Chemistry of Cast-Iron Seasoning (2010)
Fascinating, but I&#x27;m not going to do it.  I respect the people who take this kind of care of their equipment, but I have an alternative that works quite well for me:  cook your food in an adequate amount of fat.  If it sticks, you don&#x27;t have enough fat in the pan.  When you&#x27;re done, wipe the pan clean.  If food is stuck hard, scrape it out, using steel wool if necessary.  Cast iron is amazingly robust and develops a decent season on its own with daily use.  As long as you&#x27;re not super-uptight about maintaining a polymer layer on top of it, you basically can&#x27;t do anything to hurt a cast iron skillet.  And I&#x27;m far too busy to spend a whole day thermal-cycling a chunk of metal.