Yes, it's true. You have to consistently season over time, and it develops slowly, but once you've built up the seasoning you're golden. The teflon pans I have wear out quickly. They are wonderfully nonstick at first, but don't hold up too many years. The cast iron I have, on the other hand, was my grandmother's and performs well all the time.

Seasoning cast iron requires specific care. Go over to AskMeFi and check the several very good threads on the topic. It comes up a lot. You'll find everything you need to know.

I just bake them when new with some peanut oil. But I have not had new ones for about 20 years.

I just use em, let the dog clean them out, and then hand wash them, with soap when needed but usually just with a scrub pad.

Don't think twice about them and they are fine, if not teflonish.

I refuse to believe that I am the only one with dog assistance on this.

I've only ever seasoned woks, not general purpose pans, but it works out okay for me. Wiping, rather than washing is basically the key to keeping the finish. This probably means you only want to use the pan to cook at a temperature high enough to nuke any foodborne pathogens.

Ugh - burning teflon = not good. Watch out for "teflon flu" symptoms.

My cast-iron frying pan is 20 years old, well used and well seasoned. It's not quite teflon, no--I think that's a bit of an exagerration. But it's pretty good. I clean mine under hot water with a plastic scrubby, not a harsh scotch-brite or steel wool, and I never use any soap or cleanser. I then heat the pan on the stove until it's dry, then often wipe it down with a paper towel dipped in vegetable oil or, if I have it, bacon grease.

I once went to a bird show, and there were signs around that, if you have birds, do not cook with "Silverstone" pans, due to the toxins they release when heated.

Not sure if this applies to regular teflon, but I have never seen the value of it, anyway, balanced with the general hassle it is to use it.

Here's a good tip for using it to act like a nonstick pan - that is, for frying a veggie burger or piece of fish. Just take a stick of butter or finger full of oil and "paint" the surface of the pan underneath where the food will sit. This adds an additional layer of slickness that prevents it sticking and helps it act more Teflonish.

I've never had good luck making scrambled eggs in cast iron - not without a truly unhealthy amount of butter, anyhow.

I agree with mrmoonpie and Miko - They are almost teflon. Bonus is that they dispense heat very evenly once they are pre-heated, and they can go from stove-top searing into the oven for finishing something off.

I've one that I cannot use right now because we were given a glass-top stove to replace ours when it went kaput. I'm thinking of grinding off the bottom ring so it will sit flat on the stove and I can use it again. Nothing makes corn bread like cast iron.

They are not strictly equivalent, but teflon seriously does release some noxious shit when heated too far, while cast iron does not.

I do think it matters whether or not you get a smooth surfaced or a rough surfaced pan, but that's something you should be able to see. What works best for non-stick approximation are the small grained pans, often you'll see what looks like machining rings on the cooking surface. (Although paulsc once answered an Askme question about whether or not they are machined, and said that they are not, just finely cast.)

The only things that stick are scrambled eggs; for those I use teflon. To season/reseason my cast iron pans, which were my mom's, and are older than I am, I fry bacon or otherwise cook something with lots of fat. I scrub them with a metal scrubber if needed, use soap if needed, and don't baby them at all, except for never letting them sit in dishwater for any length of time. Cast iron is somewhat porous and will pick up flavors. The scrubber may have helped get that surface really smooth.

Cast iron distributes heat really well. They are a treat to use.

What are the odds: seconds before reading this question, I was reading an old Cook's Illustrated article comparing cast iron to non-stick surfaces [Sept/Oct2007].

They compared cast iron (and especially the newer breed of pre-seasoned or coated cast iron) to non-stick pans in a battery of cooking tests, including corn bread, steak, tomato pan sauce, breaded chicken cutlets, and scrambled eggs. They note that the non-stick initially performs much better for scrambling eggs:

However, we noticed that most of the cast-iron pans improved their ability to release food as our testing progressed. The seasoning (whether done by the manufacturer or added by us) was becoming thicker and more reliable. We decided to try the egg test again and were surprised by the dramatic improvement. Pans that had performed poorly in the first egg test did a decent job, and the preseasoned pans we now nearly as good as the nonstick in this test.Given such dramatic improvement over just a few weeks, we were not surprised when the cast iron pans continued to become more "non-stick" with time.*

They conclude that you have to find the right pan and treat it well, but that cast iron can, indeed, be (very nearly?) as non-stick as Teflon. If you seek out the Sept/Oct 2007 issue, you can see all their recommendations.

*I just transcribed that from the magazine; all typos and errors are mine, not CI's.

I generally cook very hot and thus very fast. None of the Teflon pans I tried could bear up. Also, Teflon pans cannot go under a broiler.

Don't forget that the enameled cast iron option. (Provided you can find one with functional enamel on the inside, not just pretty enamel on the outside)

Thanks, all! I really want to be done with teflon. I'll be experimenting with cast iron. Unfortunately, scrambled eggs is practically my favorite 'just for me' meal. ~sob~

I make my scrambled eggs in a 7" All-Clad saute pan (not non-stick) that I got on sale at an outlet store. Works perfectly well, eggs don't stick, and it's small and easy to clean.

Secret is to cook the eggs on very, very low heat. Dump the eggs in (after melting some butter or heating olive oil), turn heat down as low as possible. Run a spatula through a few times as they start to set, roll the pan to get the runny stuff back in contact with the pan. After you can bunch them into an omelet shape (and they will still be kinda runny at this point), turn the heat off and cover for 5 minutes. They'll finish cooking under the lid. And they don't stick.

I also use an All-Clad for eggs and omelets -- works great when used as mudpuppie says. For traditional filled omelets, though, I do an almost opposite technique - high heat, hot pan, a fair amount of butter swirled around to coat the pan, cook fast, fill, fold, and finish in the oven.

Have to say I just make scrambled eggs in a bog-standard steel saucepan. Sure it sticks a little bit (but not too much unless you overcook the eggs, and I'm no philistine). So they take a short cold-water soak and a bit of scrubbing? No big deal.