stuff to cook so you stop ruining your seasoning

just cook bacon in it. answer is always more bacon. start with a cold pan and let it heat up slowly to render the fat. grease builds the polymer layer better than any expensive oil you bought online. if you are vegetarian cook it anyway and give it to a neighbor. this is mandatory maintenance.

needs to be southern style not that cake mix garbage. put a spoon of lard or crisco in the skillet and put it in the oven while it preheats. batter should sizzle loud enough to scare the cat when you pour it in. creates a crust that protects the metal.

get the pan to 500 degrees. sear hard. finish with butter and herbs. if your smoke alarm isnt going off you are doing it wrong. do not wash it with soap afterwards just wipe it out.

dough proves right in the skillet. oil the bottom heavily. push cheese all the way to the edge so it burns against the iron. cast iron retains heat better than a pizza stone. easy dinner.

shallow fry in lard. thermal mass of the iron keeps oil temp steady when you drop cold chicken in. messy as handled but the seasoning layer you get after is glass. totally worth scrubbing the stove.

fancy looking pancake. eggs flour milk. puffs up huge in the oven. impresses people who dont know its the easiest thing in the world to make. lots of butter involved.

ball of beef. smash it flat with a heavy metal spatula. yes metal. stop babying it its a literal chunk of iron not a faberge egg. scrape hard to get the crust off the bottom.

dice potatoes. fry in bacon grease. let them sit. do not touch them. stop stirring. let the crust form or it turns to mush. good test for nonstick properties.

big cookie. bake it. eat it warm. sugar can stick if your seasoning is weak so maybe dont try this on a new pan unless you want to spend an hour scrubbing.

eggs in tomato sauce. people say acid strips seasoning. they are weak. if your seasoning is good it can handle twenty minutes of tomatoes. cook it fast and clean it right away.