I've only bought the pan a week ago and used it three times. Hot dogs, eggs, and steak.
When I'm done I clean it with a scrubby sponge and once with a little bit of detergent, then put it on the stove to dry quickly. Then while it's hot I smear maybe a teaspoon of vegetable oil on it with a paper towel "brush".
In between uses it's wet with oil, as you can see in the picture. How much residual oil should there be? I had the impression that it would be dryer.
Also, how much should I scrub? I am not going to leave crust of beef on there, but I also don't think it's supposed to be scrubbed back to new smoothness.
I rarely oil my cast iron pans, only when I notice they are "less shiny". When needed, I clean them thoroughly, dry well, then, put a little olive oil, just enough to cover all the surface and put it to high heat for around 5 to 10 minutes. To apply oil it's better to use a cloth than paper towels because some paper particles could stick to the pan. Wash your pans as soon as possible with not much of dish soap, preferably with warm water and dry immediately.
While the type of oil isn’t critical, I would use something with a higher flash point and less flavor than olive oil.
Peanut, canola or vegetable oil are my preferred oils for seasoning.
I don't want to burn the oil, just keep it hot, right? Below the smoke point, I mean.
It depends. If you need to season/reseason then smoke is good. Heat to just above the smoke point and hold it there for a few minutes.
The point of seasoning is to polymerize the fat, which only happens above the smoke point. You get a dry brownish polymer coating on the metal. It shouldn't be wet or tacky. If it's either then there was either too much oil or too little heat.
If you already have a good season on the pan and scrubbed it clean, it's fine to lightly coat with oil for storage if you want. I generally use detergent and a very stiff brush, and wooden spatula for burnt on bits. Then towel dry and that's it. But if it's very humid or if I won't use the pan for a while, then I do heat it a bit to ensure dryness and then coat with a tiny bit of oil.
Interesting, I have been doing it wrong I think. Will try better!