Side by Side Comparison of: Lodge

Well, I love cast iron, so I naturally think this is bomb. There are times when I would like to "grill" something on the stove and not mess with the BBQ grill. Quick burger or hot dogs, steak, chops, chicken breast, etc. I don't use it a lot, because I do use my grill most of the time, but it is nice to have around for the odd time out when it's nasty outside or I am feeling lazy. Another fine quality piece from Lodge.

I was looking for an alternative to outdoor grilling. I have an induction cooktop and was concerned about having the pan work on it. Not to worry, works fine. (I don't think the reversible grill/pancake griddle will not work with induction cooktops - not enough contact with grill side down.) Nice to have the grill marks on food you're cooking - better presentation. You must let the grill heat up fully to get the marks and total cooking time will require a little experimentation but this works very well. I have also used a plain cast iron fry pan for steaks - not as esthetic but more searing - probably a matter of taste as to what you prefer.

Returned it right away , Lodge is a great productReturned as it is way too heavy for my Mom 83yo

Quality cast iron skillet for a great price !! Used it to make steaks and they came out perfect. Seared the meat and stuck it in the oven and the steaks were as good as any steakhouse. The skillet was easy to clean, and isn't ridiculously heavy like you would find in other cast iron skillets.

Unit was nicely seasoned on arrival. It's a bit heavy of course but it holds lots of heat, leaving nice grill marks on the food. And it's much easier to control the temperature on the range (mine is gas). We have been using it a few times a week and have been impressed with how well a job it does with minimal sticking. I also purchased the silicone handle cover; you don't want to accidentally grab the handle when it's hot! Also picked up the Lodge LPP3 panini press which I heat separately and use it on top of foods for faster cooking.Beware that you will produce smoke when grilling indoors so you may want to open a window or two! I set off my smoke alarms a few times.The Lodge plastic scrapers and cleaning brush are also handy for cleanup. I don't use any soap on this grill but I do rinse it off with hot water and brush it gently with the bristle brush. Then I heat it a little to dry it off to prevent any rusting, coat it with a very thin coating of cooking oil before putting it away.

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 bulletGives you beautiful steaksGives you beautiful vegetablesIs easy to cleanIs healthy to cook on, unlike the chemical ladened non-stick stuffSears beautifullyGives you those great grill marksMakes food taste like food againMakes others think you went to culinary schoolDone right, will make a woman marry youThis is the item.TEN STARS.

These work great. I can use it on the cast iron pans, baking stones and coated pans. Ridges help to get into small areas. They have been very durable.

Love these scrapers, They fit the groves and ridges of my Lodge Grill Pan perfectly! I like that they are nice and stiff for cleaning even the tough grilling residue after charring my steaks. I've used these scrapers to clean between the groves after cooking juicy hamburgers, rib-eye steaks, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, and chicken thighs so far. These nifty scrapers clean the groves without harming my cured cast iron surface. Not only are these scrappers effective cleaning tools, they are also properly designed to fit most any hand I would think. Anytime I order Lodge products they are delivered here at my doorstep ahead of schedule often times. But never late. Great product, great seller with good customer service by the fast delivery.

I bought these for my husband. He's been really into the Lodge brand and cast iron through grilling season. However I've found I love these on my stainless pans too! We scramble a lot of eggs and no matter what I do I can't get through making eggs without a stuck on mess. I HATE doing dishes and HATE hearing scraping on my stainless pans. The plain/rounded edge does an awesome job peeling up that stuck on egg so I can put my pan in the dishwasher with no worries.

These are perfect for scraping my cast iron skillets and griddle! The notches fit perfectly on the ribbed grill side of the griddle which helps remove cooked-on food particles, and the rounded corner works great on bottom edge of the skillet. These are a must for anyone who cooks with cast iron!

I purchased these scrapers to use with my Lodge griddle. I am new to cooking with cast iron, but I found these very easy to use and quite effective. I primarily use the flat side, but the grooved side is handy as well.

These scrapers are a must-have for Lodge pans that have a ridged bottom. They make clean-up a breeze. I used to try using a sponge or a scrubber, but nothing gets into the grooves like these scrapers. The curved part gets into the "corners" of the pan, too. The scrapers get off stuck-on food, but don't disturb the seasoning.The package has 2, but I'm only using one. I guess eventually it'll wear out or something and I'll start using the other.

My husband loves the grill. I find it very heavy but I know cast iron is and should not be surprised. If you need items that are lighter in weight, you should reconsider this grill, that is why I gave it four stars. The hot handle holder really helps and the grill pan scrappers are a must.

love the grill marks, and the grease dripping in the grooves. harder to clean than a regular pan, a tradeoff for what it does

It has taken a while, but....To be truthful.. I do not use this pan a lotWhen we grill outside, we use the grill plates on the grillSo maybe, I have used this 8 or 10 times. All; for stove top or stove top-to-oven.While you go thru the process of SEASONING the pan, be sure to use Loge Pan Scraper as the abrasive and a few drops of DAWN.The pan will "come around" and will be wonderful!

The bacon has been delicious but beware the handle gets super hot even with a rubber cover. Comes preseasonsed but you still need to season a bit to make it nonstick. I've also grilled flatbread on it and family feedback was great!

Nice big pan.. big enough for 4 whole butterfly split chicken breasts, probably 4 large burgers. Only 2 drawbacks- you'll need 2 oven mitts to handle it if you have to move while hot, it's way too heavy to pick up by just the one handle. Also, you need a big powerful burner or the edges may not get hot enough. I've just been cooking my chicken by flipping the outer-side to the middle after the first sear.No big complaints- great product by Lodge as usual. This is my 3rd pan from them.

I watched a episode of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" about choosing and using these kinds of grills. This model was as close to the one he recommended as I could afford based on how often I planned on using it.The bottom of the grill could "probably" benefit from a quick sanding/polish with a belt sander justto to make sure it doesn't scratch glass top stoves, but I didn't and after 10 uses it has not scratched anything...but I have been careful.Says pre-seasoned, so I used it with just a cursory rinse off as directed and was disapointed with smells and sticky grates. I thouroughly cleaned and reseasoned it correctly before the 2nd use and it works great.The rounded grill tops conduct much more heat to the meat than the sharp edged ridges of other models. (Conduction -vs- convection) The low sides make it easier to get a spatula under (you're not gonna be deep frying with it anyway).To Use: Slightly heat the grill on low, then wipe any extra oil off before it starts to smoke. Then sprinkle a Cup of Kosher Salt into the grooves. (They don't burn...they are rocks!) but they soak up the extra grease and vaporize it back up into the meat.I've learned by trial an error to keep the burner no higher than medium. Meat cooks a LOT quicker than on an outdoor grill or a teflon saute pan!!! You'll still get good grill marks, but not overcook, and it cuts down on the smoking. (You DO have a downdraft fan on your stove right?!?) Plus the grease soaked salt wipes out easier when it cools some.I use a bronze bristle, wooden handle bruch to knock the majority of salt/grease into the garbage can, the put the grill back on the stove, put it on high and add enough water to come up about halfway. When it started bubbling, turn off the heat, and scrub with the bronze brush to loosen any stuck pieces, and remove from heat. When cool enough to handle, pour the used greasy salt water in the garbage, not down the drain. Wipe the grill down with a clean paper towels, then with a paper towel slightly moistened with bacon grease or your favorite oil, cooking surface only.I store my grill and all my other ironware in the bottom grill of my oven and leave it in there wheneve I use the oven. Not only does it help season the iron, the extra mass in the hotbox really holds heat and keeps the temp steady when you open the door.Wish list: I wish the pan came with a silicon heatproof handle cover for both sides.It's a good quality item for the price IF you treat it right and learn to use it. A lot less work than cooking outdoor on a gas grill, same flavor and colors.

the only thing better is that awful chain male to scrub your cast iron pan. that it can also be used on a grill rack made this a no brain-er to buy.

Works great for scraping off gunk that has begun to harden onto my cast iron pan without having to soak/remove my seasoning. The grooves are great for grill pans while the curved side works well on my other skillets. A two pack for $3 is as good of a price as you'll find anywhere, too.

These work really well for cast iron pans or cookie sheets but it would be better to have another edge w/ a smaller radius than the big one but more of a radius than the 90 degree corners. That would make it easier to clean around the inside edges of the pan.

I have one of the Lodge ridged cast iron pans, and using this scraper definitely makes cleaning much easier. I'd say they could only be better if the smaller teeth were just a bit wider so it could scrape the sides of the ridges, but a little wiggling around gets the job done. Well worth the few bucks for an add-on.

I bought these because they were in the 'is often bought with' section when I purchased my Cuisinart Griddler. These were fairly inexpensive, but nice quality. My only complaint is that the 'tongues' don't really fit the 'grooves' of my griddler plates... the big side is too big, the small side is too small, so it really only cleans about 2/3 of the width of the grooves. This definitely isn't a flaw in the product, but I wish they had made the 2nd one slightly different to accommodate other pans/plates - instead they are both exactly the same. I don't really need two that are exactly the same.

Great! has 2 different widths so fits different grill pans with different width and depth of ridges. It doesn't hurt teflon or ceramic grill pan surfaces, and is wonderful on cast iron. Just wish it had a longer profile or handle so I don't get my fingers so close to the hot grilled veggies and hot pan surface, but it's totally workable if I just pay attention so as not to burn a finger. Helps with hand washing the grill pans too! Makes cleaning them so much faster and easier.

d

Smokes so much even inside the oven it sets off the smoke detector.

It weighs a ton ...I have to leave it on stove because I can't pick it up!

cleaning is a bear

This pan is extremely sturdy and great for cooking steak and chicken. It gives great sear marks and does its job as expected. However, it is really difficult to clean and a little on the heavy side. Over cleaning it leads to discoloration.

I have a Induction stove, so Cast Iron is my friend. Unfortunately with the low sides on this pan when you are grilling something with it, it splatters everywhere. It does do well with placing grill marks, but the grooves are a pain to clean. I have had it for awhile and once grilling season started this thing didn't see the light of day.I thought that once the snow hit the ground I would be using it more, but it is just a little bit too small (barely holds two good sized steaks) and too much of a mess for me to be bothered with it.

Being that these are true Lodge products, I figured that they would have been a bit flexible....but instead they are almost the hardest plastic known to man which I can see being an issue after extended amount of uses.

very difficult to review this, i have used it a few times and it is good at scraping out my lodge cast iron griddle/range grill, but it doesn't really clean anything. it can get bulk out if there is bulk, which there rarely is, but to scrub out between the "grill" you gotta use good old fashioned elbow grease and likely a butter knife or something wrapped in a cloth, my fingers sure aren't getting in there, and i am not leaving anything there to sour. it ALMOST does what you want it to do.

The little nibs do not reach the bottom of the grill pan - they are helpful to get the sides of the ridges, but I still have to scrub with a brush to get the bottom. I do like using the rounded side for my normal cast iron pans.-----[...]! :)

I thought these would be flexible, but they're not. Just hard plastic squares. They do what they're meant to do, but I can't say I would buy these again. I can find about anything I already own to do the same job as these. I thought they were "special" scrapers, but they're just chunks of plastic.

This scraper is the "crucial" companion to your cast iron cookware as they'd like you to believe. It does what they say it does, for the most part.The reason I purchased this in particular was to scrape out gunk from between the raised parts of my two grill pans. Unfortunately the tines that are designed specifically for this purpose are not long enough to effectively remove gunk from inside the pan. The only way for it to reach the bottom of the pan is to hold the scraper perpendicular to the pan, which is an incredibly awkward angle to try and scrape.This is a decent product, but I feel there are better alternatives on the market.

This is the only style of these I've ever purchased. I am interested in seeing if there are others out there that can help break off the stock on charred project left on my grill. But as a home user style. This would be quite sufficient

No matter how much you oil this pan, everything sticks. I have other cast iron products, this does not measure up

Very heavy and hard to work with!! No plastic on the handle so the handle gets so hot!!

Very heavy. Food gets stuck in grooves

Having used it a few times I find I do not like this grill. Here are the reasons why. One it is much bigger than I though it was going to be. My fault, I should of put a tape measure across my burner to check size fit. Because of its size including both handles, I can not use the burners on the side or behind it. The grill overflows into their space. Woo, it is really heavy, takes 2 hands to move it. The sides are to low. I like to grill vegetables. In trying to remove them from the grill with a metal spatula , they keep getting pushed off the grill when I try to scoop them up. So I have to use two , one to hold back and one to scoop up. I really am thinking of returning it , if I can since I use it .

A pain in the neck to clean. Normally with my regular cast iron skillet I boil water in it after cooking and just wipe it down. This has me wishing I just replaced my George Foreman grill instead as it takes a lot of scrubbing to get food to come off. I will try re-seasoning it.

I have had cast iron pans my entire adult life so care and cleaning was not an issue for me. But this pan is a PISA. Every time I have used this pan the food has stuck. I have reseasoned this pan using the traditional method not once but twice and after the second time I grilled pork cutlets and they stuck all over the place. This pan is truely a mystery to me as to why it won't season but it heading to the Goodwill store and I am here tonight to buy a nonstick grill pan.Bottom line, I wouldn't purchase this pan again.

I am not impressed with this item. Although this is a sturdy product, I am not happy with the way it scrapes and I feel it very much needs improvement. I have another brand (of flat type pot scrapers) that works much better, even for grills. I would not buy this item again and I would not recommend it.

They don't scrape off cheese or meat crust as well as I expected!

These don't work. The grooves don't even fit the grooves on the electric grill. Flimsy! Hard to hold and use.

With all the good reviews, it should be very good.As a test, fry a steak in a lodge cast iron pan, then try to scrape off the residue with the Lodge scrapper. It did not clean good. After multiple running in warm water, heating up the pan again, etc. The scrapper still did not do a good job. Got mad and just use a steel wool scrubber, which did the job.

These don't seem to do the trick. They aren't sturdy enough to get the really tough stuff off, and when I heated the pan a bit to loosed the stuck-on bits, the ends of the scraper melted. Please make these at least as heat-resistant as a normal spatula.

Didn't find these to be that helpful. They didn't seem to fit exactly between the grill sections, and you're supposed to use them when the grill is still slightly warm,so they partially melted. I'll just scrape the grill down with a metal spatula like I have before. ( Grill brushes scare me, especially after seeing a news clip on how tiny metal particles can come off of them and can be swallowed by people who then have gotten serious internal injuries.)

Let me preface this review by saying that I work in a restaurant where we use Lodge cast iron pans every day. What's great about the cast iron pans is we can cook something, pour a little water into the pan, wipe it out, and it's ready to go again. I also have several Lodge pans at home.I received this grill pan a few days ago, and used it for the first time yesterday. I grilled some bread, poured a little water on it to clean it before the next batch of food, aaaaaaand the pan cracked. Blah.Maybe it was defective? That's why I'm giving it one star. I actually really like the size and shape of the pan, but I was hoping it would stand up to a reasonable level of use.

Worst ever it's supposed to be a seasoned pan and it's definitely not. Terrible waste of money. Not at all what it claims to be

I got to use it only once. After hearing the grill for about five minutes, my steak immediately stuck to the surface like it had been cemented there, so I have to question the pre-seasoning claim. The steak ultimately cooked nicely, though it took forever and turned my apartment into a smoke chamber.If you like to cook with rubs, be prepared for an insane level of smoke and a difficult cleaning experience. After cooking, I immediately poured hot water onto the surface. After eating, I cleaned the surface with salt and coated very lightly with olive oil. Two days later, this thing is covered in rust and is unusable to me. So... that was one very expensive steak.Ultimately, I see no advantage at all over using a flat-bottom pan, except aesthetics (the grill does yield nice char lines). I wasted my money on this thing.

After one week of using it got lots of rust

Looked new, but one part of the pan was rusted on the side. Tried to post a picture, but amazon is saying my review could not be posted due to content?

I have purchased so many products from Lodge that I am happy with, so I am really surprised that I have to write this type of review.This grill pan looked beautiful out of the box, just like all of my prior Lodge purchases from Amazon. I cleaned it, rubbed it down with vegetable oil in the inside (always do this with iron products after use to maintain seasoning and stop rusting), and placed it in my cabinet.Since I don't use a grill pan often, it was weeks before I used it. So, it is my fault that I am past the point of returning it to Amazon. Amazon has the best return policies so it's definitely not their fault.My "what were you thinking" moment was after I used it. Thus, even though I never had a problem with a Lodge product, I still should have used it in time to return it.I grilled steaks, and those turned out beautiful. I had grill marks. I was able to control temperature with the plan. It only covered one eye on my stove. I really have no problem with cooking performance.The problem was I could not clean the pan after. The pan was ruined. I even tried soaking for days (since I knew I could not return it -- even though I knew soaking doesn't work because you really don't want the pan in water--rust).In the end, the pan was unsalvageable as the food never came off! I threw it away.

Unnecessary junk. Period. I'm new to cast iron and thought I needed these and one of those chainmail scrubber things to deal with the painful downside of cast iron - cleaning it after use, WRONG. The ABSOLUTE BEST way to clean any cast iron pan is a cheap box of salt, some warm water, and a rag or a couple paper towels, oh, and time and elbow grease and a growing appreciation for the classic functionality and cooking forgiveness of cast iron. Pour in a small pile of salt, a splash or water to keep it together and in the pan, and start rubbing away the crud like magic, then rinse it out, maybe repeat if needed, heat it on the oven for a couple minutes to dry, wipe on some olive oil, and done. These things? Completely unnecessary and useless compared to the salt scrub method. No they don't fit the grill pan grates, they don't remove stuck on crud without sending it flying across the kitchen and landing who knows where, and they are less than worthless after using the salt scrub method with ease.

These are shown together with a Vremi cast iron grill skillet, yet the spacing of the teeth on either edge of this product do not align with the grill grooves of the skillet, are are therefore a useless waste of money for me.

Wasted my money, does not work at all.

Fine

Don't buy !! absolute waste of money , they are soft plastic , they melt if the pan is hot , they wear down Very Fast .

I have a lodge pan so I thought these grooves would fit. Unfortunately they do not and i end up having to use the edge to clean one groove at a time.