HOWTO season a cast-iron pan -- with SCIENCE

I don’t think they’re machined at all, that texture is from the casting. And I think it’s intentional; I have one found-on-the-street pan that I ground smooth and two with the original texture, and something — maybe having all those microscopic pockets of air or grease between the metal and the food — makes the textured ones much more non-stick than the smooth one.