[isanengineer]

I agree overall, but there are a lot of misconceptions about cast iron that can give it a learning curve.

The post glossed over this, but it is certainly possible to damage your seasoning, especially if something you're cooking sticks to the pan. However, this doesn't mean you need to do some day-long "reseasoning" process that involves stripping the whole thing and baking it in the oven. Just clean the pan, put some oil in it, put it on the burner, and rub the oil in with a balled up paper towel until it gets hot. Do this after you cook until you build up a good seasoning and then stop. If your seasoning gets damaged for any reason, just rub some oil into it after you cook until it's good again.

The key for me was learning to care for carbon steel woks. It's basically the same as cast iron, but there's a lot less misinformation and internet superstition out there.

[randallsquared]

> this doesn't mean you need to do some day-long "reseasoning" process that involves stripping the whole thing and baking it in the oven.

Unless you want everything you cook in the cast iron pan to smell like what was burned in it for weeks, you really do. Or, hear me out: buy a new cast iron. The seasoning process is really onerous, but the manufacturer does it in bulk, and a new cast iron is typically cheaper than a quality nonstick pan. The incredible inconvenience of re-seasoning has made me want to never do it again after a few attempts over the last dozen years in various apartments. Nope.

[martingoodson]

I think you’re doing it wrong. It’s very easy to renew the seasoning and it doesn’t retain smells.

[randallsquared]

It's definitely possible I'm doing it wrong. There are so many reasonable-sounding articles I've read over the years about smoke points and food-safe flaxseed oil and temperatures and ventilation so you can season for H hours for each seasoning coat...

When everything is working, cast iron seems great: quick brush off, slight bit of oil to rub in while it's still warm, done. When a spot of rust appears, or large spots on the interior become matte while the rest is shiny (or the reverse), or you're using it as a dutch oven and burn a steak, well, that's when the nightmare begins. After several weekends of attempting to get that smell out and get it re-seasoned, I gave up, left it in the leave/take area of my then building, and bought a new one. But I haven't used that one much, because I know it's only a matter of time until something happens and I am faced with the whole process again.

[martingoodson]

If my seasoning is getting a bit thin I just smear on some oil in a thin layer and heat at high temperature for about 3 minutes and that’s it. I never have any rust spots because I always dry it after use.

I don’t find it very high maintenance at all.