Not too long ago, my wife and I had been discussing replacing our most used aluminum, Teflon coated skillet. The Teflon was chipping off, and my wife and I didn't think that was very healthy. We have a Lodge 12" cast iron skillet, but we needed something bigger since we were used to the size of our old 14" skillet. We decided to take a chance on the Lodge 17" skillet, and we're very happy with our decision. The pan came to us double boxed, and packed very well for a 15 Lbs. package. Even though the pan is pre-seasoned, I recommend seasoning it yourself. This is very easy, and it takes only an hour. Slather the inside of the pan with the oil of your choice, I use canola, but any will do. Turn your oven on to 350 degrees, then put your pan upside down onto the top rack, and cook your pan for an hour. If you go hotter, the oil in the pan will start smoking really badly. Also, put a piece of tin foil on the rack under the pan to catch the drippings. This pan is huge, very heavy and stable. Having such a large cooking surface is a joy. If you use this pan on your stove you can put this pan across two burners, although on mine it makes it across 1 1/2 burners. Make sure that you allow longer for cast iron to heat up, but once it's hot, it will retain the heat very nicely. Everyone says not to go over medium heat, but I find that you need to stay well below medium or else you start to burn off your oil or butter. The first night that I had it, I cooked chicken fajitas, and they turned out great. I noticed that the main cooking zones were right over the two burners, even though the whole pan got hot. As I was cooking the chicken, I moved the more cooked pieces to the sides of the pan, and rotated the uncooked pieces into the hot zones. I did the same thing when I was cooking the onions and peppers. If you use this pan on a barbecue you could get a much more even heat. Cast iron skillets are made for cooking breakfast. One morning I cooked eggs, and my home made bacon at the same time, there was plenty of room. Pancakes turned out perfect, lots of room for flipping. One morning I needed to cook bacon for four people, so I just lined the whole pan with a layer of bacon and put it in the oven at 300 degrees for 20 minutes. Not only did it come out perfect, but the clean up is much easier using that method. Several reviews I read said that the reviewer was returning the pan because everything stuck to the pan. For pancakes and eggs, you have to coat the cooking area liberally with butter. Every time that you cook another round, you need to put more butter or oil on the cooking surface. General cast iron cleaning and care is pretty easy. After I finish cooking, I pour off the oil, I scrape out any dried material, then I rinse the pan out with hot water and a scrub brush. You can use some dish soap during the light scrub, it won't hurt the season. Towel dry the pan, and put a light coat of oil inside the pan. Then, put the pan back on the stove and warm the pan back up to evaporate any water left on it. Any water left on the pan will cause rust. If you ever get any rust, just scrub down with a green pad and re-season. If you get this pan and take the time to learn how to cook with cast iron, you will never want to cook on anything else. The size and quality of this pan is phenomenal. Read more

Quality Product. Read more

It's an awesome frying pan! A joy to cook with! Read more

This little pan is great for making small amount of sauteed vegetables, scrambled eggs and stir fried foods. The quality no doubt is really good and will last a lifetime. Read more

Wanted a larger lodge pan, and got this during the sale. This piece has a few raw edges and the inner pan has some "bumps" and rough surface. Use it for frying rice last night and it does not have a good feel, so I sand down the bumps, inside of pan and the raw edges with sanding stone. Feels better now, and probably have to season it a few times before I can use it. It can be achieved - will do it until I am satisfied and smooth on the inside! Will get the 9" in the near future. Read more

Loved it.. Read more

Been using this for a very long time now, good quantity and no issue. Read more

This is my 2nd Lodge cast iron pan. It does need to be seasoned before using it even though it says it is pre-seasoned. You can use it for meat or dessert, on fire, in the oven, on the hob... anywhere! Just be prepared for its heavy weight and extra care it needs. I got it delivered on the next day of my purchase. Very happy. Read more

I am satisfied with this pan. Big enough to cook food for family of 3-4 people, food does not stick. Also it is deep and you can easily mix everything while frying. You can also put it the oven, as the handles are comfortable for this and it has not rubber or plastic on. Read more

Excellent for small volume of any kind of oil deep fry like vada. Read more

This is my 3rd Lodge cast iron and I love their products. It is durable and versatile, you can use it on stoves, grills and convection oven! I have 2 Lodge sizzling cast iron plates and I had fun using it in serving sizzling dishes and I am definitely excited for this skillet. Though doing the pre-seasoning task is a bit of work, it is totally worth it as it will make your your cast irons work perfectly for a very very long time. If you do not know how to pre-seasoned your cast iron there is one YouTube video by Martha Stewart that is very easy to follow. This is a good investment for your kitchen especially if you like to cook and bake like me! Read more

Perfect size for 2, 4 or 6. Does everything you'd expect of cast iron to do - heat / cooking size. Stove top to oven to table. Highly recommend adding to kitchen arsenal. V.happy with shipping & service too. Read more

I like this frying pan, it cooks meat beautifully, really bringing out the flavours in bacon and beef. I like the fact that it is made in the USA and isn't a throwaway item, it should last a lifetime. Read more