I resisted buying a grill pan for years – why do I need one when I have a gas grill just outside my kitchen that is accessible most months of the year in Denver? Well, I was in Williams Sonoma one day and they had the Le Creuset Bistro Grill pan on sale, and the salesperson did her job well – and convinced me I absolutely had to have one.
I have to say, after using it for a few months now, I love it! There are times when I just don’t want to go outside in the rain and grill, and this pan is a nice alternative. I tested it cooking various cuts of meat, chicken, vegetables, hamburgers and turkey burgers.
Here is what I like about it:
- The pan is cast iron and coated with porcelain enamel, so it heats very evenly.
- The low sides relative to other grill pans made it very easy to cook kabobs, as they could lie flat (the skewers aren’t propped up in the air by the sides of the pan).
- It seems a bit easier to control the cooking process for foods tricky to control on the outdoor grill – like the Lamb Kabobs I blogged about in April (which I was afraid might crumble), thin asparagus and sliced onions.
- It’s pretty, especially in the Ocean color!
Here is what I don’t like about it:
- It isn’t as easy to clean as I thought it would be. After trying different approaches, what seems to work the best is to heat the pan, then spray it with cooking spray shortly before putting on the food.
Overall I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. You can find it on the Williams Sonoma website for $99.95.
