Catherine was clearly the liaison to pioneer days in our household; had the end times arrived before she died, it would have been her out in the yard keeping the cooking fire burning and tending the potato batteries to keep our laptops charged.

As such, any responsibility for cast iron cookware was clearly in her bailiwick. As a result, our trusty cast iron frying pan sat unused and unloved in a corner for most of this year.

Then, recently, Dave Atkinson, who has more than a trace of pioneer-liaison in him, wrote lovingly about his own cast iron; then I read a glowing reference for cast iron in my recipe for squash and chickpea skillet pie in a cookbook. And so I decided it was time to learn how to season the unloved frying pan.

Fortunately I found a “this is really simple; don’t overthink it” guide online: rub oil all over the pan until it positively glows, in the oven for 30 minutes at 400°F, repeat. I repeated 3 times. The result: a beautifully seasoned piece of pioneer non-stick cookware.

I celebrated by making said squash and chickpea pie.