Indoor Electric Grill or Cast Iron Grill Pan?

[Indianamom2]

I really want to be able to do some indoor grilling. I would fix a lot of chicken, some steak, some fish...maybe shrimp...pork chops....so it needs to be versatile.

I've been looking at this:
http://www.amazon.com/Delonghi-BG24-Perfecto-Indoor-Grill/dp/B0000AZK85/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1298479813&sr=1-1

But I've also considered a cast iron grill pan (one that would stretch over two gas burners. I've never really cooked with cast iron, so I don't know if it would give a really authentic grilled feel to the foods, nor do I know how it would handle something delicate like fish (salmon mostly).

Anyone have an opinion, or have another better option? Grilling outside isn't going to happen anytime soon, unfortunately.

[brittone2]

I like my Lodge 2 burner grill/griddle. The middle portion (which is not under a burner but gets hot by the nature of cast iron holding heat) isn't great for cooking something at a super high temp, but works well as a holding area IME. Of all of my pieces of cast iron, this is the one that involved a bit of a learning curve for me though in terms of getting the temps on the different burners set right, how to use the middle portion that isn't as hot as the ends. I've used it on both electric and gas stoves.

[boolady]

I like my Lodge 2 burner grill/griddle. The middle portion (which is not under a burner but gets hot by the nature of cast iron holding heat) isn't great for cooking something at a super high temp, but works well as a holding area IME. Of all of my pieces of cast iron, this is the one that involved a bit of a learning curve for me though in terms of getting the temps on the different burners set right, how to use the middle portion that isn't as hot as the ends. I've used it on both electric and gas stoves.


We love ours, too. We used to use it over 2 burners of our 4-burner gas stove, and used it as Beth described, knowing that the middle would never get as hot. Now, we have a 5-burner stove that has one long, oval-shaped burner in the middle and came with a cast iron grill that fits over the long burner. It's great. You really can't beat the high heat that cast iron can take.