Cooking on cast iron is an art. I grew up with these as a child so I instinctively know what to do. Some aficionados here on Amazon pride themselves on seasoning their cookware with flax seed oil. My dad was a professional chef and we never did that when I was a kid so I don't do that now.
It's really simple. You never cook dry. This is old school cooking 101. You never pour a cake mix into a baking pan without buttering the pan. And you never put anything on a heated griddle unless you oil or butter it first. When I bought this I decided to try coconut oil and it works pretty well.
Another reviewer advised against vegetable oil and he's right in the sense that if you overheat vegetable oil on a griddle you will essentially create a glue that will cause things to begin to stick to the griddle. This isn't a problem if you're vigilant and avoid burning the vegetable oil. But the better advice is simply not to mess with it.
As has been mentioned by others, if you always treat the surface before cooking on it, you won't have any trouble with anything sticking to it EVER. I bought this to make pancakes and it's been nothing but joy. I also filled the entire pan with egg batter and made scrambled eggs and then mixed that in a mixing bowl with rice which I had made in the rice cooker to produce egg-fried rice. Worked great.
There's nothing like cooking on cast iron. It creates a self-contained uniform heat that produces wonderfully consistent results. On the other hand, when used without care, it produces burnt food that seemingly requires a jackhammer before you can remove it from the pan. If you're a patient person you'll do fine. If you think cooking goes faster by turning the burner on high, then this is not for you.
The best advice I can give is to ALWAYS keep it oiled. Until you get used to it, UNDER heat rather than overheat. If you overheat with a cheap oil, you now have glue and you have failed to ALWAYS keep it oiled (not glued). The natural result of producing glue will be food sticking to the pan. If you fail to remove ALL of the glue, you will CHRONICALLY experience food sticking.
Heat the griddle slowly. Run some cold water on your hand. Then flick the water onto the pan. When the water bubbles up and evaporates the surface is ready for cooking. If the water immediately steams off, the surface is too hot. Turn down the burner and wait. DO NOT PUT FOOD ON THE SURFACE until it cools down some. When it has cooled down, re-oil the surface. Do the flick test again and if the water bubbles and then evaporates, you're ready to cook.
Remember, cast iron stores and maintains heat. It doesn't get instantly hot. And turning the burner on high won't make things happen any faster. Don't go past medium. Give it a chance to store the heat.
If you turn the burner on high, here's what happens: The griddle begins storing LOTS of heat. But it still is warming up slowly. By the time you think that the cast iron is hot, it has STORED up a tremendous amount of heat. It's WAY too hot. At that point you turn down the heat. But it doesn't matter because the heat is STORED. At this point, the former vegetable oil is now turning into plastic. And it's at this point that the fool begins to cook. The food now begins bonding to the plastic. And any further cooking just enhances the bonding process.
The fool's conclusion: "cast iron is no good."
If you're an impatient person, this is not for you. If want to watch television and knit while you're cooking, this is not for you. However, if you enjoy cooking and you're looking for an item that will improve and enhance your results, this is definitely for you. Take your time. Begin slowly warming up the griddle in advance while you're mixing up ingredients so that you don't have to rush. I love this griddle and you will too! Just remember: Easy Does It.
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