Thread: Cast iron?

I deeply regret that about 10 years ago my grandmother had finally decided to give me her cast iron pans and they were still in the trunk of my mother's car when a fire broke out in the garage. The fire spread to the house and both were a total loss. The pans were not even recognizable within the debris of what little was left of the car.

I would have loved to have been able to cook with her old pans.

Bob, I wish I could remember where it was that I read it, but back in the wagon train days the dutch ovens had legs to get it up off of the coals and let the air in. Then once they arrived at their destination and started a new life, the legs were cut off so the dutch could be used on a stove.

I'm betting that that is exactly the story behind yours.

You are a very blessed man!

Originally Posted by lz6

Here is the favorite in our home for the past 50 years. I am 71 years old. My Mother had use of or was around when it was being used by her Mother. My Grandmother used it her entire life
and remembered well all the dinners and breakfasts from this pan with her Mother who could recount yankee renegade cavalry raiders cleaning out their smokehouse a couple of times. Helping themselves to the winter supply of hams, bacon and sausages.

The pan handle was broken off and welded back with brass early in it's stay with my Grandmother. The repair has never been an issue. At some point, obviously, the legs were sawed off to make it stove ready I suppose.

I cannot even begin to imagine how many batches of sausage and gravy, fried chicken and cream gravy have been served from this pay. There have been several hundred Sunday dinner pot roast's with all the fixings served when this pan was brought to the table.

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There is no doubt that skillet at one time had three legs. It is a gate marked piece and date some where in the mid to later 1800's. The maker of the "spider skillet" will never be known but is indeed a great piece of family history.

I just made a post in a cast iron related group to see if I can get you anymore info.

I'll have to get a picture to post (if I can find the thing in our boxed kitchen ware) but...
The wife has her Great Grandmother's Aebleskiver CI pan. My mother in law, who is in her mid 70's, says the pan came over with her mother from Denmark.
I'm not going to do the math, but that is one old piece of cast iron!

Here's an update to my experiment with making some old time sandwich meat.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/plate...ml#post1724604

My brother never showed so it was just me to try the head cheese as a sandwich meat. Sorry no pics but trust me it was very good! Just a little mustard and mayo on the bread. The curing gives the pork the texture and a bit of the flavor of smoked ham but without the smoke flavoring. I see no reason that left over ham couldn't be used. You would still need to use the pig feet and veggies to make the broth as the gelatin from the feet are what holds it all together.

Note: I did not use any additional gelatin product, it all came naturally from the feet and a bit from the hocks. By condensing the stock I condensed the gelatin and also the flavors.

NOW! To play further. I've got a small slice on a plate to leave out at room temperature overnight to see how it holds together (NO I'm Not Going To Eat It). Back in the day, refrigeration was either down in the well, out in the root cellar or if you were lucky a rocked up spring 'refrigerator'.

I'm also experimenting with seeing how a small slice holds up under being frozen and then thawed.

I'll be making this 'head cheese' again but I'll wait until our beloved Walla Walla Sweet Onions are in season and then add some of them chopped up and mixed into the meat right before topping the meat mixture with the concentrated broth.

cuda its bad enough you got me craving some headcheese but you had to go and mention the Walla Walla onions. Haven't had any of those delicous onions since I left Whidbey Island. Use to pick them up at the Oak Harbor Farmer's market when they had them.

Originally Posted by MedicineMan

cuda its bad enough you got me craving some headcheese but you had to go and mention the Walla Walla onions. Haven't had any of those delicous onions since I left Whidbey Island. Use to pick them up at the Oak Harbor Farmer's market when they had them.

Hmmm I can't say that I'm sorry that you miss our wonderful sweet onions.

They are available via shipping. Here's one link. I do hope it's active.

https://www.locatifarms.com/sweet-onions/

The Locati family is one of the oldest families here in Walla Walla to be growing what I believe is the ONLY Heirloom Sweet Onion on the market.

Walla Walla Sweet Onions are protected by a Federal Marketing Order. Which means that to be called a Genuine WW Sweet Onion they have to be grown within a very limited area here in the valley.

If the link doesn't get you where you want to be, PM me and I'll see what I can do about shipping you The Best Sweet Onions in the World. Sorry Vidalia, but it's true.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

Hmmm I can't say that I'm sorry that you miss our wonderful sweet onions.

They are available via shipping. Here's one link. I do hope it's active.

https://www.locatifarms.com/sweet-onions/

The Locati family is one of the oldest families here in Walla Walla to be growing what I believe is the ONLY Heirloom Sweet Onion on the market.

Walla Walla Sweet Onions are protected by a Federal Marketing Order. Which means that to be called a Genuine WW Sweet Onion they have to be grown within a very limited area here in the valley.

If the link doesn't get you where you want to be, PM me and I'll see what I can do about shipping you The Best Sweet Onions in the World. Sorry Vidalia, but it's true.

I'm going to have to make a road trip out there to find them!

Originally Posted by TwistedOak

I'm going to have to make a road trip out there to find them!

You don't have the Genuine WW Sweet Onions in the stores in Seattle/such as Safeway/Albertsons???

They usually start being available about the middle to the last of June. When I was working produce and a tourist who was visiting in say January would ask about if we carried them I would tell them that I called them a 'Holiday Onion' as they were generally available for the 4th of July and were gone by Labor Day Weekend.