Lodge Logic Pre-Seasoned Sportsman's Charcoal Grill
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend Sportsman's, Hibachi Style, Pre-Seasoned, Cast Iron, Grill. Product details and pricing info |
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96 Customer Reviews Posted
- Nice little grill
- First, it does just what it's supposed to do. It's very solidly built, and should last a very long time with a little bit of care (standard for cast iron). Definitely has some heft, has a good-sized area for the charcoal, and a pretty good-sized cooking grate.
Bought it for my lady, who already had a Weber gas grill--she's very fond of this little gem.
Reason why only 4 stars: It's not balanced properly when lifted by the wire bail; it'd be very nice if there were a lid available, and it's kind of a pain to empty the ashes.
I'd buy it again. Heck, I'd buy me one, 'cept that I kinda hope to get fulltime sharing use of this one soonish. :) - 2008-06-05, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- I'm a "seasoned" griller
- I've never written a review before now so here goes.
I read all the reviews here up until now, I took them into consideration. Yeah, when finished you'll have to do some clean up but real backyard grilling, you have to do that anyway.
The cast iron is flawless. I've had mine for a week now and used it 3 times, not counting the chicken I have on it right now. I am using half the charcoal (the only way to grill) and the clean ups aren't that bad. Yep, it's worth it. Grill grate spacing is perfect. I was a little hesitant to buy the grill with some of the aforementioned reviews but I went with my "gut" feeling. I promise, I am not disappointed.
The only "beef" I have with the grill is that the legs/supports are too short to place directly on a wooden table/bench (fire hazard). Easy peasy to deal with,,,, I just set the grill on top of 3 fire bricks and voila'. Problem solved. Very minor setback with the quality build of this "personal grill".
Yep, I'd recommend this to any backyard "griller". - 2008-06-04, 1 of 1 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- The Last Grill I Will Ever Own
- 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, 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, I had been eyeing it for quite some time.
Amazon has the very best price I've seen, especially with the free shipping. It came in a box unassembled, but I had it put together within five minutes. Most of the pieces simply stay in place with gravity. Only the bottom is screwed into the fire bowl.
I've added a bunch of pictures to the Amazon page up at the top that shows my grill in action. Here are some things I've discovered so far:
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 back! So rather than finding some weather proof pre-made table, I constructed a little grilling platform out of cinder blocks and patio stones. It looks much more attractive than it sounds, and you can see it in the pictures I've added to this page. The materials cost me merely $17 and I guarantee you I have a more sturdy grilling area than anything I could have purchased.
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. One of the reviewers here suggested spraying the grill with olive oil Pam, which I did and with the oil based marinade I've used, food sizzles when you set it down on this grill, just like when you put it in a cast iron skillet.
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. So far, I've cooked pork chops, burgers, and hot dogs. I'll cook steaks on it this weekend. But 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. The 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. 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. I've got pictures of hot dogs cooking as well. Notice the attractive brown (but not black and scorched!) stripes.
6. My wife was concerned that the grill was so small that we wouldn't be able to adequately entertain guests. As you can see in the pictures I uploaded, 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. And, of course, because of it's flat surface on top, you could easily cook in a skillet or dutch oven on top of this grill without the pan wobbling.
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 not difficult cleaning.
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 followed the suggestion of another reviewer and lined the bottom with aluminum foil to make removing the ashes a bit easier. 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. And if I ever need to, I'll re-season it in the oven. However, I don't see why the bottom part couldn't be cleaned up and then touched up with black stove pipe paint if necessary. I'd appreciate opinions on this in the comments.
12. If you're going to keep the grill outside, you must get the Lodge Sportsman's Grill Cover. See my review on that product's page, but 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.
13. For travel, I purchased a couple of extra patio stones that I'm keeping in the back of my truck. 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 of my truck. I can simply sit it on the patio stones.
I'm thoroughly delighted with this grill, and as I said anticipate it will last me the rest of my life. That is, unless I decide that I need two of them. - 2008-05-27, 6 of 7 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Treat it like cast-iron cookware
- 1. OMG, please don't paint the grill. Clean it and re-season it.
2. Don't soak it in soapy water. Rinsing in water is okay, but if you need to scrub
it, rub it with salt. It'll work similar to sandpaper, but won't be as hard on the
seasoned finish. This should work even if it's rusty.
3. It's okay to spray it with a spray oil, or wipe it with peanut or canola oil, but,
if you really feel you need to re-season it, do that in your oven, not over
charcoal. - 2008-05-21, 1 of 1 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Love This Grill!
- Got my Lodge Sportsman Grill recently. Arrived fast even a few days before tracking said I was supposed to. I got it for $49.99 with free shipping so it's a really good deal if you keep checking Amazon for one offered for that. Love it! Worth every penny to spring for this piece of equipment. I highly recommend for couples and singles. Perfect for grilling in small spaces like little decks or apartment balconies. Just darned handy and economical to fire up a small amount of charcoal and grill up a couple of hamburgers or steaks or kabobs or chicken pieces. Doesn't waste a ton of charcoal and lighter fluid like firing up a family size grill. Much sturdier than a little personal or tabletop grill. Grates are made of cast iron and not wire so you can treat the whole apparatus just like your favorite cast iron griddles and skillets and it will last for years and years. Pre-seasoned, but after a grilling soak the grates in a sink of soapy water for a minute or so to loosen the burned on barbeque sauce and food bits. Open-air design burns the charcoal (either briquettes or lump type) cleanly and completely. Of course you have to wait until it all burns and probably clean it in the morning after it has all cooled down. Dump the ashes that are leftover, give it a quick rinse and look for more burned on bits and remove them. The fire bowl and legs are small enough for me to rinse in my kitchen sink but that part is quite heavy. Be sure not to neglect it though. It's no more unwieldy or heavier than my big 15 1/4 " Lodge Skillet and I use that all the time. Dry with paper towels as much as possible and let it finish drying in the air for a while. Just like your cast iron pans, to keep it from rusting, every time, at first, and periodically after that, give it an all over spray of PAM spray oil. Be sure and get the underneath and all the grate edges. Store out of the weather. Bring it inside if you can designate a spot. I have a junky old family size gas grill that someone gave me and I spent $20 rebuilding the burner part only to find that I really don't care for gas grilling. It was plenty clean enough inside and the hood was large enough to completely house and cover my Sportsman Grill. They do have a cover for the Sportsman but I didn't get it. I think while grill covers, in general, are nice at first. They tend to get left outside and the covers eventually fall apart. I'm not convinced that even the nicest covers keep the weather completely out in bad rains and such. I highly recommend finding a storage spot. Also when moving it, it is heavy. It does have a heavy wire bail type handle but the bail handle is easy to slip on and off the hooks for it. I gave it up after the first couple of uses. Moving it on the tilty bail is dicey with hot coals in it and if you are going to let it cool down anyway it's easier just to lift it by the sides of the body. I even move mine by the body with the hot coals in it into the gas grill storage by using some big thick hot mitts I have. I fire it up on the side utility shelf of the gas grill and only have to move it about a foot back into its "garage." That way it never gets rained on overnight either. By the way note in it's instructions, before you throw them out, that Lodge tells you that since the legs and everything are all cast iron it, of course, ALL gets very hot. My old cheapie Hibachi had wood feet but the cast iron legs can scorch or burn a deck or table or even a wood utility shelf. I had a leftover 1 ft. ceramic tile that I laid on top of my utility shelf to prevent burning. It's perfect. I also live in the country but have a dirt road that's only about 20 feet from my deck where I grill. The gas grill garage keeps the dusty dirt from settling on the sticky oiled surface for one thing, but there's one more thought. Living in the country there are a lot of hunters and sportsman types that run up and down that dirt road. Many of them frequent Academy Sports Outdoors and Bass Pro Shops and such and it's not unlikely they might recognize this little grill as a fairly expensive piece of equipment. I wouldn't want any larcenist minds finding mine pretty easy to lift when I wasn't home. It's also nice to have it stored and housed out of sight.
- 2008-05-12, 2 of 2 people found this review helpful, Rated:
