Lodge Logic L8SK3 10-1/4-Inch Pre-Seasoned Skillet
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List Price: Our Price: $14.09 You Save: $2.90 (17%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Lodge Logic L8SK3 10-1/4-Inch Pre-Seasoned Skillet
Customer Review: The Great Classic Skillet
Summary: 5 Stars
I love our Lodge Logic 10-1/4-Inch Pre-Seasoned Skillet! I had wanted one for years, and I finally bought one. For us, it is an essential piece of equipment.
The Lodge Logic 10-1/4-Inch Pre-Seasoned Skillet, a classic skillet, belongs in many kitchens. It is reasonably priced, with reasonable care it can last at least a century, and it is versatile. It is wise to buy the Lodge Logic 10-1/4-Inch Cast-Iron Lid with it to make cooking in a skillet safe and to increase the verstility of this skillet.
We have used our skillet extensively, especially in recipe development for Flavored with Love: Mary Lou's Family and Friends Can Cook and The Collard Patch. On the blog at Mary Lou Cheatham's Profile, you can find the most delicious cornbread we have ever eaten. It is Cathy's Crawfish Cornbread. To find it, it is necessary to go back to an older blog. Here is another cornbread recipe developed with our Lodge skillet:
Butter Pecan Cornbread
Ingredients
1 stick (¼ pound) unsalted butter
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon canola oil
1½ cups self-rising cornmeal mix
1 cup self-rising flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk
3 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons honey
Preparation
--In a small saucepan melt the butter with the pecans in it. Don't burn the butter, but let the pecans cook slightly. Allow them to cool.
--Heat the oven to 450º. Heat the skillet with the oil in it.
--Combine the dry ingredients.
--Add the remaining ingredients.
--Spoon the batter into the hot skillet.
--Bake 10-12 minutes.
One of the problems people seem to have with the skillet is sticking. Since I use it to cook cornbread, I usually heat the oil in it in the oven and pour the warmed oil into the cornbread batter immediately before pouring it into the skillet. As a result, it never sticks, and the cornbread has irresistble crust. I have sprayed it generously with Pam(PAM-Original No Stick Cooking Spray, 3/8oz Cans) to cook other foods and had great results.
Every meal we cook would present some opportunity to use the iron skillet, but we don't use it every day because we have become leery of cooking a large amount of our food in iron. We are trying to protect our heart health, and there has been much concern lately about cooking in iron pots and pans. It is believed that doing so can increase iron. Too much iron is suspected to increase atherosclerosis. (Another more sinister but rare risk is possible damage to the liver.) We don't allow these warnings to keep us from using our skillet to make our favorite cornbreads, to cook steaks effortlessly with great results, to broil salmon, to cook fajitas, and to saute onions. We enjoy the skillet anyway.
I hope you find this review helpful.
Customer Review: Works well, but I don't understand the "Logic"...
Summary: 4 Stars
My first Lodge purchase was their square grill pan. I followed the seasoning instructions to the letter, and although I ended up with a properly seasoned pan, I wasn't thrilled with the uneveness or the uncovered spots (the areas where the pan actually touched the oven grate while the shortening was baking on). Over time, the pan has turned out to be a peak performer, and the initial imperfections have been glossed over by a nice shiny black patina. However, a few weeks after my purchase I remained unconvinced, so when it was time to add a regular skillet to my arsenal, I opted to go for their preseasoned "Logic" line.
Performance on this pan has been exactly the same as the unseasoned grill pan...cast iron is really the unsung hero of the kitchen, and at a price point that blows away my Calphalon and All-Clad. On a gas range you can't beat the even heating, heat retention, and fabulous browning. My only complaint with this pan is the Logic "preseasoning", a vegetable oil mix blasted all over the pan and cooked on prior to sale, making it "black" right out of the box. While it does protect the pan from rust, etc., I don't feel that it posesses the same non-stick properties as a properly baked-on finish done over time. Food WILL stick to this. Lodge customer service indicates that their seasoning is only the first step, that the pan will continue to season and get better with age. I haven't found that to be true. I've cooked fried chicken, fajitas, bacon, burgers, and various other meals in this pan and none of the cooking has managed to "add" to the original seasoning, at least not in any noticeable quantity. I even recoated it with melted Crisco and tried baking it in, but it only filmed up on the surface and never really adhered with the pan. On the other hand, my grill pan "Gets better every time" I use it (as the company saying goes).
If you're new to cast iron and want something that's low-maintenance and easy to use right away, I'd recommend this skillet...like I said, it really performs well for such an affordable price. You can vigorously scrub this out after each use, and still have the factory finish left behind. However, if you one day wish to have that shiny black, naturally non-stick finish on your pans, I'd steer clear of this and shop instead for Lodge's "Original Finish" line (which sadly is far outnumbered by the "Lodge Logic" line).
Customer Review: The beginning of a long love
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't remember why I originally bought this. Good reviews, getting back to a simpler lifestyle, was it on sale? I do remember a friend describing the rage she flew into when her roommate soaked her cast-iron skillet in a sink of soap, thereby ruining it. I couldn't imagine a pan that can't be thrown into a dishwasher being something to be proud of, but a few years with this thing has changed my tune.
Sure, some people handwash and press their cloth napkins, but not because it is a chore, but because the ritual of it is part of enjoyment from using the good stuff. Taking pride in a piece of your home that is high quality and lasts for years. This is the sort of thing a good cast iron skillet makes you realize in a day and age of disposable goods.
In a perfect world, we'd all have grandmothers who one day grant us a well-loved perfectly seasoned pan to save us from our initial seasoning errors. Perhaps we've been horrified by the thrift-store abandoned pans covered in orange rust. Luckily, Lodge Logic solves that problem by pre-treating the entire thing before you get it, so you can immediately understand why this material gains a cult-like following. There are a few rules to follow, but they quickly become habit or a zen-like routine.
- No soap.
- Scrape or burn off the old stuff. Rinse with warm water.
- Always dry (I like a still-warm burner to evaporate the water) and smear just enough oil on to make it black and shiny.
Other than that, you'll find fried eggs flip with ease. Steaks get that nice flavorful crust on the edges but cut like butter in the middle. You can blacken salmon and have dinner in 10 minutes flat. You'll buy stainless steel spatulas and find yourself cutting things in the pan while it cooks (usually a death sentence for teflon). You can make the chili on the stove, pour cornbread batter over the top and toss the entire pan into the oven without fear of handles spontaneously combusting.
You'll love it, you'll talk your friends into getting one, and you'll leave that pan out on the stove like a badge of honor shining brighter than a ceiling rack full of glistening copper pots. How many other $10 cooking tools can you say this about?
Just remember to put a few more things on your order to get the free super-saver shipping!
Customer Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
I have 2 pieces of Lodge cast iron cookware. This one and the 12" un-preseasoned skillet which I conditioned myself. I have to add my voice to the chorus of cast iron admirers who don't know how they ever survived without their Lodges. I do about 80% of my cooking with one or the other. Steaks, burgers, any type of sauteed chicken recipe, stir-fry, fajitas, cornbread, bacon and eggs, pancakes, french toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, and on and on.Cast iron's chief strength comes from its massiveness. It is basically a honkin' big hunk of iron formed into a cooking utensil. This large quantity of metal, once heated, will tend to evenly distribute its heat and stay hot no matter what you put into it. Futhermore, once properly conditioned (which Lodge has done for you here), they are almost as non-stick as teflon.
Unfortunately, cast iron is not without its faults. Its greatest strength may also be its greatest weakness in that it is significantly heavier than other types of cookware. This skillet weighs about 6 lbs. Imagine trying to pick that up, plus the weight of whatever you've cooked in it, with one oven-mitted hand so that you can use a spoon in the other hand to help maneuver your recipe into a serving dish or storage container! If you have weak hands or arthritis or any condition that limits your ability to pick up and manipulate heavy objects, it may not be a good choice for you.
Also, iron will rust if not maintained correctly. Lodge provides you with use and care instructions which are not complicated or difficult, but which you MUST follow to the letter. Read the instructions carefully when you get your pan. No dishwasher, no soap (just hot water and a stiff brush), dry quickly and coat with cooking oil.
I've read some reviews where folks are saying that you can't cook tomato-based or acidic products in cast iron. Though it may be true, I've never found an authoritative source to corroborate this and, in fact, Lodge's website (lodgemfg.com) offers recipes that contain tomatoes and acidic ingredients! I regularly put tomatoes, tomato sauce, wine, lemon juice, etc. in my cast iron and haven't seen any ill effects from doing so.
These pans are so inexpensive, it will cost you very little to give them a try. If you do, you'll be singing their praises with the rest of us!
Customer Review: Love it!
Summary: 5 Stars
Like so many others here, I decided to `go back to my roots' when it comes to cookware and have begun using cast iron again. After years of using top of the line nonstick pieces, ultimately no matter how tenderly they were cared for, the pans always lost their nonstick properties due to flaking or scratching. It's a shame to throw-out cookware that cost so much, but it's better than eating nonstick particles. When I began looking at new cookware, I wanted something that was easy to care for and would hold up and so began my search. My search was a quick one the first time I looked at all the Lodge products. I have relatives that are well into their 90's and have been using the same cast iron pans they were given as `hand me downs' or purchased as young adults, so I know cast iron is built to last and with the pre-seasoning of the Logic and Pro Logic line, my purchases became a no brainer! What can I tell you about this pan? Although it came with a few irregular spots of the pre-seasoning around the rim, they were minor and did not interfere with the cooking surface. I used this pan from the get go and love it. Its first use was for a burger - which did not stick,cooked quickly on low to medium heat and was very juicy with all the flavor that using cast iron lends to cooked food. Clean up was a breeze (add a little water while the pan is warm, let it sit, then scrub out with a brush under running water). Just like my mom and grandma before me, I put the pan back on the stove with low heat to dry it, oiled it with a little Pam and it's ready for the next use. My favorite breakfast when I was a kid was fried apples made in a cast iron pan, and as soon as I get the recipe, I'll be making it in this pan and I can't wait.
Here are the pros: very inexpensive, properly used it's absolutely nonstick, easy to care for and will last a lifetime or two or three. Cons: Must lightly oil after cleaning and before using, which means extra calories.
If you're on the fence of purchasing cast iron, this pan is so inexpensive, consider buying it just for a trial run. I think you'll be happy you did.