| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Nov 11 2005 : 9:12:21 PM
Cast Iron Cookware
Using and Care For Your Cast-Iron Skillet … Preheat your pan before preparing your meal. Water droplets should sizzle, then roll and hop around the pan, when dropped onto the heated surface. If the water disappears immediately after being dropped, the pan is too hot. If water only rests and bubbles in the pan, it is not quite hot enough. NOTE: Do not pour large amounts of cold liquid into your hot skillet. This can cause the cast iron to break. Never forget your potholders! Cast iron pan handles get HOT when cooking!
There is a trick to maintaining cast iron cookware and that trick is known as "seasoning." Your food will never stick to the bottom of the skillet or pot if it is properly seasoned, and the cookware cleans up easily as well. If the pan was not seasoned properly or a portion of the seasoning wore off and food sticks to the surface or there is rust, then it should be properly cleaned and re-seasoned. Seasoning a cast iron pan is a natural way of creating non-stick cookware. And, like you cook and clean the modern non-stick cookware with special care to avoid scratching the surface, your cast iron cookware wants some special attention too.
Clean the cookware while it is still hot by rinsing with hot water and scraping when necessary. Do not use a scouring pad or soap (detergent) as they will break down the pan's seasoning. I find that the best way to thoroughly dry my cast-iron pans is to put them on top of the burners. Depending on the condition of your pan, after the pans are dry give them a light coat of oil to keep away the rust and then place in the cupboard. NEVER put the utensil in the dishwasher or store it away without drying it thoroughly!
If your food gets a metallic taste, or turns "black", it means one of two things are wrong. Either your pot has not been sufficiently seasoned, or you are leaving the food in the pot after it has been cooked. Never store food in the cast iron pan as the acid in the food will breakdown the seasoning and take on a metallic flavor. Iron being a reactive metal, it has disadvantages in that acidic foods (such as tomatoes, apple, vinegar) should not be cooked in it for any length of time.
Store your cast iron cookware with the lids off, especially in humid weather, because if covered, moisture can build up and cause rust. Be sure that you place a couple paper towels inside to make sure that any moisture that forms will be absorbed by the paper towel. If your old or new cast iron pans gets light rust spots, scour the rusty areas with steel wool, until all traces of rust are gone. Wash, dry, and repeat seasoning process.
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SOUPS AND CHOWDERS can be served as a main dish or first course .. these are a traditional meal of the country table. Served hot, a soup can take the bite out of a cold winter day; served chilled, it is an ideal refresher on a steamy summer afternoon. In early America soups were ‘what was on hand’: mainly game, wild birds, and seafood with fresh vegetables tossed in during the summer.
MEAT, POULTRY, AND SEAFOOD. Yankee Pot Roast … Chicken Pot Pie … New England Boiled Dinner … Red Flannel Hash. All country foods popular since colonial times. Many recipes we take for granted today were the invention of frugal necessity. New Englanders made pot roasts and boiled dinners to utilize tougher cuts of meat. And while chickens were more common, they were hardly the plump specimens we know today; in fact, chicken pot pies were a popular way of disguising the scrawnier birds. Turkey’s which had to be hunted, were a luxury for the early settlers. Then, as now, they were eaten mainly at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
COIUNTRY HAM. A southern-style country ham makes an impressive main course for a holiday dinner or a weekend supper. It’s complex, smoky flavor is worth the extra time involved in its preparation. Unlike the brine-cured hams sold in supermarkets, country hams, by definition, are produced with a dry cure or salt or a combination of salt, sugar and nitrates. Once cured, the hams are aged, which reduces their moisture content by as much as 30 percent, and then usually smoked. The flavor of a country ham depends in part upon what feed the hog has been given. In Virginia, for example, acorns and peanuts are traditionally fed to hogs, while in Kentucky, clover and grain are preferred. Aging, which can take from three months to a year, also contributes to the flavor, and to the saltiness, firm texture, and rich color of the meat. The wood used for smoking … be it hickory, apple, or sassafras … adds its own particular aroma.
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Family ties are precious threads,
no matter where we roam,
they draw us close to those we love,
and pull our hearts toward home.
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HEARTH COOKING … (and this is where those wonderful cast iron pans come in handy! Cooking in a fireplace or ‘down hearth' (on the brick apron of the fireplace) .. is a good way to re-create a part of America’s past. Until the advent of wood-burning cookstoves in the 1850’s, the hearth was where most meals were prepared. While today cooking at the hearth is too time-consuming for everyday meals, it is an unusual and rewarding way to entertain family and friends.
If your fireplace is large enough, you may want to install a swinging crane .. a hinged device that is bolted to one side of the fireplace and from which pots can be suspended by means of trammels, hooks, and hangers. A large and small spider (long-handled frying pan with three legs), a few postnets (three-legged saucepans, a tin reflector oven, and a wafer iron are among some of the utensils used in hearth cooking. Long-handled spoons, spatulas, and fork are also essential, and for the fire, a poker, tongs and a shovel. SAFETY in hearth cookery is of the utmost importance. Wear natural fibers, sturdy shoes, a kerchief or hat to protect your hair, and long mitts to shield your arms. Keep a water bucket, fire blanket, and fire extinguisher near the fireplace. Direct flames are needed for boiling water; otherwise most hearth cookery is done over hot colas. To be sure you have enough coals for preparing a meal, start the fire about two hours before you plan to cook. Use newspaper, kindling, and dry, well-seasoned wood to build a fire in the fireplace. Hardwoods, such as oak or any of the various fruit and nut woods, which burn slowly and add flavor to the food, are best. Once you have a quantity of coals, rake or shovel them into three or four small piles on the hearth apron; your spider or postnet should sit several inches above the coals. How fast the food cooks depends on the heat generated, the thickness of the cookware, and how far the cookware is from the coals. Additional heat can be created by adding more embers; less heat by removing some coals from the piles. You should watch your pots constantly and adjust the heat as necessary. Learning how to regulate the heat and understanding the conducting properties of your cookware will take time and require experimentation. Once you have learned to control these variables, you will find that cooking times for hearth cookery are often the same as for food cooked in the oven or on the stove.
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MORE ON CAST-IRON COOKWARE. Iron, perhaps the oldest cooking medium on earth, remains one of the best. Until the mid-19th century, most Americans cooked on the open heart or used both the hearth and a cast-iron stove. In those days, cast iron was also the only practical and readily available material for pots and pans. Many traditional American recipes, for such dishes as baked beans, griddle cakes, and fried chicken, took advantage of the fine heat-conducting properties of this metal. Today, despite the availability of other types of cookware, many cooks will use only cast iron to prepare such dishes. Because cast iron absorbs heat slowly and evenly, then retains it, it is ideal for dishes like stews and soups, which improve with slow cooking. It is also good for baking, high-heat searing, and frying. Corn sticks or muffins baked in cast iron will have a crackling crisp crust; chicken seems to brown better in a cast-iron frying pan. Antique skillets, corn and muffin pans, dutch ovens, popover and corn-stick pans, bean pots and kettles can often be found at Glover’s Station! And unlike most ‘new’ fangled metal pans .. cast iron will last many lifetimes! Many of these cast iron pots and pans have been passed down from many generations! Properly seasoned and cared for, a cast-iron pan will improve with each use, building up a virtually non-stick surface! Consider the following guidelines when cooking with cast iron. For baking, it is best to preheat the pan as the oven preheats, then brush the pan with shortening and spoon in the batter. Remember that cast iron is reactive and can cause certain acidic foods, like tomatoes, to discolor or taste metallic. As a rule, do not use cast iron when cooking with wine, or for making sauces with egg yolks. To clean cast iron, simply wipe the pan with a paper towel, or if food is stuck on, sprinkle the pan with coarse salt, then rub with a stiff brush. A seasoned pan can be rinsed with soap and water then dried immediately over low heat.
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JOHNNY CAKE IN RHYME
Two cups Indian (cornmeal), one cup wheat;
One cup good eggs that you can eat.
One-half cup molasses too,
One big spoon sugar added thereto;
Salt and soda, each a small spoon.
Mix up quickly and bake it soon.
From the book: My Folks Come in a Covered Wagon
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Make as Johnny Cake, add a little butter and cook on a clean, greased hoe over hot coals.
ASH CAKE
2 CUPS CORNMEAL
1/3 CUP BUTTER
1 TSP. SALT
1 CUP BUTTERMILK
¾ TSP. SODA
Clear a spot out of the ashes in the fireplace, drop batter onto the hearth. When the dough forms a crust, cover with ashes and hot coals. Bake until done through (about 15-20 minutes.
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CORN PONE
Make a thick mush of 2 cups cornmeal, 1 tsp. salt, and boiling water. Let it cook a few minutes, cool a bit and add ½ teaspoon soda and 1 beaten egg. Drop onto a hot skillet with butter melted in it and cook in hot over until brown. Leave a thumb or hand print on top of your pone to be real authentic!
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ROASTED CORN
Take a fresh ear, peel back the husk and remove the silk, replace husk, dip in water then grill by fire in the hearth or on the grill outside. Corn can also be roasted on the ear in the frying pan. Just shuck it and roll it around in a hot buttered iron skillet, or try cutting the kernels off and brown them in a bit of butter in a skillet. Add some chopped red bell pepper or some fresh minced herbs.
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PIGS IN A PUDDLE
½ pound ground meat (beef, turkey, pork)
1 onion, chopped
BINDER: can be cooked in rice or breadcrumbs
a cabbage
herbs to taste
1 quart tomatoes, stewed or chopped spiced with salt and pepper
Brown meat and onion and drain off fat. Add cooked rice or bread crumbs. Drop outer leaves of cabbage leaf and roll up egg roll style. Place in a shallow, greased pan.
Cover with tomato sauce and bake at 350 degrees about 30 – 45 minutes until bubbly.
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| 9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Nov 16 2005 : 4:42:52 PM
Where on earth do you store 40 cast iron pots and pans???
susan and kristi .. ... i think you two gurlz were wondering where i 'store' all my antique cast-iron cookware.
(these are but the 'tip of the iceberg', my dears)
i don't store them .. i display them .. i have pots with lids hanging from two firepits on our farm .. come rain or come shine! love to simmer bean soup in them when company is coming.
there is a church in our town that every year at our 'pioneer rendezvous' they make a HUGE cauldron full of bean soup over an open fire .. (ohhhhh so delish!) when i saw it .. i spent months looking for one that large and yet olde and 'clean' .. and finally i found one .. had to pay two hundred bucks for it .. but it was just one of those 'hafta' have things in life that we splurge on! (ha! haven't made that big a pot of bean soup yet!) actually, it would be great for making soap too! it sits on the front porch of one of our cabins (but i might bring it in for the winter and put it beside the fireplace). (it would also make a great 'log holder'.)
in our fireplace, i have a wonderful olde iron trammel and grate .. i have about 17 pots and pans in there ... (lordy! wish i knew how to post pictures on this forum for you all to see how charming it is!
and the rest .. about another twenty-some (iron pots, pans, skillets, corn bread pans, corn stick pans, muffin tins .. and even one for making 'donuts' (i love the really unusual shaped cast iron pans) .. well, they hang on my kitchen walls .. along with at least 30 or 40 olde 'tin ware' pieces .. some of those hang on the walls and some from the beams that run across the kitchen. i guess you've figured out by now that i am NOT a 'minimalist'. i know there is a certain quality of peacefulness to 'simplicity' .. (and when i want to experience this .. i go outside in nature) ... but 'boy howdy'! how i do love my charming country clutter! each piece has been used by generations of our foremothers and i use most of my pieces from time to time. (now the ones i do 'store/hide' are the non-stick pans that i will occasionally use too!) i hide these in the pantry.
xo, frannie
p.s. if you'd kinda' like to get an idea of what my kitchen looks like .. visit this site:
http://www.kentuckyfarmsforsale.com/CCF/CCF.html
this is how it looked when the previous owners lived here.
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| lonestargal |
Posted - Nov 14 2005 : 08:59:25 AM
quote:
Originally posted by BlueEggBabe
Frannie,
Where on earth do you store 40 cast iron pots and pans???
www.feedsackfarmgirls.blogspot.com
www.farmatcoventry.com
"If more of us valued good food, cheer and song above hoarded gold,the world would be a merrier place."
J.J.R.Tolkien
 I was wondering the same thing!!! I have quite a few pieces and have a hard time storing what I have let alone 40 of them!!! I bet you have some wonderful pieces though. |
| BlueEggBabe |
Posted - Nov 14 2005 : 07:21:13 AM
Frannie,
Where on earth do you store 40 cast iron pots and pans???
www.feedsackfarmgirls.blogspot.com
www.farmatcoventry.com
"If more of us valued good food, cheer and song above hoarded gold,the world would be a merrier place."
J.J.R.Tolkien |
| BlueEggBabe |
Posted - Nov 14 2005 : 07:18:23 AM
Jocelyn,
Here is a link to the original cast iron cooking link that started back in July. There is tons of pertinent information there about cast iron cooking and seasoning on about 4-5 pages.
http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1249
enjoy!
www.feedsackfarmgirls.blogspot.com
www.farmatcoventry.com
"If more of us valued good food, cheer and song above hoarded gold,the world would be a merrier place."
J.J.R.Tolkien |
| JO AND AL |
Posted - Nov 14 2005 : 07:10:01 AM
HOW DO U SEASON CAST IRON?? THANKYOU JO~
love is all you need |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Nov 12 2005 : 9:48:33 PM
i've been collecting antique cast iron pans since moving to kentucky .. have about 30 or 40 different pots and pans so far ... i only buy them in 'great condition' ... if they are rusted or pitted .. i steer clear of them .. use them a lot when having friends visit. they are not only great to cook in .. but are oh so charming to 'serve' in! i've gotten some really unusual ones too .. tend to be expensive .. but i figure i'll have them forever .. so i splurge if i see a very unique one (hmmmm .. is that an oxy-moron??) Very Unique? well .. anyhoo ... i'm still looking for a BIG dutch oven .. preferably with 'legs'. it's gotta' be antique though .. new is nice .. but i just want one with 'history'.
and oh yessssss .. i still use my 'new fangled pans sometimes too! |
| lonestargal |
Posted - Nov 12 2005 : 7:31:33 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Krisathome
I have many sizes of cast iron pans and I love them. I would probably use them all the time but some things just work better in regular pans. Plus, I had heard that it's best not to use tomato products in cast iron as it can take off the seasoning you work so hard to keep on.
I've heard the same thing about tomato products and have also learned the hard way. It really did take some of my seasoning off. I agree, I use cast iron most of the time but there are a few things that a regular pan just works better. |
| Whimsy_girl |
Posted - Nov 12 2005 : 12:46:41 PM
Thanks for the great info!
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
| Krisathome |
Posted - Nov 12 2005 : 12:23:14 PM
I have many sizes of cast iron pans and I love them. I would probably use them all the time but some things just work better in regular pans. Plus, I had heard that it's best not to use tomato products in cast iron as it can take off the seasoning you work so hard to keep on. |
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