eli5 how does a cast iron pan get clean?

Question

without touching soap and water 🤔

In: 72

Answer 1

Seasoning aside, as far as being “clean” it really doesn’t make a difference if you use soap or not.

As long as you remove the actual food particles afterwards, the pan is sanitized every time you heat it up, killing any microbes.

So the pan is actually at its cleanest after you cook on it, you just don’t want to leave any organic matter to decay and grow microbes.

You technically don’t have to clean a regular pan either, but the burnt on grease can interfere with nonstick coating, and it’s not known to positively contribute to the flavor like cast iron, as far as I know.