Farberware 5275077 Barbecue Cast Iron Grill Press, Black

I needed a hamburger press to fit in my smaller cast iron skillets. This was perfect and my smash burgers were delicious! :)

This is fairly small but will work great for burgers, smaller steaks, and bacon once it has cooked down a bit. It's round and the size of a very large burger. I'd really just assume the pressing surface be flat but it has grates which make it a bit harder to clean. It could help with grill marks if you put it on your flat grill and it gets very hot though.Though it is small, it doesn't take up much space. It can't really go in the dishwasher - the cooking surface that presses is cast iron and that will rust. It's heavy enough to push down a cut of meat like a pork chop though so that it won't curl up if it has some fat along the edge. It helps to cut a slit going from the outside to the meat through the fat too though, if you don't want to trim the cut entirely. It is easy to pick up - it has a handle that gets warm but not hot - but it's fairly close to the pan, so when cooking bacon you really have to watch out for popping grease hitting your hand.

After washing it started to have signs of rust looking residue. Did not feel safe using it and I returned it.

My husband has a bizarre way of looking at life. Sometimes I can tolerate it sometimes I can not. One of the things that I can not tolerate is him putting plastic heavy items in the cast iron pan so he can press his toast down into the pan for even heating. I HAD to get a cast iron press before I lost it with him. Let's take a look.HOW THIS COMESThis comes in a small box and it looks like it might be pre-seasoned, but we seasoned it anyway.IS IT HEAVY?This is plenty heavy to press burgers down and yes, even hold toast in place in the cast iron pan.IS IT EASY TO USE?This fits in our smaller cast iron pans of 8 inches and we also use it in the larger pans too. It really does make the burgers press out nicely. My husband loves to use this. He is really into pressing things when they are in a cast iron pan. I guess he did not just do it because he knew it drove me crazy.CAREWe always try to rinse this off, using chain mail fabric to scrape anything off that needs to be, and then re-oil the press before putting it away to keep it from rusting.THE BOTTOM LINEIf you have a need for a burger press, this is a nice one. It has ridges and makes it nice to use on burgers. Even if you have a weird obsession with pressing anything that it cooking in a cast iron pan this might keep you from a divorce.MY RATINGFIVE STARS. Seriously. This gives me such peace of mind just to know he is not putting plastic in the pan all of the time. I am sure it won't be long before he adopts another annoying jaw dropping habit to replace that one.. *rolls eyes*

This review is for the grill press, not the burger press. It's a classic design that looks more like a kitchen decoration than an actual tool. I don't typically see the need to be pressing my meat when on the grill, and it's just as easy to use your grill spatula to press on a burger if you want, without having a special tool.Where I have seen this sort of press used before is to press bacon flat when frying. Unfortunately, with the ribs/ridges through the bottom plate, that makes it less than ideal for either application. I'm not sure of the point of having those on something that is supposed to press something flat. All the initial contact surface are those ridges which don't really help with the pressing process.