeper's friend on it. I've been washing my cast iron with soap for years and it still cooks eggs like butter.
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