When do you what kind of pan?

[phatch]

Originally Posted by novice_01

I have a few questions about cast iron pans. Say I cook a hamburger in a cast iron pan. When I'm done, I don't actually wash the pan? I just wipe it with a cloth and rinse it with hot water, then put oil in it and heat it a bit? What's the effect on bacteria growth - this somehow prevents bacteria from growing?

You may have to scrub out some food bits, but hot water and scrubbing brush and sponge should take care of it. Dry it thoroughly--many use some heat to get it really dry. Rub it with a little oil. You've removed the food the bacteria would use to grow on. It's dry so bacteria can't grow. It's not technically sterile but neither are pans you washed with soap. The high heat of the next cooking takes care of that.

Most soaps/detergents don't kill bacteria either, the soap helps remove them from surfaces.

[novice_01]

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

Most Americans who love their cast iron and/or carbon steel don't use soap at all, or at least very seldom, once the pan is seasoned. Most people wipe, rinse, wipe and dry.

Drying over heat is a good thing, but not always necessary. Getting the pan that dry, that quickly is a way of avoiding rust. If the pan is well seasoned, it won't rust easily anyway. Drying in a rack and/or with a dish towel is all that's necessary.

Drying over heat, after wiping the pan down with oil ... isn't actually the way you do it. You wash, dry first, then wipe down with oil, then heat to refresh the seasoning. You can't oil over a damp pan.

If you don't use soap you might want to heat the pan to kill any bacteria which may have resulted as a result of holding food, or from allowing a dirty pan to sit for awhile. As long as you're heating it, you may as well refresh the season. A few minutes at 140F or higher is enough to kill bacteria.

You actually can use soap to wash a seasoned cast iron or steel pan without harming the season, as long as it's soap without detergent and as long as you don't scour. The oil used to create the season is no longer oil that the soap will float off. The prolonged heat of the seasoning process changed it to a mix of complex polymerized organic (carbon) compounds that bond a layer of pure carbon to the pan at the molecular level. Use a the sort nylon brush or pad you'd use for non-stick. After drying, refresh the season with a light coat of oil and a brief, gentle heating.

BDL



BDL

There's a lot more to using a cast iron pan than I realized.

[shel]

Originally Posted by novice_01

if i want to cook a scrambled egg, what kind of pan should I use (aluminum, stainless, nonstick?).

If I want to fry an egg, does it make any difference?

Since reading about carbon steel omelet pans a few months ago, I bought one soon after. I highly recommend a carbon steel pan. They are inexpensive and once seasoned make great scrambled eggs, fritatas, and omelets.

I have both high quality stainless lined multi ply pans and a very well-regarded non-stick pan. However, for eggs, nothing beats the carbon steel pan.

shel