We were invited to a cookout a couple weekends ago and we were asked specifically to bring a big batch of my crawdad etouffee.     We posted a blog on June 24 with the recipe and talked about how we cooked it in a dutch oven on the wood stove in our tipi.

Since Pam is allergic to the peppers and onions, I had to prepare the ingredients outside, and I used the side burner on the grill to cook it.  The 3 qt deep cast iron skillet fit perfectly over the burner.  It worked great, didn’t heat the house up, and I won some brownie points with Pam!

Using cast iron cookware on the grill in the same way you use it on your stove is pretty simple, and if you have a large grill – especially with a side burner or two – you can cook a lot of dishes at the same time.

We have quite a few folks send us questions about what kind of cast iron skillet is best for a specific type of cooking.  My response is always, “It depends on what you’re cooking and how you like to cook.”  Some folks think a large 10″ or 12″ skillet is best and that’s fine, but I like using the smallest skillet possible, and I usually wind up using several skillets at a time to cook different dishes.  I must say, however, that using a large skillet to cook bacon, sausage, and eggs all at the same time makes the process a bit easier, especially when cooking over an open fire. However, sometimes you don’t necessarily want the different items to blend while cooking.  That’s why I like using separate skillets. 

One of my main considerations as to what size of skillet or how many skillets I will use is to answer the question, “What is the most efficient way to cook everything and just as importantly, what is the best way to keep everything warm until served?”  Again, I like using multiple smaller skillets when possible.

If I’m cooking on a stove top, I can use up to 4 skillets of various sizes, or a couple skillets and a long two-burner griddle.  If I’m cooking over a fire in a pit that I made, I can use several skillets at a time.  However, not everyone makes a huge fire pit, and there may be room for just one skillet over the fire.

However you do it, the great thing is, you’re cooking with cast iron cookware – the healthy choice for good ole home cookin’!

It’s been unusually and oppressively HOT since May…..only now are we getting a reprieve and some rain here in Md. Still, I can’t believe it is already August, and autumn is just around the corner.  Dusty is anticipating erecting the tipi and we’re already planning meals to cook over the fire pit in the backyard.

Here’s one I’m going to try in either my 3 qt Dutch oven London Broil in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven or my 3 qt. deep fry skillet.  My girlfriend prepared this in a Dutch oven (in her modern day oven) and it was delicious!   She calls it her ‘London Broil Delight’.

Starting with a London broil about 2” thick and 6” x 6” wide/long.  Pre-season it with:

• a pinch of sea salt
• one Tbsp. black or white pepper
• chop two cloves of garlic and fork it into the meat
• sprinkle some fresh basil (3 – 4 leaves) finely chopped over the meat

Place the meat in a shallow container and add 1/3 cup olive or canola oil and 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar.  You can add 2 Tbsp of Worcestshire Sauce if you like (optional).  I’m allergic to W. sauce so I leave it out.  Close/cover the container and let sit on your countertop for 3-4 hours.

When ready to cook, simply remove the meat from the container and place it in the pre-seasoned Dutch oven or skillet.  Bake in the oven at 385⁰F for about 45 minutes or if you don’t want to heat up the house you can cook it on the stove top making sure to keep an eye on it .  If cooking on the stovetop, set the temperature to low to moderate heat and add a little extra oil (2 Tbsps).

Dusty and I would love to hear how yours turns out!

I sure do miss the homemade bread that my grandma used to make.  It was a yeast type bread and I swear I could smell it baking a block away from her house!   Grandma had somewhat of a schedule – or routine I guess you could call it.  On certain days she did specific things, and Sunday morning was always bread baking day.  They had moved from the farm into town a long time ago, but their internal alarm clock was still on farm time – they were up before the crack of dawn, and shortly thereafter, Grandma was baking bread. 

Although, I was much younger in those days, I wasn’t that much of an early bird unless I was going fishing or on a motorcycle ride, so I usually got to Grandma’s house after the bread was done.  I never thought much about it, but even when I arrived quite some time after the bread was out of the oven, she would cut a slice for me and it would still be warm.  Thinking back on it, and picturing the kitchen and the associated surroundings in my mind, I can see the cast iron bread pan sitting on the stove.  Those of you who cook with a cast iron skillet, dutch oven, or baking pan, know what I’m talking about.  They hold heat for a very long time after removing them from the oven, and your food stays nice and warm – even for the late-comers.  Ah, the good ole days!

It’s been a while since we have mentioned some of the basics concerning cooking with cast iron cookware.  I guess we get a bit wrapped up in trying to provide useful technical information and great recipes that we forget there might be folks out there who are new to using cast iron cookware and are looking for helpful hints and reasons to start using it.

There are many advantages of using cast iron:

• It is very inexpensive compared to most of the modern “technically advanced” cookware.
• Non-toxic – will not flake off like modern non-stick surfaces
• Ideal heat conductor
• Allows for even heat distribution and consistent cooking temperature without hot spots
• Extremely durable – will last a lifetime (actually many lifetimes)
• Old fashion way for fat-free cooking
• Non-stick surface
• Can be used on or in any heat source – on top of stove, in oven, over an open fire, or in the coals
• Healthy choice for every day cooking
• Easy to clean

If you’ve never used cast iron cookware, you will discover that you can cook just about anything with a few cast iron skillets of various sizes, and a dutch oven lends a lot of versatility to your arsenal of cooking implements. Give it a try and let us know what you think.  If you already use cast iron we would love to hear your comments, helpful hints, and personal recipes that we can share with our readers.

Grocery shopping is not one of Pam’s or my favorite things to do, so some times the cupboard is lacking tasty snack foods.  Actually, that’s probably a good thing, but we can usually figure out some way to satiate our craving for salty crunchy snacks.  Last night I was bemoaning the fact that we didn’t have anything to munch on while watching a movie, and Pam came up with a great idea – homemade sweet potato chips.

We peeled a fairly large sweet potato and cut it into very thin slices.  We put about 1/2″ of vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet, heated it to about 300 degrees and dropped in the slices.  We like them sort of on the crispy side, so we let them fry until they were slightly dark on both sides, removed them from the oil, and blotted them with several paper towels.  Pam likes to dip hers in horseradish sauce and I like mine plain.  Try it – you’ll like it!

Our son was home from college this past weekend and he and a buddy of his came over for supper.  Pam was out at the stables horsing around (literally),  so we just sat around and talked about old time when the kids were growing up in the old neighborhood.

I put some burgers on the grill, fries in the oven, and kicked back to relax.  Well, I checked on the burgers and the grill had run out of propane.  Yes, I had not planned very well and didn’t have another tank.  So, I brought the burgers inside and put them on the cast iron griddle across the large burner of the stove.  A few minutes later, we heard an odd cracking sound and saw a spark coming from the oven.  I opened the oven door and the heating element was on fire!  So, to summarize, the grill ran out of propane, the oven quit working and we were very hungry.

Cast iron cookware comes to the rescue again.  I put about 1/2″ of vegetable oil in my 3 qt deep fry cast iron skillet heated it up and cooked up the french fries while the burgers were cooking on the griddle.  In spite of our bad luck, the meal turned out just fine and it was great reminiscing with the kids.

This recipe is a classic for athletes everywhere, particularly if your sport involves building muscle and/or putting on weight – football players, weight lifters and boxers.

Here’s how it goes:

Ingredients:

1-tablespoon vegetable oil
1-pound top sirloin steak (about 1 inch thick)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-tablespoons unsalted butter
8 large eggs

Preheat the oven 350 degrees F.

Preheat a large cast iron skillet with lid over medium heat until hot, about 5 minutes. Raise the heat to high and add the oil. Season the steak generously with salt and pepper. Place the steak in the skillet and cook, turning once, until well-browned, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the steak in the skillet to the oven and cook for 5 minutes more for medium-rare.

Transfer the steak to a cutting board. Cover it loosely with foil and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

While the steak is resting, cook the eggs. Heat two skillets over medium-low. Melt a tablespoon of butter in each pan. Break 4 eggs into each skillet. Season the eggs lightly with salt and pepper, and cook until the whites are just set, about 3 1/2 minutes. (If you want the yolks to be cooked through, cover, and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes more.) Divide the eggs among 4 warmed plates.

We had a great motorcycle trip to the rendezvous at Muddy Run State Park in Holtwood, PA this past Saturday.  Round trip was about 200 miles.  Although the ride was great, the highlight of visiting with our friends was when Roger cooked up buffalo burgers on his old – and I mean old – cast iron skillet.  He said he inherited the skillet from his mother who got it from her mother, who got it…..  Unfortunately, I left the camera at home so no pictures of the rendezvous and our friends in 1750 clothing this time.

As far back as I can remember, my grandma and mom always prepared blackeyed peas on Jan 1st to bring good luck in the New Year.  Well, I know it’s a ways past the New Year, but I think we can all use a little good luck these days.

Pamela makes a fantastic Good Luck blackeyed pea, sausage, and potato soup in a dutch oven right on top of the stove.

• Soak the blackeyed peas (one bag) over night.
• Drain the blackeyed peas, place them in a dutch oven, add enough water to cover the peas.  Place the lid on the dutch oven and bring contents to a boil.
• Simmer for about 20 minutes.
• Add spices (to your taste):  garlic, salt, pepper, basil, Italian seasoning.
• In a cast iron skillet, brown 1 lb of seasoned sausage.  We like using mild seasoned turkey sausage.
• Chop about  6 medium new potatoes into bite size pieces and add them to the dutch oven.
• Add the cooked sausage to the dutch oven, cover, and simmer for about 1 hour, stirring frequently.
• Add water as necessary to make the soup the consistency you like.

I like to splash just a bit of Tabasco sauce on mine.