I don't own a induction stove top but with cast iron, you need to start heating slowly then once the metal has warmed sufficiently then crank up the temp. What has happened is that that cold metal and high heat shocked the metal and then it's damaged . I have had the Lodge flat pan that cracked on my gas range years ago....

Here is a link that might be useful: Griddle

I had never heard of it, but a quick web search shows that it is not that uncommon. I'll be a bit more careful.

Pancakes on the cast iron griddle were the very first things we cooked on our new induction cooktop. We set the elements (we used two for the rectangular griddle) to about medium high, 7 where maximum is 10. It heated fairly slowly, we cooked the pancakes and everything was fine. If anything, the pancakes were more evenly cooked than on our gas cooktop.

Cheryl

Sorry to hear about your Griswold griddle. I grew up in the town where those pans were made in and have two skillets that I love. I've also heard that you should 'ring' them as a test... I've heard of the larger pans cracking, the #14's... and warp if overheated and cooled too quickly, but not much else, not like stone, that with thermal shock and moisture can crack quit easily.

Thank you to all!

I also did an web search last night and discovered that cracking cast iron isn't all that uncommon - mostly when heat and cold are too quickly applied. So I will pre-heat more slowly in the future.

I cook a lot - and I'm still getting used to cooking with induction. Boiling water - as the expression goes - is the best and easiest. Sauteeing, I have discovered, has a learning curve, depending on the pan (I have several, some old LeCrueset, some expensive DeMeyere, some cheap made-for-induction).

The best are enameled cast iron, i.e. LeCrueset or Descoware. I had purchased an inexpensive griddle which I ended up throwing away - it buzzed, it burned food, it was hard to clean. I replaced it with the cast iron griddle, which arrived in the mail poorly packed, with a chip on the rim. I should have sent it back - it was not inexpensive - but I figured it was still cooking-worthy and return shipping was a fortune. That chip on the rim may have compromised the pan enough to crack it.

It was also too large for the hob - 14" on a 12" circle. That may have contributed to the problem. The next one I buy - I haven't given up - will be smaller. I will pre-heat it more slowly. On my old electric stove, I set my former non-stick griddle (not induction compatible, so I gave it away) on the high setting, let it heat up, turned down the heat, and made perfect pancakes every time.

The adventure continues!

I've done it too, with a properly sized cast iron skillet that had spent a few years on induction. Don't know why--these things just happen and not only on induction. You probably don't need a smaller one but probably don't need the extra wide one for pancakes. I've been using the 10" round Lodge and I'd make a mess if I made a pancake that big.

Sure makes you jump though, doesn't it?

As others have said, pre-heat slowly.

Use and care for seasoned cast iron on lodgemfg.com says, "pre-heat the pan slowly (always start on low heat, increasing the temperature slowly). ... Once the utensil is properly pre-heated, you are ready to cook."

Remember, cast iron responds slowly to temp change. Induction, like gas, changes almost instantly.

Cast iron and induction or gas requires patience.

fori - am I the only one who tries to squeeze four pancakes onto a 14" round griddle?

I've even thought of getting one of the rectangular ones - make 'em all in one batch! - but I wondered if, with induction, the space between the two hobs the rectangular griddle straddled, would be completely cold.

So I went with round.

Ohhhh you must be making the cute little ones, not the plate sized ones!! :)

Yep the griddle on the induction problem. Surely someone has worked it out by now!

I think a big rectangular cast iron one spanning two hobs would work if you preheated it nice and slow since CI does stay hot. I wasn't able to find one that was induction capable and flat but I didn't look that hard. Maybe you just need multiple smaller ones. I tried that once when I had a crowd. Two pans! Cast iron and nonstick. It was beyond my capability. I instantly burned the CI pancake too much to continue in that griddle without a good scrubbing. But anyone who can handle 4 at a time should be able to handle two identical smaller griddles..

We have a rectangular CI griddle which we put across two induction elements. The bottom is NOT flat, it is ridged. I had no idea whether this would work or not, but by golly it did! It's not the most efficient way to use induction, but we have two of these so why not use them?

We made a pile of giant pancakes. We're not the dainty types so these were about 5" - 6" across.

Cheryl

Cheryl - you answered one of my puzzles.

When I first started looking for a cast iron griddle, I liked the rectangular 'reversible' ones, but I thought the ridges on the underside made them incompatible with induction (though they'd make a great grill surface).

The same reasoning kept me away from the vintage round griddles that have a heat ring, or the long rectangular ones that have a pattern of ridged lines underneath that raise the underside a fraction of an inch off the hob - it was always my understanding that with induction the bottom of the pan and the surface of the stovetop have to be flush.

The fact that your ridged griddle works makes me think this is incorrect? Anyone else use a reversible griddle with a ridged underside?

Thanks!

Just another note on the cracking -- all the manuals I've read say not to heat an empty pan -- because it will heat really fast. That, combined with the high heat setting, may have been a factor in your cracked pan. (And thanks for sharing the experience - a mistake I will now endeavor to avoid!)

Burntfingers

Definitely possible. My wife cracked a cast-iron round griddle when she was experimenting with a stand-alone induction burner she had just gotten. She just put the griddle on it, turned it up to high, and BAM! The griddle was cracked from the edge to the center. It was one that had belonged to my grandmother, and had survived 50 or 60 years or more of regular use on gas and electric stoves. But the first time on an induction burner ruined it immediately. I'd certainly recommend bringing all cookware up to heat gradually, with a minute or two on a low setting before moving to higher heat.