For those of you who want a review from a lover of cast iron that actually owns this...I love all my cast iron cookware, except this one. The enamel coating on it is horrible. I'm not sure you should even season something that has been enameled, and I would be willing to try (probably ruining the griddle completely), except that this griddle really does not hold heat evenly. I am going to give this one back to my mother in law and buy a lodge logic.
sorry Emeril, you rock, just don't like this piece.
Well, 4 months later, I really really like it. But it isn't a traditional "put stuff on it and it works" type of device. Nope, some learning about how to use it and more about how to care for it are necessary to produce maximum benefits.
The first has been mentioned, it must be sprayed with PAM before heating. Each and Every time. Second, it takes a long long time to heat up, think at least 15 minutes (like pre-heating an oven, start this before cooking). Third, it might not fit your burners the way you like it to (especially with gas burners) but with a little time and practice one can find harmony between surface flatness, even heat distribution, and stability.
I am still learning on the care/cleaning requirements, as the directions provided are laughably inadequate. That is why I can't classify it as a 5-star product.
But it unquestionably opens new cooking frontiers for quick dinners or large breakfasts. Maybe there's a better one, and I have seen the catastrophic failures. But it sure makes cooking and more importantly eating more fun.
Buy Emeril by All-Clad E6019764 Cast-Iron 2-Burner Reversible Grill / Griddle Cookware, Black Now
I have used this product as a grill and griddle over the past month. The trick here is to heat up the grill or griddle, then, brush oil or butter on it. Pancake and eggs slide around. Steak develops nice grill marks.I use stainless steel utensils with this product.
Clean up was easy when I allowed it to heat up then brush oil or butter.I do not own this pan, but I am a lover of cast iron cookware in general, and thus feel compelled to respond to this earlier negative review.
First of all ALL cast iron pans, whether "pre-seasoned" or raw, need to be seasoned after you buy them. Several times for best results.('seasoning' usually means baking the pan with oil in it for a good period of time to seal off the pores in the metal surface). You will not get non-stick results out of the box, no matter what you buy. I own a "pre-seasoned" 8-quart dutch oven from the Emeril series, and the pan needed to be seasoned after I got it (as did my "pre-seasoned" 12-inch Lodge skillet). I also have a smaller Lodge skillet that I bought "raw" and it's worth noting that it took significantly longer to get it to non-stick level of seasoning. So pre-seasoning helps, but does not eliminate the need for the honorable task of seasoning your pan. Regardless of issues of seasoning, my Emeril dutch oven has performed beautifully, it is very solid, has classic lines and is well-made at an accessible price, which I very much appreciate. I can't imagine the grill pan is much different. Cast iron is pretty simple, and the Emeril series seems to do it right.
2) Cast iron is unique and awesome in part because it holds heat so well, but it does need to be preheated for several minutes for full effect to allow the heat to spread out and transfer to the entire pan. Obviously a pan that covers two burners is going to have hot spots to some degree, but allowing a good 5-8 minutes for the pan to preheat will significantly reduce this. I don't know if the previous reviewer allowed enough time for preheating, which may have contributed to his/her complaints about uneven cooking. Cast iron gives the most even cooking of any cooking surface out there, for the exact same reasons that people most often complain about it it's really heavy and it gets really hot and stays that way. Certainly cast iron cooks more evenly than the electric skillet the previous reviewer mentioned buying instead. I could be completely wrong, this pan may have horrible hot spots, and as I said, I don't own this pan, but this sounds to me like it could be a user problem.
3) You can't use a cast iron pan once and throw it in the trash! It may take a month or more to get the pan to a stage where it will create the beautifully browned, crisped non-stick results that cast iron lovers rave about. Patience (and turning a deaf ear to naysayers) is well-rewarded. In my experience it doesn't make a ton of difference which manufacturer you go with, in terms of the performance of the surface or metal itself. Cast iron pretty much performs like cast iron. Variations among brands have more to do with what shape or size you like, which design feels better in your hand. The thing that makes the biggest difference in the results you'll get from cast iron is in how you treat the pan. I cook sometimes in my job as a personal assistant, and my boss has a full set of very expensive Le Creuset enameled (and some non-enameled) cast iron that barely gets used, and it's not as enjoyable to cook with as a result. I would choose my five dollar raw cast iron skillet any day of the week. The results I get from the pan are stellar because it is used often and well-loved, and therefore has a fabulous well-seasoned surface.
So I will say, if you buy this pan and it's your first piece of cast iron, give it a month or two before you decide whether or not you like it.
Which brings me to the other reason I love cast iron so much because it requires a bit of effort and patience in the beginning, I've found I really have a relationship with my cast iron pans. I LOVE my cast iron pans! (maybe this makes me crazy, but if so, it's a very enjoyable form of insanity :) ) It's a simple, humble material that will last a lifetime remember that old phrase "wears like iron?" so I highly recommend making the leap into the wonderful world of cast iron, whether with this pan or another one. Just remember that it takes a bit of patience and a bit of doing, but you will be rewarded with a friend that is (almost) as reliable as death and taxes.this griddle is wonderful, very durable, high quality, even heat distribution, it is easy to take care of if you follow the instructions that are on the instruction sheet. i love this product and highly recommend it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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