Before Joseph Lodge founded the largest cast-iron cookware manufacturer in the world, his foundry burnt down. Then called Blacklock Foundry, Lodge was a partner in the business making kettles, pots, broilers and, of course, skillets. But the early Blacklock pans weren’t like the economical, heavy and rough-surfaced Lodge pans of today; they were lightweight, had more rounded walls and the cooking surface was as smooth as glass. Available now, the all-new Lodge Blacklock Foundry line pays respect to those pans of yore.
The company says the new Blacklock pans remedy three common cast iron: heaviness, poor seasoning and scalded fingers. Blacklock cookware is cast thinner than standard Lodge pans to shave off weight (the company says it reduced the weight up to 25 percent of some pieces), designed with a heat-dispelling handle and comes with three layers of seasoning. The launch includes skillets in four sizes, a grill pan, a griddle and a 5.5-quart Dutch oven.
After the original Blacklock became Lodge, the company continued making lightweight, smooth-surfaced cookware until 1950, when it ceased production of hand-poured cast iron in favor of automated, mass-producible cookware. Collectors of those vintage pieces are likely the only group left disappointed with the throwback pans. The glassy surface present on early Blacklock and Lodge cookware will not be present on the modern Blacklock, marking the second time in less than a year that a new line of super-premium Lodge cookware has failed to match its pre-1950 counterparts.
The Blacklock Foundry collection starts at $38 and is available through Lodge’s website now.
Gear PatrolThe best way to catch up on the day’s most important product releases and stories. Read the Story