Worked pretty well. Here's what I did::
Got the DIY vortex going. While it was warming up I scrubbed the pan in the sink. I'm not sure how much of the protective coating I got off....it's clear, and tough. But what I didn't scrub off, burned off.
Dried off the pan, put it right over top of the vortex. As it got hot the color changed, and when the bottom got blue I poured some grapeseed oil in it and used paper towels/tongs to spread it out. I did that a few times. Then I put the lid on the kettle and adjusted the vents to put the temp around 400ish and left the pan in there upside down while the wife and I tended to the baby girl.
Here's where things went a bit off. Once the little one was in bed I grilled some burgers. The temp in the kettle had dropped as I'd about burned up all my coals. So I had to add more coal, and then I tried cooking some smashburgers before everything was back up to temp. Two of the patties I started on the cast iron griddle and finished in the pan, one I cooked entirely in the pan. They weren't hot enough. The patties (grassfed beef, so pretty dang lean) stuck just a little bit in the new pan.
After dinner I scrubbed the pan a bit to remove the burger residue, then put it in the oven at 400*F for half an hour, and wiped it down with a thin coat of oil, back in the oven for half an hour, another thin coat of oil (including the handle and underside of the pan), then into the oven at 500*F for half an hour.
When working with it on the kettle, I shouldn't have poured the oil in the pan, that's too much oil and it was a little thick and sticky in a few places. On the next pan (I have a smaller one too) I'm going to oil the paper towel and then wipe the pan down, like I did later using the oven on this first pan.
Anyhow. The final result is pretty good I think, nice dark finish, feels really slick to the touch, but, the real test is of course using it. Gonna cook on it some tonight and will report back.
PICS.
AND THE FINAL RESULT ::
EDIT to add :: this is the 11-3/4" pan. It fits in the kettle with the lid on, but juuuuuust barely, the end of the handle actually scrubs the underside of the lid. If I planned to use it on the kettle much I'd probably trim the handle about half an inch shorter.
