Lodge Logic L10SK3 12-Inch Pre-Seasoned Skillet
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Lodge Logic L10SK3 12-Inch Pre-Seasoned Skillet
Customer Review: Your Grandmother knew best, and she was right.
Summary: 5 Stars
Cast iron skillets, and Dutch Ovens are probably the most versatile pans you can own; it's a fact that fights have actually broken out in families over who is going to inherit the heirloom cast iron cookware after a loved one passes. Lodge Manufacturing, in South Pittsburg, Tennessee produces some of the last cast iron pieces to actually be made in America. They also happen to make the best in the world. They produce the only type of skillet I've seen that can go from the stovetop, right into the oven, and then onto the table. In addition, these pans can be used with great success over an open fire while camping, something no other cookware can do. Since this skillet comes preseasoned, you get to skip the job of seasoning the pan before it's first use. However, if you don't maintain this preseasoning, you'll have to reapply a new coat.
Seasoning cast iron is a very simple process, the instructions that follow apply to any piece of cast iron cookware needing seasoned. First, heat the oven to 400 degrees, then, using your hands, coat the iron pan inside and out, including the handle, with SOLID SHORTENING ONLY, such as Crisco(not butter flavored), or even lard. Then bake it, upside down, on the upper oven rack for an hour. Line the ovens bottom rack with alumnium foil and you'll catch the drippings that fall as the shortening melts and gets absorbed by the iron. Then allow the pan to cool before attempting to handle it again. If your oven has a hooded fan, you will want to run it to remove the fumes and odors caused by the melting shortening. That's all there is to it. You can also do this process outside in a gas grill, or even a charcoal grill so long as it has a cover. Afterward, you will want to fry fatty foods such as bacon, fried chicken, or fish in your newly seasoned pan, as these types of oily foods help to reinforce the new seasoning you've just applied. After a round of frying bacon or chicken, your skillet will be ready for virtually anything else you want to cook in it.
This skillet will quickly become the most frequently used pan in your kitchen, and that's a good thing because the more you use it, the more seasoning you're actually applying to the iron. Some have complained that they have lost a small area of the seasoning in their pan, and have had to remove the rest of the seasoning by hand before reapplying the Chriso and baking process. Actually, you can follow the steps above and be just fine. If, for some reason though, you have to remove all the seasoning, simply put the pan upside down in the oven and run the oven through the cleaning cycle once, then allow the oven and pan to cool. The skillet will come out like the day it was made, but you must wash, dry, and reseason it right then and there. Doing so will prevent rust, which is one of the few real dangers to cast iron. Two other dangers include, never adding or running cold water into a hot iron skillet or Dutch Oven because the sudden temperature change will cause the pan to crack. And finally, NEVER, under any circumstances, wash a cast iron pan in a dishwasher. Dishwasher soap is strong enough to remove even the oldest seasoning and the steamy, humid environment created during the drying cycle will then cause the pan to rust.
Clean all cast iron pieces by hand with hot water and a stiff bristled brush, NO SOAP EVER, and then dry the piece right after washing using a paper towel. You can then apply a very light shot of cooking spray, inside and out, to protect the pans seasoning; paper towels are helpful in spreading the spray over the pans entire surface. I realize this has been a rather long review, but I hope the various instructions listed above are helpful to first time buyers/users of cast iron cookware.
Finally, for first time buyers, I recommend purchasing the Lodge Preseasoned 3 skillet set which includes a 6", 8", and a 10" skillet, in addition to this 12 inch pan. Together, whether cooking in the kitchen or over an open fire while camping, these 4 skillets will give you the versatility of cooking for one person or the entire family. You will also want to get a Lodge Preseasoned Iron Lid and a regular splatter screen for this skillet because they raise the potential uses of the pan even more. I've used cast iron for years, and it really is the way to go. If you consider the cost of other types of cookware, and how long it will last when compared to cast iron, you really can't go wrong with purchasing 3 or 4 pieces for your everyday use. Remember too, that your kids, and their kids in turn, will be using these pans long after you're gone. With a probable service life of more than one hundred years, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
Customer Review: EDITING MY OPINION TO 4 STARS
Summary: 1 Stars
I own a well seasoned steel Wok, 2 cast iron griddles and one small #3 Wagner cast iron skillet. I do not have to pamper these treasures. Just some coarse kosher salt and cold or hot water removes any oils or sticky sauces.
The box that contained the Lodge skillet felt light. The factory packed inner box had a label that said 12." However, when I opened it my concern was realized. There was a 10" pan inside. The replacement came quickly and I am supposed to get a credit for my shipping costs.
I augmented the alleged "pre-seasoned" lodge skillet in the manner I was shown by a chef who was trained by the renowned French chef Escoffier. The technique is simple. Moderate heat and Crisco solid shortening applied with bunched wax paper. The wax may even abet the Crisco but the reason it is used is that no cellulose fibers will be incorporated into the shortening patina. Using a paper napkin or towel or cotton cloth will place fibers in the patina and they will create a place for food to adhere to.
A teaspoon of Canola (Rapeseed) oil was put in the hot pan and then an egg followed. The egg stuck better than Crazy Glue and this did not surprise me, as I was suspicious of the pan when I saw it had a surface that looked like it had actually been cast in sand (which is still a way to cast iron.)
My old, above mentioned, treasures all have surfaces as smooth as a baby's bottom. They are a joy to work with. This pan is a joke. After the abyssmal performance I felt I had nothing to loose by messing with the surface so I tried to smooth out the pebbled (sand cast) surface but gave it up as I lack the proper materials to do so.
Nonetheless, I think I may have abraded the so-called pre-seasoned surface enough to lay down my own patina that may smooth out with constant use. Otherwise, I will just use the skillet for frying things other than eggs or pancakes, etc. I saw a similar pan in large chain retailer for less money.
A few days after posting my 1 star review I scrubbed the surface and seasoned the pan in a manner similar to that used by an earlier poster. I added Crisco and put in a hot oven. My wife got hot under her collar when the house was full of oily fumes.
So I did not cure it for the full 40 minutes.
I put the pan in my outdoors gas barbeque grill upside down and closed the cover. A hard patina formed. After a few times of gently warming on the gas stove using a diffuser I gave it a whirl with another egg. This time the pan was not very hot. After flipping the egg over on its yoke I was able to to slide it around like a hockey puck on ice. I had spread almost 1 teaspoon of Canola oil followed by a pat of butter.
I am now a happy camper. I recommend this pan even though the cooking surface is not evenly flat and mine had a crease in it as well.
I purchased my first Teflon pan in 1970 and it performed awesomely for almost 10 years. This was inexpensive and you could fry an egg without any oil. I gave it up after a good deal of the coating had peeled away. I have never seen a coated pan that performed as well as the first one I purchased. I am sure that companies stopped using that specific very smooth coating by 1980. I just tossed a coated Calphalon skillet that started to stick after 3 years of careful use. My wife would not let me use anything but a special plastic spatula or wooden spoon so it was not abused.
Ken Bates
Boston
Customer Review: I never would have guessed -- Love it !!!
Summary: 5 Stars
When I think of what kind of skillet I would like to have, usually I think of the top of the line Calphalon non-stick.
I have been curious about cast iron skillets ever since a very nice older woman who I was renting from said that the best way to cook a steak was in a cast iron skillet.
However, I couldn't get myself to buy a non-seasoned skillet when I saw them in stores. It seemed like to much work and too much time to season it, which isn't something I relished doing especially if I didn't know if I would like it.
Well, here it is, a pre-seasoned cast iron skillet at a good price. So, how have things gone?
I love it. It has become one of my favorite skillets, along with the Calphalon non-stick. There are certain things this skillet excels at. Last night, I cooked a stir-fry of sorts, almost more like fajita fixings. I bought strips of bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms from a salad bar at a local supermarket, used pre-marinated chicken breasts cut into strips, and olive oil in the skillet after heating it.
Well, it was as if I were using the Calphalon. Things did not stick. They did cook differently, however. Due to the mass of the cast iron, things didn't come to a halt when I put new ingredients into the pan. The end result was similar to what I can get at a Chili's restaurant -- in other words, this pan produced a different end result than I would have gotten in even a Calphalon.
I cooked ribeye steak in it, and it was great. I might retire my new George Foreman grill with removeable plates, because the cast iron produces a better result. I cooked eggs in it and they were OK, but for eggs I do prefer non-stick.
I would say that if I had to choose, this skillet is my favorite pan. Having it pre-seasoned was essential. After using the pan, I put water into it and leave it on the stove while I eat. After I eat, or sometime that evening, I use a dedicated (no soap) scouring sponge to quickly remove any food particles. I dry it with paper towels, put it on the burner briefly, let it warm up, put a little oil in it, use a paper towel to rub it around, and the pan is ready to go for the next time.
I seriously do not know why in the past people went from cast iron to stainless steel. It seems like it would be a huge step down.
A lot of my intuition regarding how to cook with and keep the skillet seasoned comes from using a carbon steel wok for a while. That too needed to be seasoned, however it really wasn't an efficient way to cook. Depending on what I am cooking, some of my stir frys will be more successful in this pan. Obviously if I am cooking broccoli, that may not work well, but for fajita-like vegetables, it worked great.
I do not hesitate to recommend this pan. 5 stars !!!
Update:
I have been using this pan for a while now and absolutely love it. Why did people ever move away from cast iron? Tonight I used it to brown a roast, and it did a great job due to heat retention. I never would have guessed that my favorite pan would be cast iron over Calphalon non stick.
Customer Review: A must for most kitchens
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had my Lodge Cast Iron 12" pan for about 8 years now. I use it primarily for burgers, steaks, fried chicken, pancakes and cornbread (I don't make eggs and I bake my bacon). It goes from stove-top to oven back to stove-top without issue.
This thing gets heat and holds it. You are not going to be able to adjust the heat quickly by fine-tuning the burner. Well, you can heat it up OK, but just turning the burner down is not going to stop the pan from being hot. Only time will do that - like with other pans, only this pan takes a lot longer to cool down. (Quick tip - since this can potentially be a hazard, it's a good idea to wrap a washcloth or tea towel around the handle while it sits on the stove-top cooling off.)
Kawakami's 2-star review asks some good questions - and, so you know what camp I'm in: I used canola oil and high heat to cure mine; I use salt and oil to clean (water only hits the pan when I put in a tablespoon if I'm heating it up on the stove; when the water evaporates completely, I know it's ready for a burger); if the weather's not too warm I'll toss it in the oven at 500 to heat it up (too hot to do that in the summertime); I'll use tomatoes but only if I'm cooking them for 5 minutes or so; I've used wine in a reduction; and when I put it away I pour in a little canola oil, rub it all over with a towel or rag, then put 2 paper towels in and store it under the oven - and I have had no problems at all. No rust, no cracking, no flaking, no stripping of seasoning. Nothing.
It's great for searing, grilling, pan-frying and as a griddle. Its density makes it great for thawing flat cuts of meat, and its heft makes it a workable stand-in for "chicken-under-a-brick" if you find yourself without bricks. You can take it camping with you, if that's your thing (keep an old tennis racket cover around for that), and use it for 3 meals a day over a fire. This pan is a workhorse!
I would advise not relying 100% on the pre-seasoning, who knows how many hands it's passed through, what those hands touched, or if the coating given at the factory is sufficient? Instead, give it a quick scrub once you get it home, and then cure it like any other new piece of cast-iron. I did this with my pre-seasoned 10-inch pan, and have had no problems with it.
Another great thing about this pan - it's inexpensive! This is a pan that, if you're even considering trying, you can spend less than twenty bucks and give it a shot! If you don't like it, someone within your circle of friends should be happy to take it off your hands. I had a 5 qt. Lodge cast iron dutch-oven. I then obtained a porcelain enameled 6-qt one, and had no room to keep both. I put the old one in the basement of my building with a "free" note attached - and it got snatched up in 5 minutes!
Cast iron can't do everything, but it does a lot, and I highly recommend adding some cast iron cookware to your kitchen.
Customer Review: Using Flax Oil for improved seasoning
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently decided to make the shift to cast iron pans. I also happen to be a huge follower of Cooks Illustrated. I discovered they did a review of the flax oil method of curing cast iron and became complete believers (the flax cured pans withstood a commercial dishwasher in their tests! The veggie oil one rusted.) Flax oil is definitely THE way to cure a pan and make it stick proof (not bacon fat, vegetable oil, etc). Flax oil is the food-grade equivalent to linseed oil
But then came my dilemma... these pans come pre-seasoned. The directions for seasoning with flax oil assume an unseasoned pan (heat pan at 200 degrees for 20 mins to open the pores, rub with flax oil, then remove flax oil completely with paper towels before putting it back in the oven upside down at the top temperature for an hour, turn off the oven but leave the pan in the oven for another hour, repeat another 4-5 times.) I went through that process, then cooked eggs on the pan. They stuck a little (a thin crust across the entire bottom). I was becoming concerned that in order to get the non-stick benefits I should have started with a bare pan. I didn't relish the idea of stripping the pan (which would involve over-night oven cleaner, a plastic bag, gloves, and a filter mask) and then going through the seasoning process all over again, but I wasn't sure if it would be necessary. Everything I'd read about the flax method said it should be pretty darned non-stick.
Every time I used the pan I "washed" it by scrape it down with a plastic scraper under running water then used the Lodge cast iron cleaning brush. Once I was sure the pan was clean, I'd put it on the stove on high heat for a few minutes then turn it off, wipe it down with 1 Tbsp flax oil, and wipe off all the oil until the paper towels came out dry and white (so contrary to the "most popular negative review" here on Amazon I do not have charred black carcinogens coming off in my cooking.) This morning (my 5th time making eggs in the pan) the pan was almost entirely non-stick! YAY!!! That means I do NOT have to totally strip a pre-treated pan to get the flax method to work! It just takes diligence with building up the seasoning. I'm sure after another few uses/oilings I'll have the completely non-stick pan so many people talk about with cast iron. It clearly takes work, and getting pre-seasoned pans will not make it non-stick right off the bat. But you can definitely get there pretty quickly if you stick with it, do the initial seasoning method and then heat it up and wipe it down with flax oil between each use until it's non-stick.
Flax oil isn't cheap, and you have to keep it refrigerated, but I can now attest to how great of a job it does! Here's the link to the original blog that intrigued the Cooks Illustrated folks and led to their own experiments... [...]