I, too, enjoy cooking things in my cast iron pan, and then eating those things. I find that to maintain its non-stick properties, it is occasionally necessary to fry large quantities of bacon in it. Truly a wonderful design feature. Why are there no other products in the universe which can be maintained with bacon?

I have the same pan! I love it too, though it sucks for baking pancakes.

I recently bought my first cast iron pan. I resisted for so long because I am a puny weakling and was afraid it would be too heavy to handle. I love it now! It's not very nonstick yet because I have not made bacon in it. Must remedy this soon.

I love that cleaning you makes the kitchen smell wonderful

Cleaning it? Huh. Novel.

Favorited!

Mmmmm, bacon...

Cleaning it? Huh. Novel.

Fill it with hot water, put heat on high, let it boil until water is almost gone.

You guys have seriously inspired me to evolve past my crappy Faberware pans.

Bacon. Building upper-arm strength. Connecting with my ancestral tools. This really sounds like something worth pursuing.

And then there's the bacon.

Fill it with hot water, put heat on high, let it boil until water is almost gone.

I go for the "wipe it out with a paper towel and a bit of oil, put it away" approach, myself.

I dislike bacon but would still like a cast iron pan.

I love my cast iron skillet!

I have TWO: one deep pan with a wooden handle that cooks all kinds of things, including curries and pasta sauces, and a slightly more shallow all-metal version that gets used for stove-to-oven dual duty.

I no longer use racks of any sort when I roast chicken or beef:

1) Sear beef in hot pan; remove.
2) Thinly slice some onions and maybe some carrots, lightly saute in pan.
3) Put trussed chicken or seared beef on bed of veggies in pan.
4) Roast!
5) Eat!

The veggies are great as a side dish, or if they're too schmaltzy from the chicken, go into another stew or soup within the next day.

Dead easy to clean: a little running water and a green scrubbie, on the stove on low heat to gently dry, then a little neutral oil and a wipe with a paper towel.

(Pro tip: when you pull the cast iron out of the oven after roasting, insert an oven mitt over the handle or wrap it in some distinctive way so that you don't thoughtlessly grab the handle. Don't ask me how I figured this out.)

Also a good bed for roasting: thinly sliced potatoes, possibly parboiled if needed. You're welcome!

The bacon. Oh, the fucking bacon!

I subscribe to the wipe with paper towel and bacon school of cast iron pan maintenance.

I love my cast-iron skillets too - I have a small one and a 12" one. But recently the cast-iron love has been usurped by two wonderful skillets that my friend Diane sent me from Ohio - they're Paula Deen skillets from Walmart and they are marvellous, truly non-stick.

I often leave my cast iron pan on the stove after cleaning it... just because it makes me happy to look at it.

Simple technology and hard to beat. I now have 4, from pretty small to pretty big, and they get lots of use. Thanks, Mom.

I have five. They nest. The smallest one I bought new because I frequently used the one in the house I was moving out of a couple years ago. There's a crepe one that came from a free pile. The other three came from an old things sale - for cheap because the lady didn't like them because they came from China. Iron is iron, says I.

I like cast iron pans because they put iron in my diet.