I will break this review up into a few parts:
First, for the novice chef and/or paleo man/woman.
Buy this grill, and buy yourself a bottle of "McCormick Montreal Seasoning". Now go buy as expensive piece of steak as you can afford. Heat the grill on medium, for about 4 minutes. Make sure the steak is room temp. Pat dry with paper towel. Rub a little olive oil on it so the seasoning will stick; then liberally sprinkle Montreal Seasoning on it. Put on grill. Cook to desired done-ness. You are now a better "cook" than 90% of Americans. If you are daring, also buy some "Old Bay" seasoning; my rule is generally, Old bay for softer non-root vegetables, seafood, and chicken. Montreal Seasoning for root vegetables, and red meat. This grill, Montreal Seasoning, and Old Bay seasoning, you are now a better chef than 94% of Americans. If that is all you wanted to know, you can stop reading this review here.
Nerd stuff:
Grill vs Griddle for cooking a steak; I use to cook my steaks on a griddle; but I have now switched a a grill. Let me give you a little bit of science behind it. When you cook a steak on a griddle, you get (near) full surface contact and so cooking time is a lot less. You sear the meat well, but you usually end up with a slightly tougher piece of meat but less cooking time because your contact patch is almost 100%. With the grill, the surface contact are just the grill marks; this has some effects that aid and assist in the tastiness of a steak. First, it leaves grill marks. So visually superior already to a griddle. Second, and perhaps the most important; as fat drips off; mixed with whatever seasoning you happen to be using or no seasoning at all; it drips into the "valleys" of the grill, and as it's heated, the fat starts to smoke and that smoke is sent up towards your steak, so you get a bit of smokiness that you don't get from a griddle. Third, because you aren't having a full surface contact like a griddle, your "latitude" of when a steak is done vs burnt is slightly longer. Your "buffer zone" for steak done-ness is slightly longer. This applies to your flame control as well; it's a bit more forgiving than a griddle. Finally, as the juices drip and are trapped in the grill valleys, and then are heated up and evaporate; they keep your steaks slightly more moisturized.
How I learned to love this grill:
I really loved this grill the first time I bought it. It seared well, made the good marks, and tasted great. Five stars, five stars! I screamed after my first steak from it. But when I finished my five star steak; and I had to CLEAN it; I was cussing and yelling "zero stars, zero stars". And so I cleaned it, tucked it away in the back of the pantry, and it did not see the light of day for YEARS. Who cares how good food tasted on it, if the cleaning negated all the good will from the food? So one day, while waiting at some office; I see a now overweight Jamie Oliver on TV, and he's grilling something. "You are only pushing a grill because when you are done, you have staff that cleans it for you." I silently thought as I watched him grill. When he finished though; he proceeded to clean the grill... on tv! And my jaw dropped as I watched him clean the grill to a brand-new condition without a lot of elbow grease and it about 20 seconds! So I'm going to share with you the very secret that made me fall in love with this grill all over again. Because the taste from it was never in question; it was always the cleaning!
2 x 20 Second cleaning this grill guide:
There are two methods, and I will share both here.
Method 1) When you are finished using the grill; and while the grill is still on the heat; slowly pour a SMALL AMOUNT of ROOM TEMP water (if you pour ice water, or very cold water, you might crack it). Let it boil and bubble for about 30 seconds,move gunk around with a spatula, chopsticks, or whatever you have. Then turn off heat. Now take it to the sink, under hot running water, use a stiff nylon brush and scrub it. You can't "scratch it or hurt it" so don't worry about it. Scrub under hot running water, it should be all done. Wipe dry; then dab with oil, wipe the oil so that every part is oiled, store away for next time use.
Method 2) (The Jamie Oliver Way) This works if Method 1 has failed, or if you cooked, ate, and then came back to clean up later.. pour course salt (about a cup) onto the grill. (COURSE SALT PEOPLE, not fine salt) The salt will instantly absorb the grease and oil, and it acts as "scrubbing roughage". Now take a piece of paper towel; fold it and keep folding it until it's the size of a business card. Use that to scrub the salt on the grill. All the gunk will automagically be removed. When you are done, rinse under hot water; then paper towel dry. Then oil.
Having learned out to spend less than 1 minute to clean this skillet; it is now one of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment.
Cooking Tips:
Place your food at a 45 degree bias on the grill; so your food is on a slat to the grill marks like this / / / / / not like | | | | |. When you flip it; go ahead and flip it. The next time you flip it though, reposition it so that it's 45 degrees the other way like this \ \ \ \ \. Then go ahead and flip it again. Plan for a total of 1 initial placement and 3 flips, so that each side has been on the cooking surface TWICE; once placed like / and the other time placed like \. This way, you will get the nice "X" grill marks on your food.
Preheat it well; because the total surface area that comes in contact is not as much as you think it is; so give it a good 4~5 minutes of preheating; at least.
Love, Marriage, Steaks:
I once cooked a steak for a girl, and SHE MARRIED ME. While I cannot post my recipe for the best steak in the world here, as it's a 7+ page dissertation; I can tell you that I make the best steak in the world and I make it on this grill. I know some of you will argue that such and such steakhouse is the best in the world etc.. but it's not. My steak is the best; ask yourself, how many of those steaks are so good that it would make a girl marry you? I have eaten at the best steakhouses in the world; and I can tell you that if you have access to a good quality piece of meat; with this grill and some skills; you will be able to make a better piece of steak. My steaks have a slight salty crunch on the outside; soft, tender, and so juicy and flavorful you'd think a geyser exploded in your mouth. There are very few items in your life and lifetime that you can purchase for <$50 that will be with you for the rest of your life. This however, is one of those items. That's great and all you say, but what if you are a vegetarian? This is the perfect grill as well. I grill king oyster mushrooms with a little Montreal seasoning on it. AMAZING. Any vegetable you have; rub a little olive oil on it, sprinkle a little Old Bay or Montreal Season on it; and it becomes magic.
If you want a piece of kitchen equipment that:
Might stop a bullet
Gives you beautiful steaks
Gives you beautiful vegetables
Is easy to clean
Is healthy to cook on, unlike the chemical ladened non-stick stuff
Sears beautifully
Gives you those great grill marks
Makes food taste like food again
Makes others think you went to culinary school
Done right, will make a woman marry you
This is the item.
TEN STARS.
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Very versatile grill pan. Perfect at home, van life and camping. Definitely worth buying!
I bought my Lodge Pro-Logic 12 Inch Square Cast Iron Griddle from Amazon last April 27, 2018 and I have been using this pan almost everyday. Despite it's weight (7.33 lbs) I bring this griddle every where we go - Camping, Van Life, Road trip, fishing!!! I love that I can use it no matter what kind of meal I am cooking. It is such a huge help for me in breakfast specially coz I can cook a LOT of bacon and still have space for my eggs. I get to make toast even if we are out camping.It is very versatile coz I get to grill/pan fry a whole fish and we get to enjoy a steak even without a grill.I have been making my fresh flour tortilla, pancakes, Jianbing (a Chinese breakfast famous in Beijing), pita bread, quesadilla, grilled or oven made pizza and so much more.This is my go-to pan for most of the dish I make.The Lodge Pro-Logic 12 Inch Square Cast Iron Griddle arrived pre-seasoned BUT I rinse it first with water, wiped it dry and put some shortening (any fat or oil will do) and baked it in the oven for awhile to make sure it is seasoned the way I want it to.As you can see from my photo is it seasoned well now. What I love about the cast iron pan is that it gets better over time, they will last a lifetime if you know how to take care of them, they don't omit harmful fumes when heated (unlike those non-stick pans) and lastly they are made in USA.A must have in your kitchen. Highly recommend it.
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