ExcelSteel 12 Inch super lightweight cast iron frypan

Great all purpose pan!
I am very happy with this pan. It's practically non-stick if treated properly. It cooks evenly, heats quickly and is large enough for stir fry. I highly recommend this especially for the price. It's also very light for a cast iron pan. The handle is also great as it's the only cast iron I have that where the handle doesn't get too hot to handle.

Great pans
I've had a ExcelSteel fry pan for over 2 years. These are a great alternative to traditional cast iron cookware. They weight about 50% less. I find them to be the best answer for safe, high temp frying. Many of the poor reviews here seem to be lack of experience with cast iron. Yes, you need to season the pan. Yes, you need to clean it after use or it will rust in the sink. Yes, it is not true non-stick at low temperatures. But, like a good, seasoned, cast iron pan, this fried better than anything I have found. AND its one of the most safe fry pans on the market. The latest gov't reports on Teflon and related non-stick cookware are disturbing. With very little proper maintenance this pan will last a lifetime.

Pan does not heat evenly!
We bought a 12 super lightweight cast iron fry pan a few weeks ago. I was trying to get away from coated non-stick pans. I weighed the pan and it was about the same weight as my 12" Cuisinart non-stick pan. That is the good part. On the down side, the center of the pan is higher than the edges. If you put some oil in the pan, the oil forms a 1 1/2" wide ring around the center but it is not too deep. Even that is not so bad, the real bad part is that the center gets hot, and the edges are not nearly as hot (this area is about 1 1/2", the same width as the low spot). We cooked some bacon strips that were cut in half, so they were about 4 1/2" long. They were arranged so that some were in the middle of the pan, and some around the edge. The bacon in the middle cooked fairly rapidly, the ones on the edge did not cook well. We had to constantly move the edge bacon to the middle. The size of the hot spot was about the same as the burner diameter, so it appears that the heat does not travel...

Click to Editorial Reviews