salgud wrote:
> I'm curious about all the re-seasoning some people reccommend here.
> I've been using CI skillets for a almost 2 years now, first a borrowed
> pair, then a pair I bought at a garage sale last summer. I got 2 large
> skillets for $4. They were rusty and hadn't been seasoned correctly. I
> brought them home, seasoned them (one took a second, longer 2 hr
> seasoning) and they both work fine. The only time I re-seasoned one was
> when my sons came for Thanksgiving. One of them put one of my CI
> skillets in the dishwasher and I didn't know it until I unloaded it
> later. I just re-seasoned it.
> I think the reason I don't have to re-season them is how I clean them.
> I never wash them with soap. I have a special coarse scrubber I use on
> them and my wok that never sees soap. I scrub out the food with it,
> then scrub them with Kosher salt (coarser, more abrasive than table
> salt) and a paper towel to remore any lingering food particles and any
> excess oil. It makes them almost as slick as non-stick, yet you can
> still glaze and deglaze in them!

I know a lot of people do this perfectly safely. There's just some
little, inner voice that says "wash the damn thing" especially when I've
done garlic whatnot in it for dinner and am planning on making Mike
Swedish Pancakes the next morning. So I do the quick reseason (i.e.
dry, heat on a burner, rub with Crisco) thing after I wash it. Between
reheating and oiling, it takes about 5 minutes while I'm doing other
stuff in the kitchen anyway. As my Mom would've said, "I guess that's
what makes horse races."

BK
> Cleaning them this way keeps the seasoning intact. Of course, every
> time I cook with oil, I'm actually re-seasoning them. I'm told this
> works for years, if not indefinitely. I've only done if for a little
> over a year, so far. But it works great. (I've been doing it with my
> spun steel wok for several years now, and can't remember the last time
> I had to season it. Of course, CI is far more porous than spun steel,
> so it might be different this way. Only time will tell. Still, if I had
> to re-season once a year, that would be fine!)
> Until I can afford All Clad, I like my CI skillets. They are cheap,
> easy to cook in, and last forever. I've never cooked in the expensive
> ones, so I don't know if there's any difference. Before I'd buy
> expensive CI, I'd get the All Clad.
>