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I own several Lodge cast iron products and use them everyday. I have 3 teeneage boys that enjoy cooking, and after they destroyed a few teflon coated pans, I decided I would go heavy into cast iron. These pans are indestructible. You can use them in the oven or stovetop, and if you keep it seasoned properly food will not stick. Also, to avoid sticking problems, you may want to remember to allow the pan to get hot before applying oil or food.
As to seasoning, the Logic line now comes preseasoned. But don't make a big deal about this. To season a cast iron skillet simply coat it lightly with oil and bake it for a half hour or so. I have also seasoned these skillets on the stovetop. Cast iron is also great because it does not easily scrap like stainless steel and aluminum pots. Aluminum pans are painful to me, as my teeth fillings react to the aluminum. With cast iron, you won't have this problem. I also take my Lodge pan camping and set it right over the coals to cook. No melted handles or scorched bottoms to mess with.
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Let me start by saying we have a kitchen full of 20+ pieces of Calphalon Hard Annodized Commercial cookware. I was always of the opinion that quality cookware carried a price that was justified by the performace of the cookware. So I thought if I wanted cast iron I should look at LeCreuset... wrong! Lodge blew that theory out the window! I can't express how well this simple pan works. Let it get hot and it will hold the temp like nothing else, oven to cooktop. I finally decided to get a good cast iron skillet after hearing Alton Brown (Host of Good Eats ...TV Food Network ...) rave about cast iron for the last few years. He steared me to Lodge, Lodge's web site (lodgemgf.com) told me about the pre-seasoned "Logic" line. This stuff makes cast iron simple. No messing around with seasoning a new pan. Simple care instructions. And clear instructions to reseason should the need occur. At the price these pans sell, there is no excuse to not have one, (or more) in your kitchen. It will soon become your favorite pan. I bought a 5 quart Lodge Logic Dutch Oven at the same time and it is fantastic as well!Best Deals for Lodge Pre-Seasoned Skillet, Black
Sorry for the long review for the short review, count the stars!I'm a bit of a purist. I always season my cast iron new, or used (hey, I don't know WHAT someone else used that old piece of cast iron for maybe cleaning auto parts). I sand it down to bare metal, starting with about an 80 grit and finishing with 200.
Then I season. The end result is a glossy black mirror that puts Teflon to shame. There are two mistakes people make when seasoning not hot enough, not long enough. These mistakes give the same result a sticky brown coating that is definitely not non-stick, and the first time they bring any real heat to the pan, clouds of smoke that they neither expected or wanted. I see several complaints here that are completely due to not knowing this.
But there were a few pieces I needed (yes, needed, cast iron isn't about want, it's a need), and this was one of them, so I thought I'd give the Lodge pre-seasoning a try. Ordered last Friday, received this Friday free shipping, yay!
The first thing I noticed was the bumpy coating. The inside is actually rougher than the outside, and my hand was itching for the sandpaper, but that would have defeated the experiment. This time, I was going to give the Lodge pre-seasoning a chance before I broke out the sandpaper. So I scrubbed the pan out with a plastic brush and a little soapy water, rinsed well, put it on a medium burner, and waited. Cast iron tip number one give it a little time. Then give it a little more time. Cast iron conducts heat much more slowly than aluminum, so you have to have a little patience.
Then I threw in a pat of butter, and brought out the natural enemy of badly seasoned cast iron the egg. And, sure enough, it stuck but not badly, just in the middle. A bit of spatula work and I actually got a passable over-medium egg. Hmmm. But still not good enough. So I cleaned up the pan, and broke out the lard.
I have only one justification for using lard. I don't remember Grandma using refined hand-pressed organic flax oil, or purified extra-virgin olive oil made by real virgins. Nope, it was pretty much animal fat in her iron. A scoop of bacon grease from the mason jar beside the stove and she was ready to cook anything. Grandaddy wouldn't eat a piece of meat that had less than a half-inch of fat around it. "Tastes like a dry old shoe.", he'd declare if it was too lean. In the end, I'm sure their diet killed them, but they ate well in the meantime. Grandaddy was cut down at the tender age of 96, and Grandma lasted till 98. Eat what you want folks in the end, it's pretty much up to your genetics.
So I warmed up my new pieces, and smeared a very thin layer of lard all over them use your fingers. Towels, especially paper towels, will shed lint, and lint in your seasoning coat doesn't help things at all. Besides, it's kinda fun.
Here's cast iron tip number two season at the highest temp you think you'll ever cook at or higher. If you don't, you won't get the full non-stick thing, and the first time you bring it up to that temp you'll get clouds of smoke from the unfinished seasoning. I put my pieces in a cold oven, and set the temp for an hour at 500 degrees (F, not C). Yeah, I know, Lodge says 350. Lodge doesn't want panicked support calls from people whose house is full of smoke. Crank the heat up.
You have two choices here. You can put a fan in the kitchen window and blow smoke out of your house like the battleship Bismarck under attack by the Royal Navy, or invest in an oxygen mask. You will get smoke. You will get lots of smoke, especially if you're doing several pieces at once, like I just did. This is a good thing that's smoke that won't be jumping out to surprise you the first time you try to cook with any real heat. The goal is to heat until you don't get smoke, and in my experience, 500 degrees for an hour does that pretty well.
Let the pieces cool in the closed oven. Then re-grease and repeat. And repeat again. And don't glop the fat on. Just enough to coat. More thin layers are better than fewer gloppy layers. I managed four layers last night without my neighbors calling the fire department.
Seems like a lot of work? Look at it this way. It's a lifetime commitment. Treat your iron well, and it will love you right back like you've never been loved before. And this is pretty much a one-time deal, unless you do something silly.
The end result of my all-night smoking up the kitchen exercise? Dry, absolutely no stickiness, black as a coal mine at midnight and shiny but still bumpy could it possibly work with that rough surface?
I put the skillet back on a medium burner, put a pat of butter on and tossed in a couple of eggs. After the whites had set a little, I nudged them with a spatula, and they scooted across the pan. I'll be... it works. My wife came back from the store and wanted scrambled eggs. If there's anything that cast iron likes less than fried eggs, it's scrambled. But it was the same thing all over again. No stick. No cleanup. Just a quick hot water rinse with a brush in case something got left on the pan (I couldn't see anything, but hey), then I put it on a med-hi burner till dry, put a thin coat of lard on the pan and waited until I saw smoke for a minute. Let cool and hang up. Done.
So. do I like the bumpy texture of the Lodge pre-season? Nope. Does it work? Yes, and contrary to my misgivings, it works very well. My wife pointed out that even some Teflon cookware has textured patterns in it. The Lodge pre-season isn't a perfect surface out of the box but it does give you a big head-start. After a night's work, my iron is ready to face anything, and you just can't beat that.
Lodge makes a great product. For the quality, durability, and versatility, you can't beat Lodge cast iron. Plus, it's made in America. I like that. If you've never experienced cast iron cooking, you've just been cheating yourself. Plus, the price, for a piece of lifetime cookware, is insanely cheap.
And my sandpaper is still on the tool shelf.
Honest reviews on Lodge Pre-Seasoned Skillet, Black
I started buying an assortment of small Lodge skillets and serving plates. I really like the way that they keep food warm on the table which is especially useful for dinner parties when people are enjoying themselves and eating slower. In addition, they look pretty cool too, especially when you are serving rustic or country dishes.
I like the 6 1/2 inch skillet for both side dishes and entrées. In this short video I compare this size Lodge skillet to some of the other small pans. I also show a few of the dishes that I have made in it. I hope that this video review is helpful to you.
Old Dutch 008MB 5.5 Inch Round Matte Black Cast Iron Hobnail Trivet
Lodge Logic L5MS3 5 Inch Miniature Skillet
Lodge Logic 3.5-Inch Miniature Skillet
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I own three pieces of cast iron cookware, and this item is one of them... and among my favorite cooking implements, period. In fact, I use this skillet most of all, and it doesn't even have a place in a cabinet! I keep it on the stove permanently, for that is how often I use it.Beware that cast iron is not a quickie-cooking component (it takes time for the iron to heat, and it takes experience to gauge the iron's "perfect temperature" for sensitive dishes), but for dishes requiring steady, even heat and for cooks who require durable cookware with easy clean-up, cast iron CANNOT be beat!
This skillet is going to last forever. Its care is easy: I scrub it with hot water only, and dry it with an old rag and apply a thin layer of vegetable oil while the iron is still hot... a year and a half later, it's still rust-free and delivering the reliable service I have come to expect and admire. No scratches interfere with its performance, as is the case with my allegedly-long-lasting Wearever nonstick cookware set (what a waste of money THAT was!). Heck, I even use my cast-iron skillet for CREPES, and that's saying something! Despite the pan's weight, it's an immeasurably better nonstick crepe-cooker than teflon. In fact, I use my cast iron cookware for everything from french fries to spaghetti sauce to eggs and bacon to french toast! It's a dependable griddle, skillet, grill, and pot, and it goes right from the stovetop and into the oven for maximum versatility.
I am an avid home-chef, and I can say without exception that my cast-iron cookware is the best kitchen investment I've ever made.
