Even with all the newfangled kitchen gadgets of the day (air fryers, Stanley cups, even microwaves), there’s one appliance that never goes out of style: the cast iron pan. It’s the thing that connects us to our grandparents, our great-grandparents, and anyone who’s ever had a skillet cookie. It’s also a beautiful, functional tool that can take you from a Trader Joe’s frozen section kinda guy to a full-on Anthony Bourdain type. It just makes you feel cool to cook with cast iron. 

Of course, the drama comes when you start talking about how to clean it. There are many schools of thought on it, with some folks claiming that one drop of soap will ruin everything to rough-and-tumble cooks who aren’t so precious about their trusty pan. But wherever you fall on the spectrum, you agree that it’s the one thing you’d save in a fire. (Actually, you probably wouldn’t have to.) And these memes are just for you.