Utopia Kitchen Saute Frying Pan 12 Inch, Cast Iron Chefs Pan, Pre Seasoned Cast iron Skillet With Lid, Safe Grill Cookware for Indoor & Outdoor Use, Black

This pan is of good weight. My husband has been dilligent about seasoning it. He takes good care after washing it to season and heat in oven. It seems to cook well and is useful on top of stove and in the oven. I am used to modern pans, so the slow heat up is different for me. Once it is hot, it does retain heat well and cooks evenly. it is fairly non stick when seasoned. My husband really likes using it for cooking. The absence of worry about chemicals leaching into food is a plus as well. This is a well made pan and we will have it for a long time.

I always wanted a cast iron skillet, and I'm *so* glad I finally got one.For starters, it cooks everything better -- which has made cooking almost like an all new thing for me. For example, when I got up this past Saturday, I said to myself, "gee, I wonder what it would be like to make the world's best pancakes?" and then I cooked pancakes on this cast iron skillet, and said to myself, "this REALLY IS the world's best pancakes. Does not get better than that!"Cooking everything I've ever cooked before has literally become a whole new experience.I've also had a number of times in my life where I bought things thinking if I bought it, I'd do more of something I wanted to do. For example, I've bought instruments wanting to play instruments, or bought games wanting to play some games with friends. In almost all cases, I buy that thing and proceed to not do anything with it beyond using it a couple times.Not with this. I'm discovering more and more that when you have the right tools to make delicious things, cooking is so much more fun than I ever thought it would be.I *look forward* to cooking.And, hell, even cleaning -- because while cast iron is a lot less scary to take care of than some people think, it does require work. And I kind of feel like with my new skillet, it's kind of like a new pet. And one that I love. But like a new pet, it sometimes needs attention that can't be too delayed.Previously, I'd have left a dirty pan in the sink for hours... maybe days. Now, I clean it up right after I eat, because it's my new 'puppy' and it needs its cleaning now.There's been a weirdly fulfilling ritual to this, though, that's connected me to my kitchen -- plus, I enjoy this new cleaner kitchen I've been keeping almost as much as I've been enjoying the food that I've eaten!To think a fairly small purchase has changed so much about me in such a short time -- and made me appreciate so many new and different things -- is, well, damn. I love it.A few little caveats:This ended up being a bit bigger than I expected, but that's my fault for not comparing the measurements to my existing pans and skillets. I thought this was a 'standard' sized pan (whatever 'standard' is), and it ended up being a good deal bigger than the biggest pan I had before.That said, I actually *really* like the size. This makes cooking a lot of things that was challenging a lot easier -- I made a *giant* thing of made-from-scratch Mac and Cheese (enough for 12 people!), and this actually managed to fit the entire thing. (And the fact that I could use one pan for the stove top *and* the oven was nice.).I also enjoy how much easier to is to flip things, and how there's extra space if I want to cook a couple different at the same time. Another nice thing: if you're cooking burgers or hot dogs, you can cook the meat in the center of the pan and have *plenty* of space around the sides to heat the buns, and this makes them extra tasty.It is a bit heavy, however. I'm able to handle it with one hand (though that took a little getting used to), but a member of my household in her mid to late 60s isn't. Still, she's able to handle it much easier than she thought the first time she picked it up because of it's second handle. Consider this the Great Sword of the kitchen -- a number of people are going to need to use its two handles to use with ease.The last caveat: If you've never used cast iron -- like I've never used cast iron -- *wow* do they get hot, and they *retain* their heat. I took the advice of all the blog articles I've read and seasoned it a few extra times before my first use, and the first time I took it out of the oven I burned myself -- right through my oven mitt. If you pick this skillet in the oven at very high temperatures, make sure to use both the silicone hot handle holder and a *good* pair of oven mitts.My burn was very minor because I had the oven mitts on, but they were crappy, cheap oven mitts. I immediately threw them out and bought a good pair of oven mitts on that were designed to be able to protect at 450.I haven't burned myself since, but it's definitely something to be careful about.

First use were 2 ribeye steaks. This pan worked well, it was a bonus it is pre-seasoned. Cleanup was easy, as it's ok to wash with soapy water and regular sponge. Followed up with grapeseed oil spread around inside with a paper towel, and we're done. I feel like the knob of the handle cover could be a bit bigger or beefier but in general, it fits and worked fine. Overall, a good buy.

Overall good product.I'm not impressed with the extra texture on the surface of the inside of the pan, but otherwise a nice pan, top came w/ slight dent, but fits snugly if I want to steam something .That said, it's what you might expect of a cast iron, heavy, head holding and large.

This product is just what we needed! The quality of the cast iron pan is equal to higher priced fry pans. I would definitely recommend this pan and this company to others!

Bagged this 12" cast iron pan with a glass lid for $23 during prime days. Seasoned it one time in the oven with olive oil. Then this am I heated up the pan on a glass top stove on medium heat. Took about 5 minutes. Once the pan was hot I put enough olive oil to cover the bottom and fried one egg. Let the cracked egg sit on the pan for about 2 minutes before flipping. The egg didn't stick at all. I think this is going to be a great pan. Bought it mostly to cook burger parties. I'm a happy camper & proud Amazon stock holder. Great Company!!!

This pan arrived with rust on it that I cannot scub off, and it stinks like rust! I tried to cook with it and the rust comes up from the pan onto the food. Tried seasoning it 2 times and same issue. Very disappointed.

This is a really nice pan ! I lightly cleaned with warm soapy water then heated to medium low heat, used a paper towel to apply oil and let cool, heated again and applied a little more oil. First cook job in the pan was diced potato topped with medium cheddar which moved around the pan perfectly. Moved the potatoes off to the side and did eggs and they also came out perfect without sticking at all. As long as you keep your heat under control cast iron is better than any "non stick" pan. I would have been happy with this pan at twice the cost and it comes with a lid! Enjoy! R.J.