Griddle

[Art_Vandelay]

After 26 arduous years, my brother is finally leaving the house to live by himself.

I offered to buy him a few things, and since he loves his steak I figured a griddle would be a good place to start.

I don't want to break the bank but I'll be eating there occasionally so I want him to have at least one good pan

So I ask you chefs of PH, what griddle do you recommend.

[escargot]

Can't beat le creuset for cast iron cookware in my experience.

http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/Volcanic_Le_Cr...

£48.75 (RRP £65) for the 26cm grill looks a good buy.

[mart 63]

I use a standard chefs non stick frying pan for mine.They cook a steak great and anything else you want to fry.You can put them in the oven aswell.Got mine from Makro,they are around £5 each,bargin.

Edited by mart 63 on Monday 22 February 11:42

[Art_Vandelay]

escargot said:

Can't beat le creuset for cast iron cookware in my experience.

http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/Volcanic_Le_Cr...

£48.75 (RRP £65) for the 26cm grill looks a good buy.

Perfect Hoping to spend around £50 so it looks ideal. I'll have a look around in a few shops first (I've seen some of their pots in TK Maxx funnily enough) to see if I can see it.

[Art_Vandelay]

mart 63 said:

I use a standard chefs non stick frying pan for mine.They cook a steak great and anything else you want to fry.You can put them in the oven aswell.Got mine from Makro,they are around £5 each,bargin.

Edited by mart 63 on Monday 22 February 11:42

He'll be buying his own set of pans so he can get those, besides, I like mine done on the griddle

[escargot]

The trouble with cheap frying pans is they don't retain heat or distribute heat particularly well. The cast iron pans take a bit of heating to get them to temperature (that 26cm one is the same as I have and it's heavy!) but once you've got them to temp, you can put as much in it as you want and it won't cool the pan, therefore you actually get true frying/grilling as opposed to boiling.

Where things like this are concerned, it's worth paying the extra because provided he takes reasonable care of it, it should last a lifetime.

[Art_Vandelay]

Just popped into Aldi for some 19p chocolate which is lovely and caught glimpse of cast iron pans very similar to those shown by escargot, £15... thoughts on these? Am I being a typical tight student?

[escargot]

Tesco do a similar one for £20 I think.

I don't know whether they're any good or not mate. They'll no doubt do the job but whether they'll stand the test of time, who knows?

[smack]

Art_Vandelay said:

escargot said:

Can't beat le creuset for cast iron cookware in my experience.

http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/Volcanic_Le_Cr...

£48.75 (RRP £65) for the 26cm grill looks a good buy.

Perfect Hoping to spend around £50 so it looks ideal. I'll have a look around in a few shops first (I've seen some of their pots in TK Maxx funnily enough) to see if I can see it.

Good call - it will last him a life time if he looks after it, and comes in a colour for everyones tastes. Have a look around, most places have Le Creuset cast iron cookwear at 20-30% discount.

[Plotloss]

Cast iron griddles need not cost more than a tenner.

Normal pan rules dont apply as they are cast rather than assembled.

I think mine was a fiver and its fine, the key is to oil the meat rather than the griddle.

[louiebaby]

smack said:

Art_Vandelay said:

escargot said:

Can't beat le creuset for cast iron cookware in my experience.

http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/Volcanic_Le_Cr...

£48.75 (RRP £65) for the 26cm grill looks a good buy.

Perfect Hoping to spend around £50 so it looks ideal. I'll have a look around in a few shops first (I've seen some of their pots in TK Maxx funnily enough) to see if I can see it.

Good call - it will last him a life time if he looks after it, and comes in a colour for everyones tastes. Have a look around, most places have Le Creuset cast iron cookwear at 20-30% discount.

I got my Le Creuset thing for £60, but it was London cookery shop prices. Weighs a ton, and you need to heat it for a bout 10 mins to get it properly hot, but the steak is glorious. (So is picking off the bits of meat that got stuck to the pan, when it has cooled. Yum.)

Hopefully, I'll never need to buy another.

[Mobile Chicane]

escargot said:

Can't beat le creuset for cast iron cookware in my experience.

http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/Volcanic_Le_Cr...

£48.75 (RRP £65) for the 26cm grill looks a good buy.

I agree. However I opted for the Le Creuset 32.5x22cm rectangular grill since this also doubles up as an excellent oven tray for chips, scampi, chicken Kievs etc... anything where you want you want the maximum of crispy coating.