Cast-Iron Cookware – Part III

Legend:

CE = Carla Emery from her book The Encyclopedia of Country Living

JC = Jackie Clay form Her article “Cast iron” in Backwoods Home Magazine, July/August 2009, #118

PH = PrudentHome

Seasoning: From CE – Six Steps + Re-coating

#1. “New iron cookware has a factory-applied preseason coating (some new cast-iron cookware is pre-seasoned so carefully read your attached literature for specific guidance/PH). So wash your pan thoroughly with a mild dishwashing liquid. Rinse and dry completely with a dishcloth. (Never let your cast-iron cookware drain dry. That’s inviting rust.

#2. Now grease the inside with suet or vegetable shortening. Rub the grease in. Lightly grease the outside of the pan also. Wipe away any surplus. Do the same for the lid if it has one.

#3. Place in 250-275 (degrees) F and let season (“bake”) for 8 to 10 hours, or leave overnight. Gaylen Lehman (an ironware dealer) wrote me, ’Some people will protest vociferously that you should use 400 (degrees) F for 2-3 hours. At these temps the seasoning often glazes and burns, and can ruin the pot. Don’t you believe them.”

#4. Do not put on any lid while treating it, since it will stick on and you will need a crowbar to pry it open again.

#5. Let cool naturally. Your pot is now ready for use.

#6. Or you can apply a second coat — or more. Just repeat the procedure. If the first is spotty and has bare spots, don’t worry. Just apply a second, even possibly a third, coat; that will coat the bare spots.

Re-coating: If the coating gets  scratched or is burned off by overheating, just repeat as per above instructions.”

Caveats: When using cast-iron cookware, here are a few of the things to watch out for:

CE:

#1.”Don’t cook with cast-iron at a temperature greater than 300-350 (degrees)F. or the pan may crack.

#2. “Don’t leave a pan on high heat with no liquid in it. First it will get red-hot, and then it will crack and be ruined.”

#3. “Never cook food high in acid content  in a cast-iron (or aluminum) pan. … your dish will pick up more iron content than will taste good.”

PH:  If you’re going to use cast-iron cookware on a flat, glass-topped stove. Make sure that the cookware has a flat bottom and set and remove it from the glass surface CAREFULLY.

Source: There is one source for new cast-iron cookware that all of us recommend (CE, JC, and PH) and that is Lehman’s: They are accessible right here at PrudentHome for your information and/or ordering.  To visit Lehman’s, CLICK HERE

Other Sources: JC - “… thrift stores,  Goodwill, Salvation Army, yard sales, or auctions.”

PH – Don’t forget to check with your “senior” relatives or friends (especially if they’re moving) and offer to “pay a fair price” for their heavier, cast-iron cookware.

Also, don’t forget to use the bulletin board at your house of worship or any assisted living facility in your area and ask to purchase their heavier, cast iron cookware and cookbooks for a fair price. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Cookbooks: Here at PrudentHome, we’ve always used regular cookbooks for our cast-iron cookware. We had a little trouble with our very small Dutch oven (primarily recipes) and neglected it due to it’s small size. Our plan is to “up-size’ our Dutch oven in the future and with that, to add some more specialized cookbooks. Both the  “up-sizing” of our Dutch oven (we have a number of pans including a “chicken cooker”) and our interest in specific cast-iron cooking techniques – and recipes- reflect our increasing concern over harder times in the future requiring larger, one-pot meals cooked under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., without benefit of electricity).

Here are a couple of the cookbooks we feel would be helpful now as well as in a less ideal future:

• The Cast Iron Chef: The Main Course. With a wide range of dishes, and help on how to cook dutch oven in your home, dutch oven cooking has never been easier. by Matt Pelton
• Lodge Texas Treasury of Dutch Oven Cooking Cookbook by Lodge
• Cast Iron Cooking for Dummies by Tracie Barr

Mid-week, next week, we plan on presenting some serious, hard-times gardening and food production information with emphasis on producing food types that will meet an individuals needs under very adverse conditions.

Until next week: keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.