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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 7920590" data-attributes="member: 177">And, I know this is probably a dumb question - that cleaning it didn't involve any dish soap, right?For other readers, my basic cleaning for cast iron is simple:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Use no dish soap.  Scrub out food bits.  This make take some effort. If need be, fill the pan with water, and bring it to a simmer for a few minutes, then scrub again.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Don't dry the pan.  Put it on a burner set on high for a few minutes until the water in the pan has evaporated away.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">While still hot, spread a thin layer of vegetable oil on the inside of the pan.</li> </ul>Modern instructions don't have the heating step.  I find oiling the pan while it is still hot goes a long way to preserve the seasoning.They sell various forms of scrubbers for cast iron.  I would not recommend any made of metal.  Scrubbing a metal surface with another metal may embed microscopic bits of that other metal into your cookware.  Different metals, in contact with each other, is a recipe for corrosion.  For future reference, if you ever want to venture that way again... if a cast iron pan loses its seasoning, you can re-season it.  The process for this is super-easy:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Wash thoroughly with dish soap (to remove anything left on it, this one time.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dry the pan completely</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cover the pan with a thin layer of vegetable shortening or vegetable oil.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lay it upside-down in a 375 degree oven.  Bake it for an hour.  Allow it to cool.</li> </ul>I'm sorry you had a bad experience.  I probably woudn't make a long-slow simmered tomato sauce in cast iron, but other cooking should not remove seasoning. I've got a big enameled dutch oven for braises and soups and some baking.  Not Le Creuset, because those things are so damned expensive.  I didn't have the cash for it in my younger days.  I simply note that cast iron skillets and enameled cast iron dutch ovens are just for different uses, much like your saute pan and your soup pot are for different uses.These days, you can certainly get by without cast iron - they make non-stick skillets that serve much the same role - though non-stick surfaces aren't rated for as high a temperature as cast iron.  Repeatedlly driving a non-stick skillet to as high a temperature as cast iron will damage the surface over time... and possibly kill any birds in the house, as they are sensitive to the particles that come off non-stick surfaces when they get too hot.</blockquote>

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