Lodge vs Le Creuset Skillet the difference between the two will surprise you. Lodge and Le Creuset are two legendary cast iron manufacturer. One is based in the USA and the other in France. They both produce cast iron cookware, however one specialize in enamel cast iron and the other in bare cast iron. Bare cast iron and enamel cast iron perform very differently. Bare cast iron cookware can develop a non stick coating that rivals the performance of teflon. While enamel coating has none of the rusting issues that afflicts bare cast iron.

There is also a very profound price difference between these two company. If you look at the Price of Lodge Skillet, you will start to ask why is Le Creuset so much more Expensive? This review will compare and contrast the two company skillet. We will see how the different aspect of their design affect cooking. We will also take a look at what skillet is the best value for your money. Our performance test showed some shocking results.

Lodge vs Le Creuset Skillet Quick Summary

Categories Lodge Le Creuset Performance Great Good Colors Black Wind Range of Color Brand Awareness America Known Around the World Weight 2354 g (5.2 lb) 1930 g (4.3 lb) Helper Handle Yes Yes Pouring Lip Yes Yes Thoughts A great performing pan that has superior non stick performance. This pan will literally last you a lifetime. The downside to it is the effort you have to put seasoning and cleaning to it. But for the price, it cant be beaten. The performance is slightly worse than Lodge but the easy clean up and rust free coating makes it worth it. The lower profile of the skillet also lets you flip food easier. Lodge tall sidewall makes it difficult to flip food. Reviewed Cookware 10 Inch Skillet 10 Inch Signature Iron Handle Price Check Amazon Best Price Check Amazon Best Price

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History

Lodge

According to Wikipedia, Lodge was founded in 1896 by Joseph Lodge, they are one of the most popular cast iron maker that you can find in the USA. In my opinion the reason they are so popular is because their prices are affordable and they appeal to the masses. If you get the right deal, you can find their 10 inch skillet for much as a non stick pan. Which is rare among higher end cookware.

Over the years, they went through different iteration of Cast Iron. The most sought after one is their smoothed based skillet. There is a belief that the smooth surface promotes extra slick surface so that food will not stick. People will pay a premium price for this. I personally don’t think that it makes much of a difference. If you cook food right, you can get a non stick surface from a stainless steel pan. Eggs can slide around just as easily in a copper pot.

Today, they manufacturer a rough surface version of their skillet. Their reasoning for this is because they claim that it helps the seasoning stick better. Now some people believe that a seasoning is a development of flavor, its not. It is a polymerization of fat that bonds to the pores of the metal. The layer of fat provides the pan with a non stick finish. The Cersion that we will be testing today has a rough surface that comes preseasoned from the factory.



Lodge does make an Enamel Coated dutch oven and braisers, but from what I see those are made in China. If the country of manufacturing origin is important to you, this is something to consider. They are still however considerably cheaper than Le Creuset.

Le Creuset

Le Creuset was founded in 1925 by two Belgain men, Fresnoy-le-Grand and Aisne Picardy. The first color that they produced is their signature flame color for their cocotte. From there, they expanded the range of colors and pans. I have some of their more vintage enamel cast iron model, and the base of these pans are bare cast iron.

Today, most of their pan comes fully coated in enamel. I personally feel that this is a mistake, I am assuming this is a cost cutting measure. They might have found a way to automate the enamel coating process and just forego that process.

There are different variations of their skillets that you can find. The vintage model that I have includes a wooden handle that angles sharply upward. The base is more narrow and it looks more like a shorter windsor pan. The newer model with wooden handle is more horizontally angled and has a more rounded shape. It is all around more refined and lack the sharp corners that the vintage version has. There are also a variant where the entire cast iron pan is metal with enamel coating throughout the pan. Today we will be testing the 9 inch Variant that is made entirely of metal with enamel coating.

Their dutch oven pretty much stays the same throughout the years and is rated number one by America’s Test Kitchen. Below, you will find their review on their dutch oven.



Lodge vs Le Creuset Skillet Materials

Before we begin with the Lodge vs Le Creuset Skillet test, why don’t we go through the difference in material they are using. What are the Pros and Cons of the different type.

Bare Cast Iron

Pros

-Will Develop a Non Stick Coating as long as you maintain the seasoning.

-There will be no chipping of enamel.

Cons

-Will rust if not taken care of.

-Seasoning can be stripped if you used certain type of soap or cook with acidic food like lemon or tomato.

-Lots of Smoke when the pan is heated up, your fire alarm will fire and it will be hard to see.

Enamel Cast Iron

Pros

-Will not Rust at area wheres there is enamel.

-Beautiful range of colors available.

-Will not smoke as much as Bare Cast Iron.

Cons

-Enamel can chip if you bang it too hard.

-It does not have the same non stick property of bare cast iron.

-Usually there is a upper limit of heat in the oven, I think Le Creuset has a bigger limit then other manufacturer.

Le Creuset Pan Characteristic

Enamel Coating

The pan itself is almost coated entirely of enamel, the only portion where it is not covered in Enamel is the lip. Some people will claim that it is their specialized matte finish enamel, but its not. The reason why its not coated in enamel is to prevent fusing with the lid at high temperature.

The inner lining is black and smooth with a red exterior.

It is interesting that some of their skillets come with a cream color interior and this version doesn’t. I assume its to make it look less dirty. Overtime, the cream interior will develop dark mark and cracks. This interferes with the beauty of the pan and is hard or impossible to get out. The one below is still in good condition but over time, it will get worse.



Handle

The Handle is relatively short compared to other cookware. I assume they did this to force people to grab the handle near the pan. If you have a long handle, that will only increase the leverage that the pan will have on you. In essence, it will feel a lot heavier than it is. The loop handle is huge, which helps in heat dissipation. In short burst, you might be able to grab and maneuver the pan without burning yourself.



Shape

The overall shape and design of the skillet is excellent. The sides are low so you can reach under with a spatula easily. This also helps in the evaporation of liquid. For a frying pan, this type of design is better than skillets with a tall sidewall. The corner are also rounded allowing you to whisk and emulsify sauces very easily. Pans with harsh corner gets in the way.

Lip

The lip of the pan is not rounded, however, there is two pouring spot on the sides of the pan to allow for easy pouring. A universal rounded lip would be better, but I guess this works just as well.

Lodge Pan Characteristic

Bare Cast Iron

The seasoning is shiny throughout the entire pan. The lip is also coated in the seasoning unlike Le Creuset’s pan. The interior is not smoothed out so you see little dimples everywhere.

Handle

The handle like Le Creuset is short with a large loop. This is to prevent the pan from feeling too heavy. The hole helps heat dissipate, you can maneuver it a little without getting burned. There is also a burr on the side of the handle. Something that I felt should have been removed. The other side of the pan have a helper handle to help carry the pan.

Shape

This is where Lodge loses. Their skillet resembles too much like a saute pan. In fact, I would call it a saute pan rather than a skillet. Typically a saute pan are used more for braising. The tall sidewall will trap moisture in and cause food to steam. It also makes it difficult to flip food with a spatula. You would need a pair of tongs to get around this. While a saute pan is a good design, it does not function like a frying pan. If you want a true frying pan, Le Creuset would be a better choice.

Lip

The lip has no rounded edge but has two pouring lips on either side to allow for easy pouring.

Lodge vs Le Creuset Skillet Specs

Note:These measurement are done by me with the tools that I have on hand. The manufacturers have their own measurement guidelines and that should be assumed to be accurate. What I find on this review can vary widely due to several factors, such as ambient temperature, location, water, tool calibration, stove btu, etc..and should only be considered as my opinion.

Le Creuset

Weight:1930 g

Diameter:9.4 inch Base Cooking Diameter:7.8 inch

Height:1.7 inch Thickness:3.78 mm

Lodge

Weight:2354 g

Diameter:10.25 inch Base Cooking Diameter:8 inch

Height:2 inch Thickness:3.88 mm

Looking at both their specs, they look very similar. The lodge is heavier with a bigger rim and taller height. It should be able to retain more heat and heat up slower. However, because Le Creuset has an enamel coating, that can change results.

Lodge vs Le Creuset Skillet Performance

To test the how well it distribute heat and how well it heats up, I perform a toast test where I place a piece of toast in the center than weight it down with a Meat Pounder. I heat up the pan for a total of 3 min then see the color of the toast. To get an idea on how this test was done, look at the picture below.



Le Creuset

Lodge



So what we are looking for is how uniform the color of the toast is and how dark the toast is. This will tell us two things.

1) The darker the toast, the better the heat conductivity of the pan. You want a pan that can heat up quickly and recover from temperature drop.

2) How well it distributes the heat. You can see the heat distribution based on the evenness of the color. A pan that can distributes heat evenly will smooth out any imperfection on your stove top.

The heat capacity of both item should be judged by its weight. The heavier the pan is, the better its ability to retain heat.

Performance Thoughts

The result sure is shocking. Lodge is almost 1 lb heavier and it heats significantly quicker than Le Creuset. The base material is both cast iron so the only possible thing that can affect the result is the enamel coating.

I think the enamel coating degrades the efficiency of the cast iron to transfer heat. If I can find a similar pan with no enamel base, that would be a good control. The other possible thing that can affect it is that Lodge is uniformly black, that might let it absorb heat better. If the base thickness of the pan is different this can affect result as well. Unfortunately, I do not have a caliper big enough to measure that.

In terms of heat distribution, I would give Le Creuset a slight edge. However, they both perform badly in my opinion. Cast iron is a poor conductor of heat, you wont get good heat distribution/conductivity like you would with copper. I normally perform these test under 2 minute interval, but because of the way the material is, I increase the duration to 3 minute.

Lodge vs Le Creuset Skillet Conclusion

So Lodge vs Le Creuset Skillet, at the time of this article, Lodge is only 12 dollars and the Le Creuset is 140 dollars, what a difference. Under the toast test, Lodge outperforms Le Creuset for a fraction of the price. Now, there can be external variable like discussed before, such as base thickness, enamel coating and color.

The one thing that I did not test, is how well it retains heat, technically, lodge should retain heat a little better due to its mass however, but thanks to the enamel coating, Le Creuset might have an edge. But, it brings me back to the issue of why I do not test heat retention test for frying pan.

You will get to a point, where heating up the pan catches up to heat retention. To explain it a little better. If you add food to a pan, the amount of stored heat in the pan will drop. A good pan with good heat retention will hold onto that heat but only to a certain point. If the pan heat should drop low enough and it cant recover, a pan with high heat capacity and slow heat conductivity is useless because it will take forever recover the lost heat. In that time, the food will steam and overcook. You wont be able to brown the food properly to develop a good maillard reaction.



Lodge vs Le Creuset Skillet Value

Overall, the performance that you get from Lodge is better. However, the main issue is the shape of Lodge Skillet. It performs too much like a saute pan than a skillet. There are also issues with bare cast iron such as rust and cleaning. Le Creuset is definetly more expensive but it performs how a skillet should perform. The colors are simply beautiful and fits in any household. It also lacks any of the drawback of Bare cast iron. But the main issue is that it sticks. Which one is best for you is dependent on your situation. However, If I had to choose one pan, I would probably go with lodge. Overtime, the non stick coating will become almost like teflon. It heats up faster and I am not a patient person. But obviously I have both so the choice isnt really an issue with me.



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I hope you enjoyed this Lodge vs Le Creuset Skillet test. If you would like to see more, please visit our Pots and Pans Review page.