The carbon is what you want. Seasoning is nothing more than carbon left behind after an oil burns off.
Food for thought? carbon. Carbon introduced into iron. Carburized iron=steel. Steel, less porous than iron, less stick. Is it that simple yet that scientific? Ain't sayin it's right, just pondering & gettin in over my head.
I wondered about that too, used cast all my life, did most of the tips above with lesser or greater success...then about 5 yrs ago I went to a yardsale and saw a vintage US made carbon steel skillet (don't know about the metallurgy, but it rings when tapped). Night and day compared with my cast iron. Use it, abuse it, overheat it, cold wet food in the pan...it just doesn't stick. Savory Spider brand name. I was going to buy another one for the camp box on Ebay, but they are priced through the roof. I gave the lady 5 bucks for mine, but had to dump out the dog food, it wasn't really part of the yardsale, but she was on a roll.
