Seasoning a Cast-Iron Pan, Demystified

The care ritual that scares people off is simpler than the internet makes it sound.

Cast iron is the most forgiving serious pan you can own, and the seasoning myth keeps people from it unnecessarily. A modern pre-seasoned skillet is ready to cook the day it arrives.

The whole ritual is this: keep it dry, wipe it with a thin film of oil after washing, and cook fatty things in it early to build the patina. Rust is not a death sentence; scrub it, dry it, re-oil it.

Treated decently, a cast-iron pan outlives you. There is something to be said for a tool you buy once, hand down, and never have to think about replacing.