Lodge Essential Enamel Cast Iron Skillet, 11 Inches, Red

I recently pulled out and started using my grandmother's old cast iron skillets. I had forgotten just how good cast iron is and decided to start replacing my hard anodized aluminum with cast iron for most of my everyday cooking. A lot of my cooking consists of tomato based sauces and regular cast iron can't be used with the high acidity of tomatoes so I decided to look to enameled cast iron. I first looked to that famous French manufacturer but the sticker shock quickly made me look elsewhere. I decided on the Lodge for price and their reputation for quality. My only real complaint with it is the same complaint that I have with all of Lodge's cast iron cookware,more of a personal preference than an actual flaw in the pan itself. The cooking surface of the pan is rough, about the texture of a good Teflon pan, when it really should be smooth. Because of this foods will have a slight tendency to stick unless you float them in a good oil (being from the South I use good ol' lard). Being enameled there is no "seasoning" and you can't really use metal utensils like normal cast iron because the enamel will scratch. A good quality wood or silicone works great but stay away from any plastic because the cast iron will get hot enough to melt them. This fantastic pan exhibits all of the quality you expect from cast iron. Slow even heating, holding the heat consistently for a long time giving you great even cooking of food. Clean up is a bit tricky because of the rough cooking surface. It will tend to get a bit of a cloudy film and lose that beautiful black sheen that it has straight out of the box. Hot water, a good plastic scrubber and a non-abrasive cleanser like Bon Ami will take care of the film easily. Good old table salt works almost as well. While cleaning takes a little extra work (just like any cast iron cookware) the results are well worth the extra effort.

i am really pleased, overall with my purchase. well worth it. i originally wanted a le creuset, but it didnt seem cost effective. this cast iron skillet is wonderful and a great price. the only warning is that if you are using it for some time, the handle does get hot, so be aware of that! also, sometimes it doesnt seem to clean up completely, but when i use it again and wash, it comes out clean. so no staining or anything has been noticeable yet. i let it soak for a little while but because its cast iron, it should be washed soon and dried immediately. however, i have left it in the sink with water in it over night and it didn't show any signs of rusting, probably because of the coating on the surface. it isnt nonstick, so i use olive and canola oils generously, but i dont have to worry about chemicals like that from nonstick cookware, getting into my food. if they made a larger one, i would purchase that one too. i bought a splatter screen for when i am cooking bacon and such as it has no cover. oh,and i do have a glasstop stove. no problems, but definately be careful when placing it on the stove, its a heavy skillet. i use both handles. the second one was a great idea from whoever designed it. if you purchase a different brand make sure it has a handle on both sides. you will be thankful in the end! hope this helps everyone...and the blue color is really pretty. update (4-16-09): it is not nonstick and after using for a year it still is not nonstick (as cast iron usually becomes after use) so i use it mainly for cooking bacon and browning meat. not the best for cooking eggs. also, over time the finish has worn a little and the outside enamel has chipped but overall it still looks and cleans up well. i do wish it did not have the enamel coating on the inside though because then it would have seasoned and become more nonstick. however, the inside hasnt gotten chipped or scratched and i have occasionally used metal utensils with it. the center does have surface distortion though, not sure why.

After months of research into healthy cooking, the bottom line was my mom & grandpa's cast iron skillets. The Lodge people delivered on their promise of a fairly easy to clean cast iron skillet (bless the person who suggested saving junk mail credit cards as the best scrapers, it works!) at a fair price. The 'low' burner method that cast iron requires does take some getting used to, but the extra time you get while not hovering over cooking burgers or chicken makes getting the rest of dinner together less of a rat race. This gives us more time to get caught up with each other's day in the room where all the yummy smells are coming from. After the first few times my husband tried his usual 'high heat' method of cooking his burgers (and the resulting black layer in the bottom of my nice new skillet requiring the impressive combo of junk mail credit card scraper & elbow grease), I made scrambled eggs on low heat with had almost nothing left on the bottom of the pan. Point proved to his satisfaction. Cleanup is fairly easy, soap & water & scraper, rinse well, put back on stove top under High Heat for about 20 seconds to completely dry it and avoid any rust. I do the 1-mississippi, 2-mississippi count out loud so I don't absentmindedly walk off before turning the stove off. Then a light 2 second spray with the coconut oil (or olive oil but coconut has a much higher smoking temp for cooking) and finish up with a paper towel scrunched up (to protect your fingers from the heat) to spread the slight oil film all around the inside and top rim for the next use. Easy Peasy. The only down side to this wonderful skillet is that it is a bit heavy, but then I could use the few minutes of slight weight training according to my doctor ^.^ The smaller (lighter) size would probably be perfect for a single person cooking.

This product is a nice idea but designed and executed poorly. You would be far better off buying a regular cast iron skillet and "season" it. I bought this pan thinking that the inner ceramic finish would make it a breeze to cook with. In fact, the "Use and Care" instructions that come with the pan make no mention of it needing any seasoning. The only recommendation was to use a little oil to prevent sticking. Don't get me wrong; I love my Lodge Dutch ovens. The quality of the ceramic finish on the inside and outside of the Dutch ovens is extremely smooth and provides a very stick-resistant surface. That's how I was suckered into buying this pan. Boy was I in for a surprise. The food surface finish is very rough. In fact, it looks exactly like one of their "pre-seasoned" regular cast iron surfaces, maybe even rougher. The first time I tried to fry some eggs in it (and they were literally floating in oil) the eggs stuck down so badly that I had to rip and scrape them out of the pan. So now I have an expensive, yet worthless frying pan that I have to be really careful about putting into water when it's hot and dare not put over a strong flame (such as a campfire) that has a "ceramic finish" on the cooking surface that is way, way, way, worse than a properly seasoned regular cast iron pan. No thanks. Sometimes you win by buying the cheaper brand (Lodge Dutch oven vs. Le Creuset) sometimes you get stung.

its cast iron and its enameld on the outside for sure though i question the inside

Despite some of the negative reviews about how the enameled cooking surface is rough and causes food to stick, I bought this item. After using it for several months, it's now my "go to" pan for most cooking that I do. It performs above expectations, and food very rarely sticks in my experience. Cast iron dishes do not need to be used on high heat settings - medium heat is usually hot enough since cast iron transmits heat so well. I cook on a gas range, and use it to cook vegetables, sear meats (beef, pork, seafood), cook pasta sauces and other types of food with a minimum of issues. I use 1-2 tbsps of olive oil to lightly coat the surface and it performs great. Clean up is a snap - I'm usually able to clean it out with 1-2 strokes of a nylon scrub brush under hot water. I have not tried cooking eggs or pancakes on it, and I can see how those might have sticking issues with this type of pan - but otherwise it's become my favorite cooking dish in the kitchen (and goes well with the matching dutch oven I also have). Well worth the money and will last a long, long time with proper care.

got my skillet today. first thing i did was fry an egg because ive read alot of comments about eggs sticking. preheated the pan and used canola oil cooking spray and it didn't stick at all. i think any negative reviews are people not knowing how to cook with enameled cast iron. pan works great.

First: The lid from the 6 qt. Dutch oven DOES NOT fit the skillet. It fits down inside, resting on your food, and does a passable job of covering it, but it does NOT rest on the rim and seal it. I called Lodge and they said there is no lid solution for this skillet. Second: The inside is coated with a MATTE ENAMEL FINISH. This means it's not slickery and not non-stick. If I were to keep this pan I would still season it. With all that it does clean up reasonably well with some scrubbing, it's heavy cast iron and cooks and heats nicely, it's cute. But if I'm going to have a skillet I need to maintain anyway, I'll get a regular cast iron skillet and season it and keep it away from the kids. It's not something my kids will cook in because you have to follow a process to prep, cook, then clean, you can't just cook in it then wash it like a cheap anodized pan. It requires some level of skill to use properly. IF it had a lid, or IF I didn't feel the need to season it, I would keep it for me. As it is, it's just a fashion statement or a pan for a household where only skilled cooks will be using it.

stylish colour, nice finishing.

product is good but didnt reach expectations

Habe die Pfanne zurück geschickt da das Produkt made in China ist, die Retoure ging nach "los Angales"!

While I love how sturdy and heavy this pan is, it really doesn't feel like the Lodge I know. Made in China, this pan is not pre seasoned and feels rough to touch.

Its like cooking on velcro. Its heavy, the handles heat up and it takes a lifetime to clean and gets rusty after the first use. Ive never used such a useless piece of kitchen equipment in my life.