Lodge 10.25 Inch Cast Iron Skillet, Teardrop Handle

If you haven’t already taken the leap into cast iron you should think about it. First off the pan is cheap, durable and generally non-stick. Does this mean nothing will stick to this pan? No but if you have the right temperature and use the right amount of fat/oil when cooking and take care of this pan it will take care of you. I would say this pan excels at proteins first and foremost. I have cooked bacon, eggs and pancakes right after one another and nothing stuck to this pan. I would say vegetables are also a favorite in this pan as well because of the great flavor this pan helps create through the oil and char you can achieve with this pan.

If you are the type of person that cooks and then puts the pans in the sink for a later time then cast iron might not be for you but I have left this pan in a sink for a few hours or on the stove top overnight and cleaned the next day so it is worth a shot. If you are the type of person who lets pans soak in water overnight or puts them immediately into a dishwasher for cleaning then this pan is definitely not for you unless you are willing to make an exception with this pan.

Did I have immediate success with this pan right away? No I didn’t. I had food stick and I had issues with cleaning the pan and reseasoning the pan and had to look for advice on the internet to solve my issues because not many people use cast iron so I couldn’t ask them.

Some of my mistakes were simple ones to make as I have always used either stainless steel or non-stick pans. I didn’t wait long enough for the pan to heat up. Take it easy and heat this pan up on medium before you start cooking. Don’t think this amount of iron will be hot in 5 minutes. You may need to wait 15 minutes to get this pan heated evenly but I would say put the pan on the heat before you start your prep. The next issue is using enough oil. You don’t need a ton of oil but you should use a healthy amount. If you are frying then yea sure use a ton of oil but generally your food doesn’t need to be swimming in oil but coat the bottom of the pan. I would advise against using black pepper on your steak if searing. The high temps will burn the pepper causing smoke and burnt flavor on your steak. You are better off using just salt before cooking and fresh cracked pepper afterwards. Acidic food like tomatoes are okay in the pan but make sure you have a well seasoned pan. I would stay away from sauces but cut up tomatoes in the pan for your first few uses should be fine. You need to build a good layer first before tackling sauces. This pan excels at bacon and frying so if you are in the mood to do either this pan will be your best friend. The pan is shallow so it isn’t meant for deep frying but I have done fish and chicken where I had to flip and it worked great.

Also take care of this pan. Scrub it down with soap and water. Yes you can use soap I do all the time but I also rinse thoroughly and dry immediately over heat and spread another thin, thin, thin layer of oil on it too. Every other month or so I give it a good scrubbing and then apply a light coat of oil and stick in a 500 degree oven, upside-down for an hour or so and then turn off the oven and let it cool. This adds additional seasoning to the pan. You can overseason the pan which I have done and all I did was heat, scrub, wash which eliminated most of the excess seasoning. A salt scrub can help as well or if you really are in the weeds you can get a more aggressive scour pad and remove all the seasoning and start from scratch. Shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes to strip and then dry. The time in the oven will be what takes the most time but at that point its set and forget. You just need multiple layers so it will need a lot of oven time like 6 hours or more depending on your diligence.

The best advice is keep cooking and don’t be afraid to experiment, keep the temperature lower than you think you need and don’t rush the food it will be done when it is done.

Here I am, making tomato based sauces in a cast iron pan. Nothing stuck and cleaning was just wipe it out.
Cooks beautifully. My new favorite.

After I learned to season it quick like 7 times, and started using a bush and cup with a dap of oil on the side I kept around to wipe with oil when done, and learned to due to size I needed to have rag on edge of sink when dumping out water, and then I often but not always heat up water in electric kettle to pour in when done cooking in order to not shock it. I find after all this that I actually do basically no scrubbing, just a bit of scraping with the metal spatula while the hot water is in it. And then I use a silicone handle on one side I had gotten and I want to get the other side for the silicone side to hold but I just use a pot holder for the other side, thicker one. But I find now that this is an ideal pan to cook everything and anything and many things. I just leave it on top of my stove for daily use. And the weight, for the same reason a mechanics arms are big while not lifting, their muscles are big purely due to making the same motion every day repetitively with the wrench. It’s called a hermetic stressor, the same way weight session (more stressful obviously) and a hot sauna, cold plunge, run, etc, are all good forms of stress that cause adaptation, So to does this just cause you to lift a heavier pot a few times a day as you cook. For vast majority of us it’s nothing. But I told my mom for instance that she should use it and she complained how heavy it was, and my brutal honest response was “that’s exactly why you need to be using it because it’s not like you are working out”. It won’t make you buff, just a bit heavier than a similiar size pan, but for the older crowd who find it important to get their exercises in at the pool and such, this is no different. Plus, once I learned to clean efficiently and season a couple times, it’s a god send of a pan. I love it. I just want to put that “it’s too heavy” criticisism that comes with cast iron in a new light. Your body adapts, allow it too gradually. I will at some point be adding a top to this, I just haven’t decided if I need to get the lodge glass one which would be nice or a silicone one for this, or just a cast iron one to keep the theme and look and durability forever. (Glass and silicone could both break in different ways). I do love this pan as I will admit, one of the reason I got this pan, being some one who can be hard on things by temperment, after knowing roughly how to care for this pan, I also have a lisence to absolutely abuse it and can’t scratch it or anything. Because once you have researched a couple of ways to take rust off and to totally reseason and recondition an old used on for instance, you have the confidence to own this the rest of your life and not ever feel like your going to rune it. I’m also strategically lazy, I call efficient, my mom thinks different, lol, but anyway, the fastest way to clean any pan is with hot water right when done cooking as it burns and melts stuff right off, I can do that with this without worrying how it affects coatings or anything and I can do that to kingdom come. I just try to throw water from kettle on it ideally but not always. Again, the point of these pans is the amazing non stick coating that develops after use and learning to season a few more times your self, but that you can absolutely abuse these pans and know they will last. There is a certain security that’s nice to feel with knowing that. The fact that it has a great non stick that develops after some use and is durable Af, I’m in love.

Plus ever seen those videos on YouTube about how baking/pizza steel beats baking/pizza stones every time because of how the metal works vs the ceramic of the stone. It just hit me that this pan is also big enough to make a 15 inch pizza, and when making one for one to a few people depending how thick it is, that’s a good size to use as a pizza steel in the oven. I do even ti ally want a baking steel as I even learned you can leave those in your oven as it helps regulate the temperature in oven by functioning as a ballast in your oven. Don’t even have to clean those. Just let the oven burn stuff off. None the less, till then this will work as a great pizza steel surface too.

++. I don’t have much sense of smell, a bit impulsive so I tottally would put it on “HIGH” on the stove every time. Might turn it down at times but it always creates smoke which didn’t matter to me, but got my mom has the higher disgust sensitivity (these two traits in the house do not get along well) anyway, I out of impatience realized I had a habit of heating it up quickly on high, Then I realized I tested how long it takes to smoke with the oil I was using to season it after each cook. I timed how long on high, waited till room temp, tested how long on medium, etc. Did this for any cast iron and carbon steel pans I have too. And in this one I can get away on our gas burner stove on high:

High Canola 400°-450° 4m 34s
Medium Canola 400°-450° 6m 43s
400°-450°=smoke point at which smoke appears as the oil is actually starting to burn (note health wise causing this isn’t healthy so avoid normally by following these instructions). You can do the same test on your stove with your seasoning pans. And now I just run it for 3mins on high but then turn to medium or lower. Could probably get away with 3:30 duration on high. But this way you can cook at medium or a tad lower after.

My mother used to have one for years so I grew up with one and decided to get one. I love it. It’s so easy to take care of. Food does not stick if it’s kept oiled and food cooks perfectly. I was tired of always having my stainless steel pans turning black and brown from burned on oils and fats. Not a problem with this pan (probably because I can’t see it). I also bought a Lodge silicone handle cover that I keep on it because the handle gets as hot as the pan. The silicone handle works great. It is loose but it’s not a problem. This pan is very heavy so if that will be an issue then don’t buy it.

Die Lodge Bratpfanne ist einfach unschlagbar! Mit einem Durchmesser von 26 cm ist sie perfekt für alle Arten von Gerichten, egal ob zum Braten, Schmoren oder Backen. Das Gusseisen sorgt für eine hervorragende Wärmespeicherung und gleichmäßige Hitzeverteilung, was jedes Gericht perfekt gelingen lässt. Die Pfanne ist extrem robust und wird mit der richtigen Pflege ein Leben lang halten. Sie ist bereits eingebrannt und somit sofort einsatzbereit. Ein echtes Must-have für jeden, der Wert auf Qualität in der Küche legt!