I've only bought the pan a week ago and used it three times. Hot dogs, eggs, and steak.
When I'm done I clean it with a scrubby sponge and once with a little bit of detergent, then put it on the stove to dry quickly. Then while it's hot I smear maybe a teaspoon of vegetable oil on it with a paper towel "brush".
In between uses it's wet with oil, as you can see in the picture. How much residual oil should there be? I had the impression that it would be dryer.
Also, how much should I scrub? I am not going to leave crust of beef on there, but I also don't think it's supposed to be scrubbed back to new smoothness.
Clean the pan like you’re doing. Some say don’t use detergent, but I do. Once the heavy food bits are gone, I dry it off. Then put a tablespoon of avocado oil in the pan and crank up the heat until it’s hot and shimmering. I then wipe it, let it cool and put it away. This builds up the seasoning so that the surface is protected from rusting and to maintain a non stick surface.
This, but you should heat it until it just begins to smoke, then turn it off and let cool. The seasoning is built up by the polymerization of the oil. If done correctly, it will eventually build up a ceramic-like coating that is non stick. This is why the detergent myth doesn’t matter. You aren’t soaping away a polymerized coating out of the pan.
You also just need to use enough oil to coat the pan. So save money on not wasting oil. I use a couple to half dozen drops and wipe it out with a towel. If the coating goes on too thick, it can get brittle and chip off in parts, leaving a craggy layer. The idea is to build up a tiny layer lots of times over the years.
Nb4 steel wool
Thank you, I appreciate the advice.
Youre going to get a million and one recommendations of oil on this thread as well. For example I use grape seed oil since it has a very high smoke point.
Some oils don't work, but if it's mentioned in this thread it's likely fine.
You want to make sure you aren't using a lye-based soap. Dr. bronners falls in this category and can take a bit of your seasoning off, at least if they haven't changed their soaps in 10 years. It shouldn't ruin your seasoning, but it can remove some of it and leave it a matte finish. Dawn and normal grocery store dish soaps won't hurt anything.