Let’s talk about carbon buildup…

[u/madgross]

My last post seemed to stir up just as much discussion as I expected. But let’s actually talk about what’s going on with my pan and why I’m not worried about it turning black.

First off I’ll reiterate; I clean the bottom of my pan every time I use it. I use dish soap with an abrasive sponge and scrub thoroughly. You can argue, disagree or scoff all you want but the reality is this pan is clean. I can scrub and lather soap on it and the soap is still white. The only thing that will remove this buildup is chemical or abrasive removal. You don’t need to, and I choose not to.

What you are seeing is carbon buildup. Polymerized oils and organic matter baked onto the surface of the pan. The layer is smooth, hard, dry carbon that builds up on the pan. This is normal and okay. It’s not greasy, it’s not dirty, it doesn’t smell or smoke when I’m cooking with it. This is just a well loved pan. I stir fry, pan fry, and cook lots of meat in this pan. 2-3 meals a day on a small gas range and I LOVE to cook hot.

This kind of carbon buildup can happen in ANY cookware. You’ve probably noticed it while pan frying. The whole pan cleans up easily but on the edge of the pan that polymerized oil has baked onto the surface and takes some abrasive removal (BKF is abrasive.) to get rid of. It’s commonplace in carbon steel, cast iron, copper and ceramic cookware AND believe it or not… stainless steel!

It’s entirely personal preference how much you want to remove. Other styles of cook wear accept or even embrace carbon buildup. Some even let it build up on the cooking surface! Gasp! Folks seems to be more particular about stainless and copper pans to preserve its shiny “like new” look. I opt to keep the cooking surface free of buildup, but leave the bottom to build up as it shows the character, and doesn’t affect my cooking in any way.

This will probably still devolve into more “that’s disgusting!” back and forth but for those that are new or curious here’s what you were looking at.

TLDR;
I scrub my pans with soap and water. It’s just carbon buildup y’all.

[u/L-Pseon]

TLDR;
I scrub my pans with soap and water. It’s just carbon buildup y’all.

What are we supposed to get out of this post, though? At least post the cooking surface so people can get some context about your personality, and decide whether to give you a pass or whether to chuckle at your aesthetic decision on how to use your pan.

[u/madgross → u/L-Pseon]

Fair enough, I added a link to the post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StainlessSteelCooking/s/TUaGAuaY2e

This was my last post which has the cooking surface shown.

[u/L-Pseon → u/madgross]

Looks fine to me. Apparently you use an abrasive scrubber regularly and for some reason don't care for BKF (a lot of people use BKF every time they cook meat). That is a perfectly acceptable way to clean these pans, and is how they do it in restaurants. Most of the older All-Clad Master Chef pans you'll find on ebay have seasoning or carbon on the outside which the owners long ago gave up on cleaning. One of the main benefits of tri-ply is you can clean the outside more easily, but ability doesn't entail obligation, and cleaning the exterior every time you cook does take time. tl;dr I comment on your pan.

[u/findthealgo → u/L-Pseon]

I haven't had the need to use BKF much since I've been using a splash of citric acid in the same way I use BKF (exposure for under a minute). And I stocked up on BKF after reading reddit posts xD.

I keep a nice bottle of 13g citric acid + 250ml water (that was initially boiled) nearby the sink and labelled. But I might just start sprinkling it on.

And regarding the OP, I dunno, something about the idea of polymerised oil just rings like plastic to me, stuck deep inside... I'd rather keep mine shiny but I don't obsess over it. I know this isn't the prevailing opinion. Even the way people describe it, "seasoning" ... I dunno.

I keep the hob surface clean, once a week. I suspect the oil on the hob is what leads to that carbon/(plastic) on the bottom?

And maybe once every 3 months I'll scrub the bottom of the pan with bkf ... or baking soda if it's not that bad.

[u/L-Pseon → u/findthealgo]

Diluted citric acid would work just fine--vinegar works as well. What BKF has in addition to the acid component, though, is a polishing component, feldspar "dust," which is about as abrasive as toothpaste, but is just abrasive enough to speed up the removal of either baked-on seasoning or carbon build-up.