Lodge LGP3 Grill Press: Weight for Bacon and Sandwiches

Pressing a grilled sandwich with a spatula means keeping your hand at the pan. The Lodge LGP3 gives that job a separate weight: a rectangular cast iron plate that rests on the food. The same tool can help hold curling bacon closer to a griddle. Its appeal is sustained contact, using the stove or grill you already cook on.

This is the 6.75-by-4.5-inch version with a raised spiral handle. Picture that outline over your usual bread, then check it against the usable flat area inside your pan before buying.

Put the weight where the food needs it

Lodge lists the LGP3 at 2.64 pounds. Set on a sandwich, it presses the stacked bread and filling toward the pan. Once it rests securely, your hand can leave the handle. Lift the plate before turning the sandwich. The use photograph shows the same rectangular press resting over meat in a skillet.

Bacon gives the weight a different purpose. Lodge identifies reducing curl as an intended use: the plate helps keep strips flatter against the cooking surface. For a BLT, that makes the anti-curl function relevant to how the cooked bacon will sit between slices of bread.

The press adds weight, while you control the heat and decide when to turn the food. A powered panini appliance also supplies heat from an upper plate. The LGP3 suits someone who wants a movable weight for an existing pan or griddle.

Match the rectangle to the pan's usable base

Measure the flat cooking area, not just the pan's diameter at the rim. Curved sides can reduce the space available for the rectangle's corners. The press needs to reach the food without being propped up by the pan wall.

Check the meal as well as the cookware. A long slice of bread or several strips of bacon can extend beyond the 6.75-by-4.5-inch base. Only the covered area receives the press's direct weight. For a crowded breakfast batch, decide which portion will sit beneath it.

Flattening should suit the food, too. If you want a tall sandwich to keep its layers loose and airy, putting a weight on top can work against that aim. The LGP3 earns its place when a flatter stack is the result you want.

Plan where the hot press will go

The spiral handle gives you a place to lift the plate, but treat the press and its handle as hot during cooking. Use heat protection suited to the job; Lodge recommends grilling gloves when moving hot cast iron.

Set out a heat-resistant resting place before you begin. When you lift the press to turn a sandwich or check the bacon, you need somewhere to put the hot base. That landing spot is part of the working space this tool needs.

Also consider repeated lifting. The same weight that presses the food must be raised whenever you move the tool, so comfortable handling matters alongside coverage.

Wash, dry, and oil the cast iron

The LGP3 arrives seasoned with vegetable oil. Lodge says its seasoned cookware is ready to use after washing, so buying it does not require an initial oven-seasoning project.

After cooking, let it cool, then hand wash with warm, soapy water. Dry it thoroughly and wipe on a thin layer of cooking oil. Lodge advises against soaking or using a dishwasher, both of which can leave seasoned iron vulnerable to rust.

The buying choice comes down to what you want pressed. With bacon, the aim is less curl against the griddle. With a sandwich, it is a flatter stack that stays against the pan. The LGP3 applies its weight within one rectangular footprint; choose it when that combination matches the food you want to cook.