OK, clearly I'm doing something wrong here
So, when I bought my grillpan, I also bought a Lodge Logic 10" cast iron frying pan. I decided to try it to grill some chicken breasts. I figured the cleanup would be easier without having to get down between those ribs in the grillpan.
I marinated the chicken breasts overnight in Italian dressing, pre-heated the pan on medium + a nudge, then seared the chicken breasts on both sides before finishing them in the oven. They tasted great.
Then there's the pan cleanup. What a nightmare! There was crud stuck to the bottom of the pan, and it was hell to get off! I scrubbed and scrubbed with both the copper things I was talking about earlier, and with those Scotch Brite scrub/sponges with the green scrubbing pad on one side. It took a ton of work, but I finally got it off, although scrub as I might, there are still stains on the bottom of the pan; sort of outlines of where the crud was stuck on.
This is one of the main reasons I hate cooking so much (#2 behind just about everything I cook tasting like crap). The cleanup took longer and was A LOT harder work than the cooking itself. It's just not worth it.
Today, I watched an episode of Emiril Live I'd TiVO'd. In it, he took a pan, poured in a little olive oil, and seared some chicken breasts before finishing them in the oven, just as I'm trying to do. As he was taking those beautifully caramelized chicken breasts out of the pan, I couldn't help but notice how clean the pan was. I just don't get it.
I am soooo disgusted