People have weird ideas about seasoning. It is literally oil polymerized and bonded to the metal with high heat; but people act like it just rubs off. You can scrape seasoning off, but it's hard. I need steel wool to do it.
I think these people complaining aren't really seasoning their pans - just using dirty pans (i.e. the oil hasn't fully polymerized).
I use a wok and I wish I could use it for everything. I love that little damn thing to bits. I have only seasoned it twice (removed the previous one due to rust) and it can fry an egg fine.
It handles soap, tomatoes and other acidic foods fine as well. Didn't use any fancy oil, just avocado oil.
My mom's 300$ tephlon pans don't even last more than 8 months without getting nicks. My Lil fella is 15 years old.
They want to brainwash into using expensive, disposable, products.
Nah my cast only washes with hot water and small Scraper. If you need soap. We'll you don't like actualy don't. Seasoning? Just cook bacon, dump the grease leave a bit in put it back on the stove for a hot minute or while you put your blt together. Done it's hunk of metal not much you can do to fuck it up. And if food is sticking to it probably cause you didn't get the pan hot enough before you put the food in.
BerlingerHaus uses some kind of artifical stone instead of teflon. I've only got a grill pan so far but it's easier to use and to clean than teflon. Surely wherever you are has something similiar?
Don't these pans last like generations, being passed down? I doubt your grandma and her grandma were bothering to apply 8 coats of flaxseed oil and heating it up to 1000 degrees and the pans would still perform as expected for ages
Apparently you can't hear up tortillas in them without it forever getting scorch marks. I suppose only thing I haven't tried is using a machine sander on it to try to remove it.
I've been using the cast iron pan handed down to me for like 30 years. It skipped a generation and went straight from my grandmother to me. I don't know exactly how old it is though
I bought a $20 cast iron pan at target, I season it like once a year. I just wash it and make sure to dry it, I’m sure this is against the rules. Seems to work fine for me though. I wouldn’t say it’s nonstick but it’s mostly fine.
A $20 Teflon pan would be flaking and unusable, so for $20 it’s a good deal.
It's fine and good to wash cast iron - particularly if you had something corrosive in there. Don't do it in the dishwasher (change in heat can be bad for it - same reason not to machine wash kitchen knives).
People who say washing your pan will remove the seasoning have not properly seasoned their pans or see food residue washing out and think it is the polymerized oils bonded to the metal that are washing out. If that's the case, they are washing way too aggressively.
I bought those cheap marble coated pan, now entering 2 years of frequent use, other than tiny bit of degraded non-stick capability, it works just fine, didn't even chip. I bought an expensive teflon once, it only last around half year before it start chipping. Teflon is just bottom tier coating now.
I also own a cheap cast iron skillet, cook with it frequently, wash with soap and only heat dry it, didn't even bother with seasoning after washing, it now has a nice, smooth patina on it that mostly non-stick. I genuinely don't get why people always baby a cast iron, it's a hilux, not a cybertruck.
to answer your question, I’ve heard it described as half hobby/half pan. And quality can vary on the finish. Mine required a full restoration after a potato took the seasoning with it. Since then, low maintenance.
I fucking hate cast iron pans. It's way too easy to absolutely ruin one. But more importantly, it's absolutely impossible to cool one down. If you determine that the pan is too hot and your shit is burning, sing your prayers, cus that shit is burning! What's that? You can put it in the oven straight from the stove? So neat, but like, I have a pot for that. Also never ever made a dish that asked for such a maneuver.
Mine is so heavy it hurts my wrist to pick it up. I'd never hit someone with it. They would definitely die or become paralized or something. And also I would injure my wrist, which would be equally bad.