“Once upon a time….”   Actually, I am related on my mother’s side to the Grimms family, as in the old Grimms fairy tales – but that’s another story.

Now, on my father’s side, my grandmother, affectionately called Baba, gave me her original cast iron skillet that she bought in the early 1920s.  I have many fond memories of her cooking with that on her cast iron coal and wood burning stove.  In fact, it would get so hot in the kitchen – even in the middle of winter in Weatherly,  PA – we would have to run outside just to cool off.

One of my favorite recipes inherited from Baba is her incredible spaghetti and meatballs – and I’m talking about authentic Italian/Polish meat balls the size of golf balls.  She would first cook the meatballs in a covered deep fry cast iron skillet, then add homemade tomato sauce, fresh garden herbs, and plenty of garlic.  She let it simmer for at least an hour so the meatballs would absorb all the flavors.  Then it was a free-for-all with 4 adults and 6 kids!!!

We encourage you to share some of your fondest memories and experiences as they relate to family and cooking with cast iron.  Just send us a comment and we’ll post it.

You may have heard that you should not cook certain kinds of food – especially acidic foods such as tomatoes -  in your cast iron pots and pans because it may cause the iron to leach out into your food.   Quite honestly, you can cook any kind of food in cast iron and in fact, the little bit of iron that may leach out of the cast iron pan into your food can be beneficial to your health.

There are some precautions that you should take when cooking acidic foods in your cast iron cookware, the most important being that you should not leave the food in the pan longer than necessary.  You should definitely not store food for any length of time in your cast iron pots and pans.

Take a look at this scrumptious chili Dusty cooked up in his favorite cast iron skillet.  It tasted great, and did not damage the cast iron at all.

In a previous post we described the process for seasoning your cast iron cookware.  If you use cast iron long enough, there will most likely come a time when something happens and the nice seasoned surface becomes damaged.  The only way to repair  your cast iron skillet, dutch oven, or griddle it is to re-season it.  You can try to re-season just a spot or two, but I believe it’s better to re-season the entire surface.

The process for re-seasoning cast iron cookware is exactly the same as the process for preparing new cast iron cookware for use the first time.

• Scour all surfaces with a stiff brush, dish washing soap, and hot water (as hot as you can stand) to remove all food, rust, or other materials that may be stuck to the pan. You may even want to use a steel wool souring pad.

• Thoroughly dry all surfaces.
• Preheat your oven to 350-500 degrees.
• Completely coat the inside surface (and outside if you wish) with melted shortening or vegetable oil.  Some folks prefer to use melted lard or bacon fat.  If the cast iron cookware has a lid, be sure to treat it in the same manner.  We suggest turning the pan upside down in the oven so oil does not pool in the pan.  Be sure to put a flat baking sheet or foil on the grate under the pan.
• Place it on the middle rack of the oven for about 30 minutes.
• Remove it from the oven and wipe all surfaces until almost dry – removing pooled oil, but leaving a thin coat of oil.
• Place it back in the oven for another 30 minutes.
• Remove it from the oven and wipe off any residual oil, but be sure to leave a thin coating on all surfaces.
• If you notice the oil pooled and became gummy, simply scrape the gummy oil out and either re-season it applying oil only to that spot, or you can re-season the entire pan.

When Pam and I were recently out of town, we went to a restaurant that didn’t seem to be anything fancy, but the meal was one of the best we’ve had in a restaurant in a long time.  We don’t eat out much due to Pam’s food allergies and we really don’t like the notion of eating food that has been cooked in pots and pans that may be flaking off toxic particles in our meal as can happen when using modern non-stick cookware.

We asked the server how the meal was prepared and he actually brought the chef out to our table.  Come to find out, the entire meal had been prepared on cast iron griddles placed over gas burners.  The chef proceeded to tell us all about the reliability and benefits of cast iron cookware and that he has been using them for many years.

I’ve always been the primary cook in my family. Since I get out of work an hour earlier than my wife, I generally have dinner on the table as soon as she sets foot in the door. When our family takes a camping trip, I easily transition into the role of camp chef and create tasty meals over an open fire. The main difference between cooking at home and over a campfire is that in the camp site I have fewer ingredients and culinary tools at my disposal. Still, the sign of a great cook is his ability to improvise.

Every time we pack up the old station wagon and prepare to hit the open road, I make sure to pack a full complement of outdoor cookware – we’re talking cast iron griddles, grills, skillets, and pots. I might use the griddle over the open flame, but I generally like to use a separate fire pit just for cooking over coals.  By piling the coals high in the back and low in the front, I can achieve reliable temperature control for cooking multiple dishes at once.

We have friends in Darlington, Maryland that live in a very old home built in the 1800s that has seen several additions and renovations.  One thing that has not changed over the years is a corner of the kitchen with a large cast iron pot bellied stove, and stone walls on which numerous cast iron skillets are hanging.   Dusty and I love to sit in the kitchen and enjoy the warmth from the stove and reminisce about fond memories of rendezvous with our friends.

One of the great benefits of having a blog site is being able to share stories and experiences with folks all over the world that we would otherwise share with only a handful of our local friends.   I’m an avid, die-hard motorcycle rider and could tell you stories about the adventures on my 1978 BMW…but maybe another time.  Those of you who ride, or know someone that rides, know without a doubt that when it comes to working on the bike, nothing is sacred.

Although it won’t hurt it, it’s probably not a good idea to use your wife’s
cast iron dutch oven or deep fry pan as an oil pan when changing the oil in your motorcycle.  The oil won’t hurt it and it sure makes it nice and shiny, but next time your wife cooks with it she’ll think you started up your motorcycle in the house, and your food will taste like you cooked it over the exhaust pipe.  I suggest that you bite the bullet and make the trip to Wal-Mart and get an aluminum roaster pan.  You’ll be much better off in the long run.

Happy Riding – and keep the misses happy!

I was unable to visit with my best friend, who now lives in the Green Mountains of Vermont, when she was home over New Years, but we chatted last week and it was great to visit with her.  We talked about the kids, work, etc., and she told me that she had a great story that would make a good post on our blog site, and she was right.

My friend is very outdoorsy and loves to hike in the mountains.  She gathered her day pack and dogs and took off on a trail up the mountain behind her house.  It was a beautiful, sunny winter day and she had walked quite a ways and wound up on a trail that she had not been on before.  The dogs seemed to be very interested in something up ahead and took off.  She had not gone far when she caught wind of something cooking, and knew that’s why the dogs took off.  She followed the trail a bit further, walked around a sharp bend and came upon an elderly gentleman standing by a huge outdoor barbecue pit.   Just behind the pit a ways stood an old rustic cabin that looked like it was built in the 1700s. 

On the grate over the pit were numerous cast iron pots and pans, each containing something different.  As far as I could tell he was by himself but he was cooking enough food for a small army.  Come to find out, he was having a big family and friends get together later that afternoon.   Luckily, the dogs and she were welcome and the old man invited us to stay and join in the festivities.

It’s great when opportunities for new adventures arise and we can make new friends, and especially when we can share such wonderful experiences with others.

We all know that we’re supposed to eat numerous servings of fruits and veggies every day, but finding the time to prepare a variety of dishes can be a challenge.  Here is a quick, simple recipe for making garlic zucchini squash in a cast iron skillet.

• Slice zucchini and yellow squash into 1/8-1/4″ slices (cross section)
• Chop (finely) at least 2 cloves of garlic
• Cover the bottom of the cast iron skillet with the cooking oil of your choice.  I like using canola or safflower oil.
• Heat the oil slowly
• Place the sliced veggies in the skillet.  If you want them crispy, just cover the bottom of the skillet and turn frequently until they are crispy brown.  If you want them more like steamed veggies, put as many in the skillet as you wish, stir them frequently, and remove when they are cooked to your liking.
• Sprinkle grated mozzarella cheese over top, cover and heat until melted
• Onions can be added for additional flavor.

Fried chicken is a staple in American chicken, and here’s a recipe to combine the two characteristics that everyone is looking for: crispy skin and juicy, succulent meat.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup kosher salt (do not use table salt for brining)
2 quarts cold water
1 three-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1 quart buttermilk
1 pound lard
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup country ham pieces, or 1 thick slice country ham cut into 1/2-inch strips
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Procedures
1. To make the brine: Stir kosher salt into cold water until dissolved. Place chicken parts in a nonreactive bowl or pot; add enough brine to cover completely. Refrigerate 8 to 12 hours.

2. Drain the brined chicken and rinse out the bowl it was brined in. Return chicken to the bowl, and pour the buttermilk over. Cover and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours. Drain the chicken on a wire rack, discarding the buttermilk.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the fat for frying by putting the lard, butter and country ham into one of your cast iron skillets or frying pans. Cook over low heat for 30 to 45 minutes, skimming as needed, until the butter ceases to throw off foam and the country ham is browned. Use a slotted spoon to remove the ham carefully from the fat.

4. Just before frying, increase the temperature to medium-high and heat the fat to 335 degrees. Prepare the dredge by blending together the flour, cornstarch, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl or on wax paper. Dredge the drained chicken pieces thoroughly in the flour mixture, then pat well to remove all excess flour.

5. Using tongs, slip some of the chicken pieces, skin side down, into the heated fat, contained within the chicken fryer. Regulate the fat so it just bubbles, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes on each side, until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Drain thoroughly on a wire rack or on crumpled paper towels, and serve.

Fried chicken is delicious eaten hot, warm, at room temperature or cold.