Verdict. Worth owning if you sear, roast or bake often. Not the everyday pan people claim it is — it is slow to respond and genuinely heavy.

The case for cast iron is thermal mass, not “non-stick” and not “even heating”. Iron is a mediocre conductor — a cast-iron pan has noticeably hotter and cooler patches than aluminium — but it stores a great deal of energy. When four cold steaks hit a thin pan, the surface temperature collapses and they steam. In cast iron it dips and recovers.

That same mass is the drawback. Preheat properly — five to eight minutes over medium, not two over high — and accept that turning the heat down does very little for the next few minutes.

Seasoning, briefly

Seasoning is polymerised oil, not a coating that is applied. Thin layers of oil heated past their smoke point cross-link into a hard, slick film. The practical version: cook fatty things in it, wipe it out while warm, and rub a trace of oil over the surface before it goes away. That is the whole maintenance routine.

Soap is fine. Modern washing-up liquid does not dissolve polymerised oil — the advice against it dates from when soap contained lye. What genuinely strips seasoning is long soaking, the dishwasher, and simmering tomato sauce for an hour.

What it is bad at

Delicate fish, eggs in an under-seasoned pan, anything acidic held at a simmer, and any recipe that needs the heat to change quickly. Keep a lightweight non-stick pan for eggs and stop trying to make one pan do everything.

Buying

The cheap modern ones are rougher than the vintage ones because they are no longer machined smooth after casting, and this matters less than the internet suggests — the surface fills in with use. Buy the plain, inexpensive one. The premium smooth-milled versions are nicer and not four times nicer.