Lodge Logic L14SK3 15-Inch Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Skillet
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Lodge Logic L14SK3 15-Inch Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Skillet
Customer Review: 2 years bliss
Summary: 5 Stars
I've used this almost every single day for 2 years. It is VERY large. But that is why I like it so much. When used on a gas range it gives a very large cooking surface. I have found it improved the overall quality of almost all the foods I cook in it. I can cook pounds of stir fry, fried tofu,fried potatoes at a single time. With such a large 'food to pan' contact area it cooks faster than other pans I have used. I am a strict vegetarian and Yes this pan will fry tofu in almost no oil when its properly seasoned! One of the seldom spoken benefits of cast-iron besides being non-stick (yes, REALLY non-stick) it allows you to use very little oil/fats when you cook. (because of its non-stick ability). I made a big batch of pancakes a couple times a week for me and my partner. I typically make 7-10 large (6-7" diameter) whole wheat/buckwheat pancakes in this pan. And I typically use as little as 2-3 tablespoons of earth balance (non-dairy butter) for the entire batch. I can in fact use much less but I find that much less actually causes a bit of smoke! Because the pan is getting hotter than the heat is being transferred to the food because too little oil causes weaker contact between food and the pan. And besides I prefer the taste of slightly more butter. Even then the pancakes are not at all oily when they are done because its such a small amount.
I have never used a Teflon/non-stick pan regardless of price that performed as well as this one does. Now please understand that cast-iron is a commitment. I believe there is no healthier or better tasting way to prepare cooked food. However to get the most reward out of it you need to have a basic understanding of how use it and a willingness to maintain it. There are as many methods for caring for your cast iron as people who use it.
Also understand that while they come 'pre-seasoned' it is not as good as it gets, I find the factory seasoning to be 'just' good enough to use out of the box without re-seasoning. Don't expect to buy this pan and cook eggs without adding any oil right out of the box, But in time if you use it and don't scrap it to hard/gouge it while cleaning it will build up a better season and eventually become the best cooking surface you've ever used.
My person care instructions are as follows.
1) Never wash with soap, infact I only use water to clean when dealing with something sticky/gummy. While pan is hot, put in a cup of water, wait a litte while then using wood or a plastic scraper scrap off particles, dump out, rinse. rub a light coat of oil with a paper towel and hang it back on the wall.
2) after cooking if the pan is clean just wipe excess oil/butter off with a paper-towel but don't wipe it 'clean'. leave a thin film, not enough to drip but enough to see.
3) pre-warm the pan before cooking. Careful with electric element heaters, they get to hot to fast and can damage cast iron. Gas and induction are the best way. I typically turn on my burner, put a small pat of butter in it spread it around evenly then go and mix up my batch of pancakes, and after a couple minutes the pan is hot and ready to go, pancakes cook so fast you can't walk away!
4) avoid using metal scrapers/utensils I know that people say its okay, but I prefer to not risk scratching my seasoning.
The 'season' everyone talks about is actually hard layer of carbonized oil. its essentially 'baked oil/fat' that hardest to form a 'skin' protecting the pan. Over time this skin or season will get smoother and smoother, think of it as the reverse of 'sanding' a rough surface. Eventually giving you a surface that you surpass anything you've used before.
Customer Review: Big, too big? Hard to heat evenly
Summary: 3 Stars
5 stars for cast iron, and 5 stars for Lodge. Nevertheless, I found this "15 inch" skillet very difficult to cook with because it heats so unevenly.
This skillet is massive so it is a very large heat sink. I heat it on a 12.5" electric cooktop element. I have not seen too many elements (gas or electric) larger than this.
On high heat, the center of the pan expands substantially and the outside so much less that the pan deforms and the bottom cones. This exacerbates the uneven heating because as the pan deforms the edges lift off the cooktop and the pan teeters on the bulge in the center of the bottom, further heating the center and cooling the perimeter. Gas burners do not need flat bottoms so much but they are usually smaller in diameter than my 12.5" electric element and may also have trouble heating the perimeter.
Pancakes didn't work. Even though I cooked 9-10" diameter cakes, the perimeter of the pan works like a heat sink to draw heat away, leaving the center much hotter than even the circumferance of the pan bottom that is directly over the heating element.
French toast didn't work. The difference between the center and the edges was enough to burn the toast in the center and leave the pieces around the edges undercooked. Further cooking the edge pieces resulted in visible differences between the outside and inside edge of the piece (light to dark).
I thought I could overcome the size and mass of this thing by preheating it and working with awareness of the thermodynamic problems it presents, but I have not had practical success so far.
My reference pan is a well seasoned All Clad Cop-R-Chef 12" fry pan. The All Clad with its aluminum core heats very evenly. Cast iron is much better than stainless for fried eggs, and this spacious 15" pan would provide considerably more room for frying and could saute more without getting so crowded that the food gets steamed.
I want it to work out, but I might have to downsize to the 13 inch skillet because I don't see a practical way to heat a pan this large evenly.
Customer Review: 15 inch, not 15 1/4
Summary: 4 Stars
Too often, a 12" skillet is just not quite big enough. This one is perfect for cooking for a family. It makes a good griddle, is non-stick and holds a lot of food. No more ever-so-careful stirring to avoid spilling over the edge. It does heat up a bit hotter directly above the heat source, so the heat distribution is not perfect. But that is the nature of cast iron. Overall it is a must-have pan and the one I always reach for first.
Kitchen Collection (website and store often found in outlet malls) makes a lid called the "Extra Large Multi Cover" that fits this pan perfectly and makes the pan even more versatile.
The skillet is rather heavy, but with the helper handle, it has not been a problem moving the thing around even when full of food. It is impossible to pick it up and pour anything out of, but then, there are no pour spout indentations.
As some reviewers have noted, the bottom appears pebbly, but that is a complete non-issue. The pre-seasoning is a start, but I just lightly washed it and then reseasoned it first thing. It has been entirely non-stick for everything from eggs, to green beans to meats since.
The pan's actual measurements are 15" across the top and 12" across the interior bottom. Despite the written description and the pan's label (and Amazon's title when I bought it) that state the pan to be 15 1/4", it is and is supposed to be 15". I even contacted Lodge about the discrepency and was told 15" is the proper measurement. I took away a star for the mislabeling.
Customer Review: This pan is terrible, cannot take high heat for searing, cheaply made!
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this pan two years ago and have used it infrequently. However, I recently went to sear some steaks in it (for Julia Child's Steak au Poivre recipe) and turned the heat up high. The recipe calls for heating the pan, adding salt, and then tossing the steaks in. So anyway, I was heating the pan and something started smelling like chemicals a few minutes later--I guess it was the "pre-treating" stuff, because whatever plastic-y crap is on there on the bottom of this pan burnt right off. It smelled terrible and is now completely useless.
My father makes his steaks like this all the time in a decades-old cast iron and has never had anything like this happen. I told him about it and he said "you get what you pay for, son." Lesson learned.
I took some pictures of the crud in the pan and how it just crumbled, but I guess Amazon does not allow picture reviews. I guess I'll shoot some video.
Anyway, do not buy this pan if you plan on searing in it over high heat... which I really thought was the point of these things--searing steak is even in the product description! I have many happy memories of fresh-caught perch being cooked over a campfire in my Dad's pan. Nothing in the pan burnt up, except the fish sometimes when he got preoccupied with an Old Milwaukee or something, but that's another story.
There is no way this pan is "an heirloom" or will "last a lifetime". See a couple of the other one-star reviews that mention "something peeling" etc. Don't wate your money.
Customer Review: Excellent "large and in charge" cast iron skillet
Summary: 5 Stars
The actual dimensions on the one I received are 15" diameter across the top, 12" diameter cooking surface, and 2-1/2" external side wall height. It turns out that a bona fide 12" cooking surface really is very large, which is what I wanted. (A reviewer for the original finish version of this pan was disappointed that it wasn't even bigger, like a full 14" cooking surface. A pan that big would be enormous on my stove top but it would work in the oven or outside.)
Even though the the largest burner on my stove top covers a fraction of the bottom of the pan, I get surprisingly even heat by warming up the pan slowly for 10 minutes or so before use. I had no problem cooking up more than 2 pounds of potatoes as home fries this way; they came out a beautiful golden brown and the surface was very nonstick. I also use this pan on a large propane burner outdoors where teflon fears to tread.
The preseasoning is very convenient. There were a few tiny imperfections in the seasoning around the rim, but I just lightly cleaned and coated the pan with oil before using the first time, and the usual maintenance is taking care of the rest.
The cooking surface is not completely smooth but in my experience that has not affected its performance or how easy it has been to clean. I do not see any performance-related reason to sand the bottom down to a polished surface and reseason it, which some reviewers have done.