Click here for more information 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's easy 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?
Goodness - I see two chief complaints posted here: First, some people say it's heavy. Well, yes, it is. It's over 200 square inches of iron, folks. The weight is clearly advertised, so I'm having a hard time understanding this complaint. The second complaint some have is uneven heating. Lodge could fix that - all they have to do is make it thicker - and much heavier, and even more people would be unhappy about the weight.
Since the number of comments about the weight and the uneven heating seem about equal, I'd say Lodge did a great job of hitting a happy middle ground. Personally, I count on a little uneven heating, I'll sear breakfast chops on one end over a high burner and flip eggs on the other over a lower burner - I've even been known to run mine on just one burner, cooking on one end and warming on the other. When I was a grill cook, that's how I ran my grill, hotter at one end. You also have to allow for some "settle time" for cast iron - compared to aluminum, it's a fairly slow heat conductor, which gives cast iron it's wonderful thermal stability. But it takes time for the heat to distribute, so give it a few minutes.
I can't comment on the factory coating - I strip and season the cooking surfaces on all my iron, new or used. I made one modification to mine, which Andrew pointed out - I took a dremel and ground a shallow notch in the outer lip of one end of the grease gutter to help pouring the grease out - if you do this, be sure to smooth the edges of the notch to avoid heat stress cracks - they love to start at sharp corners - and don't make it too deep - just a small notch makes a big difference when dumping grease.
While I'm at it - I'm a heretic - a blasphemer - an apostate. My confession? I sometimes clean mine with soap - to be more precise, detergent, which most modern dish soaps actually are. I think the "no soap" thing is a bit of mythology that's come down to us from Great-Grandma, whose dish soap was basically lye and some type of animal fat (my grandma used bacon grease for her soap). So yeah, maybe lye soap was a bad idea, but it had a very different chemistry from today's dish detergents, and as far as I can tell, modern detergent won't touch the baked-on grundge on the bottom of my aluminum and enamel cookware, and they don't touch my properly seasoned iron either. I do always make sure to rinse very thoroughly, and re-oil after cleaning, however, as that thin film of oil is life to cast iron.
I love this grill on the cooktop, but if you want to see this beauty at it's best, and you have at least a 20" charcoal grill, set it on your charcoal grate and have some fun. I don't think mine ever cooled off during the week or so after hurricane Charley, while we had no electricity. I had stocked up on hardwood charcoal before the storm, and as my neighbor's fridges warmed, and their freezers thawed, they kept bringing me food to cook before it spoiled - and of course, they shared with the cook. The neighbors saved some of their food, the Lodge grill got quite a workout, and my family ate very well!
It's a well-made product. It's American. And it's a great value. What's not to love? Just don't drop it on your foot - did I mention it's heavy? - Cast Iron - Lodge Griddle - Griddle - Grill Pan - Cookware - Grill
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