Forgot to add seasoning tips:
First, there's hundreds if not millions of ways to season a cast iron pan...it's not rocket science. We're looking to polymerize oil on the surface of the pan. This is a chemical change done with heat. The following is just how I do it...lots of different people with have different approaches. Just search it on YouTube and hundreds of different approaches will appear. Find one you like and try it. You can always try a different way. You won't ruin your pan just seasoning it.
1. Pre-heat the piece on the stove top at low heat until it's just barely too hot to handle with your bare hands.
2. Use VERY LIGHT coats of oil. Rub on oil (I like canola oil for this) till the entire surface looks wet, then take a paper towel and try to wipe all the oil off. You won't get it all, there will be a very light coat of oil. Massively thick coatings of oil/fat is simply a waste as most of it drips off in the oven anyway. Plus it pools up and causes inconsistent seasoning.
3. Now place it on a middle rack upside down in a cold oven and set the oven at 450ºF. Pre-heating the oven to 450 probably won't hurt it, but heat shocking cast iron should be avoided. This is just how I do it.
4. Once your oven is at temp, let it sit for an hour. Remove the piece at about 20 minutes and wipe any oil that may have beaded up or pooled.
5. Turn off the oven at 1 hour and let the piece cool inside the closed oven until room temperature. I usually do this at night so I can go to bed at this point and it will be cool by morning.
Repeat as many times as you feel necessary. On lodge or newer cast iron with grainy finish, it takes a few more coats. Vintage pieces with smooth finish sometimes only once is required.
The big key to keeping your seasoning up to snuff for the long term is oiling the pan after each use. This is where a lot of people run into problems. They spend a bunch of time doing the initial seasoning and then after 4 or 5 times cooking on it, it starts to stick again.
Maintenance seasoning:
1. Clean the pan while it's still warm to the touch preferably. Use water, you can even use a little dish soap if you want. I know people say you can't, but if the piece is super oily, it's fine. Dish soap of today will not strip properly polymerized seasoning.
2. Once clean place on the stove over medium-low heat and bring up to temperature. Not ripping/smoking hot, but definitely too hot to touch bare handed.
3. Just like seasoning apply a very light coat of oil.
4. Set off heat and allow it to cool to room temperature before you put it away.
This makes sure the pan is 100% dry after washing, oils the surface AND puts a light coating of seasoning on the pan after every use.
Other random tips for cast iron since I'm thinking about it:
1. Don't drop it, cast iron is very hard, but also very brittle.
2. Don't put a hot cast iron pan in water(temp shocking will crack/break cast iron)
3. Always heat/cool cast iron slowly. I never heat my cast iron from room temp on anything more than medium heat and usually 2-3 on a 1-10 stove dial. Warped pans are caused by rapid heating. This is more of an issue with vintage or thin pans. Lodge usually handles rapid heating better.
4. Don't burn off old seasoning in a fire. Back in the wild west, this may have been the only option, but this can get the pan hot enough to alter the structure of the iron and cause you problems. Not to mention the inconsistent heat of a bed of coals. If you need to completely strip the seasoning, you can use the self clean function of an oven. This will take it back to bare iron and will need to be re-seasoned quickly or rust will form.
5. Don't boil water in cast iron...it can release seasoning from the pan and turn whatever you're boiling in the water black.
6. Acidic foods will be tough on your seasoning.
but the OXO lives up to its reputation and test results. i have 2. 8" 10" i only do eggs in the 10"!! potatoes as in refry or such in 8" ok. not much else, but eggs and such. no doubt about it, 5-star pans...
