We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. When Alton Brown tells you something is essential, you listen, even if it's for something as simple as what pan to use when frying an egg.

Out of the best cooking pans you can have in your arsenal, the versatile cast iron is one that professional and amateur chefs often feel the most passionately about. It is the pan José Andrés uses ...

To the uninitiated, cast iron pans have somewhat of an air of mystery about them. Maybe you've heard that you can't use soap on them, or that you have to coat them in specialized oil to keep them from ...