****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Okay, for those who want the condensed review, let me start by saying this griddle is worth every penny. It arrived super fast, sits perfectly flat on my ceramic cook top, made the most beautiful frozen pizza crust and naan I've ever seen, cooks bacon/eggs/pancakes, sears steaks beautifully, and in case (like me) you were wondering... it IS seasoned cast iron on top and enamel on bottom. It is NOT enamel coated on both sides or grill-textured, like the similar Creuset pans I was originally drooling over.Per another review, the enamel coating will eventually chip, but I've never seen an old Creuset that didn't have chips. Besides, within a few years, you'll have so much seasoning over the ceramic that the color won't really matter much anyway. You might be able to scrub the seasoning off, but I don't have the time...Now, for those of you really worried about the cost...I have a ceramic-topped electric stove, 15 years experience using cast iron (8 on a ceramic cook top, which a lot of people say can't be done, but I have, and I'm a raging klutz, to boot). I'm busy, so I don't really have the time or patience to give my cast iron skillets the careful attention they need to pre-heat evenly on an electric burner. I discovered many years ago that a griddle will heat more evenly on my ceramic cook top than a skillet, and so I've endured a 10 inch griddle for much of that time, because it's the only thing that I knew would behave.(For those of you "cast iron snobs," spare me the finger-wagging. As I said, I'm busy, have 4 other perfectly-seasoned antique skillets, and you k-n-o-w darn well that cast iron can be temperamental. Quit making all the newbies feel bad)!!!I also have an antique, elongated, 24 inch griddle, but it did not heat evenly between the electric burners, so it became a ungodly-heavy cookie sheet and cute camping griddle.Anyway, this griddle/pan is an absolute dream! It fits my 12 inch burner perfectly, sits flat, heats evenly, and gives me SOOO much more room than the 10 inch to make pancakes, bake cookies, flat breads, frozen pizzas, etc. Really, I was worried those 2 inches wouldn't make enough of a difference, but it did.Now, if you're worried about seasoning it, I'll tell you what I did. It's easy and, once you get the hang of it, it's strangely satisfying to watch the cooked on crud slide off your griddle, leaving a glassy black sheet that makes the teflon hiding in the back of your cabinets (ick) jealous.First of all, don't even THINK about cooking scrambled eggs (or eggs at all, just to be on the safe side) until the skillet's surface is shiny like glass and you KNOW how to preheat it perfectly. This will take several weeks to several months, depending. You will need a flat, sturdy, medium sized stainless steel spatula, preferably with slightly curved edges AND a super-stiff plastic bristled brush. Throw your dish soap in the garbage-- kidding, but it IS kryptonite to cast iron...To begin, wash skillet, coat black surface with coconut/palm oil/crisco, flip upside down, and bake in a 500 degree oven for 2 hours. After that, prior to every single use, gently preheat the griddle to a light sizzle and coat with LOTS of saturated fat (coconut/palm) before putting anything on it. Now, I'll share with you the absolute best advice I ever received from a self-proclaimed, old "cast iron snob." Every time you use the skillet, scrape the absolute c**p out of the black surface with a stainless steel spatula. Yes, scrape it like you hate it...(Scary, I know, but it saved my 100+ year old skillets, which had become so thickly seasoned that they were lumpy and starting to chip. This griddle starts out rough like a nail file, all modern cast iron does, and you NEED that texture to go away pronto. You WILL screw up at some point, and you don't want to be left scrubbing cooked-on scrambled eggs or nut batters off of a nail file. It stinks. Trust me)....After use, if the skillet is sticky, keep scraping over heat until everything sticky is either on the spatula or baked off. Then, rinse quickly with a spray of cool water (for the love of god, no soap) and the super-stiff plastic brush. This rinse/scrub will wash away all the iron/charcoal you've scraped off, which is good. Dry with a paper towel and smear with oil if the griddle seems dry. Put back on the warm burner and leave it there to dry. You'll come back to a clean, happy skillet that just keeps getting better and better. It took me about 2 weeks to scrape down the surface and make it glassy enough to scramble eggs, and I scraped it so hard that my husband actually came into the kitchen to ask why I was destroying the new griddle I love so much. :)If you're still choking on the cost, I'll tell you that I bought one of those 50$ diamond-coated skillets a few months ago. I never scrubbed it or stuck it in the dishwasher, just gave it the same water soak/scrub as my beloved cast iron. It stopped being non-stick within a week and went into the garbage another week later. I begrudgingly went back to the puny, 10 inch griddle. Then this little beauty arrived. Now it has a permanent, black, glassy, place on my cooktop. Hopefully, I won't have to scrub another skillet again.
