Frying Pan

[poliphilo]

 My friend Stephen Bann- who is a dedicated cook-  used to say you should never wash a frying pan. The ancient grease, impregnated with the flavours of a thousand fry-ups, is a treasure,  adding subtlety and depth to anything you cook in it. I sometimes let my pan go a day or two without washing- and acknowledge that it's a bit of a thrill when the flavour of yesterday's mushrooms turns up in today's bacon and eggs- but then I start to worry about health and safety and the pan goes into the sink and receives a good scrubbing. Am I being unduly cautious? 

Comments

[richenda.livejournal.com]

I suppose that frying is done at a sufficiantly high temperature to kill the average nasty.
I once had an iron omelette pan, which just got wiped - but I gave it away because it got too heavy for me. Also, that was before we all got so salmonella conscious.
I always scour my stainless steel pan until it shines.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Stephen and his unwashed frying pan belong to the early seventies and- yes- I'm not sure we'd even heard of salmonella back then.