Hacker News Reader

Comment by beejiu | Hacker News Reader

> revert back to pans seasoned the old fashioned way

Stainless steel is the more convenient option.

I love my stainless steel pans but there is a reason non stick pans are by far the most popular. It requires planning (ie. food cannot come straight from the refridgerator) and technique (get pan hot _before_ adding oil/fat) to not leave half your meal stuck to the pan. Most people who don't get joy out of cooking don't want to deal with this.

People are cooking at home for themselves less and less, and this has its own healthcare cost. Anything that reduces the number of people cooking at home is almost certainly a net loss for public health.

And cast iron, which can get enough non-stick for many uses.

As long as one doesn't mistake carcinogenic leftovers from previous cooking for seasoning. It's somehow common to think that seasoning means some deep umami flavor from food bits that get baked into it over time, when it only means the initial seasoning of the metal as a chemical process and still means you should wash your dishes like anything else after it's seasoned. and regular seasoning isn't stripped by washing with dish soap

Isn't that the seasoned alternative?

This is true, but maintaining the seasoning is annoying. If you want to scrub your pan out and get it really clean, or leave it soaking, you will likely need to repeat the seasoning process. It gets frustrating to have to coat it in oil and fire up the oven and all of that. You also cannot cook certain foods in cast iron pans due to this. For example, if you want to make a tomato-based sauce, you will risk leeching metal into your food due to the acidity.

Personally I think each type of material has its place in the kitchen (nonstick, stainless steel, cast iron, enameled cast iron, etc)

> If you want to scrub your pan out and get it really clean,

You can scrub just fine with a chain scrubber or metal scraper. You shouldn't use Scotch-Brite pads, sandpaper, or other highly abrasive methods, but scrubbing is not an issue.

You shouldn't soak.

You can use most dish soaps. Some detergents are still caustic, but anything you can get on your hands without issue is fine. Don't use Ajax or similar highly alkaline and/or abrasive compounds. No lye.

Re-seasoning after cleaning shouldn't need the oven. Get it hot on medium-low heat, wipe it with a thin layer of a reasonably unsaturated oil (refined olive oil, rapeseed AKA Canola oil, etc.) on a rag. Let it cool. If you really screwed it up repeat the process a once or twice. If you've totally stripped the pan and are putting on a totally new seasoning, 6-10 times is enough.

All that said, I agree about acidic foods. Much like highly alkaline cleaners, they can degrade the seasoning. I use stainless steel for those.

I likewise agree that each type of material has its place. I don't use nonstick because I have pet birds, and even tiny amounts of overheating can cause enough fumes to kill them. The rest are all useful to me.

If it's seasoned properly, it really is non-stick and that makes it trivial to clean without soaking or excessive scrubbing.

I've cooked with the same cast iron pan, daily, for years, and it only gave me trouble when I had a habit of soaking it. At some point I stopped doing that, re-seasoned it, and stuck to just soaping, scrubbing, rinsing, and drying. It's never given me problems since. I only had to be careful what I was using it for while I was still re-seasoning it, and I also haven't needed to re-season it since. (I use enough oil just from my normal cooking.)

As far as cooking things like tomato sauce in it, I agree that should be avoided if possible, but the main concern there is damage to the pan, not health. It would take a lot of leaching to get iron poisoning, assuming you don't have hemochromatosis.

It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken, as they used to say.

But somehow butter and lard are bad, that's how this whole thing started

Reply on news.ycombinator.com