a little harmless but definite untidiness.......

      
      Perhaps this is the place to warn you against an excessive zeal for cleanliness when it comes to ironware.  Property seasoned, iron is one of the greatest cooking materials in the world, but the average American housewife (this was published in 1967)  has been so brainwashed that she commonly scours off the cooking surface without thinking.  Woks and iron skillets should be rinsed and wiped, never washed.  If someone comes along and tells you cleanliness is next to godliness, the proper answer is, "Yes - next.  Right now I'm working on godliness."
     If, however, your family persists in a compulsive and unreasonable attitude, accustom them to a little harmless but definite untidiness in their food.  An occasional burned paper match dropped inot the gravy will help them relax a bit.  My wife has even managed, mysteriously, to include a cigar band in a casserole of Spanish rice.  Once you've seen something like that, it's hard to get upset about the fine points of kitchen cleanliness.
      A sense of proportion is a saving grace.

-Robert Farrar Capon,  The Supper of the Lamb