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Comment by JoeAltmaier | Hacker News Reader

Hm. My cast-iron skillet I've used for 20 years doesn't stick. Ever.

If there's a little stuck-on stuff on the bottom after use (should have put a little wine in there, gotten that flavor back into the dish, oh well) then a Scotch-brite bad and 30 seconds fixes it.

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> If there's a little stuck-on stuff on the bottom after use (should have put a little wine in there, gotten that flavor back into the dish, oh well) then a Scotch-brite bad and 30 seconds fixes it.

For people seriously care about cooking (perhaps you're one of them), this is non sticking.

For a lot of people this is the definition of sticking.

> doesn't stick. Ever.

> If there's a little stuck-on stuff

So it does stick?

Not so I should use exotic plastic coatings (Teflon) and expensive cleaners to avoid. A few seconds gentle washing.

There's way, way too much made over so-called 'non-stick' pans. Worst experience I even had with sticking? A non-stick pan.

The best frying pan I've ever owned is the cheapest-possible cast iron one I got when I moved out of my parents' house 30 years ago or so. Very rarely does anything stick and when it does I fill the pan half way with water, put it back on the stove, let it boil for a couple of minutes while I do something else and then wipe it clean.

I have parrots so I theoretically have a strict "no Teflon in my house" rule but with a Japanese wife I've had to grudgingly tolerate a Teflon-coated rice cooker.

I use non-stick pans so that I don't ever have to care about things like that.

"should have put a little wine in there" - well, I should not have to! I expect that after I sear some meat, there will be nothing that will require scrubbing the pan with a Scotch-brite pad and that I don't even have to check if there's any little stuck-on stuff.

I don't care if fixing this is easy, because I can live in a world where it isn't something that needs fixing in the first place - and apparently moving to a cast-iron skillet would make me have to fix them. Also, why would I want to spend time (and, more importantly, attention) on 'seasoning the pan'? I expect the tool to be functional with minimal maintenance, a good tool is one that reduces the amount of care and attention that needs to be done, and a tool that requires extra attention itself isn't worth it if there are alternatives that don't require that. It makes sense to spend an hour preparing or maintaining an expensive tool, but it doesn't make sense to do that for something like pan, where you can get a new functional one for less than an hour of pay.

Not a cook, are we? You put wine in there to get all the 'fond' back into the finished dish, so it tastes yards better. Not a burden or a duty; something good cooks know to do.

I never seasoned my pan. I never work to clean it, not any more than washing that non-stick on.

We've been sold a bill of goods, by the non-stick pan people, that there's some problem that needs solving. There isn't. The worst sticking problem I ever had, was with a non-stick pan. Threw it away, went back to iron.

FYI scotch-brite pads are plastic and shed microplastics into your pan.

As a replacement, there are coconut fiber based pads that work better actually.

For cast iron, the best scrubbers are steel chainmail, IME.

Last forever, too.

I mean, you'd typically rinse it pretty thouroughly, I doubt a lot of micro anything remains. I'm not sure pan cleaning is a significant source of overall micro plastics emissions, though I'm open to it.

Yeah really hard to measure, but the thought of little bits of plastic melting back into the pan makes it worth the 5$ to "splurge" on a nicer scrubber that causes less anxiety haha.

My cast iron is 4 years old and every time I use scotch-brite on it, I have to spend hours stinking up my house with flaxseed oil to reseason the pan because scotch-brite makes little dots of shiny iron show up.

Don’t use flaxseed!

https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/b4pxaq/yay_kenji_...

Good lord.

> You MUST use flaxseed oil to season your pan.

Then

> You MUST NOT use flaxseed oil to season your pan.

Just season the fucking pan with some cooking oil and be done with it.

I swear, the internet has made some of the simplest things into this relentless pursuit of perfection.

flaxseed has an atrociously low smoke point (225 F). You really shouldn't be using it for cooking whatsoever, let alone seasoning cast iron.

In general I agree with your sentiment though. Find something that works for you and go with it.

I don't mean for my salty comment to justify a not-ideal method. But for this topic, the proper use of the pan will generate a good seasoning as it is used.

That seems excessive to me. I use my cast iron every day, clean it off with steel wool, and just throw a little oil on there. No fancy prep, and it cleans up with less effort than 2 year old no longer non-stick pans

Put oil in the skillet next time you use it (every time you use it). No problem.

Hell, I scrub the hell out of it sometimes. Use oil the next time - no problem.

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