Review on 🥪 Lodge LPP3 Cast Iron Square Ribbed Panini Press: 8.25-inch Panini Maker & Grill by Russell Robertson

I've been obsessed with cast iron lately. I collected Lodge products and eventually this little station wagon came about. I hesitated a little. As I said, it's single tasking. Some reviewers say they use it for other things like grilled chicken and the like. But I was about to make panini. In the end I just decided to go after the bull and get it. And boy am I glad I did! There are several ways you can use this article. The Lodge grill pan works best because the ridges on the bottom of the pan align with the ridges on the panini press. However, if you don't mind there being no ribs on the bottom of your panini, you can use a regular flat-bottomed pan (make sure your pan is large enough in diameter!). The third option is the I am currently using the Lodge Pro 2 burner pan. I use the ribbed side which isn't suitable for a panini press (the ribs are narrower and further apart) but complements the overall concept. I plan on getting a ribbed grill pan at some point, but so far it's working so well. When the product arrived I gave it the usual 2 or 3 extra pre-seasonings of palm oil in a 350 degree oven. Then it was time to get to work. I set my Pro 2 pan to honey. high heat (I have an electric stove, so I used the 5 1/2 marks on the front and back burner knobs) to preheat for about 10 minutes. I set the panini press on the third burner to preheat at the same setting, 5 1/2. Cook the panini with the olive oil brushed on the outside of the bread, place in the pan and (with a gloved hand! Don't forget the handle gets very hot!) wait about 3 minutes. The press was a bit sticky at the top of the bread (I still have that little problem and I think it's not due to the lack of seasoning, just because the ribs like to hold the bread a bit), but I did use a knife for butter and used it to lightly hold the bread when pulling it out. Unfortunately the bread was slightly toasted on top but not browned (it tasted quite good and looked like white toast but definitely not what you would expect from a panini). However, the bottom one was just great, great, perfect in every way. This led me to believe that either the press wasn't hot enough or I needed to compensate for the fact that it loses heat the minute it goes up while the pan underneath is always hot. The next time I made a panini, I preheated the bottom pan as usual (5 1/2 setting) but preheated the press to a higher temperature (7 1/2). After 10 minutes of preheating it actually started to smoke a little, so I could tell it was a lot hotter. And sure enough, this time the top and bottom have even turned dark brown. The actual panini grilling process only took a minute and a half to two minutes. Dark, brown, delicious! So that's the greatest advice I can give. Preheat the panini press to a decent temperature, higher than the bottom pan. Another thing to note relates to cheese. If you use semi-hard cheese, or at least a small amount of shredded cheese, you shouldn't have a problem. Today, however, I made a panini with a good pile of shredded cheese, and even though the whole sandwich was fully heated, the cheese deep in the center hadn't melted to that gooey, classic "grilled cheese" consistency. So, in this scenario, it may require some experimentation. So, here are some "recipes" (I'm embarrassed to say they really are, because it's just a grilled sandwich, after all). So far they have all used homemade artesian bread from my Dutch Lodge Oven. It's a buttermilk, cheddar, and herb bread that's great for panini (and if anyone needs the recipe, I'm happy to post it here, along with instructions on how to bake amazing bread in your Dutch Oven!) In fact, a must I correct myself . A batch of panini was made from store-bought, freshly made artesian sourdough (available at the Hannafords Bakery). Flavor is good too, but buttermilk/cheddar/herb bread is better in my opinion. Turkey/Bacon/Cheddar/Onion Panini: Get sliced turkey from the deli. Nicely chopped sharp cheddar. Pieces of fried bacon. Sauté some onions (definitely use raw onions, but onions sautéed in oil have such a wonderfully sweet flavor and texture!). Take bread slices (about 1/2 inch thick slices work best) and brush one side with olive oil. from both discs. Serve panini with olive oil, side out. Place on grill/pan, place on panini press and cook on top of bread until desired color (shouldn't take more than a few minutes) following directions/tips mentioned in main review above Bacon/Cheese /Onion Panini: Have a few slices of bacon, a good selection of shredded cheeses, in this case I used cheddar, jack and quesadilla cheeses, and again my favorite type of onion, sautéed type. For best results, lay in half the cheese on the bottom slice, place bacon, onion and then the other half of the cheese on top, followed by the last slice of bread. Cheese on both sides will help stick everything together as it all melts. From here on. Roast Beef/Mushroom/Cheddar Panini: Pretty self-explanatory. Get sliced roast beef from your local deli. Sauté some mushrooms (yes, I know roasting veggies takes more work, but trust me, it's worth it!) Chopped soft or sharp cheddar (I don't really like Swiss cheese, but I think it would too here a good substitute.) From here and above. Some other ideas I plan to try at some point: bacon/sundried tomatoes (made into a paste)/spinach/cheddar sautéed green peppers/sautéed onions/sautéed mushrooms/Italian cheddars/sautéed onions/sautéed peppers/mozzarella/marinara sauce