According to culinary lore, the 100 folds in a traditional chef’s toque represent the 100 ways to cook an egg. (Escoffier’s Guide Culinaire offers 143 techniques, but who’s counting?). The good news: You only need one tool—a cast iron skillet—to apply most of them. Not only can you cook eggs many ways in cast iron, you should: the material’s superior heat retention and (especially in baking) heat distribution means better eggs—softer scrambles, crispier fried edges, and fluffier frittatas and stratas—no matter how you cook them.

Below, some of our favorite egg recipes for cast iron skillets:

1.

Soft-Scrambled Eggs

Our trick for the softest, silkiest scrambled eggs: start with a cold pan, and slowly and steadily stir the eggs.

2.

Cast Iron Omelet

While there are many styles of omelet, we like a quick-and-easy diner-style fold, stuffed with our favorite fillings.

3.

Fried Eggs with Bloomed Chile Oil

Here’s how to take your fried eggs to a new level: bloom some chile flakes (or other spices) in oil, then use the infused fat to fry eggs.

4.

Cast Iron Frittata

Feeding a crowd? Customize our basic frittata recipe with your favorite mix-ins (a great way to use up leftovers!), and scale it up or down to fit your skillet size.

5.

Asparagus and Feta Strata

Cooked in our No.4 Field Skillet, this quick, miniaturized take on a strata can be prepared any morning of the week.

6.

The Best Breakfast Sandwich

Roll or bun, fried or scrambled, sausage or bacon—whatever your style, a cast iron skillet is the best tool for your go-to sandwich.