Cast iron skillets, pans and griddles that improve with use.
One piece of iron, no coating to peel, and a surface that improves each time it is used. A skillet is the pan most likely to be handed on, and it can be stripped and seasoned again if it is ever neglected. Griddles, baking pans and presses cast from the same iron are here for the same reason.
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At a glance: Cast Iron Skillets and Pans picks compared, with buy links
Lodge has been making cast iron in Tennessee since 1896, and this skillet ships pre-seasoned and ready to cook. Cast iron improves with every use, the seasoning deepening over years, and owners routinely cook on skillets inherited from grandparents. It is the simplest thing on this site that will outlive its owner.
Deeper than a frying pan and shallower than a dutch oven, with a lid, which makes it the one pan that browns and then braises without a transfer. Bare cast iron, so the seasoning is the surface and the surface is repairable with oil and heat.
Two short handles instead of one long one, which sounds like a detail and changes what the pan is for: it goes in and out of an oven with both hands and it stores flat. Bare cast iron, so the surface is seasoning and the seasoning is repairable with oil and heat.
A rectangular baking pan cast in one piece of iron, with no coating to wear off and nothing to come loose. It improves with use as the seasoning builds.
Four and a half pounds of seasoned cast iron with a wooden handle, and the entire point is the weight: it holds bacon flat and gives a sandwich an even crust by pressing rather than by heat. There is nothing in it to break, it seasons like a skillet, and it costs less than the bacon it will flatten over a lifetime.
The large one, with a loop handle rather than a bar, which is the version to buy if it will be lifted off a hot pan repeatedly rather than left in place. Eight and a quarter inches of iron is enough to press a whole chicken under, which is the thing this shape is actually for.
The round version, sized for a pan rather than a rectangle of bacon, which is what makes it the one for burgers, quesadillas and anything cooked in a skillet. Same seasoned iron, same absence of anything that can fail.
The same money as the Lodge skillet above and a different argument for it. Victoria has been casting iron in Colombia since 1939 and seasons with flaxseed oil rather than vegetable oil, which polymerises harder and is why these arrive smoother than most pre-seasoned pans. The long handle is the practical difference: it stays cooler than Lodge's shorter one, which matters when the pan comes out of a 500 degree oven.
A single slab of cast iron with a flat griddle on one side and a ridged grill on the other. There is no coating, handle or rivet, so it is very hard to wear out.
Enamelled cast iron that needs no seasoning, with a black satin interior rather than the cream enamel, which matters: the satin finish takes a patina with use and browns properly, where the pale enamel shows every mark and never develops one. Small enough for an egg, heavy enough to hold the heat while the egg goes in.
Lodge has been making cast iron in Tennessee since 1896, and this skillet ships pre-seasoned and ready to cook. Cast iron improves with every use, the seasoning deepening over years, and owners routinely cook on skillets inherited from grandparents. It is the simplest thing on this site that will outlive its owner.
Deeper than a frying pan and shallower than a dutch oven, with a lid, which makes it the one pan that browns and then braises without a transfer. Bare cast iron, so the seasoning is the surface and the surface is repairable with oil and heat.
Two short handles instead of one long one, which sounds like a detail and changes what the pan is for: it goes in and out of an oven with both hands and it stores flat. Bare cast iron, so the surface is seasoning and the seasoning is repairable with oil and heat.
A rectangular baking pan cast in one piece of iron, with no coating to wear off and nothing to come loose. It improves with use as the seasoning builds.
Four and a half pounds of seasoned cast iron with a wooden handle, and the entire point is the weight: it holds bacon flat and gives a sandwich an even crust by pressing rather than by heat. There is nothing in it to break, it seasons like a skillet, and it costs less than the bacon it will flatten over a lifetime.
The large one, with a loop handle rather than a bar, which is the version to buy if it will be lifted off a hot pan repeatedly rather than left in place. Eight and a quarter inches of iron is enough to press a whole chicken under, which is the thing this shape is actually for.
The round version, sized for a pan rather than a rectangle of bacon, which is what makes it the one for burgers, quesadillas and anything cooked in a skillet. Same seasoned iron, same absence of anything that can fail.
The same money as the Lodge skillet above and a different argument for it. Victoria has been casting iron in Colombia since 1939 and seasons with flaxseed oil rather than vegetable oil, which polymerises harder and is why these arrive smoother than most pre-seasoned pans. The long handle is the practical difference: it stays cooler than Lodge's shorter one, which matters when the pan comes out of a 500 degree oven.
A single slab of cast iron with a flat griddle on one side and a ridged grill on the other. There is no coating, handle or rivet, so it is very hard to wear out.
Enamelled cast iron that needs no seasoning, with a black satin interior rather than the cream enamel, which matters: the satin finish takes a patina with use and browns properly, where the pale enamel shows every mark and never develops one. Small enough for an egg, heavy enough to hold the heat while the egg goes in.
Enamelled cast iron, no seasoning needed
Black satin interior develops a patina
Enamel resists chipping, staining and dulling
Works on induction
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Product photograph, LodgeTop pick
Product photograph, Lodge
Product photograph, Lodge
Product photograph, Lodge
Product photograph, Lodge
Product photograph, Lodge
Product photograph, Lodge
Product photograph, Victoria
Product photograph, Lodge