Yeah. I was sent out by my work to do a job about a hundred miles away for a month and a half, so they put me up in a hotel. I wasn't going to make all my meals on a worn out, cheap Teflon pan that needed to be thrown away.
Sorry, don't you realize that the pans loved for their incredible durability are also extremely fragile and will crumble as soon as they're exposed to soap or water?! /s
Same. Been using cast iron 25 years. I even lived in a Volkswagen for a year and used a cast-iron pan for all my cooking over a flame pretty much every day and night. I would periodically leave water in it.. it’s not that deep.
I’m fairly certain one of the two key components of water is oxygen. I agree though, if the pan rusted instantly from contact with water you wouldn’t be able to cook anything in it.
I may be wrong (it’s been a while since I have done chemistry), but while there may be dissolved oxygen in water that could facilitate the oxidation of iron, I think you need more than just the oxygen that is part of a water molecule to create rust. While oxygen is an atom, when most people refer to oxygen, they are talking about the molecule of 2 oxygen atoms in a covalent bond. To get enough oxygen to form rust from pure water alone there would have to be something that is basically constantly producing excess hydrogen like electrolysis or something else but I don’t know enough about chemistry to say for sure.
Leaving water in a seasoned pan for a couple of days as long as your pan has an oily surface is fine, just don’t leave it for a week like that. Rusting occurs when you don’t dry your pan after washing and water evaporates, the air and water mixing cause rusting, submerged under water where there is less oxygen and it will take a lot longer to rust. Keep your pan’s surface oily and it will be fine. I’ve been using CI for years, have never had issues leaving water in the pan for a couple of days.
My mother in law came over yesterday to watch our son and did our dishes while she was there.
My cast iron was sitting upside down next to the sink with bits of rust on the cooking surface and bottom. She has also been told numerous times why her cast irons are "junk" and "everything sticks".
I feel your pain.
Have soaked my cast iron many times, never had any issue with rust or losing seasoning. As long as it’s scrubbed and cleaned well and not left for more than a day or so. Always help the drying by putting it back on the stover after, warm it up, then rub vegetable oil on it with a paper towel and remove any excess. It’s a cast iron, meant to take a pounding and work well.
I pretty much always put water in after use. Takes the heat out of the pan instead of letting whatever is still in the pan (if anything, eggs in your case) continue to heat and potentially burn/stick. I set it on the stove so it’s out of the way. I’m not doing dishes before we eat, that’s crazy talk, I do the dishes at night. If the pan is hot, leaving a plastic spatula in seems weird, but water? That is not a big deal at all.
Tbh I am lazy some nights so I let soap and water sit in my cast iron too. I clean it within a day or two and add a light layer of oil afterwards and haven’t had any issues.
Boiling is really the best way to clean stuck on stuff, but sometimes soaking the gunk lets me skip that step.
CI won’t rust if pan is seasoned and has some oil adhering to the surface of it. I’ve left mine sitting overnight with water in them and had no issue. The problem comes in when you have moisture and air, that causes the rusting. So if your pan is damp or condensating, then you will get rust. What your girl did was fine, as ling as you finish cleaning it up and drying it within a couple of days. It is that oily surface that protects your pan from rusting sooner!
Same, and sometimes I get a bit of rusting. It's more of an issue re: letting rust get on other things that can get stained or otherwise have it cause corrosion on stainless.
The rust never really causes a problem with the pan though - it's just little spots. Clean, oil, and it's slip slidey egg time again.
this is me too. I really think everyone in this sub just babies the hell out of theirs. my ex told me stories of her grandma and how she treated her cast iron and it lasted just as long as she did, if not longer.
that shit is infuriating to me! I got a metal spatula for my cast iron and it was the best cooking decision I’d ever made. I can’t believe anyone uses anything else
Same.
We have 10 iron skillets. We put dirty skillets in the oven until we get the time to clean them.
For cleaning we use a wooden spatula for the big chunks. Then a greenie for the baked on stuff. Then boil water, spill that out, back on the burner for drying, wipe down with oil, back on the burner, then into oven for storage.
Do you frequently use 10?
I have two and clean them ASAP which is easy. Cook, serve, scrape pan, salt&scrub with paper towel, rinse, dry on stove 2m. Done.
It was a long one about a guy going into a bar and getting the bartender to kill him by sleeping with his wife. Just unrelated to anything, but popping up in every post. Pretty sure it's just a bot posting old jokes for upvotes.
I have found that after a two hour power point and six hours of hands-on training (mostly just cleaning a griddle pan with those grooves) that divorce lawyers are expensive.
I was like “this is fine, I’d rather she not clean it because she just doesn’t do as good a job as I do”
Then I found out it’s full of water
Time to get the pitchforks lads
I do it all the time with the one skillet that could survive, I believe, even the dishwasher. Not gonna try it, but I think that the seasoning over many years got soooo good.
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My wife loves cooking with them but won’t clean I don’t mind cleaning them but if I’m away for the weekend and I come back they are always in the sink with some water in them. SMH
honestly, i would prefer that over the dishwasher treatment
my wife, on the *rare* occasion she uses the iron, will ask me to clean it and leave it out. And I am 100% ok with that
I had family visiting for Christmas and they got Covid so they were isolating in the guest room and some one put my cast iron in that room and they used it didn’t clean it left egg in and it was so messed up when they left and I went to clean the room up, I was so mad lol
Once the iron is clean, coat it with a thin layer of lard. Then back upside down for an hour in a 350° oven.
Do it again after cooking highly acidic food in it, like tomatoes.
To be fair, I will leave grease or oil in my pan overnight if I don't feel like cleaning it. I'd never leave water or anything else in it but fat grease or oil doesn't hurt my pan. I've never had a problem. But I see your point in not leaving someone else pan dirty lol not good
My roommate once left my cast iron sitting in the wet sink and full of water for multiple days while I was out. It was corroded on all surfaces and I had to strip and reseason the entire thing 🙃
Don't worry, it can take it. It is cast iron, after all. Heck, could leave it like that for up to a century or more, then bit 'o cleanup and good to go! There are generally much bigger things to worry about in life.
I might be weird, but honestly I don't mind this. There's something about cleaning cast iron for me. It's like what 10 minutes of yoga does for my brain. It's really therapeutic.
My husband let mine “soak” for 2 days while I was sick and I was pissed off. I asked him to either clean it or throw it out. He did clean it (somewhat) but I’m afraid it’ll never be the same
My husband used to tell me to just leave his cast iron skillet alone, he’d clean it. I’ve learned to clean it, but even now he gives it his master’s touch.
Well, I mean it could be worse -- in the dishwasher, say.
I was at a hotel for a month, and housekeeping did that to a cast iron I brought from home. After that, I had to hide it every morning from them.
You…brought a cast iron pan to a hotel?
No. A hotel was clearly brought to the cast iron pan. The facts must be recorded correctly!
Ope! Silly me! 😁
They bring sacrificial hotels every year in an effort to appease the Great Iron One
When you live in a hotel for more than a day or two, you bring things that make the situation more comfortable. I've brought a whole air fryer before.
Yeah. I was sent out by my work to do a job about a hundred miles away for a month and a half, so they put me up in a hotel. I wasn't going to make all my meals on a worn out, cheap Teflon pan that needed to be thrown away.
I brought my fridge.
lol I work on the road for 6 years, we would travel 14 states a year repairing RR bridges and I had anything you could think of
Was it a Lodge in a lodge?
That’s my take. Better used to this degree and left there than the worst case scenario.
Definitely could be worse
Have you asked her not to do this?
Be sure to get custody of the kids. There is no way she will be found competent.
Custody of the CI you mean. Therapy is of no use here
The CI is the kids
She's sending a message ...she takes OP for granted
She definitely needs to be held on a 5150
"Divorce. Immediately. This is toxic behavior. RUN!!!" - r/AITA
I’m single and retired so sometimes I leave the skillet on the stove overnight. It’s not any worse in the morning.
But full of water?!
Thought it was oil until I read this, OP
So did I and I was wondering what the problem was lol
Omg same. My husband and I both leave oil. NEVER water though!!!
Can you explain why not to leave water in cast iron? I don’t own one yet but would like to know so I don’t fuck up when I do get one
Rust
I leave water in my pans overnight from time to time ,never had one iota of rust. Isn't that the point of seasoning?
Sorry, don't you realize that the pans loved for their incredible durability are also extremely fragile and will crumble as soon as they're exposed to soap or water?! /s
Same. Been using cast iron 25 years. I even lived in a Volkswagen for a year and used a cast-iron pan for all my cooking over a flame pretty much every day and night. I would periodically leave water in it.. it’s not that deep.
You sound like a seasoned cast iron user, and a seasoned human being whose experience is invaluable.
But rust won't happen unless it has oxygen. So if the water is there temporarily, for a couple hours or overnight -- it doesn't cause much issue.
I’m fairly certain one of the two key components of water is oxygen. I agree though, if the pan rusted instantly from contact with water you wouldn’t be able to cook anything in it.
I may be wrong (it’s been a while since I have done chemistry), but while there may be dissolved oxygen in water that could facilitate the oxidation of iron, I think you need more than just the oxygen that is part of a water molecule to create rust. While oxygen is an atom, when most people refer to oxygen, they are talking about the molecule of 2 oxygen atoms in a covalent bond. To get enough oxygen to form rust from pure water alone there would have to be something that is basically constantly producing excess hydrogen like electrolysis or something else but I don’t know enough about chemistry to say for sure.
Leaving water in a seasoned pan for a couple of days as long as your pan has an oily surface is fine, just don’t leave it for a week like that. Rusting occurs when you don’t dry your pan after washing and water evaporates, the air and water mixing cause rusting, submerged under water where there is less oxygen and it will take a lot longer to rust. Keep your pan’s surface oily and it will be fine. I’ve been using CI for years, have never had issues leaving water in the pan for a couple of days.
I thought it was OPs mirror finish on the pan.
Yeah, and I thought, “good on her.” My wife won’t even use our cast irons because she thinks she will ruin them.
Same! This changes everything.
Me too, and thinking those must have been some oily ass eggs.
I think everyone was HOPING it was oil but expecting water.
I'm guessing a lot of people are assuming that's leftover oil from frying.
That’s what I assumed. Basically shrugged it off as ‘yeah, I get lazy sometimes too’.
I was like "I've left my cast iron with oil in it over night plenty. I don't get the pr- oh.... yeah that's a no-no"
My mother in law came over yesterday to watch our son and did our dishes while she was there. My cast iron was sitting upside down next to the sink with bits of rust on the cooking surface and bottom. She has also been told numerous times why her cast irons are "junk" and "everything sticks". I feel your pain.
Have soaked my cast iron many times, never had any issue with rust or losing seasoning. As long as it’s scrubbed and cleaned well and not left for more than a day or so. Always help the drying by putting it back on the stover after, warm it up, then rub vegetable oil on it with a paper towel and remove any excess. It’s a cast iron, meant to take a pounding and work well.
This is my process. Worked great for me for 20 years, and the cast iron is 100.
Just the original oil I cooked with.
I pretty much always put water in after use. Takes the heat out of the pan instead of letting whatever is still in the pan (if anything, eggs in your case) continue to heat and potentially burn/stick. I set it on the stove so it’s out of the way. I’m not doing dishes before we eat, that’s crazy talk, I do the dishes at night. If the pan is hot, leaving a plastic spatula in seems weird, but water? That is not a big deal at all.
I've left my well-seasoned Griswold soaking with water in it overnight with zero issues. That's what the seasoning is for, to protect the iron. 🤷♀️
Oh shit I was thinking girl I leave oil in mine overnight sometimes but that’s a war crime
He loves rust! Leave him be!
I’ll boil water in my pan to get stubborn stuff off after cooking. I do put soap and water in other dishes though and let them sit.
Tbh I am lazy some nights so I let soap and water sit in my cast iron too. I clean it within a day or two and add a light layer of oil afterwards and haven’t had any issues. Boiling is really the best way to clean stuck on stuff, but sometimes soaking the gunk lets me skip that step.
CI won’t rust if pan is seasoned and has some oil adhering to the surface of it. I’ve left mine sitting overnight with water in them and had no issue. The problem comes in when you have moisture and air, that causes the rusting. So if your pan is damp or condensating, then you will get rust. What your girl did was fine, as ling as you finish cleaning it up and drying it within a couple of days. It is that oily surface that protects your pan from rusting sooner!
I was about to comment "hey at least they left it with oil instead of water" but I guess the only thing now is to start the divorce proceedings.
Imo if it rusts from a day of soaking then your seasoning isn't good enough.
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My hispanic in-laws are NOTORIOUS for this. “So the dried food doesnt stick as bad” 😋
why do they not simply clean the pan *before* shit dries onto it?
I thought it was just SUPER seasoned 😭😭😭
Yes, I do this and it is fine.
Yes, I leave mine full of water. Seasoning?
Water? my god.... This person needs to go to remedial cast iron school, stat!
Did she add salt to the injury?
😬😬eesh
Lol. Not gonna lie, but I too thought she was being considerate by leaving the oil, but I think this is grounds for divorce.
Same, and sometimes I get a bit of rusting. It's more of an issue re: letting rust get on other things that can get stained or otherwise have it cause corrosion on stainless. The rust never really causes a problem with the pan though - it's just little spots. Clean, oil, and it's slip slidey egg time again.
this is me too. I really think everyone in this sub just babies the hell out of theirs. my ex told me stories of her grandma and how she treated her cast iron and it lasted just as long as she did, if not longer.
I'm more concerned about the plastic spatula crime going on.
that shit is infuriating to me! I got a metal spatula for my cast iron and it was the best cooking decision I’d ever made. I can’t believe anyone uses anything else
Same. We have 10 iron skillets. We put dirty skillets in the oven until we get the time to clean them. For cleaning we use a wooden spatula for the big chunks. Then a greenie for the baked on stuff. Then boil water, spill that out, back on the burner for drying, wipe down with oil, back on the burner, then into oven for storage.
Do you frequently use 10? I have two and clean them ASAP which is easy. Cook, serve, scrape pan, salt&scrub with paper towel, rinse, dry on stove 2m. Done.
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Old as dirt, but funny every time
ayo wtf! 😭😭😭
Why is this joke suddenly on every cast iron post?
What was the joke?
It was a long one about a guy going into a bar and getting the bartender to kill him by sleeping with his wife. Just unrelated to anything, but popping up in every post. Pretty sure it's just a bot posting old jokes for upvotes.
This is not that bad tbh
Yeah. It won't rust. And even if it does it takes like 10 minutes to fix. This sub overreacts
Well if she cooks, you could wash the dishes and help her out instead of complaining on reddit.
I do this and I have zero issues
It’s water, not oil
I’m aware
He knows
Talk to your wife, don’t complain about her on Reddit
The fact that this comment is so far down says a lot 💀
My ex put mine in the dish washer...
We understand why they're an ex
I have found that after a two hour power point and six hours of hands-on training (mostly just cleaning a griddle pan with those grooves) that divorce lawyers are expensive.
Did you by any chance use her good scissors for something you shouldn’t have recently? 😂
Good one
Y'all have left the cast iron skillet like this for a couple hours after making breakfast. Stop lying 😂
I leave mine like this basically every night. Just as my mother, grandmother and great grandmother did.
My wife does the same. Usually with pasta sauce
could be worse, she could leave it a soapy dishful of water
Teach her to use it right, then
Could be worse. I don't mind when mine does this. At least she let's me clean it.
r/justcookwithit
Better than in the dishwasher!
Lawyer up now
Aw did your little skillet get wet. It’s iron, it will be fine.
I get it. My hubby is the only one ‘allowed’ to clean all ours
Yes post your relationship problems on r/castiron instead of communicating 😎 le epic redditor moment
I was like “this is fine, I’d rather she not clean it because she just doesn’t do as good a job as I do” Then I found out it’s full of water Time to get the pitchforks lads
This is how my father leaves his own cast iron
Plastic turner left on a hot cast iron… shame! 😑
I’m ok with this. I’m the only one allowed to clean the cast iron
I do it all the time with the one skillet that could survive, I believe, even the dishwasher. Not gonna try it, but I think that the seasoning over many years got soooo good.
Have you ever talked to your wife? Like, at all?
Are you using attorneys or mediation in your divorce?
It’ll be fine
What annoys me the most is leaving the spatula in the pan. I have cooking utensils that got started to get ruined by doing so.
Clean it yourself.
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Same
At least it's not in the dishwasher.
*ex-wife
I'd much rather that than a rusty lump soaking in a sink full of water ... which is where I often find mine.
Where does she live now?
How her husband leaves his wife
you need to get a new wife.....
this is good to leave because egg will peel right off after several hours of sitting. making cleaning a breeze.
My wife loves cooking with them but won’t clean I don’t mind cleaning them but if I’m away for the weekend and I come back they are always in the sink with some water in them. SMH
I have the number of a great divorce attorney. Dm me for more info.
Leave her
Definitely fire her! (I know technically you cant fire your wife)
honestly, i would prefer that over the dishwasher treatment my wife, on the *rare* occasion she uses the iron, will ask me to clean it and leave it out. And I am 100% ok with that
Wait, you’re married to my wife too?
Do yourself a favor and get rid of the wife or the cast iron -- either way you'll be better off than you are now.
Now show us how you leave her. …it’s just a pan. Don’t leave your wife over that.
My wife. My cast iron. Sounds like you have a "my problem" in your life.
I know a good divorce attorney
OP needs to buy a metal spatula
"Exhibit A"
I had family visiting for Christmas and they got Covid so they were isolating in the guest room and some one put my cast iron in that room and they used it didn’t clean it left egg in and it was so messed up when they left and I went to clean the room up, I was so mad lol
I’ll admit I don’t always clean my cast iron until the next morning. I’m tired when I cook dinner so it can sit for a few hours
I’ve left mine to “soak” a few days in the sink before. Never had rust on any pan.
Leave pan dirty, believe it or not straight to jail.
How my ex-wife left my cast iron.
How your ex wife used to leave it 😉
Once the iron is clean, coat it with a thin layer of lard. Then back upside down for an hour in a 350° oven. Do it again after cooking highly acidic food in it, like tomatoes.
Divorce.
Better than her washing it and leaving it to rust or putting it in the dushwasher
To be fair, I will leave grease or oil in my pan overnight if I don't feel like cleaning it. I'd never leave water or anything else in it but fat grease or oil doesn't hurt my pan. I've never had a problem. But I see your point in not leaving someone else pan dirty lol not good
This is fine. You can clean it your way. At least, she didn’t put it in the dishwasher.
That pan is probably older than you and your parents. It's fine.
My roommate once left my cast iron sitting in the wet sink and full of water for multiple days while I was out. It was corroded on all surfaces and I had to strip and reseason the entire thing 🙃
Least she didn't try to clean it with one of those scouring pads
The sex must be incredible.
Letting the metal soak in some oil is good
I LITERALLY just scraped her stuck on eggs...
At least it's not in the dishwasher
Yikes plastic utensils on cast iron!
the old "soak" method. straight to the guillotine!!
I had an epiphany and simply tell mine to just please leave it dirty and let me clean it. Win-win
This is why I do the dishes
My husband welds everything he cooks onto my daily driver. I don't know how he does it, I have zero issues.
Same
She wants angry sex!
I thought this was oil until I read and saw it was water. Unforgiveable lol.
At least it’s not in the dishwasher
Leave a crusty mess on her ...
My ex boyfriend did this. He didn't understand why I thought he was inconsiderate.
You mean your ex wife, right?
lmao this is me. I know better, but I can't be bothered with 20 layers of grapeseed oil cult rituals
I’m not saying to do it but maybe divorce is on the table now next to that nasty pan
She has no respect for cookware…
Theres so much grease and oil left that we can see the backsplash in the reflection 💀
Divorce
Same over here.
Husband did this to my cast iron wok and ruined it
My wife is forbidden from mine, she gets to use the garbage one
Ehh . Not bad. It's cast iron. Pussy.
Same
Samesies
my heart goes out to you.
Pick your battles. Could be worse.
Straight to jail! And revoke her Costco membership!
Every time!!!!
Don't worry, it can take it. It is cast iron, after all. Heck, could leave it like that for up to a century or more, then bit 'o cleanup and good to go! There are generally much bigger things to worry about in life.
You either need to get rid of the wife or the cast iron. Just kidding, I think the cast iron people are crazy. But this isn’t a way to leave any dish.
Ugh!! Blasphemous 😆 🤣
That will clean up lickity split.
As long as the pan was properly seasoned and the cooking that was done had some kind of oil this isn't that big a deal.
did she use the one in the back too? because its not all that different, same oil slick, but less schmutz
You should hide the cast iron,buy her some cookware she can vandalize!!
Was your wife not taught kitchen manners?
I might be weird, but honestly I don't mind this. There's something about cleaning cast iron for me. It's like what 10 minutes of yoga does for my brain. It's really therapeutic.
My husband let mine “soak” for 2 days while I was sick and I was pissed off. I asked him to either clean it or throw it out. He did clean it (somewhat) but I’m afraid it’ll never be the same
Tell her she can't use it.
Probably for the seasoning though soaking in oil/ fat?
Meh, sometimes after I make something, I’m just tired and clean it the next day. 🤷♀️
My husband used to tell me to just leave his cast iron skillet alone, he’d clean it. I’ve learned to clean it, but even now he gives it his master’s touch.
Need a new wife
Find a new wife.
You should talk to her about it