People love to get weird about cast iron pans. Some fear them, some fetishize them, but everyone has an opinion about them. Be not afraid: Cast iron is cheap and hard to permanently damage beyond repair. With a little know-how and a reasonable amount of care, it’s one of the easiest (and most rewarding) pans to cook with.
Cast iron is an iron alloy—a metallic material made of two or more substances, at least one of which is a metal—that contains 2-4% carbon (which is not a metal), along with some silicon and manganese (and other trace impurities). Cast Iron Parts
Lodge, a popular manufacturer of cast iron cookware, makes theirs by adding “a mixture of pig iron, recycled steel, castings from our foundry, and alloys to the electric induction furnace. This furnace runs over 2,000 degrees F and it can hold 10 metric tons of liquid iron. It takes 45 minutes for a 22,000-pound charge of metal to liquify.” The molten level is then cast in molds made of sand, water, and clay. Sand has a surprisingly high melting point—even higher than iron—allowing it to keep its shape as the iron sets. Once cooled, “the castings move along a vibratory conveyor to shake off the molding sand,” which Lodge recycles.
If you inherited an old piece of cast iron cookware, you probably noticed that it’s super smooth. This isn’t the result of perfectly executed seasoning, though that certainly helps; older cast iron was made using a slightly different process. In a 2022 interview with Food & Wine, cast-iron producer and Butter Pat Industries founder Dennis Powell, Jr. explained that “Up until the ‘50s, every cast-iron pan ever sold in America was created without pre-seasoning,” he said. “Then Lodge started selling their pans pre-seasoned because they knew that people no longer insisted on doing the seasoning themselves.” He went on to add that while modern cast iron can be produced in as little as 90 minutes “...at the turn of the 20th century, cast iron would sit in molds for upwards of 48 hours before then being tumbled for 24 hours.” This gave the pans a smooth finish, which Powell believes makes a superior pan (the kind of pan manufactured and sold at Butter Pat Industries).
If you buy a Lodge pan, you’ll immediately notice the rough texture. According to a representative I spoke to through their online portal, this “is a result of the sand-casting process Lodge uses. It creates a surface texture that allows the seasoning to adhere to it. As you use your cookware over time and continue to season it, the pan will become smoother.” Snag a vintage pan if you can find one, but don’t panic if you can’t. A nubbly modern pan will perform beautifully with consistent use and proper care.
Seasoning is a thin layer of fat that is heated so it breaks down into a polymerized, plasticky kind of substance that adheres to the surface of the pan, giving it a nonstick-ish finish. But even with pre-seasoned cookware, you still need to season your pan a fair amount before it becomes truly nonstick, which is why Lodge, and all cast iron pans get “better with time.”
Lodge was the first company to start selling pre-seasoned cast iron back in 2002. According to their website, all cast iron was sold unseasoned prior to this, “with a thin layer of carnauba bean wax to prevent rust during storage and merchandising. The water-soluble wax had to be washed off at home, then the cookware had to be oiled and baked in the oven before it could be used.” Lodge pre-seasons their pans by spraying them with soybean oil and baking them at a high temperature. All you have to do is give it a quick wash and start cooking.
Your first cast iron pan does not need to be expensive. I’ve never bought a brand new one. Besides the pan given to me by my stepmom, I source my cast iron from Goodwill. If you don’t feel like scouring secondhand shelves, I recommend Lodge as a starter pan. The Butter Pat pans are gorgeous, hand-casted, and polished, but the penny they will cost is equally as pretty. At the time of this publishing, their eight-inch pan was listed at $160; a 10-inch Lodge pan was listed at $31, and 10 inches is the perfect size for all of your searing, roasting, and frying needs. Get a cheap pan from Lodge or a thrift store, then upgrade later if it fits into your budget. (Honestly though, you probably won’t need or want to.)
Cast iron doesn’t need to be babied as much as some people will tell you; it’s an incredibly durable material. Even a rusty, corroded, gunky piece of cast iron can be restored if you put in the effort. (Don’t believe me? Read Kat Kinsman’s iconic piece on restoring a pan she found in an old chicken shed.)
Before using your new pan, follow the manufacturer’s “first use” instructions. If you’re using a thrifted or vintage pan, give it a quick bath with warm, soapy water, and dry it thoroughly with a clean dish towel. Once dry, set it on a burner over high heat to evaporate any last bits of moisture, then apply a thin layer of neutral cooking oil with a paper towel, keep it over the high heat for a few minutes, then turn the burner off and let it cool. Now you’re ready to get cooking.
Cast iron does not heat quickly, nor particularly evenly, but once it’s hot, it holds on to that heat with every atom of its being. For best results, preheat your pan for five minutes to make sure it is evenly heated, and always add a thin layer of oil before adding your food. For fatty foods, a quick swipe with an oily paper towel will be enough. For something more prone to sticking, like eggs, drizzle in enough oil to just coat the bottom. You want the oil to shimmer, but not smoke. Once your pan and oil are hot, reduce the heat a bit and add your food.
As far as utensils go, anything is fair game, even metal. As long as you aren’t digging into the seasoning with the tip of your fish spatula, it is unlikely you will “scrape off” any seasoning; the fish spatula is actually my favorite implement to pair with my cast iron pan; it slides under eggs and steaks like a dream.
I don’t wash my pan unless it gets gunky—wiping a wet paper towel around a hot pan is usually all that’s needed to steam clean residue away—but there’s nothing wrong with using soap and water. Again, seasoning is oil that has been polymerized to the metal, and it will take more than a little soap to strip it off. If I do need to wash it, I use Lodge CEO Mike Otterman’s low-key approach:
After dinner, I’ll scrape it out in hot water. I will use soap and rub it down on the interior, particularly if I do salmon or something like that. Then I put it back on the burner on low, straighten up the rest of the kitchen. When it gets up to a nice warm temperature, I spray it with oil, turn off the burner, wipe it down with a paper towel, leave it on the burner until it cools and then I obviously never put it away. It looks better when I’m done cooking with it than I did when I started it.
You should avoid soaking your pan, however. That’s how you get rust (though rust is treatable; it is very hard to mess up these pans). If you have a lot of gunk on there, a stiff bristled brush will help loosen things up, or you can try one of these chain-mail-looking scrubbers. (I’ve never had to use one, but I love it as a concept.)
The best way to keep your cast iron in shape is to use it boldly, and without reservations. (They say it can smell fear.) The more you cook with it, the more seasoning you’ll build up, and the closer to nonstick it will be. Start with naturally fatty foods, like bacon, duck, or skin-on chicken thighs, which are unlikely to stick to anything, but the most important thing to do is relax. The only type of food you should actively avoid cooking in cast iron are acidic ones, like tomatoes, or vinegar-based sauces, as they can cause trace amounts of metal to leach into your food over extended periods of time. With enough use, you’ll be frying eggs and baking cornbread in your cast iron pan in no time.
Cast iron, like many other metals, is prone to rusting if mistreated, but rust does not mean Game Over. To restore your pan (or a found pan) to its gleamy glory, start by washing the rust away with a scouring pad and warm, soapy water. Dry thoroughly by hand, then apply a thin layer of cooking oil with a paper towel to the entire pan, including the bottom and handle. Set the pan upside down in 450-degree oven, with a sheet pan underneath it to catch any drips. Bake the pan for an hour, then turn the heat off and let it cool with the oven. Repeat as needed.
While cast iron pans can be used on any type of stove, each type of burner will heat the pan at a different rate, and there will always be a little bit of a learning curve when cooking with a new type of cookware. Be patient with yourself, start with forgiving foods like bacon (instead of eggs), and don’t freak out if some things stick at first. The more you cook with your cast iron pan, the better it will behave. And if all else fails, you can always wash (or scour) and repeat.
Claire is Lifehacker's Senior Food Editor. She has a B.S. in chemistry, a decade of food journalism experience, and a deep love for mayonnaise and MSG.
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