I absolutely adore this griddle, and I use it almost every day.
At first, I wasn't sure that I wanted a cast iron griddle.They are HEAVY and not dishwasher safe . . . so I tried a few nonstick brands first --top dollar brands with high ratings.
I hated them.The nonstick surface was inferior.On a reversible griddle, the underside became sticky and difficult to clean.The heat was distributed unevenly.One claimed to be dishwasher safe, yet when I put it in the dishwasher, some of the nonstick surface came off.
I am extremely health conscious, and I use very little oil when I cook.Food often stuck to the "non-stick" surface -- go figure.
I wanted to find a great griddle that I could use for many things, including cooking like the chefs in Japanese Steak Houses -- I dreamed of using a small dash of my favorite oil and flinging shrimp, chicken and veggies on the griddle like a pro.No, I didn't think I could toss my tools in the air or catch the shrimp in my pocket . . . I just wanted the flavor and the ease of cooking.
By this time, I was on a quest, and the non-stick stuff just wasn't cutting it.I did a little research, and I learned that pros recommend the Lodge griddle, so despite my apprehension, I thought I'd give it a try.
Wow!The pre-seasoned surface is perfect and better than any non-stick surface I have ever used.Just a tiny bit of non-stick spray is all I need, and everything from pancakes to eggs flip with ease.Grilling Japanese style works perfectly.
On the grill side: whole steaks, chicken, fish -- fabulous, fast, and everything has those beautiful grill lines.Nice for grilled vegetables, too.
The griddle is indeed heavy, but it's okay.I wouldn't recommend lifting it if you have serious muscle or joint problems, and I wouldn't want to drop it on my foot, but otherwise, go for it.I'm a softie, and if I can handle it, so can you.
As for not being able to put the griddle in the dishwasher:I don't believe I'm going to say this, but I don't care about having to handwash it.The griddle cleans so easily, a few swipes and I'm done.If I forget to clean it and wake up to it the next morning (okay, so I'm not Suzy Homemaker), I just lay it straight across the top of my sink -- not IN the sink, but rather, balanced from edge to edge, on top . . . and I run a little water over it, let it set for a few minutes, and it'seasy to clean.
A word of advice:Just as it says in the instructions, you need to clean the griddle without soap (water only) to preserve the pre-seasoned finish.However, should you want to use soap, you can.There are instructions included in how to re-season the griddle -- it's easy.
I frankly didn't like the idea of not cleaning with soap.I didn't feel as though the germs were destroyed . . . but soap doesn't really kill germs, it merely works as a surfactant that makes water wetter so things become easier to clean.
If you want to kill germs, heat is one of the best ways to do it.Every time you use the griddle, you preheat it on the range for about five minutes or so -- you're killing far more germs than if you had used soap!
You can also rub your griddle with a very light coating of oil, stick it in a hot oven and disinfect it that way (this is also similar to how you reseason it).
This is one of the easiest, most wonderful kitchen tools I own.It is a breeze to use, I feel like a pro flipping all that food around.Everything comes out great, and it is very easy to use, and food does not stick.
I have since added six more pieces of cast iron to my collection, one triangle cornbread/scone, a round muffin/biscuit, and four cast iron skillets.Two of the skillets are antique -- talk about well-seasoned! I do not use the bread/muffin bakers as much as I thought I would, but I use the skillets almost every day.I love them.
PS:I remember reading somewhere that using cast iron also adds iron to your diet.A nice extra, yes?
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Lodge Logic Pro 20-by-10-7/16 Inch Cast-Iron Grill/GriddleProduct Description: Seasoned and ready to use. The griddle of your dreams!Larger than the Grid Iron griddle this reversible two-burner griddle features a slight slope for a generouse grease gutter. Cooking surface is 19 1/4x 8 1/2
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I really wanted a pre-seasoned cast iron skillet to replace the series of 'disposable' teflon coated ones that I've been using, but when I recieved this one, I was a bit disappointed for 2 reasons.As someone else already stated, make sure you coat it well with oil on the first use.Even though I did, the eggs still stuck.Which leads to my second problem.The picture does not show the large gutter on the flat side.That makes it rather unusable for eggs, pancakes, etc.I tried it anyway, trying to keep the eggs away from the gutter, but they dripped in, and my fried eggs turned into a stuck-on long drippy mess in the gutter.I wouldn't even try pancakes on it.:-(It would cost more in shipping to return it than it costs (almost!) since it's so heavy, so I'll keep it and use it in the oven and on the grill, but I'm unhappy that that picture does not show that gutter.I'm going to order the larger griddle, but that one is going back if it has the same gutter!
