Dishwasher/washing Habits

[GadgetGuy]

I use stainless and French carbon steel fry pans. I have a couple of cast iron fry pans as well and a few Le Creuset. I also have 3 French copper pans that I bought in France 30 years ago that I really don't use much anymore. Oh, and I have a non stick commercial 8" that I use for eggs mostly. None of this goes into the dishwasher.

The main problem with carbon steel cookware is that it tends to rust like cast iron cookware. You have to keep it seasoned to keep that from happening. I bought a carbon steel wok once. It had started to rust! I've since replaced it with a big copper non-stick one.

 

[garlichead]

The main problem with carbon steel cookware is that it tends to rust like cast iron cookware. You have to keep it seasoned to keep that from happening. I bought a arbon steel wok once. It had started to rust! I've since replaced it with a big copper non-stick one.View attachment 79112

Yeah, my wok is carbon steel as well and is going to have it's 40th birthday soon. But yeah, certain cookware will have some maintenance, but it's really hard to beat, really hard. Cheers

 

[caseydog]

I have a rule that however much is in it, the dishwasher gets switched on before bed every night so everything is clean in the morning. My partner unloads it and puts stuff away early morning before I get up. Its a good system because every day I start with everything put away and clean. There are only two of us but the dishwasher is pretty full almost every day. Saucepans and the chef's pan take up quite a lot of the space. I certainly couldn't get away with only running it every few days. I'd rapidly run out of pans and other daily used items.

I run the dishwasher when I need to, which is when it is mostly full. Living in North Texas, saving water is drilled into you. I also conserve energy, where I can do so reasonably. In mid to late summer/fall, we are often on water restrictions where I live. In winter and spring months, we conserve to fill the reservoirs to prepare for summer.

CD

 

[caseydog]

I have a regular large cutting board which never sees any raw meat or fish.

I have a separate cutting board (actually a couple) - one of which is dedicated to raw poultry only - it is bamboo and cleans up easily with hot water and soap and a good scrubbie. I am also anal about hand washing while dealing with raw chicken. I don't use gloves - okay, I did some years ago when we had a couple long term power outages, and i had chicken in the fridge that needed eating. Either that, or it was going to get tossed. I prepped it with disposable gloves on, and removed each pair every time I had to handle something else. Grilled up nicely, though.

I use plastic cutting boards for meats, especially chicken. They are dishwasher safe, and they go straight from use to the dishwasher. The dishwasher heats the wash water to VERY high temperatures. There is no way I could put my hands into water that hot. I know, without a doubt, that my meat cutting boards are completely sanitized when the come out of the dishwasher.

CD

 

[caseydog]

If cast iron is enamelled (like Le Creuset) I believe it can go in the dishwasher. At least, when I owned some (in a previous relationship) that is what I did and it didn't seem to suffer.

Yes, enameled cast iron is dishwasher safe. Sometimes I wash my Le Creuset by hand, and sometimes in the dishwasher.

CD

 

[karadekoolaid]

I´m probably the only person here who hates dishwashers. With a passion.
I mean, what´s the point of having a bloomin´ machine that supposedly cleans everything perfectly - except that you have to rinse the plates beforehand?
Additionally, it will blast your cherished, delicately crafted Bohemian Cristal whisky glasses into smithereens if you dare to put them to "wash"?
Or you´re preparing your favourite dish and can´t find the veggie peeler - because it´s in the blessed dishwasher, along with half the rest of the cutlery in the kitchen?
Or you´re just about to sit down to the most spectacular dish you´ve ever prepared... and the only available eating utensils are a pizza cutter and a single chopstick??
NAH!

 

[caseydog]

I´m probably the only person here who hates dishwashers. With a passion.
I mean, what´s the point of having a bloomin´ machine that supposedly cleans everything perfectly - except that you have to rinse the plates beforehand?
Additionally, it will blast your cherished, delicately crafted Bohemian Cristal whisky glasses into smithereens if you dare to put them to "wash"?
Or you´re preparing your favourite dish and can´t find the veggie peeler - because it´s in the blessed dishwasher, along with half the rest of the cutlery in the kitchen?
Or you´re just about to sit down to the most spectacular dish you´ve ever prepared... and the only available eating utensils are a pizza cutter and a single chopstick??
NAH!

i just have to lightly rinse the big chunks of stuff off of my plates before putting them into my dishwasher. And, I would never put fine crystal into a dishwasher. Things like veggie peelers don't need more than a rinse, most of the time after using them, so I don't put them in the dishwasher.

I'd say that about 75-percent of my dirty dishes go to the dishwasher. It is not only easier for me, but as I mentioned earlier, the water gets up to temperatures way too hot for hand washing, so bacteria doesn't stand a chance.

CD

 

[GadgetGuy]

i just have to lightly rinse the big chunks of stuff off of my plates before putting them into my dishwasher. And, I would never put fine crystal into a dishwasher. Things like veggie peelers don't need more than a rinse, most of the time after using them, so I don't put them in the dishwasher.

I'd say that about 75-percent of my dirty dishes go to the dishwasher. It is not only easier for me, but as I mentioned earlier, the water gets up to temperatures way too hot for hand washing, so bacteria doesn't stand a chance.

CD

I don't put sharp things in the dishwasher at all! The extremely hot water will make it dull, since it has a sharp blade. Just plates, bowls, glasses, cups & flatware. The advantage of having a dishwasher is to sanitize the load by using the hottest water availible. Mine steams the load first, then as it washes the dishes, the water can be programmed to be heated up, which further softens & removes dried-on food from the dishes. They come out sparkling clean without having to rinse them off by hand first!!

 

[caseydog]

I don't put sharp things in the dishwasher at all! The extremely hot water will make it dull, since it has a sharp blade. Just plates, bowls, glasses & flatware.

I don't put carbon steel knives in the DW, but I've never seen any unusual wear on stainless steel. I put my steak knives and utility knives in the DW. My chef's knives are so easy to wash, that there is no point in putting them in the DW.

CD

 

[JAS_OH1]

I want to know brand names that you U.S. folks have, please. My dishwasher gets hot enough to sanitize which is imperative, but if you have one that dissolves stuck-on foods i need to know who makes it.

 

[caseydog]

I want to know brand names that you U.S. folks have, please. My dishwasher gets hot enough to sanitize which is imperative, but if you have one that dissolves stuck-on foods i need to know who makes it.

Bosch. Not every stuck on food comes off in my DW, but there are only a few that don't.

CD

 

[ElizabethB]

Dishes, glasses, cups, bowls, stainless flatware, tongs, stainless graters, colanders and sieves.
No plastic. No pots and pans. My dishwasher is low end. Not HE. No grinder to handle really cruddy dishes or pots and pans.
I actually enjoy prepping meat and poultry. Peeling, slicing, dicing, coring, mincing - I find all of those activities soothing.
I HATE clean up. Clean the cutting boards, knives, the cook top, the counter tops, the hood and hood filters. Then clean the sinks. .
Cleanup is my nemesis.

 

[ElizabethB]

I want to know brand names that you U.S. folks have, please. My dishwasher gets hot enough to sanitize which is imperative, but if you have one that dissolves stuck-on foods i need to know who makes it.

Bosh or high end Kitchenaid. Both have a very high price tag. You need heavy duty drain lines to handle the ground food residue. Like what you need for your garbage deposal.

 

[Morning Glory]

Or you´re preparing your favourite dish and can´t find the veggie peeler - because it´s in the blessed dishwasher, along with half the rest of the cutlery in the kitchen?
Or you´re just about to sit down to the most spectacular dish you´ve ever prepared... and the only available eating utensils are a pizza cutter and a single chopstick??

That's why I always run the dishwasher overnight - so I don't end up with stuff I need in it during the day. As for rinsing plates before they go in, I rarely need to. If they have 'bits' on them I scrape into the bin or wipe with a bit of kitchen paper. Potato peeler? I have two anyway but mostly I wipe them clean rather than put in the dishwasher.

Anyway here is an average days load for the two of us by the end of the day, pans 'n all.

Top:

Bottom:

 

[TastyReuben]

My dishwasher is a Bosch, 17 years old and going strong.

Dishes come out sparkling clean, nearly always, but a big part of that is the detergent I use (Cascade Complete). Twice, they've been out and I've gotten a different name-brand detergent, and the dishes came out nearly as bad as they went in. Horrible.

Pics of mine in a bit, it's running right now.

Morning Glory - you're "I run it every night" made me smile, because there's a cheeky TV ad on now that starts with various people/couples saying something like, "We do it every night!" - the implication being that they're having at it nightly, and it'll be an elderly couple, then maybe a couple with a bunch of kids, and a single person, and they'll continue with something like, "We always do it...right after meatloaf!"

What's the "it" they're doing? Why, running the dishwasher, of course. The ad is to convince people that running an energy-compliant dishwasher cycle is actually more efficient than washing a few dishes by hand, so even if it's not full, you should be "doing it" every night!