Does anyone remember this little beauty? You very well might. According to StatCounter, the original "How to season a black iron / carbon steel frypan" is the most-viewed page in the four year and ten month history of Sarah Cooks! So there you go.

I use the pan about 2-3 times a week, and definitely every time I cook something oily - bacon, sausages, kassler and so on. As for cleaning, I never use detergent (although I suspect my mum might have used detergent once by accident), but wipe it clean with paper towel. If there's a lot of crap stuck to the pan, I'll pour water in it and boil it so that the crap lifts off. It's important to keep the pan dry, so after pouring the water out, I'll leave it on the heat for a minute or so until it's dry. Then I rub it with a thin layer of canola oil. (Either use a thick wadding of paper towel or let the pan cool first!)

This morning, the pan was used to make me a surprise pancake breakfast. I've never cooked anything sweet on the pan myself, as I was afraid whatever we cook on it would taste bacony. But no, they tasted like proper (delicious) pancakes.

I'm keen to try making Yorkshire pudding (sweet and savoury versions) in the pan. In Jamie's Ministry of Food, he suggests keeping a muffin tray soley for the purpose of making Yorkshire puddings so that the tray gets seasoned and develops a non-stick coating.

I noticed that the bottom of the pan is now quite smooth! Wahoo! Previously there's always been bits of crud on it, but now it looks like there's a smooth black layer. As you can see, it's not completely black and wok-like, but it's definitely getting closer.

The test will be when I can fry an egg on it without oil and have it slide off easily.