Review on 🍳 Lodge Cast Iron Griddle with Hot Handle Holder, 10.5 Inches, Black and Red by Rick Howlett

First, I have several Lodge products including a 13" skillet and a 14" pizza pan. I love the pizza pan and have used it for everything from pizza to naan and other breads to roasted veggies etc. Never disappoints! A 13" pan is useful too, but it warps and doesn't sit flat on my glass cooktop, which is very annoying! I don't know when or how it happened. All of the foods from my cabin have a rough surface (I don't know if that's intentional?) and I found them difficult to season. Also, they all have pretty noticeable stitching on the handles from the molding process, which is uncomfortable in my hand, especially because they're heavy. I was tempted to grind and sand them down to give them that nice feel that I have a pair of vintage stickless pans. So to a 10.5 inch pan. I haven't cooked with it yet, but I know what to expect. As shipped, there is significant cracking from missing iron in about a 6-inch section, apparently due to the casting process. This isn't the first time I've seen this with a spoon based on store handling etc. Another thing I would like to point out is that the actual cooking surface area on the griddle is 9.5 inches rather than 10.5 inches overall diameter. This may be the industry standard, but I was expecting a full 10.5-inch cooktop as I almost always cook for more than one person and need to cook a large batch quickly. That being said, it should work well for medium pancakes, tortillas, omelettes, pancakes, etc. Overall, I recommend Lodge products to chefs on a budget who are willing to pay careful attention to proper seasoning and processing. You get what you pay for in this case.