The key to a perfect steak? A cast-iron skillet. I bought my first years ago, mostly because I heard of the unbelievable flavor it gave steaks, fish, and pretty much anything else you cooked in it.
While many shy away from cast iron due to its weight and perhaps difficulty to clean, I have found that with a little patience, it’s easy to pick up and the results are worth it and the Lodge cast-iron skillet certainly delivered.
I asked my Facebook friends which of them used a Lodge cast iron skillet. Olivia Hibbs Satterfield quickly responded. “I had two skillets from Lodge that were my mother’s. I’m 40, and they are older than I am. Since they were from Lodge, I knew I could trust them.”
Not everyone is a fan, however. What makes them tempting to some makes them revolting to others. “After seeing the metal and oil they hold in them I’ve thrown mine away. I use only surgical steel now,” says Harley Cheyenne McGuigan, a mechanic in Texas.
The key to cooking the perfect steak on any cast iron skillet is getting it searing hot before you start cooking. Iron, unlike regular steel or even copper frying pans, takes time to heat and doesn’t always heat evenly. If you don’t allow it to heat up before you start, you’ll end up with a steak that doesn’t have the signature cast iron sear.
Before you buy, take the time to learn how to clean your cast iron after you’ve made your dish. As mentioned, it takes a little getting used to, but it’s fairly straightforward.
In a Amazon review, chef Morgan C. Valley describes how to do just that.“When finished, rinse with hot water; if you have fond in the pan, scrape with a nylon scraper and rinse away. Dry the cast iron on the stovetop burner and wipe down with a very light coating of oil. You’re ready for the next use. (This coating will lightly smoke when it reaches [the] proper temperature, indicating when to add your cooking fats). Other than the initial wash-down out of the box, I personally do not use soap on my cast iron. Some people do.”
Plus-size model Leah Stanley tells me about her cast iron fave, burgers. “I personally LOVE to make burgers with my Lodge! When seasoned properly, absolutely nothing sticks! I’ll have my burgers frying in the pan and my sunny side eggs in the other (the best topping!).”
At $15 and with over 48,000 reviews and an overall 4.6 rating, you truly can not go wrong with this skillet. It will serve you well for years to come.