Posted 01 March 2014 - 06:47 PM

Thanks, Scovie!

Yep, I got one. The price for the Kickstarter was about $185, which is a lot for a skillet, and I'm not sure what their final price will be. I ponied up for it, partly to help out a new business that I though had a great idea and was going to make a much needed item. They were originally looking for about 180 backers and I think they got something like 500 backers!!! WOW! That definitely says that people are ready and looking for good cast iron!

Nothing on the market now compares to the quality of the cast. The mirror smooth bottom is unlike anything I've seen in newer CI. All the new stuff I've seen is rough and pitted. The only smooth bottom pans I had were my old CI.

Anyway, here's a couple more cooks-

Grilled Ham & Cheese Sammy-

I like to heat upt eh ham a bit before adding to the Sammy which always leaves crud in the pan. For this one, I swiped the hot pan with a wet paper towel to get most of the bits up. It was enough to let the Sammy cook to a nice golden brown without any of the black bits from the ham. (You have to be careful swiping with a wet towel as the steam can seriously burn you.)

Next up started out to be for chili, then decided to make a Shepherd's Pie thing instead. I fried the burger, no sticking to the bottom, added the onion and celery, got it all Happy-Happy, added about 1/2 cup of beef broth, then topped with Smashed Taters (spuds, s&p, parm cheese, butter). Baked it in the over 350F for about 40 minutes until the 'Taters started to get brown around the edges. Topped with some cheddar, hit it under the broiler until bubbly and DONE!

Dinner with a couple drizzles of Sauce Goddess's Sweet Red Devil Sauce.

There's some potatoes baked onto the edges of the pan, which are not smooth like the bottom, and there's some beef bits baked onto the bottom. I probably should of had a bit more broth, it got a bit dry which left some stuff baked on the bottom. Everythign came out of the pan just fine except for the stuff on the bottom. I soaked the pan with some hot water, but the dish brush wasn't enough to get all the stuff off the bottom I had to use a Scotch Brite scrubber pad (NO Detergent!!!) and that works just fine. Didn't really need to scrub hard at all, just needed that finer abrasion of the green pad vs the dish brush.

All in all, I'm very happy with the Finex skillet. There's been a lot of thought and care put into the design and this is the first really revolutionary cast iron product I've seen. The large spiral handle is easy to grip and stays cool, there's a tab on the opposite side, which I used when lifting the skillet out of the oven, the octagonal shape for pouring, the milled surface, excellent casting.....I'm looking forward to many years of using this pan.

Next thing I hope they make is a lid for the skillet. Tomorrow I want to do a pork roast/stew in the oven and a lit would be nice.....

Check 'em out! FinexUSA