Rant: My neighbor saw me using my pan and gave me the wildest advice

He told me to never wash it, just wipe it out and put it away, because his grandpa in Tulsa did that for 50 years. Has anyone actually had that work without it getting gross?

3 comments

3 Comments

andrew_kelly2mo ago

Wait, is this about a cast iron pan? Because that's the only way that advice makes any sense. You still need to wash it with a little soap and water, then dry it right away and rub a tiny bit of oil on it. Just wiping it out is how you get rancid oil and old food bits.

brookepark1mo ago

Wait is that wet dog smell a sign something's actually wrong or just part of owning cast iron? Like my grandma's pan had a permanent smell but she swore it was from decades of bacon grease... Julia's description is gross but now I'm wondering if that's more common than people admit. Does the rancid oil actually ruin the food taste or is it just the smell that's bad?

juliaa252mo ago

Oh my god, that's how you get a science experiment living in your cupboard. My uncle tried that with his cast iron and it started smelling like a wet dog crossed with old bacon.