Ugh! Did I ruin my pizza stone?

[Just Kate]

My pizza stone was sitting out on my kitchen counter. I was getting ready to put a roast in the oven. As I was patting it dry with paper towels, I accidentally set it on my pizza stone. Did I just ruin my stone??? So mad at myself!

[Forget-Me-Not]

Nope. Just heat it up in the oven to kill any bacteria.

[Catwoman]

I would wash it with sudsy water and disinfect it with a mild bleach solution, rinse it carefully, and then dry it as well as I could. (I would just wash the surface, though, and use as little water as I could -- meaning that I would not completely submerge the stone in water or really drench it if it seems to be a very porous stone.) If the stone is very porous, I would put it in the oven at a very low temperature for a long time, to let it finish drying very slowly. (It could crack if you heat it up too rapidly while there's moisture in it.)

 

Some manufacturers say you can get the stones wet, and others say you shouldn't, so if you remember where you bought it or who made it, I think it would be a good idea to see if you still have the original paperwork that came with the stone or if you can find some info about it online.

[Renthead Mommy]

Why do you think you ruined it? Because you set raw meat on it? I any meat I put on it raw to begin with. Just heat it in the oven (a lot of pizza stones stay in teh oven all the time) and it will cook anything on it like it normally would if you were cooking the roast on it. One it's cool just wash it like normal with hot water and a scraper.

 

I read Cat's suggestions, and everything I know about stoneware, these seems like a very bad idea with the soap and bleach. They are pourous and absorbe the soap flavor so I'd think they'd abosorb the bleach as well. Yuck.

[Just Kate]

I guess I'm thinking that if pizza stones absorb soap and bleach, then don't they also absorb raw meat ick? Do you think putting it in the oven will kill anything on it?

[Just Kate]

Also, I've never heard of cooking meat on/in stone wear. I normally cook mine in a cast iron skillet.

[Liz CA]

I'd wash it under hot, running water. I use mine for bread and cookies mostly but the place where I got it also sells skillets made of the same material for oven use with all kinds of dishes including meat.

Can't think why it would be ruined. You can re-season it with a little coconut oil if it makes you feel better.

[Lady Florida.]

Also, I've never heard of cooking meat on/in stone wear. I normally cook mine in a cast iron skillet.

 

 

I have a stone roasting pan I cook meat in all the time. I'm not sure how a pizza stone would be any different. I would wash it as usual (not with soap or bleach), and maybe heat it in the oven to kill any bacteria.

[Robin M]

We keep our pizza stone in the oven at all times on the bottom rack. We found the benefit of it evens out the heat and food seems to cook better. I rarely use it to actually cook a pizza on. :) Plus it catches the drips. Occasionally I will clean it with warm water and dw liquid. Hasn't harmed it yet! So just clean it with warm soapy water, rinse it, dry it off with paper towels. Doesn't have to be completely dry when put it back in oven. But I've not immediately used the oven afterwards so don't know if it would harm to have at high heat when damp.

 

ETA Interesting - I've never actually cooked anything on the stone itself except for pizza on occasion. It sits below the middle rack.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Do you think putting it in the oven will kill anything on it?

 

 

Yes. Nothing will survive dry heat at 350-400* F. Even at room temp, the porous nature of the stone heavily discourages bacterial growth.

[Lolly]

Stoneware is excellent for cooking meat! (Not flat ones, but only because that would make a mess!) I'd rinse it and bake the stone to kill any bacteria that make have gotten on it. I would not wash it with soap or anything else because my instructions were to never use soap on it (chance of everything cooked on it after tasting like soap).

[QueenCat]

You can use stoneware to cook raw meat. I do it all the time... some of the stones have been in my home for decades....

[Renthead Mommy]

I cook chicken, pork, fish and turkey on mine. I don't cook beef only because my husband doesn't eat it, otherwise i'd cook beef on it as well. On the rare time I make bacon I cook that in the stoneware jelly pan or 9x13 to help season it and because I hate frying bacon. I've taken it from fish, wash it and then right to brownies. Never transfers taste. I even cook meatloaf in my muffin pans.

 

However my friend walked into her kitchen to find her husband washing out her stoneware with a soapy sponge. She had to make 4 or 5 batches of cheap croissant before they stopped tasting soapy. (She didn't roll them into form, just spread them out over the pan and up the sides to pull the soapy flavor out.)

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I wouldn't use soap on a pizza stone. Lots of hot water and a trip through the oven (once it dries) should do the trick.

 

There are lots of clay pots and dishes for cooking meat-the pizza stone should be the same.

[LizzyBee]

I have all sorts of stoneware and cook meats in them all the time. Setting raw meat on the stone is not a big deal at all.

 

I wash all of my stones in regular soapy dishwater, then rinse the heck out of them. Nothing has ever tasted like soap in the past 20 years, and we use them A LOT. So that's my suggestion.

[chepyl]

I make meatloaf in my stone bread pan all the time. Rinse it with a little water, let it dry thoroughly and heat it in the oven.

[Catwoman]

 

I read Cat's suggestions, and everything I know about stoneware, these seems like a very bad idea with the soap and bleach. They are pourous and absorbe the soap flavor so I'd think they'd abosorb the bleach as well. Yuck.

 

 

I never had an issue with the sudsy water or the bleach solution -- but I didn't use a ton of it, either, and I gently rinsed it off afterward. It seems like the bleach smell disappears as the stone is rinsed off, but even if there's a tiny bit of odor left afterward, it dissipates quickly as the stone is dried in the warm oven and probably also when it's reheating at the higher temperature for "regular" use.

 

Because of the porosity, I would be very concerned about not disinfecting the stone after it had raw meat on it. High temperatures can kill the bacteria, but not all toxins are heat-sensitive, so I would be too paranoid not to do more than just heat the stone.