First Cast Iron Pan

12" CI pan my fav, fry and bake everything in it. I don't bother seasoning the cook surface any more tho, only clean it w/ a Scotch Brite pad after a good soaking. Use Pam or olive oil after a light preheat before use.

Buy a Lodge made skillet and season it with Crisco. You can use the pan for any meal you will ever want to eat. Ours is used for cornbread(heating the skillet and oil in it before you load in the cornmeal mix) and for breakfast.

m4ff3w wrote: I clean mine with coarse ground salt.

Same here. Salt & a little elbow grease with a paper towel tends to get rid of anything crusty. I usually put in a little cooking oil with the salt.

I use my 12" Lodge for almost everything. I also love my Lodge stovetop griddle. My ribbed grill pan, I like less. It's hard to clean. While it leaves great grill marks, it's not as effective at cooking.

I suggest chain mail and hot water to clean, never use soap. A propriety seasoned pan will never stick- it's not been seasoned correctly if it is sticking.