Yup…if you’re patient and wait for the heat to spread to the whole pan, the entire thing will be hot and stay hot for a long time…even the handle.

Haha…OK

A seasoned cast iron pan refers to how experienced the pan is. The seasoning isn’t additional flavoring, it’s the result of years of real use.

When cleaning a cast iron pan you want to scrub off any “seasoning” (definition 1) without removing any “seasoning” (definition 3).

sea·soned

/ˈsēz(ə)nd/

adjective

1. (of food) having had salt, pepper, herbs, or spices added.

   “seasoned flour”

2. (of wood) made suitable for use as timber by adjusting its moisture content.

   “it was made from seasoned, untreated oak”

3. accustomed to particular conditions; experienced.

   “she is a seasoned traveler”

Why? There’s nothing on my pans except seasoning when I use them. I scrub any food bits off after each use. Why would I need soap? What would I want the soap to do?

I’m literally going to be bequeathing my cast iron pans to my children in my will.

My family uses our cast iron skillets daily. We have one that is almost exclusively for eggs, and one for meat.

Cast iron wants to be used often and if you really like cooking, will eventually become your go-to. But not everyone gets there; for a lot of people it is counterintuitive to have a pan that you only scrub any bits off and rinse with plain water. Actually, our egg pan only gets wiped out with paper towels because its so slippery now. I don’t think I’ve scrubbed it in months.

If you really want to use your pans:

1. Best: cast iron
2. Better: stainless steel or enameled
3. Good: high quality nonstick like HexClad
4. Never: cheap non-stick

We use the absolute hell out of our cast iron and our stainless steel. They all get scrubbed with a metal Chore-Boy scrubbee. Only the stainless gets soap.