Pancake Frying Pan Reviews: Plett Pan vs. Cast Iron Skillet
My grandmother’s much-loved pancake recipes need two different fry pans.
A few years ago, I went on a frying pan quest, when pancakes became an important food group in our soft foods diet. A dental appliance put soft pancakes front and center… but I didn’t have the right kind of pancake pan for the two types of pancake recipes I wanted to make.
So I checked the frying pan reviews on Amazon and ordered what I thought would be the perfect frying pans for both the 3-inch Swedish pancakes and the baked Pannukakku – Finland’s traditional oven pancake.
I had one hit… and one miss (sort of). HINT: You can see evidence of the scratches I made in my brand new Swedish pancake pan in the photo below. Let me tell you about my adventures in pancake pan land.
My review of the Plett pan – Nordic Ware’s Scandinavian Silver Dollar Pancake Pan
I bought this pan to cook Swedish pancakes
When I was a kid, my grandmother, my mother… and then my sister and I… loved to cook and eat plates full of the small 3″ Swedish pancakes. I always thought they were a Finnish delicacy, since my grandparents came from Finland, but I later learned they were actually called “Swedish” pancakes.
When my son needed to eat a soft foods diet for a month, I found a box of Lund’s Swedish Pancake Mix that tasted very close to the pancakes we ate at home, all those years ago. But when I dropped batter from a tablespoon into my regular non-stick frying pan, the pancakes kind of spread out in ungainly shapes and I just kept wishing I had my mom’s old Swedish pancake pan. It looks like the one in the photo here (it’s the pancake pan I purchased from Amazon). But hers and my grandma’s were cast iron and my sister got my mom’s pancake pan after she passed.
Because I was making these soft, silky pancakes a couple of times a week during the soft foods diet, I really wanted the right kind of pan, so I took myself (digitally) off to Amazon and started reading the reviews.
There were actually 4 Swedish pancake pans available at the time – they’re also called “Plett” pans. But one was way too expensive and another had a 2-star review. So I narrowed my choice to the other two.
I chose the Nordic Ware lighter weight pan over the cast iron Plett pan because of the Amazon reviews. They were far more positive than those of the cast iron Plett pan available at that time.
My new frying pan arrived within two days and I was finally able to make Swedish pancakes in the right size and shape. If you want to see my grandmother’s Swedish pancakes recipe, this is the link.
Here’s my review of the Nordic Ware Pancake Pan: It’s okay.
I wouldn’t rave about it, but it does cook the pancakes just fine. What gave me a problem was… the “care and use” instructions were hidden on the inside of the cardboard cover thingy, in very small print. The part I missed said, “Flip each pancake with a non-metal utensil… we recommend wooden skewers or chopsticks, a small silicone spatula or a plastic fork for flipping.” If you follow these instructions (like I didn’t), you’ll have a pretty good Swedish pancake pan with a 10-year warranty.
Mine, on the other hand, is already scratched. It’s my own fault… but it would cause me to give Nordic Ware a less kind review than if they had put their instructions where I could have seen them more easily.
The only other issue I had with the pan was a slightly loose handle, but I was able to tighten it easily with my screwdriver.
I have not purchased the Norpro cast iron plett pan that Amazon sells because its reviews were less than stellar. I thought about it, because it’s cast iron, which is what I’m used to cooking Swedish pancakes in. But, for now, I’ll stick with the one that works
And now for the rave review!
My new Lodge 10-1/4 inch cast iron frying pan came the same day as the Nordic Ware Swedish pancake pan. I bought the cast iron pan in that size because that’s what my recipe card for Pannukakku – Finnish oven pancakes – said to use. And I didn’t have one.
If you’ve ever researched cast iron cookware before, you might have noticed the rave reviews given to the Lodge product line. From my experience so far… these reviews are well justified.
I followed the recipe on my card exactly as written and was so happy with the result that I immediately made a special Pannukakku page dedicated to the recipe and this page you’re reading extolling the virtues of Lodge for cast iron cookware.
My new cast iron pan came pre-seasoned. Many of the Amazon reviews said to scrub off the pre-seasoning and re-season with a variety of different methods, depending on whose review you read. I took Lodge at their word and left the “store-boughten” seasoning on. You can see from the photo above that my pancake batter didn’t stick one little bit. The recipe is primarily an egg, flour and milk batter baked in the oven; my expectation was that something would be stuck on afterward. But it came out clean as a whistle.
All I had to do was wash the pan in hot water, paper towel dry and wipe another paper towel around the inside with a bit of canola oil on it. The Lodge instructions for use were a lot easier to find, too.
I hope my two pancake frying pan reviews help you with your own decision-making when it comes to pancake cookery. If you try my grandmother’s two pancake recipes, you’ll understand why the right choice was so important.