The Starter Set No.8

Good but not great

I really, really wanted to love this pan. Saw it as an upgrade from Lodge, and out of the box it absolutely is. It’s lovely and the lighter weight is a real game changer. However, I think that light weight takes a toll on its performance. My skillet is displaying uneven heating, and it takes a long time to get hot enough for a good sear. My heavier Lodge was better in both regards. The Field, however, does a great job with cornbread and basic sauteeing and roasting. My other head scratcher is the non-stick aspect. I’ve had this skillet for six weeks and have about 40 cooks on it. I season, cook and care for it meticulously per Field’s instructions. And it is taking forever to build a nice non-stick surface. I still can’t get a fried egg to slide and flip without a spatula, even with oil and butter in the pan. The pan is getting blotchy and dark, which is what we want as it shows the seasoning is building, but I can still feel the rings on the surface when I run my fingernail over it. This is disappointing as one of the reasons I was looking to move away from Lodge was I wanted the nice, smooth cooking surface. So I give this skillet a good but not great rating. As for the chainmail and the scrub brush, both work great, no complaints there.

My new favorite Skillet

One person cooking

No 8 skillet is fine if your cooking for one person, little small for more