Argh! My cast iron skillet went through the dishwasher!

[wildeyed]

I have been carefully building up the seasoning. No soap. Lots of oil. It was starting to get good. And now I have to start ooooooover. :cry: :banghead:

[eleny]

1. Ghak!!!

I'm new to using a dishwasher but can imagine how you feel. I'm always concerned that I'm going to toss something in there that I shouldn't. Was someone trying to be helpful?

[wildeyed]

2. Yes.

They are actually paid to be helpful (and now I have to admit that I am too lazy to clean my own house, too :blush:). The woman who comes from the cleaning service once every two weeks. She has been cleaning my house for years. She NEVER does the dishes or runs the dishwasher. I tell her, just stack any dirty dishes to the side, I will get to them later. But today I guess she took some initiative. Aaaahhhh, my poor pan!!!!

At least my husband didn't do it. Saves me the trouble of killing him.

[NMDemDist2]

3. "saves me the trouble of killing him" ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but i'm so

sorry about your pan, mine is finally going good again too (remember I took the grinder to mine)

:banghead: what a shame!

[wildeyed]

4. That was six months ago, right?

It took six months to get it back? x(

My husband *was* almost laughing when he showed me the pan. He knows how much I fuss over that pan, and I think it kind of irritates him. But it's not like I ever made him clean it or anything.

[NMDemDist2]

6. yeah, but I don't use it that much, maybe once or twice a week max!

and as long as it didn't take ALL the coating off, it may come back faster

cover it in Crisco and pop it in the oven at 250 for an hour or so and see how it looks

:shrug:

[wildeyed]

8. Nothing else for it.

Gotta start over. :(

I will do it when I get back. We are going to DC tomorrow. See my folks and do the protest on Saturday.

[calico1]

13. Well, maybe while you are gone you

can grease it up good and it will at least soak some of that up while you are gone.

My parents also have some cast iron. There is this one dutch oven that I remember from when I was a child. I am 47. Also a fry pan made by Wagner which I guess was the other well known company that made cast iron in the US. Its out of business now. This pan is old as hell too and totally non stick. I told my parents I want the cast iron!

[eleny]

5. Oh, good for you

I'd like to have someone clean my house. I did that when I was working and my folks lived here. Every two weeks made a big difference. Now that it's just me and the DH, we do it ourselves. But I loved those days of coming home to a spotless house. These days it's ... erm ... let's say that it's not so spotless. :-/

[wildeyed]

7. May not be spotless, but at least you pan didn't get murdered.

It is nice to have a clean house. I actually like the woman who cleans, too. This is the first time she has done something really ditsy.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

9. if he had done it

DH would be 'damned hubby'.

My cast iron skillet is so old & so well seasoned I've even cleaned it once or twice with soap & it still doesn't stick. (neither do any of my other pans-one of the benefits of old, old stuff)

I know it's frustrating but don't worry, it will come back.

best

[wildeyed]

10. My mom has a few like that.

She inherited them from the previous owner of her first house. A regular fry pan, an extra deep fry pan and a dutch oven all perfectly seasoned from a lifetime of use. My mom found the set in the basement after we moved in. She call the original owner to let her know she had forgotten them. The owner, who had moved into a retirement home, said no thanks, you keep them, I don't have room and none of my kids want the dirty old things :wow:

I have asked for them in the will. But until since I hope that day will be a long time coming, I was trying to get my own pan started. x(

[Stinky The Clown]

11. If it has some seasoning left in it, it should come back just fine.

Does it have any seasoning left?

If it does, you'll probably be surprized at how fast it comes back. If it got totally hosed ... well .... you know the drill. :)

[wildeyed]

14. There is some seasoning left.

The pan looked pathetic when it first came out of the dishwasher, but once I smeared some oil on it, it looked a little better. I will hope for the best.

[mandyky]

12. I put mine in the dishwasher all the time

They were well seasoned when I "inherited" them (I have 2). I use them for all my frying, and when I fry garlic or some veggies they get so "gunky" I either soak and wash them by hand or in the washer.

I put heat on them to dry them (on burner on the stove), and then keep the heat and take a paper towel and massage about 2 tablespoons of veggie oil into the pan. They come back nicely.

[wildeyed]

15. I hope mine come back as well. n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

16. A note about cast iron pans and dishwashers

An occasional trip to the dishwasher won't do any serious damage to a well seasoned cast iron pan. To be sure, it isn't a good idea, but neither is it catastrophic.

The seasoning (carbon build-up that fills the pores in the cast iron) is pretty tenacious stuff. Think of that cruddy baked-on grime in a roasting pan that you put in the dishwasher on pot scrubbing cycle. It never comes out clean. That's the same stuff as the 'season' in a cast iron pan. Since the roasting pan has a far smoother surface than cast iron, it should come off that far easier than in cast iron (the pores are like a bazillion little hooks holding that carbon in place).

In less well seasoned cast iron, some of the thinner areas of seasoning (like the pan's corners) may well see much of the seasoning gone after a dishwashing trip, but that's pretty easy to replace.

Again, the dishwasher's not a good idea, but it isn't the end of the world.

[eleny]

17. I've seen some well seasoned cast iron pans at the thrifts

I once passed up a glorious, giant frypan that was seasoned beautifully. It had a bad orange peel built up on the outside of the pan. But all in all, the inside of that pan knew how to fry.

I hesitate to get some of them because of the unknowns about the health of the person who owned them and not knowing where they sat before winding up at the thrift. Is there a way to sanitize them and still preserve the seasoned state of a pan? Or should I just "get over it"?

[mandyky]

18. Get over it! LOL

Run it thru the dishwasher, and then season it a few times more. The heat and dishwashing should get rid of any germs.

[eleny]

21. Thanks!

You know how many cast irons wind up at the thrifts? Pu-lenty. I should have a nice collection in sized places before long. Appreciate your response.

[Stinky The Clown]

19. Okay, you worry wart!

Just stop and think about this:

Surgical instruments are sterilized at 212°F.

Cast iron can withstand the heat of a blast furnace.

Put that purchased 'unknown' cast iron pan in your oven at 500°F and let 'er go for 30 minutes.

Ya think any bugs are gunna survive that?

I don't. :)

There is one hugely remote danger, however, and that would be chemical contamination. If there's any chance that well seasoned thrift store cast iron was used to soak lacquered parts in methylethylketone, you **might** have a problem.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry a whit about it.

[eleny]

22. Thanks a bunch

I always get that vision of a cat lifting its leg over the pans. But if it doesn't smell like that, it shouldn't *be* like that. I'm taking the good advice as I can be pretty good at cultivating not giving a whit when I put my mind to it.

[mike_c]

20. fill it with oil, and heat to 350 F or so....

Let it cool. Nothing living can survive that treatment.

[eleny]

23. I'm taking this advice

I'll do it with oil and heat using your method, then get rid of all the oil and reheat at 500 degrees like Husb2 suggests. I should have some great pans before long.

[Stinky The Clown]

24. If ya do that oil thing, there's no need to do the high temp thing

That hot oil will kill damn near any life form imaginable. I only worry about the hot oil from the perspective of the danger of spilling it when it comes out of the oven. If you simply allow the pan and oil to cool completely in the oven before you move them, that's the safer way to go.

The whole point, really, is to get that new old pan hot so as to sanitize it.

In truth, just put an empty new old pot on the staove and turn the heat on under it when its empty. Again, it is just about the heat. The cast iron won't be bothered by this seeming 'pan abuse'.

[politicat]

25. Eleny, there is no known "bug" that can survive the 400 degrees

that the average cast iron pan gets over a burner or in an oven. If it worries you, toss it in a 450 oven for a couple hours with the Sunday roast.

Also, thinking back to my family cast iron (we can't use it, due to a hemochromotosis case), the "orange peel" outer surface was not a problem - - as long as it's not greasy to the touch, it's safe.

[renate]

26. okay, this is embarrassing

Everybody here is a cast-iron-pan expert and I am totally ignorant...

I don't know how to clean my cast-iron pan. I sprinkle a ton of salt on it and scrub it around to soak up the grease, because I do know I'm not supposed to use soap, but something (i.e., the fact that I came up with this method myself, and as noted above, I am totally ignorant) tells me this is not the ideal method either.

Also, it doesn't get rid of the smell--once I used it to broil salmon and now I can't make a Dutch Baby in it any more. Not an edible one, anyway.

[NMDemDist2]

27. here's a couple great threads on the care and treatment of cast iron

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=236&topic_id=5361

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=236&topic_id=2189

as alluded to upthread, my cast iron was so bad I took the power tools to it and started over and now it's heaven

Hubby laughs cuz every time I use the 10" skillet now I croon how happy i am it's "back"

I use running HOT water, a scrubby brush with plastic bristles and the scraper part that's on the back of the brush. dry it on the stove until the water all boils off, then spray it with Pam and wipe it out and put it away.

It's as smooth as a baby's bottom now and a dream to work with

check it out and let us know if you have any questions :hug:

[Stinky The Clown]

28. I just re-read those threads ... nowhere does it say how long it takes

to build up a good seasoning in a cast iron pan.

Obviously this depends on often you use it, but to have it take 6 months or more is not at all unusual. And it is true .... even from use number one, it gets better with each use.

[NMDemDist2]

29. yup, my "I took the power drill steel brush to the pan" thread was

last December and the most used pan is now totally back, the big 14" one I don't use as much still isn't smooth again yet (but it's got a good start on it)

it does take a while. never noticed a fish smell though, hot water should take care of that huh?

[Stinky The Clown]

30. We sear tuna in ours and I never noticed the smell lingering

Now, admittedly, with the tuna in particular, we blacken it. That leaves a ton of 'cruddies' in the pan and I put hot water in it as soon as the fish comes out. At that point the pan's hot as a blast furnace and the 'cruddies' dissolve. The water's in there for .... oh ..... 45 seconds? I guess any fish residue dissolves as well.