I have cooking equipment in my kitchen that needs seasoning: double-burner cast iron grill/griddle, a round single-burner griddle, two small skillets (the two-egg size), and a carbon steel skillet. Once seasoned these take little care.
I’ve always used vegetable oil to season mine. I was interested to find an article recommending beeswax. Now that I have bees, perhaps I will try that next time my seasoning needs refreshing. It seems as if it might have some advantages.
—Ô¿Ô—
…
It’s really no secret that I don’t like washing dishes–I know some people say that they do, but I simply don’t believe it (I can kind of understand liking ironing, but…). It’s not as 
though I’ve never mentioned “one-pot meals” here and it’s pretty obvious that I don’t feel a huge need for recipes, but sometimes some guidelines are nice.
In perusing the internet I see lots of recipes that can be done in one pot–or maybe a sheet pan. These are so easily adaptable for single-serving cooking, use things that come in “chunks”, and that it’s possible to buy in appropriate quantities. For winter cooking I’ve got no problems using the oven as it simply contributes to heating the house. I’ve bought a one-quarter (9 x 13 inch) sheet pan to prepare for winter meals.
Summer is another matter–no oven use for this person. I don’t want to add any extra heat, but cooking on a single burner would be within my limits (maybe actually doing it on an induction unit, too.) Today, I found an article in Bon Appetit Basically that provided some guidelines for building a one-skillet meal that seems very amenable to improvisation–in other words a how to approach.
I’d suggest you take a look at the full article, but in summary:
If you do this in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet the cleanup is going to be really simple. Even better, if the skillet can also go in the oven you’ve even more flexibility in finishing off you one-skillet meal. (Tonight, my skillet will contain some good onion sausage and kohlrabi leaves with a few aromatics–onions and garlic.)
A son gôut!
carbon steel fry pan
Every cook has certain go-to pieces of kitchen equipment–whether it’s a favorite knife, or a particular pan. One of my particular favorite fry pans (or skillet, if you wish) is a carbon steel fry pan. Mine is a Vollrath, but de Buyer also makes good ones.) It’s been with me for (literally) decades (though I’m not going to tell you the real numbers here).
It is a lot like cast iron–it must be seasoned before use, it doesn’t go in the dishwasher, and you don’t scrub it with a Brillo pad or soap, except maybe every decade or so. It can go into the oven, under the broiler, and be used at very high temperatures.
Why do I like it so much and use it so often? Well, it has the advantages of cast iron without the weight of cast iron. Properly seasoned and treated with reasonable care, it’s nonstick–without the concerns of high temperature use, and it’s suitable for induction cooking, too. It’s not a really pretty thing–it’s discolored by frequent use since it’s usually the first fry pan I reach for, even though I have others–All-Clad and Calphalon–even one that is actually “nonstick”.
Occasionally you may get some stuck on food. To remove that use a salt scrub. The other “trick” to keeping it in good shape is to always dry it by putting it over heat, instead of just drying with a towel.
I have to admit that my carbon steel fry pan (the 9-3/8-inch one) finally reached the point where it was time to do a serious clean-up on it–lots of elbow grease, Brillo pads, and even oven/grill cleaner to take it back to where it started, and re-season it. After curing it again, according to instructions is back in good form as my most used fry pan and ready for another few decades of good service.
a-single-serving.com 