I cooked eggs in a nonstick pan for years — replacing it every eighteen months when the coating started to flake. A friend roasted a chicken in a cast iron skillet at a dinner party and the skin was so crispy I asked him what he did. “Nothing,” he said. “The pan does the work.”

I bought a Lodge 10.25-inch cast iron skillet the next day. It cost eighteen dollars — less than the Thai takeout I had ordered that week. That was four years ago. The pan has outlasted three nonstick pans, moved apartments twice, and cooks better now than the day I bought it. Here is what nobody tells you about cast iron.

It is not hard to maintain

The internet has made cast iron care sound like a religious ritual. It is not. Cook in it. Wash it with soap and a sponge. Dry it on the stove for two minutes. Rub a few drops of oil on it while warm. That is the entire maintenance routine.

The “never use soap” rule comes from a time when soap contained lye, which strips seasoning. Modern dish soap does not. Wash your pan normally. The seasoning — the polymerized oil layer that makes it nonstick — is bonded to the metal at a molecular level. Mild dish soap and a sponge will not touch it.

What it does better than anything else

Cast iron holds heat like nothing else in your kitchen. When you drop a cold steak onto a hot cast iron pan, the pan’s temperature barely drops — nonstick and stainless steel both lose heat on contact. This is why cast iron gives you that deep brown crust. The pan stays hot enough to sear instead of steam.

The same heat retention makes it perfect for cornbread, Dutch babies, deep-dish pizza, and anything that needs to go from stovetop to oven. The pan handles temperatures that would destroy nonstick coatings — you can preheat it under the broiler, bake in it at 500 degrees, or put it directly on a campfire.

What it is bad at

Acidic foods — tomato sauce, wine-based dishes, anything with lemon or vinegar — can strip seasoning if cooked for more than 20 or 30 minutes. A quick deglaze is fine. Simmering marinara for an hour is not. Use stainless steel for long-cooked acidic dishes.

It is heavy — about five pounds for a 10-inch skillet. If you have wrist issues or trouble lifting, a carbon steel pan does about 80 percent of what cast iron does at half the weight.

The Lodge recommendation

Lodge has been making cast iron in Tennessee since 1896. Their pans are pre-seasoned at the factory — you can cook in them the day you buy them. The finish is slightly rougher than a hundred-dollar artisan pan, but after a few months of cooking the surface smooths out naturally. For eighteen dollars, there is no better value in cookware.