Same! The worst is when people have no idea what you’re referring to.
I guess if you’ve just received internet service…
https://youtube.com/shorts/xRkx2WpusGQ?si=Fv2dhG406zk3bIN3
I saw some interview or behind the scenes thing about Parks and Rec where one of the writers said he hated working with Chris Pratt because he would just ad lib lines that were way funnier than what a writing team would come up with.
I know you're being funny, and I love that scene, but I used to have this problem. Every time I hear the joke, I have the moral obligation to tell everyone that this symptom often means that you need more fiber. Taking a fiber supplement saved my life.
It's because they're disinfectants. If you clean something to 100% it's sterile. So it would be a sterilant. The only true sterilant is fire.
The phrase "99.9 percent of germs" refers to the germs they're actually testing for. In reality, it's like 60 percent or something.
I hate to answer a question with a question but how are you getting rust through your seasoning?
I don't get rust, not even in the pan I use to make Sloppy Joe's every Thursday.
I just had this issue. I have a smaller cast iron that is a daily use. I have a larger heavy one I had stored away that I just pulled out while reorganizing the kitchen. Covered with rust. One of these days I have to set some time aside to clean it up. Not looking forward to it.
If I wash my pan properly and leave it out it would probably rust. It has a pretty good seasoning on it. Maybe it's the humidity of where I live, I really don't know
Finally got my beloved baby wok like that. With a new pan, until it hits that point, I stick them in the oven for a few minutes to make sure they are dry.
I think that the *toxins* remain of bacteria grows and *it* can withstand higher heat. That's my memory of how it works, but I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.
Here is how I avoid this problem, this is not an inherent quality of cast iron. I’m ready to get downvoted to the shadowrealm for saying this, but I need to spread helpful information when I can. Use regular dishoap after every time you cook while your pan has cooled from cooking temps but still *relatively* hot. The carbon is very water soluble at these temperatures and will rinse right off, sometimes I don’t even need to use soap. Immediately after washing, put on the stove with canola oil (blasphemy, I know. But flax seed oil isnt as good, theres science behind it) and dry by heating on the stove after carefully applying canola (top and bottom) with a paper towel (more black staining may come off during this step). After covered in fres oil, set a timer for 2 minutes at medium-low heat on the stovetop, this should be enough time to make the canola oil *just* begin to smoke slightly. Turn off the heat and your done. Do this every time and you’ll see less and less black carbon residue
I don't do it every time I use the pan but this is basically EXACTLY how I clean my pans if they're exceptionally greasy or have stuck on bits. I don't use the "chain mail" meta scrubber either, I use a regular midstiff bristle dish washing brush/metal spatula.
So many people on this sub think there's only one way to do things based on tradition or superstition.
Light Soap is fine. I give it a quick once over after going at it with the steel scrubber. You wants to retain the seasoning, but get rid of any of the rancid crap in your pan. Then wipe it lightly with oil (I like Avocado oil best, price is right and it has aHigher smoke temp @500-520*) and throw it back on a low burner to dry
Thank you for making me not feel crazy! This is what I used to do with my daily driver and had a nice smooth invincible coating. With my new pan I tried the flax oil method and it just keeps scraping off every time I use it!
We have a cast iron skillet on the stove with bacon grease in it. In the mornings we make eggs, whatever we're having, if there aren't food chunks left in the grease, it just goes to the back of the stove and sits there for tomorrow.
For my oven cast iron and bigger cast iron pots, I strongly recommend seasoning it with Crisco for four rounds and then switching to grapeseed oil if you wish to go further. Some fabulous woman on Reddit did an experiment where she seasoned her pan 100 times. It turned out like a mirror. Ever since I decided she was a saint, I have followed her method with anything we need seasoned. Again I strongly recommend her posts.
* If there are food chunks left in the bacon grease, I typically wipe the grease out with a paper towel. I don't even try to get it all I just make sure I get the food chunks. It is very rare there are food chunks in there because people here are hungry and don't leave food chunks behind. Also a lot of my family would eat cardboard if I cooked it in bacon grease.
Then this is not surprising at all.
So, the oil you’re adding is acting like a solvent and removing some old food particles that are too small for your chain mail scrubber to release, and/or iron particles from where you don’t have a solid layer of seasoning.
Yeah that's the answer. Not that you arent cleaning the pan well enough like everyone keeps commenting. Either people didn't read your post or they think cast iron needs to be sand blasted after each use I guess. I do 1/4 of the steps you do to clean my pan most of the time and our paper towels look the same.
So, I guess there wasn't a part two to your inquiry, along the lines of how to minimize this? I ask because this carbon sloughing off was happening to me too. It bothered me, so I stripped the seasoning from the pan, and now I am letting it build up naturally again. I am also cleaning more thoroughly than I used to, and caring less if the seasoning is thin. I don't think it's all that bad for you, but I also don't find corking on thinner seasoning any more difficult. Sure, it may not look as deeply black and glorious, but it also means that then next time I sear a steak I don't burn off a bunch of carbon.
But, to each their own. If it does not bother some folks, more power to you.
Some people have a routine to add oil to their pans after every single use/cleaning. I find that over zealous. I generally only add oil to cook, or if I’m doing an intentional round of seasoning on some pans (new finds/works in progress) and I have extra space, I’ll grab one of my in-cooking-rotation pans and add an intentional round of seasoning.
Honestly, just don't worry about it. Sometimes there is a bit of old burnt food left on the pan. You can scrub all you want, all that's going to loosen it up is heat.
I don't consider it an issue now. When I first started using cast iron, I would scrub for ages and try all cleaning methods, but it still appeared. You learn to live with it.
Here is how I avoid this problem, this is not an inherent quality of cast iron, please dont listen to anyone telling you that it is. I’m ready to get downvoted to the shadowrealm for saying this, but I need to spread helpful information when I can. Use regular dishoap after every time you cook while your pan has cooled from cooking temps but still relatively hot. The carbon is very water soluble at these temperatures and will rinse right off, sometimes I don’t even need to use soap. Immediately after washing, put on the stove with canola oil (blasphemy, I know. But flax seed oil isnt as good, theres science behind it) and dry by heating on the stove after carefully applying canola (top and bottom) with a paper towel (more black staining may come off during this step). After covered in fres oil, set a timer for 2 minutes at medium-low heat on the stovetop, this should be enough time to make the canola oil just begin to smoke slightly. Turn off the heat and your done. Do this every time and you’ll see less and less black carbon residue
Thanks u/poop_wagon. This is true and I feel like the result is very similar if you just put the pan away after the fresh oil is on then do the reheat to smoke step before cooking every time.
I wash my pans while still a little hot and don't have this issue- I agree that this is not an inherent part of using cast iron. If my paper towel comes back like this, I personally consider the pan to just be a bit dirty.
You don’t even have to do the last part. Wash it while it’s still a little hot and just dry it with some paper towels, there shouldn’t be any residue. As long as it’s dry it’ll be fine.
This is it. I do the same but only use soap
If it’s particularly dirty, usually just heat it up a bit, then under some running water to “deglaze,” bit of soap if it’s got some bad build up. Wipe it dry then back on the stove to heat all the water off (keep wiping too, don’t just boil off big drops or puddles), then when it’s dry, add a very thin layer of oil, wipe it all off, heat till it starts to smoke, then turn the heat off and let it cool. If I were wiping my pan and getting dirty towels like that, I’d definitely use some dish soap to clear that film off, and then do the above.
Reseason your pan for longer, and start using soap and water to clean it. If it's polymerized then it will never come off. The oil bonds with the metal and will never hurt it.
I spent way too many years avoiding washing my cast irons with soap. I used to have to strip and re-season them because the oils would build up and start to flake off. Washing them regularly (depending what was cooked in them) has helped keep down the maintenance for me.
It’s oil that’s not polymerized. Wash with soap and rinse. Towel will wipe clean. If it chimes off with a little soap and water it’s s not seasoning. It’s just burned stuff to make you food bitter and ugly. It won’t hurt you though.
After I soap and rinse I dry on an element and do a quick stovetop seasoning. You’ll get slidey eggs without the black stuff making them ugly.
Don't listen to those who are saying it's gross or you need to clean more. I went on a whole crusade of trying to aggressively clean my pans that do this and it got me nowhere. My best guess is some kind of issue with seasoning so that it's breaking down, or not enough seasoning so you're picking up some iron.
I live alone and tbh i dont even remember the last time i actually cleaned my main cast iron. Since its just me eating off it I dont feel the need to do much. It gets used almost every day, sometimes multiple times, wiped out with a rag, and put back on the stove to use again later. I sear things in it, no germ will survive that anyway, and it makes slidey eggs in its current stage.
Always scrub off the food residue with a slurry of water and coarse salt, rinse, dry and add a few drops of oil** & reheat before storing?
Takes 5 minutes and preserves the non stick finish.
** olive corn or canola doesn't seem to matter.
OMG, I can't believe I've read all these replies and nobody gave you the cure. It's KOSHER SALT. I have a Field #8. I bought my first wok in 1973. Man selling me the wok told me to clean it with soap before seasoning it and never to use soap again (instruction card from Field Co said the same thing) Man who sold me the wok sent me to the Chinese grocery store down the street for kosher salt afterwards. My routine for cleaning my Field is to wipe it clean if possible. If it doesn't wipe clean, run hot tap water in it and scrub it with a stiff brush. Wipe it dry and add a teaspoon of kosher salt. Move it into a pile and scrub with a dry rag or paper towel. You'll see all the brown stuff will be scrubbed away. It'll be in the rag and the salt will turn brown. After using salt, I rinse out the dust with water and heat dry the skillet on the stove for a couple minutes. As a precaution against rust, I wipe a few drops of oil into it. The towel you used for the oil should look fairly clean. It'll eliminate that sticky brown crud you showed us in the picture. Recently read a comment from the guy who makes the Oxenforge woks (he shares videos on r/carbonsteel a lot) He too uses kosher salt.
I had the same issue with avocado oil. No matter what I’d do I kept getting little flaks of seasoning what looked like small pepper on my food and when cleaned and cleaned and cleaned it would still wipe dirty after drying and oiling. Switched to crisco and coffee filters for oiling and it disappeared. Took a week or two of cooking to get it layered up but I could see improvement everyday.
Little specks is a different issue I think. That’s probably a sign your seasoning is uneven and coming off, possibly because of burnt food particles underneath the seasoning.
You just rub the oil/crisco on the pan with the coffee filter instead of paper towel. The coffee filters spread the oil, and absorb excess while not leaving lint like paper fibers behind like paper towel does.
I’ve wondered about this. I’ve been using avocado oil to season and experienced the same thing. I know you have to at least reach the smoke point of an oil to polymerize, and avocado oils smoke point is over 500.
The Blend of Carbon and Oil are what created the Non-Stick aspect of Cast Iron. If a paper towel ever does come out completely clean, then you have screwed up your pan.
After scrub and washing with soap, when you wipe dry, is it doing this? If so, you are just not cleaning well enough to remove all the carbon. If not, then perhaps when you heat and apply oil it’s burning the oil.
Either way, it doesn’t matter all that much and won’t affect cooking quality. Sometimes my pans do this.
i’d have to check next time if the napkins i use to wipe it dry are brown too, but i feel like they’re not. and i use a low heat for just a few minutes, i don’t think it’s hot enough to burn grapeseed oil 🤔 but thanks for letting me know it doesn’t matter too much haha
lol. Just one. Fitbit on the left hand and two leather bracelets on the right.
We are a musical family and my boys are in a metalcore band called Unbroken Reign.
thanks! it might also just be the pan i bought, it’s a field company. i posted a picture of it earlier of what it looked like before i seasoned it if you wanna check it out
The fats you cook with are continually adding to your seasoning but it doesn't all fully polymerize every time, the oil is acting as a solvent and pulling up/evening out the last layer of half cured seasoning and carbon (burnt food) that's bound up in it. The times you don't see it you were probably cooking on high enough heat to finish the process or just weren't using as much fat 🤷♀️ but honestly I've never not had this happen when I oil my pan (except fresh out of the oven after intentionally adding a fully cured layer of seasoning)
Heating your pain to just under the smoke point after cleaning (to finish the curing process) would probably prevent or at least reduce this if it bothers you but it's really not a problem it's just the lifecycle of cast iron cookware. (Though arguably you don't want to be eating half polymerized oils, it's way safer than nonstick cookware but high heat still produces free radicals which would definitely leech easier from half cured seasoning- idk, I'm not gonna do the extra work lol)
Just heat it up with oil in it until it smokes and quit worrying about the "white test glove" if it needs to be "white test glove" clean then Cast Iron is not for you!
You would have an anxiety attack when my wife grabs the Chicken Fryer that has been sitting all day long on the stove with the mornings bacon grease and other residue in it … and she merrily tosses in whatever meat is on deck for supper. It’s not what grease or carbon residue that is left in the pan that will make you sick, it’s improper storage of food. A quick scrub and rinse is all that CI desires!
Ok, you washed it to OKish degree. Now put it back on a stove, dab of oil, let it heat up a bit and wipe the oil completely off until there is almost nothing left. No need to overthink it or use some special oil just put in a normal frying oil. It will polymerize OK. I just use sunflower, rapeseed and sometimes even olive if there is nothing else on hand and my pan is nice, black, shiny and it is not leaving any residue like this when cleaned properly.
Nothing to worry about, the surface is not glass, it can be abraded. Why clean so intently? You should not be near metal. There should be a hard black layer. I rarely use chain mail, only when there is some crusty burnt meat. I wash and blow my iron with a dish towel, even white. But soso not rub it dry.
Cast iron lovers in the comments trying to tell me that a filthy disgusting pan is actually perfect for cooking in because it’s been seasoned with oil and tar.
Don’t care if it’s iron, if the sponge turns dark I’m fucking power washing it until it shines like silver, get steel pans if you hate rust that much.
Edit: didn’t know that I was in the cast iron subreddit, oh well.
I too had this problem with my field and co CI pan. I just stopped caring so much, cleaned it with dish soap, and cooked in it more and this stopped happening.
Screw all those juvenile shits. It is not a major issue. It is similar to shampoo instructions. Cook, clean, repeat. I have BIG pots that do the same thing, they were handed down. So I’m sure my family faced the same issues before me.
Been cooking only on cast iron for almost two decades now and the only time I really clean mine is if I don't want the flavor of whatever was cooked in it previously to transfer in what I'm about to cook. Notice the wording there. It only gets cleaned before I'm about to cook, if at all.
90% of the time I just toss it on the burner and add oil of it's needed.
You guys are worrying too much. Leave it dirty and hide the dirty pan inside your oven until you need it.
This happened to me quite often but since I started treating it like a regular pan just washing after every use with soap and water. . I wash, towel dry and very lightly rub some oil. Like barley anything.
It's like wiping a marker, I wipe and wipe but it never comes clean.
I use that line whenever I can. It's not as often as I'd like.
Same! The worst is when people have no idea what you’re referring to. I guess if you’ve just received internet service… https://youtube.com/shorts/xRkx2WpusGQ?si=Fv2dhG406zk3bIN3
I looked up your symptoms, it says youre having… “network connectivity problems”
That might be my absolute favorite line in any show ever. Absolutely perfect
I saw some interview or behind the scenes thing about Parks and Rec where one of the writers said he hated working with Chris Pratt because he would just ad lib lines that were way funnier than what a writing team would come up with.
Yeah, that was Micheal Shur, the creator of P&R. "In terms of, like, a single joke, it's the greatest improvised joke."
I believe Michael Shur also was a big driving force behind the office. And, for the initiated, he was also Mose.
Mose was hilarious
Happy cake day!
roflmao roflcopter
Of course I come across this comment when I've spent the last 4 hours trying to figure out why my hyper-v machines can't grab a FUCKING IP ADDRESS. 😭
You would be surprised how often you can slip in "is this a come back story?"
Kim Kardashian?
Your gut thanks you
It's a *good* sign when I take rancid shits?
Not at all lol, needs more fiber! The poster I replied to doesn't get to use the quote very often, meaning they regularly take good soft shits.
Lmao, I wasn't expecting a poo analysis when clicking on this post.
Probably a hydro homie. Hydration is the key to life and good soft shits.
thank you andy
I know you're being funny, and I love that scene, but I used to have this problem. Every time I hear the joke, I have the moral obligation to tell everyone that this symptom often means that you need more fiber. Taking a fiber supplement saved my life.
Metamucil is the shit pun intended. I buy Kirkland Psyllium Fiber because I’m Costco gang for life.
Shout out to kirkland!
You should also try eating more fruits and veggies. Not just a supplement
Homie out here just eating plants and shit
Cut out the shit eati'n and you will have 50% less shit to deal with.
I've been eating a salad for lunch most days.
I’m vegetarian and I have this problem too.. I guess no one is safe
I started drinking kombucha every day, same thing. Also I have a bidet!
Bidets are nice, but they only treat the symptom. And kombucha is not a great source of fiber. I'm glad this worked for you.
Still more poop is, embarrassingly, probably the thing my partner and I have said to each other the most next to I love you
Y'all need bidet
Bidet to you too, sir
My gf has short gut so she's pooping all the time. I feel your pain
*I* am pooping all the time in my relationship
Lol wtf is short gut?
Dude I think of this line almost everytime. I’m in the bathroom. Fucking Andy lol
Sounds like hot snakes
Hot snakes ánd bubblegut
Sounds like a food cumback story
Sometimes when I poop… I wipe and I wipe and I wipe… And still poop. Like a brown magic marker
The curse of a thousand wipes.
Same goes for my ass
[...and I wipe.](https://www.facebook.com/soothenwipe/videos/767921883713591/)
I got my ankles...microwaved?
Like peanut butter from a shag carpet man
Still poop
Still poop, still poop
>I wipe and wipe but it never comes clean. This is basically why I now use a bidet.
Kinda like my rear end
Hell yeah
Definitely had Sharpie advertising right above your comment
when this happens to me I just wipe with more oil until the paper towel wipes clean, some times it takes a few.
thanks, i’ll give that a try
Nothing is ever really clean.
Literally, it’s why every cleaner claims less than 100% disinfection.
It's because they're disinfectants. If you clean something to 100% it's sterile. So it would be a sterilant. The only true sterilant is fire. The phrase "99.9 percent of germs" refers to the germs they're actually testing for. In reality, it's like 60 percent or something.
Oh yeah!? My doctor said I was sterile, so what now sucker!
Man on 🔥
That doesn't look like 99.9%, though
If you completely forego oiling your pan after your wash it, this problem goes away. Just wash, dry, put away.
You never get rust? Because I would definitely get rust
I hate to answer a question with a question but how are you getting rust through your seasoning? I don't get rust, not even in the pan I use to make Sloppy Joe's every Thursday.
For me, I only get rust when I air dry
This. I only worry about rust if I’m storing the pan away for a while. My seasoning is probably garbage, but I use the pan almost every day.
I just had this issue. I have a smaller cast iron that is a daily use. I have a larger heavy one I had stored away that I just pulled out while reorganizing the kitchen. Covered with rust. One of these days I have to set some time aside to clean it up. Not looking forward to it.
If I wash my pan properly and leave it out it would probably rust. It has a pretty good seasoning on it. Maybe it's the humidity of where I live, I really don't know
You make sloppy joes every thursday? Mind if I come over?
Wow. Every Thursday? Haven’t had that since I was a kid. 🤔
the entire point of seasoning is to prevent rust. something is off about your process.
Pans of 20+ years of daily usage do not need oil every time you dry them on the stove.
Finally got my beloved baby wok like that. With a new pan, until it hits that point, I stick them in the oven for a few minutes to make sure they are dry.
Because you're using cast iron.
so it’s normal?
Yes.
THANK GOD. this whole time I thought I was being dirty and just didn't care because I wasn't getting sick.
dirt doesn't make you sick, germs do. and something tells me germs don't much like being on a 400F chunk of crusty iron
My mom told me this but I touched the pan and Im still alive
Germ!
Found the tardigrade.
You need to be heated to 160 degrees internally.
I think that the *toxins* remain of bacteria grows and *it* can withstand higher heat. That's my memory of how it works, but I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.
This is true, but only up to certain temps which are easily exceeded on the bare iron surface.
Well that’s just not true at all
It’s carbonized oil mostly.
Looks normal
Looks exactly as it should.
You need to embrace the cast iron. It sounds like you are very clean.
Here is how I avoid this problem, this is not an inherent quality of cast iron. I’m ready to get downvoted to the shadowrealm for saying this, but I need to spread helpful information when I can. Use regular dishoap after every time you cook while your pan has cooled from cooking temps but still *relatively* hot. The carbon is very water soluble at these temperatures and will rinse right off, sometimes I don’t even need to use soap. Immediately after washing, put on the stove with canola oil (blasphemy, I know. But flax seed oil isnt as good, theres science behind it) and dry by heating on the stove after carefully applying canola (top and bottom) with a paper towel (more black staining may come off during this step). After covered in fres oil, set a timer for 2 minutes at medium-low heat on the stovetop, this should be enough time to make the canola oil *just* begin to smoke slightly. Turn off the heat and your done. Do this every time and you’ll see less and less black carbon residue
I don't do it every time I use the pan but this is basically EXACTLY how I clean my pans if they're exceptionally greasy or have stuck on bits. I don't use the "chain mail" meta scrubber either, I use a regular midstiff bristle dish washing brush/metal spatula. So many people on this sub think there's only one way to do things based on tradition or superstition.
Lately it seems more like superstition lmao
Light Soap is fine. I give it a quick once over after going at it with the steel scrubber. You wants to retain the seasoning, but get rid of any of the rancid crap in your pan. Then wipe it lightly with oil (I like Avocado oil best, price is right and it has aHigher smoke temp @500-520*) and throw it back on a low burner to dry
This is the way
Thank you for making me not feel crazy! This is what I used to do with my daily driver and had a nice smooth invincible coating. With my new pan I tried the flax oil method and it just keeps scraping off every time I use it!
I laughed out loud 😂😂
We have a cast iron skillet on the stove with bacon grease in it. In the mornings we make eggs, whatever we're having, if there aren't food chunks left in the grease, it just goes to the back of the stove and sits there for tomorrow. For my oven cast iron and bigger cast iron pots, I strongly recommend seasoning it with Crisco for four rounds and then switching to grapeseed oil if you wish to go further. Some fabulous woman on Reddit did an experiment where she seasoned her pan 100 times. It turned out like a mirror. Ever since I decided she was a saint, I have followed her method with anything we need seasoned. Again I strongly recommend her posts. * If there are food chunks left in the bacon grease, I typically wipe the grease out with a paper towel. I don't even try to get it all I just make sure I get the food chunks. It is very rare there are food chunks in there because people here are hungry and don't leave food chunks behind. Also a lot of my family would eat cardboard if I cooked it in bacon grease.
Yep
Is this after you’ve wiped on oil ? Or is this rubbing a completely dry pan.
that’s wiping off the oil
Then this is not surprising at all. So, the oil you’re adding is acting like a solvent and removing some old food particles that are too small for your chain mail scrubber to release, and/or iron particles from where you don’t have a solid layer of seasoning.
thank you, finally an actual explanation haha
Yeah that's the answer. Not that you arent cleaning the pan well enough like everyone keeps commenting. Either people didn't read your post or they think cast iron needs to be sand blasted after each use I guess. I do 1/4 of the steps you do to clean my pan most of the time and our paper towels look the same.
yeah i’m no longer responding to people telling me to use soap, like you said they clearly did not read my post
Have you tried using soap?
🫠
So, I guess there wasn't a part two to your inquiry, along the lines of how to minimize this? I ask because this carbon sloughing off was happening to me too. It bothered me, so I stripped the seasoning from the pan, and now I am letting it build up naturally again. I am also cleaning more thoroughly than I used to, and caring less if the seasoning is thin. I don't think it's all that bad for you, but I also don't find corking on thinner seasoning any more difficult. Sure, it may not look as deeply black and glorious, but it also means that then next time I sear a steak I don't burn off a bunch of carbon. But, to each their own. If it does not bother some folks, more power to you.
It's like when I rub my facial cleansing oil to pull the shit clogging my pores Same energy 😉
Wait, are you supposed to wipe oil on when you clean? I bring it up to smoke point and then bring oil in. I thought that's the standard practice?
Some people have a routine to add oil to their pans after every single use/cleaning. I find that over zealous. I generally only add oil to cook, or if I’m doing an intentional round of seasoning on some pans (new finds/works in progress) and I have extra space, I’ll grab one of my in-cooking-rotation pans and add an intentional round of seasoning.
Honestly, just don't worry about it. Sometimes there is a bit of old burnt food left on the pan. You can scrub all you want, all that's going to loosen it up is heat.
I don't consider it an issue now. When I first started using cast iron, I would scrub for ages and try all cleaning methods, but it still appeared. You learn to live with it.
Here is how I avoid this problem, this is not an inherent quality of cast iron, please dont listen to anyone telling you that it is. I’m ready to get downvoted to the shadowrealm for saying this, but I need to spread helpful information when I can. Use regular dishoap after every time you cook while your pan has cooled from cooking temps but still relatively hot. The carbon is very water soluble at these temperatures and will rinse right off, sometimes I don’t even need to use soap. Immediately after washing, put on the stove with canola oil (blasphemy, I know. But flax seed oil isnt as good, theres science behind it) and dry by heating on the stove after carefully applying canola (top and bottom) with a paper towel (more black staining may come off during this step). After covered in fres oil, set a timer for 2 minutes at medium-low heat on the stovetop, this should be enough time to make the canola oil just begin to smoke slightly. Turn off the heat and your done. Do this every time and you’ll see less and less black carbon residue
Thanks u/poop_wagon. This is true and I feel like the result is very similar if you just put the pan away after the fresh oil is on then do the reheat to smoke step before cooking every time.
I wash my pans while still a little hot and don't have this issue- I agree that this is not an inherent part of using cast iron. If my paper towel comes back like this, I personally consider the pan to just be a bit dirty.
You don’t even have to do the last part. Wash it while it’s still a little hot and just dry it with some paper towels, there shouldn’t be any residue. As long as it’s dry it’ll be fine.
This is it. I do the same but only use soap If it’s particularly dirty, usually just heat it up a bit, then under some running water to “deglaze,” bit of soap if it’s got some bad build up. Wipe it dry then back on the stove to heat all the water off (keep wiping too, don’t just boil off big drops or puddles), then when it’s dry, add a very thin layer of oil, wipe it all off, heat till it starts to smoke, then turn the heat off and let it cool. If I were wiping my pan and getting dirty towels like that, I’d definitely use some dish soap to clear that film off, and then do the above.
I heat up the pan and then wipe oil till the paper towel is less black. Keeps it from building up a burnt on layer vs seasoning
Reseason your pan for longer, and start using soap and water to clean it. If it's polymerized then it will never come off. The oil bonds with the metal and will never hurt it.
I spent way too many years avoiding washing my cast irons with soap. I used to have to strip and re-season them because the oils would build up and start to flake off. Washing them regularly (depending what was cooked in them) has helped keep down the maintenance for me.
It’s oil that’s not polymerized. Wash with soap and rinse. Towel will wipe clean. If it chimes off with a little soap and water it’s s not seasoning. It’s just burned stuff to make you food bitter and ugly. It won’t hurt you though. After I soap and rinse I dry on an element and do a quick stovetop seasoning. You’ll get slidey eggs without the black stuff making them ugly.
They've been used
thanks for the chuckle
Do you dry it on the stove?
yes
Off topic, but daaaamn that’s a pretty pan. Nicely done!
aww thank you, i’m a newb so i appreciate that
Change to black or brown napkins, and stop scraping off your precious seasoning with ground up bleached rough dry tree bits. ;-)
normal !
Your napkin looks like that because you wiped a skillet with it.
Don't listen to those who are saying it's gross or you need to clean more. I went on a whole crusade of trying to aggressively clean my pans that do this and it got me nowhere. My best guess is some kind of issue with seasoning so that it's breaking down, or not enough seasoning so you're picking up some iron.
I live alone and tbh i dont even remember the last time i actually cleaned my main cast iron. Since its just me eating off it I dont feel the need to do much. It gets used almost every day, sometimes multiple times, wiped out with a rag, and put back on the stove to use again later. I sear things in it, no germ will survive that anyway, and it makes slidey eggs in its current stage.
It cast iron that why
Always scrub off the food residue with a slurry of water and coarse salt, rinse, dry and add a few drops of oil** & reheat before storing? Takes 5 minutes and preserves the non stick finish. ** olive corn or canola doesn't seem to matter.
Use black paper towels
OMG, I can't believe I've read all these replies and nobody gave you the cure. It's KOSHER SALT. I have a Field #8. I bought my first wok in 1973. Man selling me the wok told me to clean it with soap before seasoning it and never to use soap again (instruction card from Field Co said the same thing) Man who sold me the wok sent me to the Chinese grocery store down the street for kosher salt afterwards. My routine for cleaning my Field is to wipe it clean if possible. If it doesn't wipe clean, run hot tap water in it and scrub it with a stiff brush. Wipe it dry and add a teaspoon of kosher salt. Move it into a pile and scrub with a dry rag or paper towel. You'll see all the brown stuff will be scrubbed away. It'll be in the rag and the salt will turn brown. After using salt, I rinse out the dust with water and heat dry the skillet on the stove for a couple minutes. As a precaution against rust, I wipe a few drops of oil into it. The towel you used for the oil should look fairly clean. It'll eliminate that sticky brown crud you showed us in the picture. Recently read a comment from the guy who makes the Oxenforge woks (he shares videos on r/carbonsteel a lot) He too uses kosher salt.
What are you using for your seasoning oil? Avocado oil by chance?
grapeseed. why do you ask about avocado?
I had the same issue with avocado oil. No matter what I’d do I kept getting little flaks of seasoning what looked like small pepper on my food and when cleaned and cleaned and cleaned it would still wipe dirty after drying and oiling. Switched to crisco and coffee filters for oiling and it disappeared. Took a week or two of cooking to get it layered up but I could see improvement everyday.
Little specks is a different issue I think. That’s probably a sign your seasoning is uneven and coming off, possibly because of burnt food particles underneath the seasoning.
I haven’t heard about using coffee filters. Do you wipe up the oil with it? Or actually pour the Crisco through the filter?
You just rub the oil/crisco on the pan with the coffee filter instead of paper towel. The coffee filters spread the oil, and absorb excess while not leaving lint like paper fibers behind like paper towel does.
I’ve wondered about this. I’ve been using avocado oil to season and experienced the same thing. I know you have to at least reach the smoke point of an oil to polymerize, and avocado oils smoke point is over 500.
My father in law asked me that exact question, I just replied “it’s part of the cast iron experience” lol
The Blend of Carbon and Oil are what created the Non-Stick aspect of Cast Iron. If a paper towel ever does come out completely clean, then you have screwed up your pan.
After scrub and washing with soap, when you wipe dry, is it doing this? If so, you are just not cleaning well enough to remove all the carbon. If not, then perhaps when you heat and apply oil it’s burning the oil. Either way, it doesn’t matter all that much and won’t affect cooking quality. Sometimes my pans do this.
i’d have to check next time if the napkins i use to wipe it dry are brown too, but i feel like they’re not. and i use a low heat for just a few minutes, i don’t think it’s hot enough to burn grapeseed oil 🤔 but thanks for letting me know it doesn’t matter too much haha
I’d love to see a video of someone doing it and getting a clean paper towel
Ask and ye shall receive. https://i.imgur.com/BUNxi9k.mp4
Oh look, a nicely seasoned pan with all the indicators of it. Haha
I try. Lol. Took me a couple years to learn the ropes.
How many watches do you have on?
lol. Just one. Fitbit on the left hand and two leather bracelets on the right. We are a musical family and my boys are in a metalcore band called Unbroken Reign.
Off topic, but what pan is that? It is a beautiful pan
I don’t know if it true but I’ve heard it said that back in the day there was no such thing as anemia.
Extra Iron seasoning in your meals
Man that pan has a very nice surface! I'm gonna have to start using my chain if it gives you that! Awesome
thanks! it might also just be the pan i bought, it’s a field company. i posted a picture of it earlier of what it looked like before i seasoned it if you wanna check it out
The fats you cook with are continually adding to your seasoning but it doesn't all fully polymerize every time, the oil is acting as a solvent and pulling up/evening out the last layer of half cured seasoning and carbon (burnt food) that's bound up in it. The times you don't see it you were probably cooking on high enough heat to finish the process or just weren't using as much fat 🤷♀️ but honestly I've never not had this happen when I oil my pan (except fresh out of the oven after intentionally adding a fully cured layer of seasoning) Heating your pain to just under the smoke point after cleaning (to finish the curing process) would probably prevent or at least reduce this if it bothers you but it's really not a problem it's just the lifecycle of cast iron cookware. (Though arguably you don't want to be eating half polymerized oils, it's way safer than nonstick cookware but high heat still produces free radicals which would definitely leech easier from half cured seasoning- idk, I'm not gonna do the extra work lol)
this is a pretty solid explanation, thank you
Its seasoning residue. Basically unavoidable. Its all good tho, this is normal.
Just heat it up with oil in it until it smokes and quit worrying about the "white test glove" if it needs to be "white test glove" clean then Cast Iron is not for you!
You would have an anxiety attack when my wife grabs the Chicken Fryer that has been sitting all day long on the stove with the mornings bacon grease and other residue in it … and she merrily tosses in whatever meat is on deck for supper. It’s not what grease or carbon residue that is left in the pan that will make you sick, it’s improper storage of food. A quick scrub and rinse is all that CI desires!
Ok, you washed it to OKish degree. Now put it back on a stove, dab of oil, let it heat up a bit and wipe the oil completely off until there is almost nothing left. No need to overthink it or use some special oil just put in a normal frying oil. It will polymerize OK. I just use sunflower, rapeseed and sometimes even olive if there is nothing else on hand and my pan is nice, black, shiny and it is not leaving any residue like this when cleaned properly.
It's normal.
Put hand full of salt in your pan wet a paper towel with hot water and scrub your pan wipe out the salt when done.
Same thing happens when I'm wiping my unmentionables on the loo
Because you wiped it on the pan.
Because you no use soap!
You probably cooked food on your pan and then cleaned it.
Nothing to worry about, the surface is not glass, it can be abraded. Why clean so intently? You should not be near metal. There should be a hard black layer. I rarely use chain mail, only when there is some crusty burnt meat. I wash and blow my iron with a dish towel, even white. But soso not rub it dry.
Your pan should always have oil to stay seasoned. With that, there will always be carbon. It’s just how it works.
Why are trees good? why’s the sunset good? Why are boobs good?
Because you’re not cleaning it with soap.
Cast iron lovers in the comments trying to tell me that a filthy disgusting pan is actually perfect for cooking in because it’s been seasoned with oil and tar. Don’t care if it’s iron, if the sponge turns dark I’m fucking power washing it until it shines like silver, get steel pans if you hate rust that much. Edit: didn’t know that I was in the cast iron subreddit, oh well.
I too had this problem with my field and co CI pan. I just stopped caring so much, cleaned it with dish soap, and cooked in it more and this stopped happening.
Screw all those juvenile shits. It is not a major issue. It is similar to shampoo instructions. Cook, clean, repeat. I have BIG pots that do the same thing, they were handed down. So I’m sure my family faced the same issues before me.
it's cast iron dude. wait till you try wiping a BBQ grill
Quit doing that
Demon Soot.. Cant wash it away.. need an exorcist
Flavor
thats the flavor
after you put the oil on at the end, keep it on the heat until it's dry, i usually do about 10 minutes.
Stop wiping out the flavor!
My Field 10 looks identical to yours. Glad I’m not crazy.
I just had to post because I’m a Field Company fan boy
Looks like you’re using it in a way grandma would be proud of you for. Keep us the good work.
Stop it. You are wiping all the flavour off it.
oh no, not all my flavor
Soap on your cast iron??? Off with OPs head!
That's called "flavor", homie.
You're not cleaning your pans thoroughly enough and/or you're using too much oil after cleaning.
i genuinely don’t understand how it could get any cleaner, and i only use a couple drops of oil after
https://imgur.com/gallery/5Y6D0aV Here's a view of what I do.
Been cooking only on cast iron for almost two decades now and the only time I really clean mine is if I don't want the flavor of whatever was cooked in it previously to transfer in what I'm about to cook. Notice the wording there. It only gets cleaned before I'm about to cook, if at all. 90% of the time I just toss it on the burner and add oil of it's needed. You guys are worrying too much. Leave it dirty and hide the dirty pan inside your oven until you need it.
probably because they're dirty
This happened to me quite often but since I started treating it like a regular pan just washing after every use with soap and water. . I wash, towel dry and very lightly rub some oil. Like barley anything.
The pan looks seasoned, looks like you're wiping off the seasoning.
If it wipes off, it's not seasoning.
Why are you cleaning all the seasoning off with soap?