Lodge is celebrating 100 years of making pans cast from iron. They even have a special cookbook to go with the Lodge pans which is available at the web site.  
 
Lodge makes the entire pan in a cast (mold) which is where the cast name comes from, and the pan is made out of iron.  
 
Why should you care about a pan being a cast iron?  
 
Well--lots of pans fall apart. Pieces come off. The finish flakes off. That doesn't happen with a pan cast in one solid piece and made of iron.  
 
As for the iron--iron has been used for centuries in cooking. It holds up to the heat and it absorbs the heat and cooks evenly. It is not a smooth finish like most pans. It has pores which absorb oil (which means these pans get better over time). Also the iron gets in the food (faint traces). This is fine and actually a good thing, since we all need iron in our diet. If you are anemic, then you might want to consider cast iron for cooking.  
 
Lodge makes a variety of sizes from the tiny one you see in the product to picture up to the large size in the picture. I do like the small size for meling butter for popcorn or for frying onions to go on a sandwich. The larger sizes are a problem though due to the weight. Cast iron is heavier than other types of cooking materials.  
 
Lodge also has the cookbook plus items like covers for the pans (though I just use a regular lid). They have other kinds of pans like a wok and Dutch oven.  
 
Actually the 20SK2 is not even pictured for you to look at. It is a two handled huge sized pan. It is 20 inches in diameter and 2 1/4 inches deep. In other words this pan is almost 2 feet across. Since cast iron is heavy, this pan weighs in at 27 pounds and then more when filled with food.  
 
I would suggest the Lodge 3 piece pan set. That comes with 3 pans that are approx 8, 10, and 12 inches. Those are the sizes I generally use. The small size is nice. The large ones are just too heavy. If I have to cook those kinds of quantities, then I use a stew pot and make soup or stew or something like that. For a large skillet meal, I'd go with a lighter weight cookware product.  
 
Maybe the model number is a mistake on this item. Note that you see a price of $5 to $35. Well, that jumbo Lodge runs almost $160. But this model number is the big pan, and I would not use that order number unless you really do want this really large pan.  
 
The only way I could see this pan as a good buy is if you own a restaurant. Even then I don't think you could hire many people who could really handle 27 pounds of pan. Not only is it hard to move the pan around to cook, it is really hard to wash such a large and heavy pan.  
 
Don't give up on cast iron based on this pan. Check out my review and others on other Lodge pans. They really are fabulous pans.  
 
Cast iron does require seasoning with lard or crisco (and not just oil). You rub that in and then heat the pan on 200 degrees for a couple of hours.  
 
A newly seasoned pan is best for meat of deep frying (they do have a deep fryer in fact but you can use the regular fry pan). To start with you want to build up the oil base. Then you can cook most anything in the cast iron. Tomato based products tend to break down the seasoning, but other items are fine.  
 
Although some people do baby the cast iron and scrape out and wipe or use a special sand cleaner, I just wash mine right in the sink. I don't let them sit in the water though as that can cause rust. If a pan does rust, then just use a brillo pad and rub down. Then reseason. They can be recovered easily as I have had them rust during military transitions when they are in storage for months.  
