As my husband mentioned, I love cast iron. I have always been around it, growing up both grandma's used it. Many other relatives used it out around the camp fire. My mom had a couple pieces and even I had one or two over the years. But I must say, up until the last few years, I just never "got it". To me, it was a pain, everything stuck, it was heavy....
Well, 6 years ago, My sweet Po found me 2 pieces of cast iron. One is a big Lodge #12 camp dutch oven, and the other is a sweet #10 skillet. I went crazy reading as much how-to- pages as my poor eyes could stand. The oven and skillets were rusty but the guy we got them from offered to sand blast them for us. (I found out later that sand blasting isn't recommended for old cast iron, it can actually damage it, so please don't take it as a suggestion to do that.)
Anyway, we came home with our new pans that day and I happily seasoned them up. The skillet, which our daughter named Ole Betsy, we use about every other day. The inside of it is slicker than most teflon and has no harmful chemicals. Just the lightest spray of pam and even scrambled eggs slide out.
Several months ago on Facebook, I found a cast iron cooking group. They have taught me so much, it blows my mind. They teach how to recognize the treasure behind the gunk and rust, at yard sales, auctions and thrift shops. [even junkyards] Some of the older pans are literally worth hundreds of dollars!
Next they teach how to safely strip off the gunk and rust. Once you have them stripped to bare metal, you begin seasoning them. Seasoning is basically baking on layers of your choice of oil or grease. When heated carefully above the smoking point over a period of an hour or so, it creates a hard slick surface. After several layers, you are pretty much good to go. The biggest difference between the cast iron and typical pans is how you clean them. Our Ole Betsy skillet, Turned out to be an unmarked Wagner, and after cooking eggs or baking bread, it just gets wiped out with a paper towel. If it needs washing, I run cold water into it [if skillet is cold] and use a brush or nylon type scrubber. No soap. If pan is still hot I use hot water. I am not trying to cut the grease. When it comes to Cast Iron, a little grease is your friend.
Once washed out I dry with a paper towel. Place on stove and heat until pan is totally dry, then put about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of crisco on paper towel. Rub inside to coat then once melted, rub it until it looks almost dry but shiny. Let sit on burner on low to medium, while you wash other things. It will smoke! once smoke slows you can turn off or add another coat and repeat.
Cooking with cast iron, you never want to cook really high temperature, [unless you are deep frying at a specific temperature a recipe calls for] Mostly folks say cook low n slow.
I hope this isn't too boring. If anyone wants more Info, I will share.