Okay. OKAY. I need to talk about this.
So many people do NOT know how to take care of high maintenance kitchenware and I need to talk about it.
What do I mean by high maintenance kitchenware? I mean anything that needs to be one: hand washed and two: have some sort of maintenance done outside of washing for it to last and be useable.
Three items always fall into this category: cast iron, wooden utensils/cutting boards, and kitchen knives.
Cast Iron:
You will not believe the amount of times I’ve had a conversation like this:
Me: I love my cast iron skillet.
Someone: oh, I had one once but it rusted instantly.
Me: oh? Odd. How did you wash and store it?
Someone: oh, I put it in the dishwasher.
Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT put cast iron in the dishwasher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why? Two HUGE reasons.
1.) It is non-coated iron that has been formed in a cast, as the name suggests. Because it is NON-COATED, any exposure to moisture can and WILL make it rust like crazy. And if rusts so bad and for so long it starts to PIT? Good luck. You have to take an angle grinder to get it smooth enough to cook on again. You need your surface to be mostly smooth so your food doesn’t stick while cooking AND to minimize the chance for bacteria to grow. This is the same reason why plastic cookware needs to be replaced OFTEN, especially after it is damaged.
2.) Dishwashers, especially modern day dishwasher, do a GREAT job at getting food residue and oil off of your dishes. Why is this a problem? Because to help prevent your cast iron from rusting from any residual moisture in the air and to season it to keep food from sticking you need to oil it. You also have to build up seasoning layer by layer every time you use it, and putting it in the dishwasher can CHIP OFF YOUR SEASONING.
So how do you take care of your cast iron anyways?
After you use your cast iron, yes, DIRECTLY after you use it, you need to clean it. For less messy meals, wiping it clean with a dry, LINT FREE paper towel is fine. For messier meals you need to bring it over to your sink and rinse it under HOT WATER, not cold, cold can cause your pan to crack, use HOT WATER until it cools down enough for you to handle it.
Once it is cool enough to handle, go ahead and use a washcloth to gently scrub any residue off. Some people say it’s fine to use dish soap but I don’t recommend it, it can damage the seasoning.
Okay, it’s clean now. So now you need to bring your skillet, pan, griddle, whatever back to the stove and put it on a burner and turn that up to high. You need ALL the water to dry up off of it and NOW. Why? Remember that thing about moisture? Yeah, letting cast iron sit for any length of time wet can make it rust. Let all the water dry up.
Next you need to turn off the stove and put a small amount of neutral oil into it, anything that it good for high heat. Do NOT put extra virgin olive oil, butter, or any oil that can burn easily into it to season, not only will it not be effective, the burn taste will linger. I recommend using a neutral seed oil like grape seed, but I’ve know people who like to use vegetable oil or even bacon grease to season theirs, but I always use grape seed. Things like tallow and lard have a tendency to go rancid, so if you chose to use that, make sure you check for rancidness before cooking with it again.
Once you have the oil in, use a LINT FREE (it is so important you use lint free because you do NOT want to be cooking your food on paper, I PROMISE) paper towel and spread it all around the inside of your pan. It needs to be a thin layer. Once it’s spread, take your pan off the burner and let it cool before putting it away somewhere dry.
But wait, you just bought a cast iron/ need to just completely reseason it because something happened to it? Do not worry, I know what to do.
Preheat your oven to 350 F (~175 C) with your top rack place in the middle and your other rack placed at the bottom.
Next thing you’re going to do is wash your pan. This is the only time I would recommend washing your cast iron with dish soap, and you need to SCRUB it. If you are reasoning, scrubbing with steel wool is the way to go but if it’s just new and needs to be seasoned, then a dish sponge will do fine.
If you have some light surface rust, I recommend pouring some course salt into pan and rubbing it with a paper towel. It actually does an INCREDIBLE job at getting rust up!
After that you need to dry it on the stove (bone dry once again) and let it cool.
Once it is cool, take a lint free paper towel and spread a SUPER THIN amount of oil ALL OVER it, cooking surface, handle, bottom, sides, ALL OVER. And I mean THIN. You need probably only about a teaspoon at MOST of oil total, and even sometimes THATS pushing it. Another thing you can use is vegetable shortening, I find that it’s personally very easy to achieve a thin, even coating of oil with it.
Then you’re going to put it in the oven, cooking side DOWN and a baking sheet under it to catch any oil that might drip off. You’re gonna let it sit in there for around three hours, really letting that oil bake. Once the time is up, turn off your oven and let it cool in there.
Once cool, I recommend using a super small amount of oil and just lightly oiling it again just for rust safety.
And there you have it! A seasoned, well maintained cast iron skillet/pan/pot/griddle/whatever.
Wooden Utensils/Cutting Boards:
Oh yes, these guys are high maintenance, too.
But WHY can’t you put them in the dishwasher???
Well, have you even keep a piece of wood under water? What happens to it?
That’s right, it expands and CRACKS.
That’s what happens when you put your wooden tools in the dishwasher OR let them soak. The cracking allows bacteria to THRIVE and can get food stuck in there and cause it to ROT. Always, ALWAYS hand wash your wooden tools and NEVER let them soak.
But what about that maintenance outside of washing?
Well, like cast iron, wood cutting board and utensils need to be seasoned with oil. Unlike cast iron though, you can use soap to wash your wooden tools.
So how to you season these guys? Well, it’s actually a lot simpler than cast iron, thank GOD, am I right?
First you need to wash your utensils well and then let them COMPLETELY dry, any moisture still left in the wood will seal into it if you do not let it dry and will cause the wood to expand and crack. A simple way of figuring out if it’s dry or not is by touching it. If it’s cool to the touch, it is not dry yet. If it’s room temp then perfect! It’s dry.
Now it’s time to oil them. I’ve seen people cooking oil to season it all the time, but I do not recommend it due to the fact seed oil can and WILL go rancid as well. I recommend using food grade mineral oil, as it neutral in flavor and doesn’t go rancid.
Oiling it is simple. You’re going to take a cloth and spread oil all over the utensil or cutting board and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Then, you’re going to take another cloth and wipe away any excess oil. If it’s your first time oiling it, repeat this process three to five times.
Now you only need to oil it every month or two or when it’s starting to look like it might need some TLC! Hooray!!!
NOTE: if your wooden tools are looking worse for wear or have dents/cracks it them, it’s time to replace them. There is no saving them. Throw them out and get new ones.
Kitchen Knives:
Yeah, this one might be a shocker, but putting your knife in the dishwasher can absolutely damage it.
How does it damage it? The high heat and the movement can cause your blade to dull, dent, and even break in some cases. Not to mention, the heat can make a plastic handle crack and the water can make a wooden one do the same.
Washing your knife is so easy, just be CAREFUL to not cut yourself. Use a sponges and wipe your knife from the back to clean it, and then dry it on a cloth instantly. I like using a sleeve to keep it clean in the drawer but if you don’t have one/ Don’t keep it in a drawer, than don’t worry about it.
Of course the outside maintenance is sharpening your knife.
The best way to do it is with a wet stone, though those are often expensive and if you’re just a home cook, you don’t need to do it like that. If you want it really sharp but don’t want to spend the money on a wet stone, you can take it to get professionally sharpened, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that with a cheep, five dollar knife. If you want to, though, more power to you.
For the most part, all you’re going to need is a honing rod. You know, that weird metal rod you always see the tv chefs using to sharpen their knifes dramatically!
To sharpen your knife, place your blade starting at the point closest to the handle at the bottom of the honing knife, keeping it at a steep angle or the angle the edge of your knife (the actually sharp part of your knife). You’re going to apply even pressure, not too much or too little, and keeping you knife at that angle the entire time, drag your knife down the rod, slowly moving the entire blade across it, following the curve of your knife.
Next, bring the knife UNDER the honing rod and do the same to the other side. Go back and forth doing this multiple times until it has been sharpened, making sure to apply even pressure and keep your knife at a consistent angle. Once you get use to the action you can start to speed up and look really cool like the TV chefs.
NOTE: when sharpening or handling the knife, NEVER point or cut the blade towards you. If handing someone a knife, never offer it blade first, turn the knife with the blade faced down and handle out to the person you are passing it to.
Why is it important to keep a knife sharp? Easy, a sharp knife is a safe knife. What do I mean by that? With a dull knife, you don’t always know if it will cut through the thing you are trying to cut or it will randomly stop, a dull knife is predictable and can cause the item your cutting to be uneven or possibly cut YOU. And that’s not a clean cut, and those hurt the WORST. A sharp knife, on the other hand, it’s easy to figure out what direction it’s going to go while cutting, and that direction is through.
Anyways, I hope this is informative to everyone and if I made a mistake, feel free to go ahead and correct me, BE NICE ABOUT IT TOO. I’m only human, and just because I’m behind a screen doesn’t mean I don’t get hurt. But yes, please people, high maintenance cookware needs to be properly maintained for it to be used for as long as possible, and sometimes that means for generations. Happy cooking!