This is a sort of “lessons learned” or after-action report that will serve as an addendum and follow-up to the cast iron article. I haven’t changed my procedure as much as refined it, so all the advice in the previous article still stands. The big takeaway is to use the thermal mass of your pan to your advantage.

The fastest and most low-effort bread I have yet to make. These crispy, fluffy, salty, buttery biscuits blow bland pre-made offerings out of the water twenty times over. The hardest part is grating some frozen butter on a box grater. Why? I’ll show you.

Quick: You want a glass of lemonade, but you don’t want to make a whole batch, and you especially don’t want to put on pants to go out and buy six more lemons to do so. Never fear, because if you have a passable home bar setup and a couple leftover lemons from Tom Collins night last night, you have a cool glass of quality lemonade already sitting on the counter. Some assembly required.

Guides and recommendations abound online and through word of mouth on how to season and care for a cast iron pan. An opinion about protection and use comes packaged with every piece of cast iron cookware, and everyone has their own spin on the basics. Here, I’ll present my own preferences and hopefully dispel a few myths or misconceptions about cast iron pans. Stick around for a bonus feature on cast iron tea pots at the end.