My favorite Lodge item, August 25, 2008

I have been cooking with Lodge cast iron for about 7 years and own 8 pieces from their inventory. The Double Dutch Oven is my favorite Lodge cookware due to its versatility.

When using a dutch oven, I usually sear the meat first to add flavor. Usually, this requires searing the meat in several batches. The best part about the Double Dutch is that you can sear the meat in the big pot and in the lid simultaneously, thus reducing the time needed to brown the meat by half. Since the lid is then used for the braising step (after deglazing), you’re not increasing the number of items to be cleaned later.

I like the lid so much that I often use it by itself for pan frying. Due to the smallish size (about 10 inches in diameter) and the inherent properties of cast iron, the lid can get incredibly hot if you want it to. Perfect for cooking a steak (it puts on a better crust vs my 12″ Lodge skillet). I’ve even used it as a pie pan in a pinch. When properly seasoned, the…

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If I can do it – you certainly can!!, November 20, 2009

To preface, I’m trying really hard to be a “good cook” but don’t have a lot of experience, and I can’t justify spending thousands of dollars on a budding hobby. So, when it came to replacing my flaking non-stick cookware, I researched for months before deciding on a hybrid set of copper-core stainless and Lodge cast iron. I read dozens of reviews and was intimidated by the extra care required by cast iron (I’m a wash-and-wear type). But, Lodge is so cheap comparatively and still really respected as an industry standard, that it’s hard to overlook.

I initially purchased the combo cooker, a 5qt dutch oven, and a variety of skillets. The cookers arrived in their Lodge packaging and were quite secure, but the skillets definitely were shipped loose. Fortunately they survived the jumbled journey fine, but I can see what other reviewers suffered with regards to skillets scraping each other or breaking out of their boxes – they are only a few steps shy of being insufficiently…

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My first cast iron piece won’t be my last!, February 7, 2010

The use of the Dutch oven has recently been reborn with just about every Food Network Chef/star touting their very own product version. During the holidays a good friend purchased a beautiful royal blue Le Crueset from William Sonoma and recently served us a wonderful roast beef and veggie dinner. The meat was flavorful and rich, cooked to perfection and had complexity in flavor, much more so that the same recipe cooked in a crock pot (which often leaves everything in the pot tasting the same).

As a wanna-be homesteader, in-training, I immediately decided I must have a Dutch Oven… I went straight to William Sonoma’s site, credit card in hand, and stopped dead when I saw the price tag of the Le Creuset of 0.00+. As a bargain shopper who aims for product knowledge then sensible purchases, I set out to research my options to determine if a good dutch oven warranted such a heft price tag. I explored the Kitchen Aid, Le Creuset, Mario Batali, Calphalon, Lodge, Rachel…

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Great waffles, but some skill needed, October 4, 2008

I bought 2 of these. Based on the potential product quality, I would give it 5 stars. These can make great waffles (nonbelgian – i.e. thin), crisp on the outside, tender in the center, and light and airy. It’s a revelation in fact, if you are used to the typical doughy waffle. I like these much better the what the waring pro, nonstick, flip, automatic beep, etc. In addition, the cycle time can be quite fast, provided you preheat the irons sufficiently and keep a high enough temperature. I can average 1 waffle a minute.

However, I took off a star because of the following caveats:

1) You must know how to season cast iron, otherwise the waffles will stick. It would be great if they could preseason this, like lodge logic. To season, first i put the irons in boiling water to take off the wax coating, then soaped and washed. I decided to season this on the stove top (make sure you have a good hood & vent). I preheated the irons, then brushed a raw chunk of pork fat…

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Rome’s #1100 Waffle Iron is great!, December 21, 2008

I have been making and freezing waffles for my family (teenagers included) for about 10 years now and this is the best waffle maker yet. I’ve gone through about 3 electric ones over the years, so it’s nice to know I’ll never need another!

It can seem to need a lot of attention, but it’s really worth it.

1) The most important thing to know is: Are you familiar with working with iron skillets? You’ll need to know how to season the iron and keep it seasoned throughout its lifetime of use. This could be the waffle iron’s down-fall if you don’t know how to do this.

~~~To season this I first burned off the paraffin coating in my oven with double aluminum foil under it. Then I washed it in the dishwasher. Then I heated it on the stove-top with a heavy brushing of canola oil and then let it cool completely. I did this about 4 times. This takes a day or two because of cooling times. Then I washed it again.

2. Once seasoned, I use it on my gas…

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Perfect Waffles Every Time! Cooking/Seasoning instructions here!, April 1, 2009

I use this on a gas stove. This waffle maker makes perfect no-stick waffles every time. First I melted off the wax coating and seasoned the pan (see below for instructions). Get your wire cooling rack, a clean dishtowel and parchment paper and scissors. Cut about 12 squares of parchment paper to place one in between each cooked waffle (these can be reused for a couple batches and you can use them to place between your waffles for freezing in a container).

The first time I cooked waffles on this iron, I didn’t realize I wasn’t supposed to spray the iron every time I put more batter in it. This worked out well for me because not one of my waffles stuck (although I did go through almost a whole can!). The second time I made waffles,I only sprayed the irons once at the beginning of the first waffle and they did not stick to the pan when not spraying each subsequent waffle.

Here’s my technique for cooking…heat each irons at same time on gas burners heated…

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A note about the size…, February 28, 2007

This is not smaller than regular muffin pans. It’s straightsided where regular muffin pans have slanted sides. This pan has muffin cups that are 2-1/2-inch-wide by 1-1/2-inch-deep. My regular cheap metal muffin pan cups are the same depth; at the bottom they are 2-inches wide while at the top they are 2-3/4-inches wide. It’s actually an appearance issue, not a size issue.

As for quality, it’s from Lodge and it’s cast iron. It’s superior.

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Perfect for yorkshire puddings, August 17, 2006

By 

Scott Gonzales (San Diego, CA USA) – See all my reviews

  

That’s what we got it for- and it works great.

The thick cast iron does a great job keeping your pre-heated fat/oil smoking hot while you add your batter.

Our puddings seem to come out much poofier compared to when we used to use a cheap, thin walled muffin tin.

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Bakes well, on the small side, October 21, 2006

By 

Peter A. Lamb (Sterling, CT United States) – See all my reviews

  

The only disappointment I had was that I was expecting a full sized muffin – though they did accurately give the measurements – I just didn’t check. ….I agree with the earlier review…bigger than a mini, smaller than a regular. One bonus is that it fits well in a toaster oven and bakes in less than half the time on convection mode.

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DOESN’T WORK as advertised., September 14, 2010

I bought one of these from a mall kiosk.

The shirts that they use in the kiosks at the mall are all some kind of silk/rayon material, whose wrinkles come out very easily.

This product does NOT work well on anything made from cotton.

The salesman at a mall kiosk will demonstrate to you that the steam is cool to the touch.

But the one I got BURNS hot.

The instructions in the box and the salesman say that the steam lasts over ten minutes.

The steam lasts ONLY three minutes and you have to keep filling up the unit.

You this unit also tends to release some kind of brown and black particle substances.

If you overfill the unit – which is easy to do – you will get boiling water flowing out of the unit, and possibly spilling along the electrical connection.

This is very unsafe. Buyers should beware that this product is NOT UL listed. Which means that this product has not be…

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Do not buy, August 28, 2010

I bought one from a mall kiosk. Problems: (1) black water will get on your clothes if you are not careful to rinse it out each time. (2) You have to refill it 2 or 3 times for each shirt. (3) The unit gets very hot and if you are not careful to only touch the handle, you will get burned. (4) It takes more power the more salt you put in it. It would dim my lights and it can easily blow a fuse.

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Do Not Buy, August 8, 2011

The one I bought at Mall Cart did not work! The Sales asked for at the beginning, but when he saw me want to leave, he kept reducing the price to , , ….until I said it may worth for ! Then he sale it to me by . After I paid it, I started to regret since the price can drop so fast and easy from the sales. However, I brought it home and tried it on, it DO NOT WORK. When I look at my receipt, it stamped on “no refund, only exchange”, and on my credit card’s receipt writing on “no refund, no exchange”. I just feel The salesman cheated me into buying a very poor product! Plus after reading these reviews too! What can I do?

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Good value for the price, December 9, 2008

I was pleasantly surprised at what a good job this little steamer does for the price. I’ve used it to remove set-in wrinkles from new clothing and to freshen up items taken out of the closet. I also used it to remove dents in my carpet from furniture. Pretty good product. My only complaint is that it doesn’t hold very much water, but I was still able to steam about 3 garments before re-filling. Would recommend it for small jobs.

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A nice machine as long as you realize it’s NOT an iron!, February 27, 2009

A great product; I took it with me on a trip to make sure my clothes looked good after being crush-packed on a motorcycle. It did the job beautifully and I highly recommend it to Amazon users. JUST REMEMBER, as at least one reviewer did not, this is NOT an IRON! It’s a STEAMER and is meant to be used with the clothing hanging from a hanger!

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lousy product and lousy customer service…stopped working after 20 uses!, November 22, 2009

By 

Sarah Shibley (NYC) – See all my reviews

  

I bought my Conair Hand Steamer a few months ago. At first, it worked great!! I used it 20 times over the course of a few months and then it completely stopped working! The water would not pump from the holding tank to the iron. Completely useless. To add insult to injury, I attempted to contact the company via email and got no answer…not even recognition that my complaint was received! Lousy product and lousy customer service! I wasted my money!…too bad because it worked wonderfully the first 20 uses.

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great while it lasted…, January 25, 2012

i purchased mine about 6 months ago…worked fine til this morning, it just died while i was using it…lights just went off…unplugged it, checked the cords and plugged it again but nothing. disappointed!

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My MIL loves this iron., January 10, 2012

My MIL came to America and HATED my iron (to be honest I never loved it either). Seeing as she irons everything (I iron as little as possible) I decided to get her a decent iron for Christmas. She LOVES it. It is a great iron. Good steam, fast heat up, doesn’t need a ton of pressure which is good for me as I have disabilities. I have only one complain – the fabric selector is directly under the bottom of my first finger, so I push it on accident a lot and don’t realize it until it isn’t ironing as well. I am sure once I get used to it I won’t do that anymore.

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Very unreliable: Replaced 3 times, May 20, 2010

By 

Gareth H. Richards “jetlife2″ (Loveland, Oh, USA) – See all my reviews

  

This iron ought to be great. It has good features and when it works, it is a good unit.

However, we have had three of these fail completely over a period of 18 months. They will work initially, but weeks or months later, they stop working (no power), or work intermittently, or show Error! and stop working. Every time, B&D replace it without any difficulty…cut off the plug and send it back, and quickly they send a new one. So they get good grades for customer service. But it is incredibly frustrating. There is something findamentally wrong with either the design or the quality of manufacture.

So after the 3rd one failed, we said No More. No way are we getting a 4th unit.

We are now purchasing a Panasonic, which is the #1 rated iron on Amazon. Hopefully this will be a better experience.

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Poor quality, December 8, 2010

Purchased the B&D Digital Advantage D1650 and it malfunctioned within the 12 month warranty period. B&D replaced without problems. The replacement iron broke down just after its warranty expired. Tough luck. Don’t buy this iron. What is happening to build quality today. Manufacturing by the lowest priced bidder with the lowest priced components!

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