Have been keeping an eye on this for a while. Not the lowest ever but cheaper than it's been in a little while and may be helpful to those wanting a decent sized cast iron skillet.
CamelCamelCamel.
Thanks was going to get this.
I’m actually looking for a smaller one for camping, any recommendations ?
Unless you're hiking it's not worth it. You'll barely be able to cook an 8 pack of sausages.
People hike with cast iron pans in their backpacks? Very hardcore.
@rumblytangara: I had a friend who did this. Made us flatbreads on it. She also hiked mostly barefoot. Hardcore is definitely a good description
@askvictor: Hardcore is bringing a cast iron skillet when you go camping.
True hardcore is only bringing a cast iron skillet when you go camping.
@rumblytangara: I purchased a 12" Lodge cast iron pan from a William Sonoma store in Manhattan somewhere then walked around with it in my backpack for another 10hrs or so. Much regret. Made it back to Australia with me. Still using it every day. Worth it.
@eek: NYC is very safe these days, you no longer need to carry a cast iron pan around as an anti-mugging device.
Yeah i have the same.. you find it is a touch too small for 2 people
how much for a 12' skillet?
I have the 10" - it measures about 8"/20cm at the bottom. Good for a couple of eggs, but I use the 12" most of the time, equivalent to about a 26cm frying pan.
ha i snapped bought the 6.5inch one without thinking as it hit the front page for $18. When I saw it was smaller than my hand i thought wtf. However it's pretty good quality and good for small omelettes
I did the same for the 3.5inch. Even got 3.
Probably my least used frying pans.
Havent quite found their best use yet.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/509352
Same. Only use it for eggs but it's quite nice. Should probably wait for a 12 inch one this time.
This smaller size would be good for induction cook tops
So is the big one.
Depends on the size of your induction coil; my one is average but seems to target the middle of the pan.
@donman92: My Bosch seems to heat the outside well enough but there are still hot spots (due to cash iron).
You can see the hot spots when boiling water (cleaning)
@JimB: Yea that makes more sense; when I book water it seems to boil a lot more in the centre. I love my gas stove top but the induction is more cost efficient.
@donman92: With cast iron, it is better to use a medium high heat and let it heat up for longer than to use high heat for a shorter time.
You get less hot spots.
Horses for courses.
10" will heat up faster for a couple of eggs, but of course the 12" will be more versatile.
Is there an advantage to frying eggs on cast iron?
If you like sunny side up, you get a crispy crust as you can cook at a much higher temp.
I find cooking on a non-stick, you get a flat chewy base.
@rumblytangara: with non-stick, I find the eggs are rubbery.
non-stick is still king for scrambled eggs.
It’s not Lodge my friend, OzB’s froth for Lodge :D
12 inch cast iron skillet is great for pizzas. With enough oil it fries up just like a Dominos pizza.
Any difference between Lodge and something like this? https://www.amazon.com.au/Billord-Skillet-Frying-Silicone-Bl…
Well for one thing , you know what you are getting. There appeared to be about at least 3 different style of pan in their advertising images.
Where are these made?
Does handle get as hot as centre? All my pans have plastic which dont get hot, this looks like complete metal
Yes it does because the whole thing is cast iron. You need one of the heat proof plastic handles.
Yep, either buy a silicon handle thing or put a tea towel on it so you remember its hot. Many times ive grabbed mine and forgot im about to cook my flesh
This! Just use a tea towel, super easy.
Not a quick learner, 'eh? Although I've done it (once) when I had the pan in the oven baking and that trumps any time it was on the cooker top by probably a hundred degrees or so.
Yes due to conduction. I always use a gloves or a cloth whenever I have to grab the handle
The silicon handles work very well.
Use a dry cloth, a wet one will transfer heat too quickly.
How does this compare to more expensive cast iron brands such as Solidteknics which also get great reviews?
Id say solidteknics is a better pan, but 5 times better…..not sure about that.
Cast iron is pretty much as uniformly performant as you get- there's no enamelling or value-add that differentiates one pan from other brands, and it's literally cast, so there's not much difference in terms of build quality, only the molding. Lodge is a favourite brand in America since it's cheap. For some reason it's much more expensive in Australia nowadays (I got three pieces for ~$70 in 2019). Not worth spending a premium on cast iron usually, but at this price point I'd prefer it over a no-name brand simply because the design is battle-tested.
Solidteknics is not cast iron, it's wrought iron from a single piece (ausiron series, not sure about their noni). I have both and my opinions are as follows.
Lodge comes preseasoned very nicely and it stays as long as you don't abuse it.
ST needs constant seasoning for the initial period until it is consistent like the lodge.
ST is much lighter. Heats up quicker. Temperature easies to manipulate quickly.
Lodge retains heat better for searing larger pieces of meat.
Lodge smaller handle can be good if lacking oven space.
ST handle doesn't get hot.
ST easier to start from scratch for seasoning, Lodge feels trickier as you won't get it as good as the factory preseason.
I use the ST everyday mostly and the lodge on special occasions (nice steaks or roasted etc) as it's much heavier.
Solidteknics Aus-Ion is functionally identical to any decently thick carbon steel pan. “Wrought iron” is just their marketing term for low-carbon steel, so they can justify charging you tons of extra money (unless they really mean their pan still contains toxic slag impurities that you wouldn’t want in your food).
The company is from the guy behind furi knives, another brand that is all marketing and little substance. If you really need a one-piece design, just get a Darto for much less on sale.
I rather these then carbon steel that is manufactured from two pieces connected via rivets. I've many pans in the past that seem solid until the weakest point usually the rivet fails.
Old ones are easy to renew, they all seem the same to me.
Love all the 1 star reviews from people who clearly have no idea how to use cast iron
I'm one of those who know but just fail miserably. Oh well.
Thank you ! Perfect for steaks
This 12" seems like its' worth a shot - not Lodge… Billord
https://www.amazon.com.au/Billord-Skillet-Frying-Silicone-Bl…
Thanks. Got one as well. Seems 12” is the way to go if cooking for more than 1
I got these years ago when Amazon started here in Australia. I rarely use anything else anymore. Once you get the hang of it, food just cooks and tastes better. Also amazing for pizza. Just heat it up on the gas cooktop until nice and hot put your pizza base and make your pizza and put in the oven, it'll be ready in 5 minutes.
This exact size is my favourite daily use for one or two people due to its size and weight.
sweet - ordered a big ol 12.5 inches and buying some scotch fillet today… thats cool you can use for pizza too thanks for the tip I will try it 2nd
Search up the fool proof pan pizza recipe on seriouseats, the only pizza recipe you'll ever need
fyi, this is the small one. you want the 12in one is the most used and what you see chefs online use. i use mine mainly for steaks.
it takes a lot of care. you have to season it and wash it with out soap, DRY, and season again. (season = wipe with oil all over)
it's not that small, just enough for a large steak. Even though weight isn't a problem for me, bulkier larger cast iron isn't easy to carry
it won't fit my large steak, i need that 12in. every inch matters.
I use this for steak: https://www.amazon.com.au/Lodge-16-75-Cast-Iron-Grill/dp/B00…
Of course, probably not ideal for camping…
You can use soap and I pretty much never reseason mine and my seasoning is great. Perfect seasoning is a fools errand anyway, they should be treated as beaters. As long as you cook on it frequently it'll be fine.
i used soap and didnt reseason it, and it rusted. i had to buy another one. i gave it to my brother that loves diy projects, so he had to grind it down and reseason it. now he follows my instructions with scrubbing it down with no soap, dry it, and season it. no more issues.
You wouldn't have been cooking on it frequently then.
Also next time it rusts you can just soak it in vinegar then reseason, grinding it down is a tad overkill.
@Cheaplikethebird: i get gout, so i stopped eating steak frequently. probably once or twice a week for me now.
@Hugh G Rection: Yeah that'd do it. Honestly mine just sits dirty on the stovetop or in the oven until I need to use it, give it a quick clean and use right away. If I'm putting it away for long term storage I'll clean, season, dry in the oven.
I agree, you can use detergent.
Use a little detergentto help get the burn bits off but not a huge amount that it strips off all the oil.
I can get it clean but it will still have a very thin layer of oil which saves you re-oiling it and saves the pan from rust.
I was getting into cast iron pans at one stage. But then I bought a good quality stainless steel pan and I would never go back. For how I use them, it does everything I want but with zero care needed.
Does it get as hot?
SS transfers heat better which means it will have more even heat across the pan and is quick to respond to changes in heat but it does not have the capacity to hold heat like CI. When you drop a raw piece of meat onto a pan that raw meat will eat up all the existing heat in the pan which is why CI does searing so well, when you drop meat in the pan it has enough stored energy to not drop temp too much.
SS is like a sports car, CI is like a truck.
So for steak ci is better?
SS is like an Arial Atom (2L, 4 cylinder turbo, 240KW, 600KG). Cast Iron is like a Bugatti Veyron (8L, W16 quad turbo, 800KW, 2,000kgs). Both are very quick and do 0-100 in less than 3 seconds, but the Bugatti will still perform well with a fat steak inside. Throw a fat steak in the Atom and performance drops quickly.
@eciuj: Incorrect. SS will transfer heat just as well as CI with a steak inside, the only difference is that the SS doesn't have the thermal mass of CI so you'll have an initial temp drop.
Cast iron is the opposite of quick, it's got a huge mass so it's slow to heat.
Luxury car analogies do not work with frypans.
I have two of these 10 inch pans exclusively for making Kenji's foolproof pan pizza recipe. The $35 is worth it for that alone.
This pan is excellent, heavy but mind blowing
you're not meant to hit someone with it! Jesus
never played PUBG?
Great pan. I've found this size fine for two of us, for the most part. Eggs, bacon, chicken, burgers, sausages, pizza, naan, etc. Steak would benefit from the larger one but it'll be heavier and less manoeuvrable. Ideally I'd have both.
Does this fit baby q?
What's the advantage of Lodge over a generic brand, like this Kmart frypan for $17?
https://www.kmart.com.au/product/29cm-cast-iron-frypan-43037…
not a huge amount but I found the more expensive ones are smoother.
been using the k-mart skillet for over 6 months and to be honest it's the best $17 we've spent. The skillet has been through a lot since we also take it with us camping but some seasoning restores it back to the original. Can't say about the more expensive ones since we've never owned one, but for $17 the kmart cast iron skillet is an absolute bargain!
Thickness of the cooking surface. Kmart one has a 29cm diameter and is 2.5kg while the Lodge 10.25" is 27cm external diameter and 2.4kg and the 12" is 32cm external diameter and 3.6kg so just off the total weight it's a little thinner than the Lodge pans. The other thing is the Lodge pans have thinner sides and thicker base (keeps pan light while putting mass where it's needed) but I wouldn't be surprised if the Kmart pan is the same thickness all the way across as that would appeal best to an uneducated consumer.
Trust me if you end up using it with any sort of consistency and put effort into maintaining a nice seasoning you'll want to be investing that effort into a decent pan. That's how you get boutique CI makers selling pans for $500+
Thanks for the replies! This is the info I needed.
Bought 2.ro get an extra 6% off, hopefully it's a decent size pan for general use at home
Thanks OP, bought one :)
Got mine today and found pinholes on the pan. Is it acceptable?
If no, what would you do in this situation?
Mine got 2 pin holes as well. :(
What do you mean pinholes, in the cast iron ?!
Yes, in the cast iron
is this expired?
Anyone else arrived with the handle snapped off
Save for a 12" skillet. 10" is too small for cooking for more than one person