This pan gets a star for being kinda pretty and essentially being what it claims to be; an enamel covered, cast-iron pan. It loses two stars for falling short within its category, and two stars for the poor performance of its category, in general. The Failings of This Specific Pan The interior of the pan is sort of a rough, micro-textured, abrasive surface. I find that if I wipe it with a cloth or paper towel, it comes away covered in tiny cotton fibers. Not being interested in eating cotton, I have to rinse it again, and let it air dry. The problem with this is that Lodge's cleaning instructions state, in bold letters, "DO NOT AIR DRY". I e-mailed them asking what exactly the risk in air drying is, and they said the pan may rust, "around the edges". This seems odd, considering that the point of coating the pan is to eliminate this problem. But it turns out this is a hint that Lodge does not expect the enamel coating to last. Sure enough, within one week of use, I began discovering chips in the enamel of both this pan and a similar Dutch oven by Lodge. And I do mean "discovering". I never dropped either item, and there were no "Bang - Whoops" moments. I just found small patches of enamel missing. This seems mostly to be happening on the bottom of the pan, where it interacts with the cooking surface, but it is not limited to that area. An enamel coating that won't stay on the pan defeats the purpose of its own existence. Another problem with this pan is that it is poorly balanced. Its solid iron handle causes it to list to one side on a cooking surface with any give (like most electric coils). It may also have problems sitting flat on many cooking surfaces with significant gaps (like many gas burners). The General Failings of Cast Iron It seems that "high end" pans tend to have thick aluminum cores. This is because aluminum "transmits heat" very efficiently. An aluminum core moves heat from the point of contact, throughout the entire pan, causing its cooking surface to be heated relatively evenly (no hot or cold spots), regardless of the location or shape of the heat source. In addition, the mass of a thick core, and the encasing steel, will store heat, so that adding cold food to the heated pan will have reduced effect on its temperature. It may seem (as it initially did to me) that if a thick aluminum core is good, then a heavy cast iron core should be great. This is not the case. If it were, they wouldn't bother with aluminum cores in pans made of steel (which happens to be iron, infused with carbon). They go to the trouble and cost of sandwiching an aluminum core between layers of steel because it greatly improves the pan's performance. The only thing Iron's sheer mass has going for it is a thermal stability that minimizes cooling when you add food. Unfortunately, the overkill of Iron's mass also minimizes cooling when you remove it from heat, and minimizes heating when you put it on the burner. And iron doesn't have aluminum's heat transmission properties. It is easy to get hot spots or inadvertently overheat the pan (after a long wait). The result is that, with cast iron, it takes much longer to cook, and it's very easy to burn food. In addition, due to the pan being "cast" as a single piece, it's only a matter of time until the solid iron handle burns your hand (perhaps 10 minutes after you've taken it off the heat). Iron is very prone to rusting, and despite the reassurances of those who live with it, this, along with its maintenance needs, unwieldy weight, and heat retention, all conspire to greatly complicate the purportedly simple activity of cleaning it. Despite all this, cast iron pans are still sold because they are relatively cheap, and under the right conditions, they have a sort of non-stick surface. The General Failings of Enamel Coating Coating iron pans with enamel theoretically addresses rusting and maintenance issues. Unfortunately, it also defeats both of the reasons that iron is even still being used. The enamel coating costs more than the iron pan itself, and it isn't non-stick. Conclusion If, in addition to the general failings of cast iron and enamel coating, you get an oddly textured and flaky coating, and an unbalanced pan, what you have is a pan that: - takes longer to heat than it takes to cook, - won't sit flat on the burner, - heats unevenly, overheats, and promotes food burning, - takes forever to cool, and will probably burn you at some point, - can't be washed for 30 minutes after using or it may crack, - has an oddly rough interior, making it difficult to clean and dry, - has no non-stick properties, - is super heavy and unwieldy (a bad combination with scalding, slick enameled handles), - is too expensive for cast iron, - will probably end up rusting, - is just basically a complete disaster. Bottom line: Don't buy this pan.
