I'm curious about all the re-seasoning some people reccommend here.
I've been using CI skillets for a almost 2 years now, first a borrowed
pair, then a pair I bought at a garage sale last summer. I got 2 large
skillets for $4. They were rusty and hadn't been seasoned correctly. I
brought them home, seasoned them (one took a second, longer 2 hr
seasoning) and they both work fine. The only time I re-seasoned one was
when my sons came for Thanksgiving. One of them put one of my CI
skillets in the dishwasher and I didn't know it until I unloaded it
later. I just re-seasoned it.
I think the reason I don't have to re-season them is how I clean them.
I never wash them with soap. I have a special coarse scrubber I use on
them and my wok that never sees soap. I scrub out the food with it,
then scrub them with Kosher salt (coarser, more abrasive than table
salt) and a paper towel to remore any lingering food particles and any
excess oil. It makes them almost as slick as non-stick, yet you can
still glaze and deglaze in them!
Cleaning them this way keeps the seasoning intact. Of course, every
time I cook with oil, I'm actually re-seasoning them. I'm told this
works for years, if not indefinitely. I've only done if for a little
over a year, so far. But it works great. (I've been doing it with my
spun steel wok for several years now, and can't remember the last time
I had to season it. Of course, CI is far more porous than spun steel,
so it might be different this way. Only time will tell. Still, if I had
to re-season once a year, that would be fine!)
Until I can afford All Clad, I like my CI skillets. They are cheap,
easy to cook in, and last forever. I've never cooked in the expensive
ones, so I don't know if there's any difference. Before I'd buy
expensive CI, I'd get the All Clad.