We have a Wagner 8 and a Wagner 5, but we don’t use them as much as we might because they are so heavy. We recently bought a Turk forged iron pan, which is around midway in weight between cast iron and carbon steel, and it is practically the only pan we use. (The All-Clad still comes out for acidic foods, not because it will ruin the seasoning but because it does remove a little of the seasoning and I don’t want that in my food, just like cooking tomatoes in an aluminum pot doesn’t remove much aluminum, but more than I want to eat. Also for low-heat cooking, since it distributes low heat better than iron.)
The initial seasoning instructions for the Turk involved frying heaps of potatoes. We did this - much to our dog’s eventual pleasure - and it worked great. There is a French carbon steel pan company whose initial seasoning instructions involve boiling potatoes. I’ve never been able to figure out whether there is some special property potatoes have that make them uniquely qualified for this role, or whether someone once fried/boiled potatoes in a pan 100 years ago, it worked, and so that has been the directive ever since.
