First of all a properly seasoned cast iron pan can and should be washed with modern dishwashing liquid. If the seasoning comes off with 'hand friendly ' soap it was garbage seasoning anyway.

Second, this looks perfectly ready for seasoning. Nothing wrong with that. Just get the outdoor grill going grab some short chain oil and get to work.

[–] lolrightythen@lemmy.world 50 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Short chain oil!? At first I thought you were bs'ing about seasoning a pan with gear oil.

That sent me down a novel rabbit hole. Thanks for your input!

[–] Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I don't get the joke. I just tried Google and it had nothing for seasoning cast iron with chain or gear oil. Is this a thing?

[–] Garfield100@feddit.de 82 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The chains being referred to here are molecular chains, not mechanical ones.

[–] Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 7 months ago

Thank you. That joke/wordplay went straight over my head.

[–] Buttons@programming.dev 7 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Are you sure, I thought if a single molecule of soap touches my pan it would instantly look like this?

[–] bluewing@lemm.ee 4 points 7 months ago

Nope. I often use dish soap and a soft scrub pad on my cast iron just like my Grandmother and mother did with those same cast iron pans and dutch oven. A decent seasoning on cast iron is probably more durable than non-stick coatings. Just keep it out of the dishwasher. The high temp hot water and caustic dishwasher detergents WILL damage your seasoning. But, then you just need to re-season to fix it all better again.

My lazy way to keep my cast iron and plain high carbon steel wok properly seasoned is to clean with hot water and mild dish soap then return to the stove top heat on high until hot, then shut the burner off and hit the insides with a light quick spray of cooking oil. Or I just use some plain vegetable oil and wipe on a thin coating with a paper towel. and leave it cool.

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago

Nah this is more reduce a tomato sauce territory.

Modern dish soap is not acidic or a base so it's quite harmless to the patina, but it's also superfluous because you generally don't want to degrease the thing which is the only thing that soap is good for. Boiling some plain water in it cleans off anything that you want to get rid off. If you're terrified of bugs when not using soap for some reason get yourself a bonfire and heat your pan as hot as you want for as long as you want nothing will survive that. Just make sure to not melt it.