Every January 1st, I take all my cast iron cookware and season each piece. Using kosher salt and a pair of tongs I do an initial clean of each piece and use a light detergent and air dry if necessary. I then heat each piece to slightly hot, slather it in vegetable shortening and put it upside down in the oven on rocket hot (500+ degrees) over a jelly roll pan for an hour or two. Two rounds covers my two dutch ovens, griddle and three skillets and all in all takes about 6 hours including a nacho run (it’s the new year, one should celebrate). To not burn myself, I let the pieces cool down for about 45 minutes before handling and then I air cool until the piece hits room temperature.
Around 5 PM, my brother determined that he wanted to bake brownies NOW because his girlfriend wanted them and I told him I was in the middle of this process. He told me to take the pieces out and I laughed because even the best oven mitts have trouble with 500 degree iron for more than an instant as the pressure on the hand by the metal quickly overcomes even impressive insulators. He thought himself man enough to take them and I left to get a drink. I could make out his cry of pain and the crash as the skillet collided with the oven door (he didn’t think to pull out the oven rack rather than just pulling out each piece) and I saw him get into his car and drive away. Later I went down to check on the iron’s cooling when he returned with a box of Entenmann’s in hand.