The cast iron skillet has nothing left to prove

Quick answer: Buy a plain, flat-bottomed 10 or 12 inch skillet with a one-piece iron handle. Wash it while it's still warm, dry it on the burner, and wipe on a thin coat of oil. That's the whole program.

The inductee

Please rise for a slab of black iron with a handle.

The cast iron skillet is the most overqualified object in your kitchen. It sears a steak hard enough to leave a crust, fries chicken, bakes cornbread, finishes a pork chop in the oven and turns out a pan of eggs the next morning. Take it camping and it sits right on the coals. Nothing else in the house goes from open flame to 450 degree oven to dinner table without complaint.

It isn't a new idea. Iron pots and skillets were working colonial hearths, and some skillets had three little legs so they could stand in the embers. They were called spiders. The job description hasn't changed in a few hundred years. Put heat in, get food out.

Why it has never been improved on

Start with a fact that sounds like a flaw. Iron isn't a great conductor of heat. Aluminum and copper spread it around faster. So why does a thick iron pan beat them at the job that matters most?

Mass. A heavy skillet soaks up heat and holds it. Drop a cold steak into a thin pan and the surface temperature collapses. The steak steams, turns gray and you've paid for a lesson. Drop that steak into a properly preheated iron pan and the pan barely notices. The crust forms because the heat is already stored in the metal.

The handle is the other half of the genius. It's cast in one piece with the pan. No rivets to loosen, no plastic to melt, no wood to burn. Nothing can fail because nothing is attached.

Then there's the seasoning, which is just oil baked into a hard layer on the surface. It's what makes the pan slick. It also rebuilds itself every time you cook with fat.

Now the annoying part. Iron heats slowly and unevenly. A 12 inch pan on a small burner will have a hot ring in the middle and cooler edges. The fix is patience: give it a good five to ten minutes on medium before food goes in. It's also heavy, and a long simmer of something acidic, like tomato sauce, can dull the seasoning and pick up a metallic taste. Quick acidic jobs are fine. Save the all-afternoon sauce for another pot.

What the "improved" versions got wrong

Let's be fair first. Some of these are good.

Enameled cast iron is a real product that does real work. For braising, soups and bread, it's excellent, and it doesn't care about tomatoes. But the enamel can chip, and it doesn't love the screaming-hot searing a bare skillet takes in stride. It's a different tool wearing a similar coat.

Lightweight cast iron is the one that misses the point. Thin walls mean less stored heat, and stored heat was the reason to buy iron in the first place. You've traded away the advantage to save your wrist.

Nonstick-coated iron does the same thing from the other side. A coating you have to baby is the opposite of a pan you can scrub with a brush and sleep fine.

Silicone handle sleeves and glass lids are harmless, right up until the oven.

The one honest upgrade is the polished, machined-smooth surface some newer pans have. It's nicer for eggs from day one, and plenty of cooks love it. The physics hasn't changed, though, and you'll usually pay for the polish. A rough pan that's been used for a year gets smooth anyway.

Factory pre-seasoning is also a genuine improvement. Treat it as a starting point and build on it.

Buying one that lasts

Start with the word "cast." Cast iron is poured into a mold. Forged or pressed carbon steel is a cousin, lighter and very good, but it's a different pan. Everything below is about the poured kind.

Look for:

• A one-piece handle. No rivets, no wood, no plastic. If it's all iron, it goes anywhere.
• A flat bottom. Set it on the counter and spin it. If it rocks, it'll rock on your stove, and it'll cook unevenly on a glass top.
• No cracks. On a used pan, hang it from a finger and tap the side with something metal. A clear ring is good. A dull thud means a crack may be hiding in there.
• A helper handle on the big one. A full 12 inch pan of food is heavy. You'll want the second grip.
• Pour spouts. Small, useful and easy to overlook.

Rust is fine. Rust is a cleaning problem, not a death sentence. Cracks and a warped bottom are the real deal-breakers.

For a new pan, Lodge, out of South Pittsburg, Tennessee, has been making cast iron for well over a century and sells pre-seasoned skillets at most hardware stores. Check the current price and read the maker's care instructions and warranty document before you buy.

Old American pans from makers like Griswold and Wagner turn up at estate sales and flea markets. They're known for smoother cooking surfaces than most budget pans today. Say a rusty one is marked $30. That's an example, not a quote. If it's flat, uncracked and the handle's solid, a rusty pan is a bargain and an afternoon's work.

Keeping it for the next generation

The routine takes about two minutes.

1. Wash it while it's still warm, with hot water and a stiff brush. A little dish soap won't hurt a well-seasoned pan, whatever your uncle says.
2. Dry it completely. Put it back on a burner for a minute until the water's gone.
3. Rub in a few drops of cooking oil, then wipe it off as if you made a mistake. You want a film you can barely see. If the pan feels tacky later, you used too much.

Water left sitting is the only thing that kills a skillet. Store it dry, and if you stack pans or use a lid, slip a paper towel between them so moisture doesn't collect. If it goes rusty or gets scrubbed bare, scour it back to bare metal and re-season it by the maker's directions. There's more on rescuing a pan in Your cast iron pan is probably not ruined.

Once it's in good shape, put it to work. Six meals you should know by heart is a good list, and most of them can be made in this one pan.

And if the pan came to you from somebody else, return it better than you got it. Hand a rusty one back clean and seasoned, or pass on your own with a coat of oil and a note about where it's been. A skillet is the rare piece of equipment your kids can fight over in forty years, and it should be in better shape than when it landed in your hands.