Rome's #1100 Old Fashioned Waffle Iron, Cast Iron

This is a perfectly fine waffle iron. Anyone experiencing rusting hasn't properly seasoned their iron, which is crucial for both protecting it and cooking with it. Also, many are confusing the protective wax with stuck on batter, but that's simply false. The wax does need to be removed, but without it and seasoning, the iron would be rusty. Many of the bad reviews are simply user error. Don't be put off by them. There's a learning curve to cast iron cookware, but it's a rewarding hobby. I'll leave my impression of this waffle iron and all the steps I used to get it ready and cooking with it. I had a used nonstick belgian waffle maker that lost its coating, so any attempt to make waffles would just stick. However, I wanted something I could keep forever without worrying about a nonstick coating failure. They're convenient, but they're expensive and such a waste. And vintage cast iron waffle makers are nice, but they're so expensive. There's very few brand new cast iron waffle makers you can buy now, but Rome is one of the few. The design takes up little room and isn't too heavy, bulky, or over-engineered. This allows it to remain an affordable option, that and being made in China probably helps cut down on costs too. I'd love a new American made piece, but there just aren't many options. However, I've been very pleased with this waffle iron overall. The iron arrived with a coating of wax, which was quite thick in some areas. Scrubbing it would've been a pain, so I put them in a 500° oven till it stopped smoking. There was a lot of smoke, so be warned. I had to run my air, a fan, air filter, and open the window to help clear it out. Eventually, I was left with bare iron. Next, it needed to be seasoned, as it wasn't seasoned from the factory like Lodge cast iron is. To season, I did this process 4 times. On the outside, I poured a small amount of canola oil and spread it in all the nooks and crannies with a paper towel. Then, I used a fresh paper towel to wipe it all off. This may seem counterintuitive, but you will be left with a very thin coating of oil on the outside. When it's heated enough, it will polymerize and become a layer of seasoning. If too much oil is left on it, it will become sticky and hard to scrub off. Thinner is better when it comes to seasoning. The inside would be so hard to do with paper towels, so I found that using a pastry brush with a very light amount of oil does the job. Use the pastry brush to spead it everywhere on the inside, leaving only a thin layer. Your do not want any oil pooling in the waffle part, so be conservative in how much is used. After there's a thin layer all over, place it in a 400° oven for an hour, then turn it off and let it cool in the oven. Repeat this process 3-4 times to build up a good base coating. After it is properly seasoned, you can begin cooking! My first attempt didn't go over so well. I cooked them for 3 minutes, per the included instructions, and used a boxed waffle mix. However, it wasn't completely cooked and stuck. However, after some trial and error, I found that 375°-400° is the sweet spot. Preheat each side on a burner to that temp range, then use a pastry brush to lightly oil the inside. Also, wear oven mitts or welders gloves, as the short handles get very hot. Then pour in your batter, and cook on the first side for 3 minutes. After that, flip it over and cook on the other side for another 3 minutes, or maybe longer if needed. After this, you should have perfect waffles that releases beautifully. I used a butter knife to get it to come out, but it was completely effortless and fell out once I got it started. The more you cook with it, the better your seasoning will be on the inside. To find the temp of the irons, I'd strongly recommend getting an infrared thermometer. You get instant feedback on the temperature, and I use it a lot when cooking with my other cast iron skillets. It's especially helpful with cooking eggs. Once you have this, you can find the right settings on your range to get in the cooking temp-zone. I found that 3 was the perfect setting for my burners, but yours may vary. After figuring everything out, it's really not too bad making waffles. They aren't super thick, but they are still good sized waffles, in my opinion. Also, my batter didn't call for an egg, but I added it to hopefully give it more structure when cooked. You also might not need to clean it after every use, but if there is some waffle stuck to it, some hot water and a stiff brush will do the trick. Also, don't be afraid to use soap; it will not destroy your seasoning. After it's washed, wipe it off and place it on a burner for a few minutes to let the rest of the water evaporate. Don't let it air dry, as sitting water can and will rust your iron. This may not be as fast and easy as some of the electric waffle makers, but it is rewarding getting those perfect, delicious waffles that you carefully and skillfully made. Plus, if well taken care of, this can be something that is passed down through the generations. This is also a great alternative if you want less chemical-non-stick cookware. Overall, I'm very happy with my new waffle iron and can't wait to start cooking with it some more, especially when I go camping! This fits in well with the rest of my cast iron cookware. I'd highly recommend this to anyone, whether you're new to cast iron or someone more experienced.

For over three years, I planned to buy my very own waffle maker. I finally own one, one of the Rome Old Fashioned Waffle Irons. I love fresh Belgian waffles and longed for the ability to have them any time I wanted. I looked at big name brands on electronic waffle makers; including those, that multi-tasked making not just waffles but panini, etc. I had one of those type bookmarked for over a year and thought it might be the one. I changed my mind when I saw a type of non-stick copper griddle that Nostalgia Electrics sells, the GD20C, that caused me to select a Rome Old Fashioned Waffle Iron knowing it was the best for me. I bought one of the Nostalgia non stick copper griddles with warming tray to use with it and get much more use out of it. My spouse and I can fit our Rome Waffle Iron’s small size on our griddle, also make vegetarian soy Morningstar bacon and eggs next to it, and still make ourselves waffles. With the Nostalgia Electrics griddle’s warming tray, we can place our finished waffle in to keep warm while we cook our other waffle on holidays and weekends. Since it is cast iron, we can also use it outdoors in our back yard on weekends when we sometimes make wood smoked vegetarian breakfasts on our rolling fire pit. We gather wood from our trees we have trimmed. This we stack up in a spot in our backyard that is stone so we do not hurt the plants. We stack it decorative, making it look like a giant beaver dam that is up on land. This wood dries and we continually have ethical wood at the ready to cook outdoors with when we feel like it. I even make my own charcoal. I visited some people in Malawi, Africa and while I was there they showed me they made their own charcoal. These people did all of their cooking outdoors. Before this, I had no idea I could make my own charcoal. If you have a yard and want to gather ethical wood for a vegetarian barbeque I advise instead of purchasing wood you take some ethical wood trimmings (do not cut down a tree, you may have to wait until your pile of sticks/twig trimmings is large enough.) I gathered and pruned mine in my yard for over a year before we even bought our firepit. That is how we continually have enough wood because I spent a few years batching those twigs up in my yard before I purchased my firepit. Instead of buying a log rack my spouse and I constructed what resembles a giant beaver dam on our own land and one that is not in water so it looks unique. When I look out my back window I sometimes almost expect to see a giant 14 foot tall beaver with a paddle tail and a twig in his mouth, our wood pile is that cute to me. Since we have so many smaller pieces of wood, this would not have been the most logical best choice for us. We use our Works Jawsaw to cut the larger pieces to size. This is a very safe chainsaw and I can even cut wood sitting down with it. We oil it with high grade vegetable oil since we cook with it. When I trim I believe in the use of vegetable oil as it lubricates the cut made on the tree giving it helpful emollients. I never use machine oil when pruning. If you are interested in making your own charcoal it is very easy. Just let the fire extinguish on its own safely, make sure a spark screen is over it. This must be done overnight since it takes a while. When it is cool sift it. Homemade charcoal is what remains after the sifting. I sift my ash and coals with my spark screen. I repurpose snack bags, for example, organic corn chip and Cheeto bags and taking a funnel I fill these with the sifted homemade charcoal. I heat seal the filled bags of charcoal with my Foodsaver vacuum sealer. This is fantastic charcoal, better than any I have ever bought, and smells amazing and works great. Any person with a yard and an ethical wood fire can do something similar. I use my fantastic waffle iron in my back yard also as a type of pie iron, besides making waffles. I make homemade funnel cake mix and I can put this and homemade pizzelles mix in it. It has both indoor and outdoor uses for me. I can use it as a panini press when I make my paninis, turning it upside down and searing my vegetarian panini. As a result of buying my Rome Waffle Iron I no longer want a panini press, nor electric waffle maker nor pizzelle maker. My Rome Waffle Iron does it all, it is that fantastic! I appreciate the cast iron nature of it immensely and this is why I multi task it so much I am certain. These are so decorative! When mine is not in use I place it in my dining room on top of one of my mini heaters that looks a bit like a woodstove with a fake fire look-note these have very plastic looking legs that are only formed on one side, one of the AKDY 16" Retro-Style Floor Freestanding Vintage Electric Stove Heater Fireplace AK-ND-18D2P (Vintage Red) that are available new on Amazon. I recommend these little fake woodstove heaters with reservation. Do not expect these little electric woodstoves to look just like a woodstove or fireplace, they do not. But if you are okay with that as I am then these are adorable. The knobs do need to be painted with clear coat nail polish so they do not discolor over time. My waffle iron sitting there on mine in my dining room looks a lot like an old fashioned bed warmer from the 1800s and I look at it each time I eat in my little dining room unless it has just made waffles and is on my griddle in my kitchen of course. To make my wood stove much more realistic to me most mornings I take my Adaptive Sound Technologies Sound+Sleep SE Special Edition Sleep Sound Machine, White Noise Machine from my bedroom, and hiding it next to my woodstove set it on the sound of a fireplace to make my mini stove seem to come alive with the crackle of very realistic fireplace sound effect. These Rome Waffle Irons are so well made they ship with a lovely small folio type tag that is tied with twine that has recipes inside and gives instructions on how to season these waffle irons. I saved mine, carefully unwinding the twine and tied it to the handle of one of my small cabinets filled with mason jars I keep my various mueslis in to make custom homemade cereals with. If you are reading this, from the old fashioned sound of it you might assume I look old. Let me assure you I do not. I am a 5 foot nine inches tall type, very young looking, 24 inch waist, married, attractive female with a Baywatch figure who is a multi award winning writer, director, producer and formerly also acted. I also play many instruments and compose music. I happen to like what I have coined a ‘new’ fashioned look, which is a bit of a compendium of old and new. Obviously, I think house and home are very important and I am also a vegetarian for ethical reasons. I think these Rome Waffle Irons are the best quality well made, cast iron, small waffle irons.-Julie Sands

From the very first time we used this it was nothing but trouble, hassle, and wasted time. It's shipped with a wax and removing that was not simple. We took about 10 minutes trying to scrub it off with soap and water until we decided that trying to melt it in the oven would be better (both scrubbing and melting were recommended in the instructions, so we tried both). Even after melting the wax "off", there was still a noticeable waxy residue on the surface of the iron. Another 5 or 10 minutes of scrubbing to try to remove that residue and it was ready to be seasoned. Seasoning worked fine. Not hard to rub oil all over it and bake it at 350 for an hour. The next morning we went to work trying to make the waffles. Followed the recipe, heated the irons on the stove, used butter liberally on the iron before the first waffle, as per the instructions, poured in the batter and spread it out with a spoon. So far, so good. I checked on it a few minutes later and it seemed like one side was well done but the other was raw, so I flipped the iron. Waited another two minutes but the raw side never darkened up and the dark side (the one no longer sitting on the burner) got too dark. Removed that waffle with a little difficulty (it stuck in the grooves and some of it came out in chunks). We moved on to the next waffle and repeated the process. This was a disaster. Again, one side dark and the other side looked raw, and this one I had to use a fork to get the pieces of waffle separated from the iron. After about five minutes of that process, ended up with about twenty pieces of both over- and under-done waffle. After all that, the waffle that was mostly in one piece wasn't even very good. I'm sure we could probably play around with the recipe, but not with this waffle iron. Moving on to something a little less labor intensive that actually works.

I have used this multiple times to make waffles. Before I used it the first time, I washed it and then baked the cooking sides of the iron with a coating of canola oil at 350 degrees for an hour. Supposedly, the washing removes the wax coating. When I baked it the first time, it seemed like wax still dripped down. Hopefully, the wax was food grade. :) After getting the wax off and seasoning the iron, waffles never stick. Like never. This is much better than any electric waffle makers I have used. It is best if you are comfortable with cast iron and how to season it. With the wax, this iron was a little more difficult than all my other cast iron utensils. The size of the waffles are fine for my family. They are not huge, but they can still be divided into four parts. I love this iron, but it took a little time to learn how to use it. It was harder to figure out than my other cast iron pans, because it is more complicated. If you are comfortable with cast iron and willing to experiment to make it work, this is for you. The instructions that came with the iron did not work very well. The directions did not describe turning the waffle iron while making a waffle. If I didn't turn it, the top side was always undercooked. Here is how I make good waffles: 1. I heat the waffle iron up and turn it once while pre-heating. It is smaller than my cast-iron pans, so it heats faster and I have a tendency to make the first waffle a little crispy. 2. I use a brush to put a little olive oil on both sides of the waffle iron before pouring the batter. I just put the tiniest amount of oil on the side that is going to be the top, otherwise the oil drips on the stove. It is fine putting a tiny amount on the top side because the top will beat the bottom on the next waffle and thus will get more oil. If you use a spray, you won't have to worry about any dripping down, but I love using the brush. 3. I put the waffle mix in and close the iron. 4. Your time and burner settings will vary, but I cook the waffle 2.5 minutes, turn the iron over and then cook another 3.5 minutes. The important thing here is that I cook longer after I turn the waffle. The second time is longer because the top side cools down while the first side cooks. 5. I open the iron and the waffle never sticks. The top side is usually a little crisper because it had a little more oil and started hotter (the top was originally the bottom). 6. I repeat the process for the next waffle. Since the iron is turned once for each waffle, the bottom-side on one waffle is the top side on the next waffle. Alternating the sides keeps the two sides of the iron up to temperature. Depending upon which side is on the bottom, the two sides may separate when opening the iron. It doesn't bother me because they easily go back together, but I notice that caused a problem in some reviews. 7. When I am totally done, I let the iron cool down and rinse it. I bought a cast iron cleaner to use with the waffle maker since it is serrated, but I really haven't needed it for this iron. I set the iron aside for a few hours to make sure it dries completely before putting the sides together and putting it away. I have had no rust issues. Both sides are seasoned well. I also live in Utah where the air is dry. 8. I use the iron every two weeks on an electric stove with no problems. I carefully turn the iron, so I don't scratch my stove.

I wasn't sure about getting rid of my electric belgium waffle maker but my husband hated it and wanted to give the cast iron a try. The electric waffle maker was so hard to clean because the batter would drip into all the little crevices in front and behind it and we couldn't find one that looked easier to clean. He was tired of eating belgium waffles and was missing the thinner crispier waffles. I was wary that this would be a good replacement. I shouldn't have been. I'm a new fan. I just gave our old waffle maker away after using our Rome Cast Iron Waffle maker for over about two months now. And we LOVE the kind of waffles it makes so we've made them almost every weekend. I know...a lot of dang waffles but they're sooo good. I read almost every review here on Amazon before I bought this and was concerned about the seasoning step and sticking waffles. I can tell you that those people did something wrong. Since the first day of using it, we have been getting non-stick waffles. SEASONING: Seasoning was no major pain. I just used a paper towel and wiped the whole thing (front, back, handles) with Crisco (not a heavy coating). We followed the directions that came with the waffle maker and stuck it in the oven at its suggested temperature and after a great deal of smoke, the waffle maker was seasoned. We did this late at night while the kids slept, removed all the smoke detectors and opened all the windows. No big deal. PROCESS: The next morning we used the waffle recipe and made really great waffles (don't forget to sift so you get nice fluffy waffles). Not one has stuck. I think people are not either using good oil to season their iron or they are not getting their irons hot enough when they pour the batter on. 1) Turn on both front and back burners. Front on med to med/high. Back on low (med at first to warm it up-then switch to low after first waffle is made). 2) Put iron with bar in front and one with lip on back and preheat for a few minutes while blending ingredients to batter. 3)Pour batter onto front burner iron (one with bar) and then take the other iron off back burner and hook onto front one. 4) Set timer to 1 min or 1min20sec depending on how dark you like it (you'll have to play with timing and heat the first few batches to get it just right) 5) Flip it and set timer to same amount time 6) I flip it once again so that bar is on bottom, unhook and place hook iron on back burner again while pour batter and repeat process Sounds like a lot but I just make a whole batch of waffles in no time and once you get into the groove it goes by rather quickly and you'll have a few to store in the freezer for later! TIPS * We've used several diff recipes and have used packaged mixes too (including the Trader Joe's waffle/pancake mix). My absolute favorite is the simple waffle recipe in the Joy of Cooking. So easy and we splurge with the butter. It recommends 2-7 TBS butter. We go for 6-7. Yup. Delish. * I don't wash it since it's non-stick and none of the waffle remains on it. I wipe it down with a light layer of Crisco if any area looks dry and then store between paper towels. This way it keeps getting nice and dark each time I use it. *I use those silicone pot holders--slim and easier to flip the small handles on the iron than my cloth pot holders. * I don't see how this would work well on electric stoves since you have to adjust the flame to get it just right. Just my simple opinion...take it with a grain of salt.

I am relatively new to the world of cast iron. I made the plunge last year, buying a couple Lodge pans, then I graduated to a Lodge Dutch oven and a grill. That may have spoiled me. While the overall quality is pretty good, I really, really came to appreciate the fact that Lodge ships its stuff pre-seasoned. The alternative -- shipping them like this, covered in paraffin wax -- sucks. Getting the paraffin wax off turned out to be more of a mission than I would have expected based on other reviews of this product. First I scrubbed these with soap and hot water, as recommended by the tag that comes attached to the iron. No good. There was still a ton of wax left over. So then I tried boiling them, as recommended by one of the Amazon reviews I read. That got a lot of the wax off, but not all, so I had to do it a second time. Finally, I got most of it off -- that just left the pot I boiled it in needing to be cleaned, because it, too, had gotten paraffin wax all over it in the process. The seasoning process was more straightforward, although not something I would recommend if you live in an apartment (like me). It smoked things up pretty bad. Finally, the cooking process. This is mostly on me, but cooking in a cast iron waffle iron is a little trickier than using an electric one. Who knew? Unless I'm misunderstanding the process, there's a key detail left out of all of the instructions/reviewer descriptions -- you have to flip the waffles part way through cooking. That might sound like a "no duh" kind of statement (or maybe just a "no" kind of statement if I am, actually, doing things totally wrong), but it doesn't say it anywhere in the product instructions, which are otherwise very detailed. Taking them at their word, I went against my better judgment and didn't flip the first waffle I cooked. One side came out completely black, the other barely cooked. I turned the temperature down and tried it again. Same result. Again, assuming I'm not still doing things incorrectly, that seems like an odd omission. Overall, this is a decent product. The waffles I've made in this (after the first few that burned on one side) have been tasty. I'm really happy to have a traditional waffle iron -- as opposed to a Belgian one -- which was the main reason I bought this. I also appreciate having something that won't break on me. I would feel much more inclined to give these a strong recommendation, though, if they came pre-seasoned.

First, the praise. This is an awesome tool. I have celiac disease, so waffles are either expensive, or nonexistant. We live in a tiny apartment, and don't have counter space for an electric waffle maker. Plus, we've recent'y discovered how awesome seasoned cast iron is, and this piece just adds to our happiness. Once you get it seasoned, this makes the most beautiful waffles I've ever seen. They're about 6.25" in diameter, so they're a bit bigger than most toaster varieties, but not so big that one person can't eat a whole one. They fill up the middle of our bigger Corelle plates. And this thing takes up almost no cabinet space. We use it on an electric range, and it works fine. I really love this thing. Now, the bad. Don't worry, there's not much. This thing is a pain to season. You have to get the paraffin off, which is stupidly hard the way the manufacturer says to do it, unless you have tougher hands than I do, and can handle boiling water. Instead, get out a big soup pot, fill it with water, then boil it for 15-20 minutes. Skim the wax off of the top, then dump the rest of the water out. Dry the pieces completely with a towel, make sure you get in all of the little groves, then do the Crisco and bake for an hour at 350F. Oh, and wipe off any excess that collects and, at least tries to, drip from the little square nubs after the pieces are in the oven for 15 minutes or so. Otherwise, you get big globs of dried shortening that come off really easy, and you have to reseason. I had to twice before I thought of wiping the excess off. The other bad is that you have to use 2 burners. Kind of a "duh" thing, but just thought I'd put it out there. Other thoughts. I'd like to try cooking bacon in this. I think it would make really crispy and evenly-done bacon, with no curling at the ends. Well, except for when the waffle shape makes it curl. Also, pour the batter into one side, then put the other on top, and flip it. The batter will expand to fill the other side. I Don't fill up both sides like I did. It took me an hour to get the stove clean...

Finally! I just had the first decent waffle in years! And on only my second try! I read so many reviews that I was a bit confused as to how to remove the wax coating. First, I followed the instructions and heated it in the oven for awhile, then wiped it as best I could with paper towels. To be sure the coating was off, I washed it with Comet scouring powder in hot water, using a wire brush to scrub it, finishing by drying it in the oven. I couldn't start seasoning right away so I gave it a coat of Crisco while still warm from the oven, wiping off the excess and left it overnight. No rust. I don't know what the people did who ended up with a rusty iron but it seems doubtful they kept it oiled. Anyone familiar with cast iron knows it's just not done leaving raw cast iron bare for a moment. To season, I coated with Crisco, wiped off excess and heated in the oven @ 350 for about an hour. I did this twice to be sure although I don't know if it was necessary. However, I didn't want a disastrous Saturday morning waffle experience. If something is worth doing, it's worth overdoing is the motto I live by. The seasoned iron was darker and had a nice shiny sheen. I'd slide my hand over the new surface when I passed by, checking and admiring it. Come Saturday morning, I decided to use the recipe my mom used, that I found in the old 1946 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook...back when people knew how to make waffles and were not distracted by a zillion health claims and non-stick surfaces (the recipe contains shortening, I used Crisco 0% trans fat). For the first waffle, I thought I'd use some clarified butter I had on hand to grease the irons. That didn't work out too well. I suspect that putting the butter on right before I put the batter on, didn't allow the butter to get hot enough, so that waffle partially stuck. After cleaning that bit of a mess up, I decided to oil the grids with 100% vegetable oil (soybean) and let it heat on the irons as they heated. I also thinned my batter a bit adding extra milk. The timing depends on your personal cooking style. I went for gentle, with the gas flame between low and medium, heating each side on a separate burner. The waffle took a little time because I was a little bit shy with the heat, but boy was it ever golden crispy on the outside and tender inside. Glad to know I'm not the only person out there who is persnickety about waffles! This iron definitely delivers if you are patient and treat it right. Iron seemed small at first but the waffle looks big on a plate. It's really the perfect size.