3 Comments on “Lodge L8SGP3 Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Square Grill Pan, 10.5-inch Review
  1. 703 of 720 people found the following review helpful
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Does a good job, things to be aware of …, August 12, 2006
    By 
    Kevin K. Fosler
    (REAL NAME)
      

    Verified Purchase(What’s this?)
    This review is from: Lodge L8SGP3 Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Square Grill Pan, 10.5-inch (Kitchen)
    I just cooked a thick ribeye steak using this grill. It’s the first thing that I have cooked on it. Similar to a cast iron frying pan that I have, this generates a lot of “smoke”. I had to take the battery out of my smoke detector, and open windows. I think I cooked it at a slightly higher temperature than I needed to. If smoke is a problem, think twice about buying this.

    The result is the best steak I have ever cooked indoors. It beats any electric grill I have ever used, and it beats the George Foreman grill hands down. I would say that the results are almost restaurant quality. I look forward to cooking hamburgers within the next day or so.

    I think this would work better with slightly less thick cuts of meat. Even at high heat it took longer than it would have taken on a grill. During the cooking I put a metal lid over the pan to control splattering.

    I think it will be a breeze to clean. Oiling it after cleaning, with the ridges, will be a little more work than for smoother surfaces.

    Because the ridges are so high, the grill does a great job of cooking away from the fat, and probably (my guess) does even a better job than the George Foreman grill in that regard.

    Pans like this pay for themselves. This pan is about the cost of a dinner for two, and it will result in less eating out.

    Update: I cleaned the pan after making the steak. It was more difficult to clean than other cast iron pans due to the ridges, however, I think I need to find a different tool to clean it with. Someone recommended a grill pad or brush. Also, I usually put the pan over enough heat to evaporate any water from cleaning, and then apply a thin amount of oil. This was also harder. I think it will get better with practice. In any case, the results were worth it.

    I will be trying burgers and pork chops soon, so stay tuned!

    Update: I cooked pork chops tonight on this grill, and they are the best pork chops I have ever had in my life. I let the pan heat up, and usually also have the electric burner on high heat when adding the meat. I then turn it down a bit. The cast iron doesn’t cool off, and it sears the juices in. I have found that a metal cover over the grill works well to keep in splatters and heat. Another thing that is helpful is a temperature fork, which told me tonight that the chops were at 180 degrees, otherwise I would have overcooked them.

    This is by far the best money that I have spent on cooking equipment, and it will definitely save a lot of $$$ because I will treat myself to excellent home-cooked meals more often.

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  2. 618 of 638 people found the following review helpful
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    It gets better with every use!, May 8, 2009
    By 
    Crimson (Kalamazoo, MI) –

    This review is from: Lodge L8SGP3 Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Square Grill Pan, 10.5-inch (Kitchen)
    This was my first time using cast iron cookware, and it was almost the last. After my first attempt, I was very disappointed. The second the food contacted the pre-heated pan it stuck to the it, and I mean really stuck to it. I had to tear the chicken breast from the pan, literally! The clean up was a nightmare. Everything was burnt on. It probably took me close to 20 minutes to clean the pan. I thought about trashing the grill. I thought cast iron cookware was a joke.

    Well, a couple of days later I decided to give it another shot. I looked up cast iron cookware on the web and clicked on a random link (unfortunately, I do not remember the link, but it was an old article). The website article explained (if memory serves correctly) that there is a difference between pre-seasoned and seasoned cast iron; it takes many uses to develop a good seasoning of the cast iron utensil; pre-seasoned just means that the first step was already started. It also stated that one should never use any soap or scrub with anything harsh; a plant-fiber brush is recommended because the goal is to get the particles off the pan, not clean off all the used oil left behind. I’m thinking I should have read the directions that came with the pan before I used it instead of assuming it was good to go.

    I decided to give it a few more tries. I purchased a cast iron scrub brush to use for cleaning, and spent more time cleaning it before my second use because there was still a lot of burnt on food still stuck to the pan. After a few more uses, I started noticing that food wasn’t getting stuck as often, grill marks are looking better and what was burnt on the pan was very easy to clean off with the brush and hot water. About a dozen uses later the pan has developed a smoother, more glossy surface on the cooking surface. Now the food (even fish) just glides off the pan. A quick rinse with hot water and most of the burnt on stuff just flakes off. A quick pass with the brush and the pan is clean and perfectly smooth, in fact, this is the easiest pan to clean in my kitchen. After use (while the pan is till warm but not hot), I just rinse with hot water and a quick pass with the brush, dry it, lightly coat it with oil, and store it for next use.

    And the brighter side to this…..it is starting to impart some flavors on the food that makes it taste fantastic! The grill marks are clean and consistent, and it cooks everything evenly.

    To the folks who had bad luck with using this for the first time, give it a few more tries before you write this off. It did not work for me at first because I did not read the directions and assumed that using cast iron was no different than using any other type of cookware.

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  3. 309 of 322 people found the following review helpful
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Great with a little practice, August 24, 2011
    By 
    Nathan Norman (Blacksburg, VA) –
    (REAL NAME)
      

    This review is from: Lodge L8SGP3 Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Square Grill Pan, 10.5-inch (Kitchen)

    I hope you will find this review helpful and will read it before you actually start using this pan. This is a great product, but it takes a little getting used to to get the full benefits from it.

    First of all, this is made of cast iron. It weighs almost 10 pounds and would be a great first pick if you happen to be in the kitchen when an intruder barges in. Cast iron has its upsides and its downsides.

    Good
    * It will last your entire lifetime if you don’t let it rust
    * Heat will evenly distribute throughout the pan
    * Can withstand any temperature you will find in a kitchen

    Bad
    * Stays hot for a while after being taken off heat
    * Improper care will lead to rust
    * Not dishwasher safe

    Knowing the cons before you get started goes a long way to prevent being disappointed. To counteract the negatives I recommend always using an oven mitt when handling this pan. Lodge logic makes the following product Lodge Max Temp Handle Mitt, Black to deal with the hot handle, but I do not use it and personally find an oven mitt to be perfectly acceptable. Proper care entails always cleaning the pan immediately after use and drying it with a paper towel so that rust does not form.

    To properly clean your pan after every use I strongly recommend purchasing a handheld scrubber. It works so much better than a grill brush or sponge. Using the following product SonicScrubbers HT Scrubbing Bubbles Power Household Cleaning Tool and Brushes I spend no more than 20-30 seconds cleaning this pan after every use and it is very easy. When I first started I used a combo of a grill brush and a sponge and it worked absolutely nowhere near as well as the scrubber. Using a scrubber head that fits nicely between the grooves in the pan and pulling the pan straight off the stovetop and moving to running water and applying the scrubber is easy and fast. Regardless of what method you use to clean up, make sure you do it ASAP, before you even eat what you’ve just made. Trust me, it will take you 30 seconds now, but upwards of 10 minutes if you let the grease and other cooking leftovers thicken in the pan. Also, you will read many places to never ever use soap in your pan as it will destroy the seasoning. Maybe if you were using an extremely caustic lye solution this would be true. The truth is, if you run into a hard to clean grease spot a little bit of normal dish soap can help get it off and your pan is going to be just fine. Just make sure to scrub gently, rinse it all off and dry immediately afterward.

    Let’s move on to actually cooking with the pan. When I first started I found that I was using much too high heat. The pan, being made of thick iron, takes a few minutes to get up to temperature. Don’t rush it. I have never found a good reason to even go above medium heat with this pan. For fish and chicken I recommend setting the burner to a bit below medium. High heat will cause you to scorch the outside of your meat before the center even cooks all the way through, and will also cause tons of smoke to form, setting off your detectors. If you prefer to get a very high heat sear on a burger or a steak before moving to the grill pan I would personally recommend that you use a separate flat pan to sear it (so that it will be even instead of the grill mark sear) and because the cast iron will retain the high temperature for a full minute or two before cooling down to a more reasonable temperature for cooking the rest of the meat.

    Secondly, use cooking spray or oil on the pan. Which oil to use depends on what temperature you want to cook. Butter and olive oil smoke at around 350 degrees while canola oil or peanut oil will afford you an extra 100 degrees before they start to smoke. Personally I find that cooking an extra minute or two at lower temperatures allows me to put out very tender and tasty meat. For steaks and chicken I typically use a generic cooking spray on my pan, then melt a small pat of butter in the pan. The meat won’t sit in the butter due to the ridges of the pan, so you will be at your leisure to use a cooking brush to lightly coat the outside of the meat as you cook to keep it moist. As it cooks I brush the meat with its own juices and butter. To cook burgers I spray down the pan, season the burgers then place them in the pan. I let the burgers sit without moving them at all until juices start to come through the top of the burger. I then flip the burger just once and place a piece of cheese on it. After about another 2 minutes the burger is cooked perfectly and I move it straight to a bun. One other thing I would like to mention is the pan is not great for cooking sausages. They tend to cause an extremely smoky kitchen and take a while to cook all the way through. If you have to cook…

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