When brothers and Field Company cofounders Stephen and Chris Muscarella moved to upstate New York, they found themselves drawn to an enormous cast-iron skillet. The jumbo-sized, three-notch Lodge skillet was a mainstay in their kitchen until the day somebody fumbled it.
The handle snapped off (cast iron is very brittle), but instead of retiring the gripless pan to the cabinet, the Muscarellas opted to weld a handle from one of their No. 10 skillets. Thus, what the two affectionately called “Frankenpan” was born. And with it, a just cause to make a big skillet of their own.
Years later, the Muscarellas have their replacement: the Field Company No. 12.
In line with Field’s promise that it makes “the closest living relative to vintage cast iron,” its No. 12 is a true 12-inch skillet. This means that the 12 refers to the inches of cooking surface, not a measurement taken from the tops of skillet’s walls.
As nonsensical as that sounds, measure from the top of the wall to the top of the adjacent wall adds on inches that aren’t useful for the cook (see Finex’s 12-inch pan with a cooking surface under 10 inches for reference). This is called vintage sizing, and it’s a less confusing way of understanding the size of the cookware you’re buying.
The Field No. 12 sports the same near-non-stick surface its previous skillets featured, similarly thin side walls and adds a bit of weight to the base to eliminate hot spots (this is a larger problem on small burners).
