Review: Lodge Sportsman's Grill
Therefore, I want to revisit some of what I wrote last year on Amazon, making a few modifications and updates now that I’ve had this little cast iron wonder for a little over a year.
I've always been particular to charcoal grilling over gas. But in my adult life, I've previously been satisfied getting the cheapest charcoal grill available and using it until it fell apart. Now, however, since I have the Lodge cast iron Sportsman's Grill (from this point forward, simply LSG), I anticipate that this will be the last grill I ever own. Because it's cast iron, as long as it's well cared for, it should last a lifetime.
My wife got me this grill for an anniversary present. Having developed a passion for cooking in cast iron like many of you, I had been eyeing it for quite some time. When it arrived, it came in a box unassembled, but I had it put together within a couple of minutes. All of the pieces simply stay in place with gravity with the exception of the bottom which is screwed into the fire bowl.
I enjoyed this grill so much last year, I believe we
grilled out more last summer and fall than in the
previous five or so years combined. While almost
anything can be cooked to perfection on the LSG, I’ve
also since discovered Omaha Steaks. We enjoyed them
so much last year, we had to adjust our monthly
grocery budget just to make sure we could place at
least one modest order a month. I’ve known for a
while that their steaks and burgers are great, but on
Memorial Day earlier this week, I also discovered
that Omaha Steaks also carries some of the best hot
dogs and brats I’ve ever tasted. The brats were much
more flavorful than many I’ve tried, and the hot dogs
were three times the size of a normal frankfurter
with great taste to boot.
Three brats, four
burgers, and one ribeye--merely part of all that we grilled on Memorial
Day this year.
Here are some things I've
discovered over the last year or so cooking on my
Lodge Sportsman’s Grill:
1. If you're going to use this grill a lot,
you don't want to have it sitting on the
ground. Or at least I don't with my sore
back! So rather than finding some weatherproof
pre-made table, I constructed a little grilling
platform out of cinder blocks and patio stones. As
you can see in the pictures, it looks much more
attractive than it sounds. The materials cost me
merely $17 and I guarantee you I have a more sturdy
grilling area than anything I could have purchased.
There’s no strong wind that’s going to blow over this
grilling stand! Plus, I can temporarily stow tongs
and spatulas in the open spaces of the cinder blocks.
2. Because cast
iron heats evenly, the entire top grill is
hot. I don't have to worry about colds spots
on the grill as I've had to in the past assuming that
I’ve distributed the charcoal fairly evenly. I read
about one user of the LSG spraying the grill with
olive oil-flavored Pam, which I often do, too. And
with the oil based marinade I sometimes use, food
sizzles when I set it down on this grill, just like
when I put it in a cast iron skillet. I never get
tired of the sound of cast iron sizzle whether it
comes from a skillet or the LSG.
3. Speaking of a cast iron skillet, this
grill is the best of both worlds. The grates
of the top grill are flat on top and the slits are
fairly narrow. It really is like grilling and cooking
in a skillet combined. By oiling the grill before
use, I've yet to have anything stick to it. And the
slots are much more narrow than grills I've used in
the past, so the danger of a burger falling through
into the coals are a thing of the past.
4. The LSG will cook just about anything you
throw on it. I’ve cooked steaks, burgers,
chicken, pork chops, brats, hot dogs and more. I
really like the control I get over the food. So many
times with a traditional charcoal grill, I've
scorched food if I wasn't paying attention. Because
this is made of cast iron and because of the flat
cooking surface, it's much easier to control the
cooking. Pork chops I cooked on the grill were nicely
browned on the outside, but not burnt and juicy
inside. The burgers were perfectly done as well. It's
much easier to control the fire on this grill than
others I've used.
5. Warning: be careful with perfectly round
hot dogs. There's no side to the grill
surface and a round hot dog can simply roll off if
you're not careful. Hot dogs that are a bit squared
are much easier to control, and it helps to not crowd
them so that they can be turned over. Notice the
attractive brown (but not black and scorched!)
stripes. Another solution as suggested by Greg on
Black Iron Dude is to simply turn the top grill
upside down so that there’s a small protrusion at the
edges to keep your dogs from falling off. I haven’t
tried this yet, but now I wonder why I hadn’t thought
of that!
6. Don’t think that this grill is not up to
cooking for large groups--it is! My wife was
concerned that the grill was so small that we
wouldn't be able to adequately entertain guests. As
you can see here and in the pictures in our gallery, I
easily fit eight quarter pound burgers from Omaha
Steaks on the grill. That's perfectly adequate for
any entertaining that we will do, and even if we
have more folks over, two or three rounds of eight
won't take that long.
7. Due to the LSG's flat surface on top, I
could easily cook in a skillet or dutch oven on top
of this grill without the pan wobbling. I’ve
cooked food in 8” skillets, 10 1/4” skillets, sizzle
skillets, and even dutch ovens. It’s the perfect
grill to take camping as it allows for a wide
diversity in what kinds of food can be prepared.
When camping, the LSG
can be used with a dutch oven as an alternative to
placing the dutch oven directly into live
coals.
“Mountain Man
Breakfast” made in a dutch oven on top of the
LSG.
Baked beans in a
rolling boil right next to hamburgers. The beans are
in a 10 1/4 Lodge skillet
Cheeseburgers and corn
on the cob (yeah, I know that’s not a cast iron pan,
but it wasn’t my pan!)
Mushrooms & onions
in olive oil on a sizzle skillet
8. To clean the
top grill, I've used a stiff plastic brush and the
nylon scrapers you can get from any Pampered Chef rep
for cleaning a baking stone. As with any
cast iron, you don't want to use soap as it can strip
the seasoning or even leave a soap taste. I simply
take the top grill to the kitchen sink and scrub it
down with the brush and hot water. I use the scraper
to get any food between the slots. It can be a bit
tedious to clean between every groove, but it's
really not difficult to clean.
9. It may not be clear from the pictures, but
the coals sit on a removable fire grate about an inch
and a half above the bottom of the grill.
This allows for air flow under the coals via an
adjustable draft door. As the coals turn to ash, some
will fall through the grate.
10. For cleaning the bottom part below the
fire grate, I've experimented with lining the bottom
with aluminum foil to make removing the ashes a bit
easier. I did this a lot when I first bought
the grill, but I do it less often now. If you try
this, you want to be careful not to let the foil
block the vent behind the draft door so that you can
have air circulating under your coals. After I lift
out the ashes, I've simply been sweeping out the ash
dust that remains. As with any grill you don't want
to leave heavy amounts of ash in place as it can
become corrosive if it mixes with moisture.
11. As mentioned above, I clean the top grill
like I would any cast iron skillet. If
necessary, the grill top could even be re-seasoned in
the oven or perhaps simply by covering it in a thin
layer of lard or other cooking oil and placing it
over hot coals. I haven’t had a need to do this yet,
but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
12. For the start of this year’s grilling, I
covered the bottom part of the grill with black
stovepipe paint. The idea of painting cast
iron would certainly be taboo for many, and I would
agree if we were talking about the cooking surface.
However, everything below the top grill--the fire
bowl, the bottom, the fire grate, the fire door, the
draft door--never comes into direct contact with
food. Interestingly, when a LSG arrives brand new,
every piece of the grill is covered in Lodge’s
pre-seasoning. Again, this makes perfect sense for
the top grill, but not for the rest of the grill. By
this spring, the bottom part of my grill had lost all
the pre-seasoning in quite a few places (the grill
does get extremely hot, after all). I even had a
couple of minor rust spots. While I could have simply
re-seasoned it, this seemed neither practical or
necessary. Instead, I cleaned everything really well
before my first grilling of the year, and then I
covered everything except the top grill with black
stovepipe paint that is good for up to 1200°
Fahrenheit. I am very pleased with the results and
the painted grill makes it look brand new again. If
this is something I need to do every year or two, I
don’t mind at all. And my hunch is the paint will act
as a better protection from weather than the mere
pre-seasoning from Lodge.
This is a shot of my
grill that I took last week. Even though I’ve had it
for over a year, it still looks
brand new because I completely painted everything but
the top grill with black stovetop paint.
13. If you're going to keep the grill
outside, you must get the Lodge Sportsman's Grill
Cover. The cover is long enough for the
elastic bottom to fit under the legs of the grill
keeping water out from all sides in the case of rain.
Outside of that, I’d recommend bringing the grill
inside if it’s not going to be used for a while,
perhaps during the winter months.
14. For travel, I purchased a couple of extra
patio stones that I'm keeping in the back of my
truck. This grill is portable enough that
I’ve taken it with me on a number of occasions. But
what do you do if you’re through tailgating and the
grill is still hot? The extra patio stones were the
answer. This way when the grill is hot after I've
cooked with it, I won't have to worry about the hot
feet eating through the liner in the bed of my truck.
I can simply set it on the patio stones.
15. Yes, you can carry it with the handle,
but it’s only balanced if all extra pieces are
removed. Don’t try to carry this grill by
the handle for any long distance if it is fully
assembled. The grill becomes much lighter and easier
to carry if the top grill, fire door, and draft door
are removed first. Then it remains fairly balanced
simply with the wire handle itself. However, I would
note that I was grilling one time last fall when a
sudden downpour threatened to end our grilling all
together for the day. With the careful help of a
friend, we picked up the grill with live coals and
carried it (protecting our hands with gloves and hot
pads) through the house to the front where I
had cover from the rain.
Have questions about the Lodge Sportsman’s Grill? Want to share your own experiences? Feel free to leave your thoughts or ask questions in the comments below, or you can contact Rick directly at rick@cookingincastiron.com.
