Victoria 12-Inch Cast Iron Skillet, Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Frying Pan with Long Handle, Made in Colombia

OK, I wanted a cast iron skillet because I was tired of buying non stick pans with bad for me coatings that flaked off. Cast iron pans are cheap but scary for a couple of reasons: seasoning and weight. So, after reading food blogs and ratings for weeks on the Internet, I decided Victoria was best for me because the factory seasoning was supposed to be better out of the box and the 12 inch pan was 1.1 pounds lighter than Lodge with a longer handle and a better helper handle. So I got a good deal for a few bucks more than Lodge and here are the results. (1) SEASONING. Even though the factory seasoning is supposed to be good, everything I read said you must enhance it for the best performance. I enhanced the seasoned by heating it on the stove, wiping it all over with Cisco (if it was good enough for Grandma, good enough for me), and placing it upside down in an oven at 500 degrees for one hour, let it cool in the oven, and wipe off excess, if any. I did this 4 times. Some people recommend 6 seasonings but the pan had gotten really dark and black after 4 so I called it quits. Every time I use the pan I wash it out with water and a scrub brush (no soap), put in on the stove over medium heat to dry, wipe all over with Crisco, let it set to cool off a bit, and then wipe off excess. Avoid using paper towels when seasoning because they leave little bits of paper behind and that is not something I want included in my seasoning. Use a lint free towel instead. After only six weeks, I am thrilled that my eggs (using a pat off butter) slip around this thing better than my non stick pans and they cook more evenly. (2) WEIGHT. I have some arthritis issues in my hands and back. Was I crazy for getting a 6.6 pound frying pan? I sure as heck wasn't going to be tossing stir fry or flipping omelettes in this baby. But with that extra long handle and the nicely designed helper handle, I can move this around pretty well. You always have to use oven mitts because the handles gets screaming hot but still it isn't hard to hold onto. I can brown a nice pork loin roast with rub on all sides in the pan, remove, thrown in some root vegetables and onions and toss in oil, put the roast back in, throw in the oven at 350 degrees until roast is 145 degrees ( about an hour) and have a great one pot dinner with fabulously carmelized vegetables without killing my back. The frying pan is lighter than a cast iron dutch oven. Have you tried cast iron pizza? It is the crispiest pizza crust I have ever eaten. Corn bread? Yum. BOTTOM LINE. A cast iron pan is incredibly versatile. My Victoria 12 inch cast iron frying pan is well-designed, lighter-weight, incredibly well-seasoned after only 6 weeks. It is an amazing value that I expect to last the rest of my life. I am having a heck of a lot of fun discovering a new way of cooking. Although there is a new rule in my house, no one touches my cast iron but me!

This pan is the perfect size and fits my stove perfectly. Even though it’s a bit heavy, it’s really easy to clean. Over time, it develops a nice seasoning that keeps food from sticking. It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you care about your health and don’t mind putting in a little effort to maintain it, it’ll last a lifetime. I absolutely love these cast iron skillets!

I own the 12" skillet, the 2 qt pot and the 8" skillet. I came across Victoria when looking for a basic pot. When you check out their store you will find they sell a number of unique items in cast iron. I was very impressed. When I purchased my 12" skillet I went with Victoria over Lodge because it's just over a pound lighter and those skillets weight enough as it is. When it came time to buy an 8" skillet I again went with Victoria. Victoria cast has a smoother finish than todays Lodge cast. It is equal to or sometimes slightly lighter in weight than Lodge. This is not cheap, light weight cast from an unknown company. This is heavy weight cast of superior quality, meant to last a lifetime. They use a different oil than Lodge when pre-seasoning that has a lower smoke point. Rather than jet black, the cast resembles more of a gun metal. Manufactures pre-season cast to prevent a pan from rusting. It is simply a base to work off of when continuing to season a pan yourself. You can season via cooking or through a seasoning process. I season mine but I had some scallops I wanted to cook did so straight out of the box. Amazingly they didn't stick. I will still season it. To season cast, use a quality, high temp, cook oil. I use grape seed oil. Wipe all over and then wipe it off. Place it in an oven upside down and cook it to 20-50 deg above the smoke point of the oil. Turn the oven off and wait for your pan to cool. Repeat so than you have done this 2-3 times. Every time you wash your pan, you wipe it down with oil and wipe off the excess. When you cook, pre-heat your pan. Cast cooks evenly but it takes awhile to heat up. Once heated, add your oil and turn down your heat to a low to medium setting. When your done cooking, add a bit of hot water to the pan & go eat. When your done eating, rinse the pan in hot water. It should be clean. If it's not, scrub with a stiff brush or chain-mail. Dull black is carbon, you don't want that. If you end up scrubbing down to metal, just re-season once in your oven. There is a learning curve going from aluminum non-stick pans to cast iron. Some pans take longer than others to season. Much of this depends on how you cook and what you cook. No worries, yours will pass the egg test in no time. If a pan gets a slight bit of rust. No worries. Mix up some citric acid or use lemon juice, it will come right out. Oil it and bake it in the oven.

I don't write many reviews on things, but this pan/skillet is really a very nice pan. I wanted to try a different pan than the usual suspects, e.g., Lodge, Le Creuset, etc. I'm very pleasantly surprised. I think it's a nice-looking pan. Aside from good looks, it has performed perfectly. The helper handle is a nice option if you've got it really loaded up. It gives an excellent sear on everything. It's very easy to clean right out of the box. I'm layering the seasoning on as usual. It's not fully done, but it's still easy to clean with a steel scrubbing pad. Check the steel scrubbers out here on Amazon. They work very well on seasoned pans. I would buy his pan again. Nice pan!!

I really wanted to like this, i frequently (more that twice a week) use a Lodge Bakers Skillet, and wanted something similar with a lower profile and more rounded edges. So at a bargain price i grabbed one of these. I have other Victoria cast iron, along with some Lodge and a pile of Iwachu. All the Iwachu is top quality, beautifully finished with outstanding seasoning, the iron is baby smooth right from the box, the best stuff i have, but it also costs a premium price. In general i have found Victoria to be a reasonably close second to Iwachu, the iron is cleanly finished, obviously someone takes time to smooth it well and the seasoning is very good. However for this pan, the one that arrived had iron that was so rough it could have come from a cheap chinese factory, and the seasoning was awful. I am not knocking Victoria at all, i am guessing this this piece must have missed the QA department and got shipped by mistake. However as i got it for such a great price i just decided to strip the seasoning, grind the interior iron smooth and then re-season it. It took a few hours, but the result was worth it. So i kept it anyway. Now i like this pan, but honestly i should have to had do that to a new pan from a quality company. At the same time i ordered this i also ordered 4 other Victoria pieces (all at a bargain post-Xmas price) all the others came with the expected iron and seasoning quality.

Absolutely excellent cast iron. Has gotten better and better over time with nearly daily use. I’ve had this pan for 3 years and it has been so fuss free, lighter than Lodge, holds seasoning well, and is the perfect size for cooking meals for 4+ people.

This pan seems to have just enough bumpiness to hold the oil in place but not overly so that causes the oil to pool. Over time the seasoning starts filling it in more and it's a wonderful pan to cook in right out of the box. The preseasoning works well to start and I saw no need to remove it as some tend to do. Over time the main seasoning layer builds and it's good to go, no chipping or flaking, and I am fairly abusive at times with temperature shock. Overall if I was looking for another pan this would be top on my list, but these are also lifetime/generational pans so I'm not expecting to, but perhaps my son will. I got this to replace another I ruined trying to sand it flat, then sand it so the oil doesn't all pool on the sides and sanded through the pan to the stamped (well not really stamped, but you know) logo. So let's talk about flatness vs bumpiness. Everyone seems to want their cast iron flat, but there is something most don't realize, that flatness and heat does cause oil to run, so unless it's totally flat and level oil will pool and one ends up using too much oil, or not have enough, or end up cooking in one area of the pan. So having bumps does help hold the oil more evenly even if the pan is not level. But in my experience too large of bumps seem to diminish the satisfaction of cooking. So when I bought a Lodge pan I did some light sanding to knock down the high points. That worked well and that is my go to small fryer.

Who I bought it for loves it. They feel the same way about similar sized Lodge. The longer handle on this they consider better though.They love smaller skillets for 🤷🏻‍♂️. I find it too small for me but I don’t like a skillet smaller than 8 inches. It’s a nice small cast iron skillet for those that like this size for 🤷🏻‍♂️