This is by far the most low maintenance pan I own. People don't believe it when I say it; because most people who don't believe it don't know how to cook. I am sorry if it sounds harsh; truth often is. Now that we have gotten that out of the way; I will try to be as helpful as possible below. As I am an Informations Major; apologies in advance; old habits are hard to break; I will try to put in more information about a cast iron griddle than you ever wanted to know; and more information than you will ever need to know.
~~~~~~ Treatise on Lodge L9OG3 Cast Iron Round Griddle ~~~~~~
1) The Background on why when done properly, cast iron is very non-stick
I make the blanket statement that if you are spending more than 30 seconds cleaning this griddle; you have screwed up. I literally spend less than 10 seconds cleaning this griddle; I use this and the 10.25" (L8SK3) Skillet so often that there is actually no place for them in my cupboard (on purpose), they live on the stove permanently.
Before we get to the cleaning; we need to get to the non-sticking. Let me explain how cast iron seasoning works, and why when done right it's more non-stick than teflon. Cast iron, as the name implies is "cast" into shape. They make a mold (usually out of sand) and then molten iron is poured into the cast. When it has cooled and formed; the mold is removed; and you have (in this case) your griddle. Because the iron is poured in liquid form; there are tiny bubbles and imperfections on the surface. Years ago; Lodge use to sandblast as a final stage to smooth out the surface; they do not do this anymore; but it does not make it any less non-stick. When you pour oil on the cast iron; as it is porous; some oil gets absorbed into the nooks and crannies of the cast iron surface. When you cook something with a fat in it; (or any hydro-carbon) and you overheat it; you essentially burn it. All the gunk burns off and what is left is near pure carbon (why a well seasoned cast iron is deep black). So when you season cast iron; that is what you are doing, you are putting some sort of fat onto it; letting it burn, and leaving only the carbon footprint on the surface. This black surface is called a Patina. Carbon bonds are pretty tough; and so a good Patina will essentially leave the surface of the cast iron with a very thin layer of pure carbon. In a horizontal lattice structure; the bond is strong horizontally; and forms a slippery surface. So before we begin even talking about cleaning; you have to have a good Patina on your griddle. Google "how to season cast iron" and you will come up with a thousand articles and a few thousand Youtube videos.
2) Making your griddle non-stick is the first part of easy cleaning
So you have done your homework; and you have seasoned your griddle. Good! Now here is the secret that nobody is going to tell you but me. Let's say you wanted to make pancakes on this griddle; here's what you do; and if you follow my instructions to the letter; I GUARANTEE you the most non-stick griddle you've ever used.
Let's talk oils:
You want something that can hold up to high heat. Extra Virgin Olive oil is a HORRIBLE choice. Do a search on "smoke point of oil" and take a look at the chart. If you are asking me for a recommendation as far as oil; it would go: Ghee (485F), Pig Lard (370F), Avocado Oil (520F). In that order. You want something that has no solids (so no butter, it burns) and something that has a high smokepoint. Most people use something like grapeseed oil, extra virgin olive oil etc.. and they all will gum up; making your griddle very sticky. Stick with the 3 oils I mentioned above; and you will be fine. (I personally use ghee if available when I cook meats; all other times I use Avocado Oil. If I'm deep frying though; I prefer Lard).
Now here's what you do (Seriously do EXACTLY as I say): You've decided you want pancakes; great. Take your oil or lard, and pour it on the COLD griddle. COLD. Take a paper towel, and rub it all around until its even; a thin light coating. Now go ahead and put the griddle on the stove; and fire it up; on low/medium low heat. With the back side of the same paper towel; as you start to see the griddle sweat oil (and it will) wipe it like you are buffing a car with car wax. Small circles; making sure there are no pools of oil anywhere. Once you think the griddle has stopped sweating; add a little bit of oil (I know, it sounds counter-intuitive as I just wiped oil off; but it's not) and cook your pancakes. They will be SUPER non-stick.
Here's why it works. Remember I said that the cast iron is porous? So when you rub oil on it COLD; the oil will not seep into the crevices. It will sit on top of those crevices. As the griddle gets heated however; the oil will become much lower in viscosity, and flow in and fill those porous surfaces. The excess is seen as "oil sweat". When the griddle is hot; and you've wiped it down well; what you don't see is a very thin layer oil on top of the surface, this is now your non-stick surface! When you add oil; it lubricates the griddle so when you pour pancake batter or something; it will be less likely to stick.
So you are wondering, how is this different than heating up the griddle then adding oil to it? You can answer this for yourself. Heat up a stainless steel pan if you have one. When it's hot; throw a few water drops on it; you will see the water drops dance around. Why? Because the pan is hot; and so when the water touches it; the bottom side vaporizes and causes a mini explosion, sending the droplet into the air. Now what if you had water in the pan and heated it? You'd see the water sizzle but not jump around.
When you heat the griddle; and then add oil; there is heat (and perhaps a little moisture) trapped in the porous surface; and trying to get oil into that surface will NOT happen. The nooks and crannies have hot air trapped in it; so oil can't penetrate into it. So you have a dry griddle with oil floating on top; and when you pour pancake mix; the oil actually PARTS and now you have pancake batter on a hot dry griddle. No wonder your pancakes stick! Doing it my way will super-non-stick your pan. Incidentally; you can do this to a stainless steel pan and get the same effect!
3) Stiff Nylon Brush and Hot water is your friend
If you have followed my instructions above; and have not turned the heat up so high or so long as to burn the griddle completely; and you are finished using it; then cleanup should be a 10 second affair, and not more. Because what you fail to realize until now; is that if you used the method above; you are SEASONING your griddle AS YOU ARE COOKING. So when you are done; the color will be a deeper black; and the griddle will be non-stick (more non-stick!). At this point; go ahead and get hot water running in the sink. When the water is hot; take your griddle over; and under hot running water; scrub vigorously with a stiff nylon brush for 10 seconds. You shouldn't use soap.. EVER! Soap will strip the Patina and possibly rust your pan! If you have done as I taught; your pan will be completely clean in 10 seconds. I know for a fact because I do this everyday. If there is a hard to clean spot; it means you haven't done as I said! Don't worry; pour a little bit of baking soda on that area; and scrub with the nylon brush. That's it! If you ran hot water while doing this; then turn off the water; shake the excess water off; and with a clean paper towel, wipe it dry. While the griddle is warm; go ahead and rub a little bit of oil ALL AROUND (that means bottoms and handles too!) making sure every surface is coated with a very thin layer of oil. Let it sit and rest. Next day; you can if you so choose; wipe off the excess oil as it too will sweat a little bit of oil.
That is it! We eat 20 meals a week at home, and this griddle is involved in at least 18 of them. Do you think I have time to scrub scrub scrub until my elbows creek? Of course not. If the food doesn't taste good cooked from it; then the pan is a fail; regardless of price. If it's not easy to clean; then the pan is a fail. If it doesn't last, it's a fail. If food from it is unhealthy; it's a fail. This pan scores and scores well in all these categories; but ESPECIALLY cleaning! People come over to eat; and see my cast iron skillets and they literally feel bad for me; thinking I'm going to be scrubbing until the cows come home; and are amazed that no pans I own take more than 10 seconds on my part to clean. Having owned cast iron; I can't imagine owning regular pans simply because of the cleaning involved!
4) Why Cast Iron
So we've talked about cleaning; but we haven't talked about why cast iron. If you take a google at the list of thermal conductivity, you will be surprised. Aluminium scores in the 200's, Copper scores a 385, Silver scores a 405, and stainless steel scores a 16. Granite scores a 2. Cast Iron scores a very low 55. So what we can conclude from this information is: There's a reason why a lot of chefs like copper bottom pans; it conducts thermal activity well. There is a reason why some of the stainless steel skillets add an aluminium sandwich core; to increase the thermal conductivity of the pan overall. With a score of 55 though; cast iron is not very thermally conductive. That means it's slow to heat up; but that also means however; once it heats up; it won't cool quickly. This is what you need essentially when you sear something, or if you want to gently heat something. (Tangent; from the chart; this is why a lot of people swear granite rock steak is the best on earth.)
Because cast iron heats slowly; you should really never use anything past a medium heat; heating it too quickly can cause it to crack. So low heat and more warm up time is the better way to go.
So what does all this mean if I'm cooking a steak? Well, it means if I throw a piece of cold meat (incidentally; you should NEVER put a piece of cold steak onto a hot grill or griddle; the meat should be room temp or slightly colder than room temp). It means that when you throw your piece of meat on the griddle; because of the ability of the cast iron the retain its heat; it will not "dump" all the heat into the steak quickly; and the pan itself get cold. This is also why if you cook a steak in an aluminum pan; it scorches. What happens is; when you heat an aluminum pan; and then put a piece of steak on it; with the great thermal conductivity of aluminum; all the heat leaves the pan quickly; so the pan is now cold. The fire underneath then is struggle to bring the pan back up to temp; and by it time it does; the steak has lost all it's moisture through evaporation and there is no searing or browning, you end up with a tough piece of dried steak.
Because cast iron does not dump all it's temp right away; when you put food on cast iron; the surface temperature does not drop dramatically. This means cast iron makes a great material for stir frying as well as deep frying pots. For our review of the griddle here; it means that when we pour cold pancake mix onto this griddle; the surface will not drop in temp dramatically; yielding you perfectly uniform pancakes. If you go to someone's house and they make you pancakes; and the center is very dark and the edges are very light; chances are they used a cheap pan. (My guess; an aluminum bottom with telfon top) This is because as the batter mix is poured into the pan; the pan "was" hot; when the batter touched; the pan dumped all its heat into the initial point of contact with the batter (in this case, batter runs outwards in a concentric circle) so by the time the batter spreads; the pan is already cold, so the flame will attempt to bring the pan back to temp; and thus burning the part that was hot already (the center) and leaving the edges undercooked. This is also why people think pancakes at pancake houses taste better than homemade; because they use a big griddle at the restaurant. Well, now you can do the same.
The other item two items that cast iron offers are something that has come in more of the limelight in the last few years than a few decades ago; and that's health. Cast Iron is made of 100% iron; and so if you have something leech into your food; it would be iron; an essential mineral. Granted it might color your food taste; as well as the actual color; but it is essentially healthy for you. The other item cast iron provides for you is the knowledge that it's a safe product. Compare that with some of the non-stick pans that will give you cancer when you eat it (hey buddy; those aren't pepper flakes, they are scraped up teflon!!) Or aluminum pots and pans; that will give you Alzheimer. No thank you!
5) Low and Slow
Because this griddle is round; and most heating (be it gas or electric) is round; you get very uniform heating. Couple that with the fact that cast iron is fairly uniform heating itself; and this makes for a good pan to heat something that you need heated evenly. I don't own a toaster; why would you if this makes toast that comes out much more uniform; and tastes 10x better? In most toasters; there are strips of wires (heating elements) that run horizontally. They get red hot; and that's is how your toast is toasted. You can see evidence of this by the burn streaks on your toast. When you heat your bread on this griddle however, you have uniform surface contact (assuming your bread is sliced uniformally) and thus you get very good crunch and very even crunch. Couple that with the fact that the bread is being heated on the entire surface all at once; instead of by a few red hot coils; and your toast actually toasts faster on this than in a toaster, and more uniform and more delicious. Put a little butter on it and sprinkle a little bit of garlic powder (or fresh garlic!) and you get garlic bread! Delicious!
This is also perfect for tortillas; which I do every morning. We usually freeze our tortillas; and so coupled with a meat press; I take a frozen tortilla out; put it on this griddle; and press it flat with the lodge meat press. I flip it over in a minute; and give it another minute; put some cheeze on it; a little avocado and whatever leftover meat from dinner; and presto! Taco breakfasts.
With the great even cooking surface; my wife likes to make egg tortillas; crack an egg and beat it; then pour into the skillet and then cover it with a piece of tortilla. The egg will stick to the tortilla and not the griddle! Flip it over; let it cook alittle bit; roll it up; breakfast egg rollers.
Reheating pizza is something I do often on this; I put the pizza on and then put a small piece of aluminum foil over it; have it on low heat; and let it heat low and slow. I cook hamburgers patties on this; and they always come out perfect.
Because of the shallow edges; it's not a good idea to cook anything that has a lot of "juiciness" to it; but anything bread related; this is it! Reheating bread is a cinch; as is heating sandwiches.
6) Accessories
I will recommend a few accessories that pairs quite well with this item. The first recommendation is the lodge meat press (LGP3). Like I said above; I use this to press everything from tortillas to hamburger patties. If you heat it first on the open stove top; you can then cook both sides together at once; like a panini without the grill marks. The second recommendation is a glass lid. I have 6 pots that are between 10.25~10.5" in diameter. I found a very nice glass lid at the thrift store for $1. I changed the knob on it from the plastic to a metal one. This lid fits on all 6 of my pots! The glass allows you to look into the food without lifting the lid, while the lid is quite useful on the 10.25" skillet; I use the lid on this griddle mainly to prevent slashes. My wife uses it when she reheats bread so the bread doesn't dry out so quickly. Remember, while you are heating up the griddle or skillet and you know you will be using the lid; then heat up the lid as well. My third recommendation is the silicone hot handle holders. They help.
7) Full Circle ~ Let us begin at the beginning
So we are back full circle; let me encourage you to buy this piece of kitchen equipment. The price and value in unbeatable, When you first buy this; and ONLY when it's new; I do encourage you to use hot soapy water and a stiff nylon brush to clean the pan thoroughly. It comes out of the factory with a thin film of wax so it doesn't rust, and so that requires a bit of soapy water to get off. Then go ahead and google and follow directions on how to season your pan properly; and season it; and you are ready for action! Most recommend your first official item cooked on this be bacon; and I agree! I do want to stress though what I said above; Ghee; Lard, or Avocado Oil as the three cooking oils of choice. Most vegetable based ones have a low flash point; meaning you will easily burn your oil which becomes carcinogenic, or else they will add a funky taste to your food. I have quite a few pieces of Lodge cookware and I fully intend to Will them to my grandkids. They are beautiful; durable, cooks beautifully; browns beautifully; makes food tastes much better, and the cost is near nothing for what it provides for you and your family. You owe it to yourself and your loved one; and your health and your loved one's health to buy one. If you do what I tell you to do above; you will have the nicest; most non-stick griddle in the world.
8) Bonus: How to save a rusty pan
So a lot of you for some reason have decided to put this in the item in the dishwasher... and now it's super rusty.. never fear, I'm here! How to save your rusty griddle. Go to Walmart; and buy a 2-Liter bottle of regular Coke. (not the sugar free or diet one; regular Coke). Plug your sink up; put the griddle in it; and pour and cover with coke. Set your timer for 5 minutes if it's kind of rusty; and 10 minutes if it's super rusty. When the timer beeps; grab your roll of aluminum foil; about 1 square foot. Now ball it up into a ball. Take your griddle out of the coke solution; 90% of the rust should be gone already. Dab and scrub with the aluminum foil until no more rust. Drain the sink; get the hot water running; and scrub with the stuff nylon brush under hot running water. Congrats, you now have a new griddle! Now season it as you would; and go about your life.
9) Super Bonus: When to clean your pan
There are 3 points in time when you should clean the pan:
1) Right after you cook; while the griddle is ridiculously hot. The food has not stuck onto the pan; and so it's a great time to clean. But ONLY if there is no food left on it.
2) If there are bits of food on the pan, I'd actually wait until the food is almost cool on the pan to scrape and wash the pan. The reason is this: Remember cast iron is low thermal conductivity? Well, when the food is stuck on there; ironically the cast iron continues to slowly cook the food even after you've turned off the heat. Because you aren't adding more heat; the air temp is now cooler than the temp of the pan; so as the moisture slowly leaves the food item because the cast iron is still heating it; the food will CURL UPWARDS because the air is cooler than the pan and that will be the direction of the shrinkage; as well as the pan is slowly burning the food's bottom. So when the food is almost cold; you will find that it isn't stuck so badly as it initially was; because it's dried a bit and now might "flake" a bit when you pick at it, so a hard plastic pan scraper will easily scrape it off. Scrape the large chunks off with the scraper; and then again; back to the stiff nylon brush under hot water.
3) The only time cast iron is super difficult to clean is if there was burn sugar involved. Three ways to attack this: while the griddle is hot; pour some warm water (not cold, you will crack the griddle) on it; let it bubble; and then scrape right away. Second way is to reheat the griddle; let it start almost burning again; and pour some warm water on it; let it bubble for a bit; and then scrape it right away. The Third method is a strange two-stage method. Scrub with a stiff nylon brush; under the hottest water you can. If the sugary parts scrape off; great! If not; don't fret. Stop scrubbing; and dry it with a paper towel. The pan should be warm to the touch still. Leave it on the stove top to cool off overnight; do not put it into a cupboard. The next morning; take a dry pot scraper; and scrape it. The sugary parts will flake and come off. When the pan was warm, it was again slowly drying out the sugars stuck on it. As the sugar dried; it hardened and so next morning; you can "crack" the sugar and remove it easily.
10) Notes, hints, and personals
I recall staying at a relative's house one time; and my wife usually has eggs for breakfast. So the only pan we could find was one of the wunderbrick non-sticks; and so she cooked an egg with it. It tasted so bad that she threw it out. While ingredients make obviously a big difference; a less obvious one is the pots and pans used to cook it. The ability to go from stove to oven without transferring the vessel used; is not to be looked upon lightly. The fact that it will outlast most other pots and pans should not be looked upon lightly either. Our health depends our ability to cook healthy foods and not eating out; and the right pots and pans is a big part of that. If it's difficult to use or produces inferior results; then you will not use it. We have become a people of instant gratification; instant this; instant that. But I have yet to eat at any restaurant; food equal to that which I cook at home. I have control over every aspect from procurement of ingredients to pots and pans used. A lot of people buy cookware because it looks pretty; that is their prerogative but the priority really should be, what does it do for your health? A piece of cookware that is pretty AND functional is great; but if not; I'll settle for functional over pretty any day. What's the point of having a pan that's pretty but burns all your food? What's the point of a pot that is easy clean up but gives you cancer?
Like I noted in the beginning; this was not a review; but a treatise. What we are talking about essentially isn't a piece of cookware; we are talking about quality of life. And a good quality of life begins with health. And health begins with healthy cooking. And healthy cooking begins with a piece of cookware that you are willing to use. One that will provide for you and your family delicious food day after day; week after week; month after month; year after year, generation after generation. I rarely give a product such a glowing endorsement; I have not been paid by anybody; and I bought mine with my hard earned money because I wanted the best for my family. Tortillas and farm fresh eggs for breakfast; this is the cookware we wake up to every morning. It has been an essential part of our lives and I couldn't imagine for the price of a few beers; a better way to build great health for you and your family.
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From the manufacturer
Lodge Cast Iron Fajita Set
Make way for a healthy serving of "oohs" and "aahs" when you bring this showstopper to the table. Crafted in America with iron and oil, its naturally seasoned cooking surface is ready to help you cook and deliver meals to the table for memories that will last a lifetime. Seasoned and ready to use.
- Seasoned with 100% natural vegetable oil
- Unparalleled heat retention and even heating
- Safe to use indoors and outdoors
- Cast iron and underliner made in the USA
- Handle holder made in China
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nomad
disappeared for awhile
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 18, 2021Style: RectangleVerified Purchase
nomad
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 18, 2021
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Noe Araujo Monsalvo
Excelente para una parrillada personal.
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