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I just cooked a thick ribeye steak using this grill. It's the first thing that I have cooked on it. Similar to a cast iron frying pan that I have, this generates a lot of "smoke". I had to take the battery out of my smoke detector, and open windows. I think I cooked it at a slightly higher temperature than I needed to. If smoke is a problem, think twice about buying this.
The result is the best steak I have ever cooked indoors. It beats any electric grill I have ever used, and it beats the George Foreman grill hands down. I would say that the results are almost restaurant quality. I look forward to cooking hamburgers within the next day or so.
I think this would work better with slightly less thick cuts of meat. Even at high heat it took longer than it would have taken on a grill. During the cooking I put a metal lid over the pan to control splattering.
I think it will be a breeze to clean. Oiling it after cleaning, with the ridges, will be a little more work than for smoother surfaces.
Because the ridges are so high, the grill does a great job of cooking away from the fat, and probably (my guess) does even a better job than the George Foreman grill in that regard.
Pans like this pay for themselves. This pan is about the cost of a dinner for two, and it will result in less eating out.
Update: I cleaned the pan after making the steak. It was more difficult to clean than other cast iron pans due to the ridges, however, I think I need to find a different tool to clean it with. Someone recommended a grill pad or brush. Also, I usually put the pan over enough heat to evaporate any water from cleaning, and then apply a thin amount of oil. This was also harder. I think it will get better with practice. In any case, the results were worth it.
I will be trying burgers and pork chops soon, so stay tuned!
Update: I cooked pork chops tonight on this grill, and they are the best pork chops I have ever had in my life. I let the pan heat up, and usually also have the electric burner on high heat when adding the meat. I then turn it down a bit. The cast iron doesn't cool off, and it sears the juices in. I have found that a metal cover over the grill works well to keep in splatters and heat. Another thing that is helpful is a temperature fork, which told me tonight that the chops were at 180 degrees, otherwise I would have overcooked them.
This is by far the best money that I have spent on cooking equipment, and it will definitely save a lot of $$$ because I will treat myself to excellent home-cooked meals more often.
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This was my first time using cast iron cookware, and it was almost the last. After my first attempt, I was very disappointed. The second the food contacted the pre-heated pan it stuck to the it, and I mean really stuck to it. I had to tear the chicken breast from the pan, literally! The clean up was a nightmare. Everything was burnt on. It probably took me close to 20 minutes to clean the pan. I thought about trashing the grill. I thought cast iron cookware was a joke.
Well, a couple of days later I decided to give it another shot. I looked up cast iron cookware on the web and clicked on a random link (unfortunately, I do not remember the link, but it was an old article). The website article explained (if memory serves correctly) that there is a difference between pre-seasoned and seasoned cast iron; it takes many uses to develop a good seasoning of the cast iron utensil; pre-seasoned just means that the first step was already started. It also stated that one should never use any soap or scrub with anything harsh; a plant-fiber brush is recommended because the goal is to get the particles off the pan, not clean off all the used oil left behind. I'm thinking I should have read the directions that came with the pan before I used it instead of assuming it was good to go.
I decided to give it a few more tries. I purchased a cast iron scrub brush to use for cleaning, and spent more time cleaning it before my second use because there was still a lot of burnt on food still stuck to the pan. After a few more uses, I started noticing that food wasn't getting stuck as often, grill marks are looking better and what was burnt on the pan was very easy to clean off with the brush and hot water. About a dozen uses later the pan has developed a smoother, more glossy surface on the cooking surface. Now the food (even fish) just glides off the pan. A quick rinse with hot water and most of the burnt on stuff just flakes off. A quick pass with the brush and the pan is clean and perfectly smooth, in fact, this is the easiest pan to clean in my kitchen. After use (while the pan is till warm but not hot), I just rinse with hot water and a quick pass with the brush, dry it, lightly coat it with oil, and store it for next use.
And the brighter side to this.....it is starting to impart some flavors on the food that makes it taste fantastic! The grill marks are clean and consistent, and it cooks everything evenly.
To the folks who had bad luck with using this for the first time, give it a few more tries before you write this off. It did not work for me at first because I did not read the directions and assumed that using cast iron was no different than using any other type of cookware.
Best Deals for Lodge L8SGP3 Pre-Seasoned Square Grill Pan, 10.5-inch
It's cast iron, so you can run this pan as hot as you dare to sear the flavor in. Makes excellent burgers and brats, with nice grill marks but no burned spots, even when well-done. Try that with a George Foreman and your burger will be black outside and dryer than the Mojave Desert inside.
The square pan provides plenty of room to fry up a few burgers and the hot juices in the bottom are made-to-order for sauteeing a few mushrooms, onions, or peppers to go on top. The handle is fatter than older Lodge designs and quite ergonomic as long as you're wearing an oven mitt. Cleans nicely by boiling a little water in the pan and giving it a quick scrub with a stiff round natural-bristle vegetable brush and the hottest water that'll come out of the tap.
I would recommend this pan over the 11.5" one Lodge also offers because the thicker bottom, smaller sides, and deeper walls of the 10.5" pan provide fairly even heat over the entire grill surface. It appears that the 11.5" pan is based on the griddle of the same size, and my 11.5" griddle is hot near the center and cooler near the edges when used on a burner OK for hash browns, but bad for burgers, grilled cheese, and such.
Excellent product; if you can't grill outside, this pan is the next best thing!
Honest reviews on Lodge L8SGP3 Pre-Seasoned Square Grill Pan, 10.5-inch
I hope you will find this review helpful and will read it before you actually start using this pan. This is a great product, but it takes a little getting used to to get the full benefits from it.
First of all, this is made of cast iron. It weighs almost 10 pounds and would be a great first pick if you happen to be in the kitchen when an intruder barges in. Cast iron has its upsides and its downsides.
Good
* It will last your entire lifetime if you don't let it rust
* Heat will evenly distribute throughout the pan
* Can withstand any temperature you will find in a kitchen
Bad
* Stays hot for a while after being taken off heat
* Improper care will lead to rust
* Not dishwasher safe
Knowing the cons before you get started goes a long way to prevent being disappointed. To counteract the negatives I recommend always using an oven mitt when handling this pan. Lodge logic makes the following product Lodge Max Temp Handle Mitt, Black to deal with the hot handle, but I do not use it and personally find an oven mitt to be perfectly acceptable. Proper care entails always cleaning the pan immediately after use and drying it with a paper towel so that rust does not form.
To properly clean your pan after every use I strongly recommend purchasing a handheld scrubber. It works so much better than a grill brush or sponge. Using the following product SonicScrubbers HT Scrubbing Bubbles Power Household Cleaning Tool and Brushes I spend no more than 20-30 seconds cleaning this pan after every use and it is very easy. When I first started I used a combo of a grill brush and a sponge and it worked absolutely nowhere near as well as the scrubber. Using a scrubber head that fits nicely between the grooves in the pan and pulling the pan straight off the stovetop and moving to running water and applying the scrubber is easy and fast. Regardless of what method you use to clean up, make sure you do it ASAP, before you even eat what you've just made. Trust me, it will take you 30 seconds now, but upwards of 10 minutes if you let the grease and other cooking leftovers thicken in the pan. Also, you will read many places to never ever use soap in your pan as it will destroy the seasoning. Maybe if you were using an extremely caustic lye solution this would be true. The truth is, if you run into a hard to clean grease spot a little bit of normal dish soap can help get it off and your pan is going to be just fine. Just make sure to scrub gently, rinse it all off and dry immediately afterward.
Let's move on to actually cooking with the pan. When I first started I found that I was using much too high heat. The pan, being made of thick iron, takes a few minutes to get up to temperature. Don't rush it. I have never found a good reason to even go above medium heat with this pan. For fish and chicken I recommend setting the burner to a bit below medium. High heat will cause you to scorch the outside of your meat before the center even cooks all the way through, and will also cause tons of smoke to form, setting off your detectors. If you prefer to get a very high heat sear on a burger or a steak before moving to the grill pan I would personally recommend that you use a separate flat pan to sear it (so that it will be even instead of the grill mark sear) and because the cast iron will retain the high temperature for a full minute or two before cooling down to a more reasonable temperature for cooking the rest of the meat.
Secondly, use cooking spray or oil on the pan. Which oil to use depends on what temperature you want to cook. Butter and olive oil smoke at around 350 degrees while canola oil or peanut oil will afford you an extra 100 degrees before they start to smoke. Personally I find that cooking an extra minute or two at lower temperatures allows me to put out very tender and tasty meat. For steaks and chicken I typically use a generic cooking spray on my pan, then melt a small pat of butter in the pan. The meat won't sit in the butter due to the ridges of the pan, so you will be at your leisure to use a cooking brush to lightly coat the outside of the meat as you cook to keep it moist. As it cooks I brush the meat with its own juices and butter. To cook burgers I spray down the pan, season the burgers then place them in the pan. I let the burgers sit without moving them at all until juices start to come through the top of the burger. I then flip the burger just once and place a piece of cheese on it. After about another 2 minutes the burger is cooked perfectly and I move it straight to a bun. One other thing I would like to mention is the pan is not great for cooking sausages. They tend to cause an extremely smoky kitchen and take a while to cook all the way through. If you have to cook sausage indoors I would definitely use a flat pan rather than the grill pan.
To sum everything up, use an oven mitt, clean the pan immediately after usage (preferably with a scrubber), and use medium heat and you will find that you can cook a great piece of meat indoors with hardly any effort.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lodge L8SGP3 Pre-Seasoned Square Grill Pan, 10.5-inch
Pros: The square shape of this pan can accomodate 4 medium sized chicken breasts or 2 decent sized steaks. The high sides help prevent the cooking from splattering all over the stovetop. The tall grill ridges provide good sear marks and let the grease accumulate on the bottom. That grease continues to cook under AND away from the meat giving it a hint of smoke that is as close as you can get to a charcoal grill. Clean up is easy: when cool, use a stiff brush and plain hotwater, then reheat on the grill and wipe down w/ papertowel soaked in oil.
Cons: You will still need to season it a little. It will smoke when you try to grill on it the first 10 X or so. It is ugly and heavy.
Tips on seasoning: the oven method works fine, but the best (and quickest) way to season this grill pan is to fill it partway w/ cooking oil and deep fry something like you would in a skillet. The sides are high enough and after a few times, your grill pan will be seasoned.
If you want a grill pan that gives great flavour get this one. If you don't want the flavour get the other ones on the market. If you care about splattering, get this one, if you don't get the flat grills.
