My mother's cast iron

Oh yeah, y'all are making me hungry.

friedgreencorrado wrote:

wbjones wrote: that's the part I didn't know ... how hot a medium temp on the range was and how that would translate to the oven

Think of the stovetop and the oven as two different "devices". Stovetop's how to get it hot enough to mix the ingredients properly, but the oven does the baking. Medium on the range would just be turned about half-way up with the knob. To keep the cooking time shorter, you can "prepare" on the range while the oven pre-heats, the extra heat from the oven really doesn't affect what you're doing on the stovetop very much.

I guess I haven't expressed myself very well ...

I understood all that .. just not the correlation between medium on the range ( i.e. straight down) and what constituted a hot oven ...

in other words what setting on the oven did you mean ?

edit: I replied before I read the rest of the posts... as you can see above what I wanted was the oven setting ..... and your next post said 450-460...

question answered

thanks

whenry wrote: In reply to friedgreencorrado: I keep a "drippings" container in the fridge. Helps to make incredible cornbread and a small spoonfull helps to cook eggs. I know that I should eat lean meat but you gotta have that grease periodically. I made a small batch of gravy to go with the store bought biscuits this morning.

Sounds like my kind of breakfast. Did you whip up the gravy out of the bacon grease? Care to share your technique?

wbjones wrote: I guess I haven't expressed myself very well ... I understood all that .. just not the correlation between medium on the range ( i.e. straight down) and what constituted a hot oven ... in other words what setting on the oven did you mean ?

I mean to warm up the oven to 450°, and leave it there for the duration.

In reply to EastCoastMojo:

ARRGH! My email link for my mom is an old one. Messaging my sister on FB to see if she has it.

I have given that cornmeal recipe to my wife for scrutiny and possible production. If we try it, I'll advise you of how it turns out, Mojo.

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Harbor Freight cast iron skillets for the adventurous! $14.

Yeah, what is the lead percentage in those things?

Even if they are in fact lead free they have a horrible uneven surface and are heavier than good quality older pieces. Give me a rusty forgotten pan from the 1930s any day over that crap.

Found a couple of skillets on my granddad's farm - they looked ancient 40 years ago. Rescued them and are the secret to my own scratch-made pan pizzas. They were seasoned with olive oil. Yet to find anyone who doesn't like em.

EastCoastMojo wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote: OK, so let's have a recipe for this cornbread. My mom made it a lot when I was a kid, and it was great. My wife never heard of it, so whenever we're across the border, we grab some of that Jiffy stuff. I can't tell the difference between it, and the stuff my wife's made from scratch, so I need a recipe.

Okay! 1 cup yellow cornmeal 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1 tsp salt 1 Tbs baking powder 1 cup buttermilk 1/2 cup milk 1 egg 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 cup shortening + 2 Tbs shortening Preheat oven to 450°. Combine cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl and stir to combine. Measure the buttermilk and milk into a measuring cup and add the egg. Stir together with a fork. Add the baking soda to the milk mixture and stir together. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. In a medium cast iron skillet over medium heat, melt the 1/4 cup shortening. Add melted shortening to the batter slowly, stirring just until combined. Then, in the same hot skillet melt 2 Tbs shortening. Pour the batter into the hot skillet and spread to even out the surface. Batter should sizzle when it makes contact with the pan. Cook on medium heat for 1 minute, then transfer to hot oven and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

This recipe was amazing. In the name of all recipes that I use, I modify them to suit my ingredients on hand: Instead of milk, I used half and half, and instead of shortening, I used butter. I baked it in my cast iron dutch oven (without the lid) All in all... best cornbread that I have ever had, or at least made.

What does one look for in a cast iron pan? You have me interested and I will start keeping an eye out at garage sales.

You can't go wrong with a Griswold or an old Wagner pan, but even if it doesn't have a name it is probably a fine pan. Lay it on a flat surface to make sure it is not warped. Rust is not a problem, so don't be turned off by that, it just needs to be cleaned and re-seasoned.

Look for a good seven or eight inch skillet to be an extremely versatile starter pan, and expand with more pans as you see the need. I like a smaller five inch pan with a very smooth interior surface for frying eggs, but a coarser surface will work fine for bacon, fajitas, etc.

Mitchell wrote: This recipe was amazing. In the name of all recipes that I use, I modify them to suit my ingredients on hand: Instead of milk, I used half and half, and instead of shortening, I used butter. I baked it in my cast iron dutch oven (without the lid) All in all... best cornbread that I have ever had, or at least made.

Glad to hear it was a hit! My favorite part is the crispy yet not hard crust that develops on the bottom.

friedgreencorrado wrote: Damn you, Suddard! I have a couple of Grandmother's (seriously "old school" Southern woman..if we'd called her "grandma" she would have sent us out back to pick our own switch) skillets, but my sister got the cornstick pan. Another night of pain & anguish while I recall my failure. Especially since I'm living with a woman who knows sugar has no place in a cornbread recipe. (have I just floundered the thread? )

Look what I found!

http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/clt/3198161846.html

PS... I have first dibs on it. I'll let you know if they respond.

Keven wrote: Look what I found! http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/clt/3198161846.html

Oh, so cool. Good luck with buy (GLWB?).

oldtin wrote: Found a couple of skillets on my granddad's farm - they looked ancient 40 years ago. Rescued them and are the secret to my own scratch-made pan pizzas. They were seasoned with olive oil. Yet to find anyone who doesn't like em.

Go post in the recipe thread!

mtn wrote:

oldtin wrote: Found a couple of skillets on my granddad's farm - they looked ancient 40 years ago. Rescued them and are the secret to my own scratch-made pan pizzas. They were seasoned with olive oil. Yet to find anyone who doesn't like em.

Go post in the recipe thread!

Yes, please do. Pan pizza is one of my all time favorite foods. I have tried many pizzas, but not pan style.

friedgreencorrado wrote:

Keven wrote: Look what I found! http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/clt/3198161846.html

Oh, so cool. Good luck with buy (GLWB?).

Apparently these aren't all that rare like I had envisioned:

Should I just pick one that's not that rusty and perhaps made by Wagner or Griswold?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=cast%20iron%20cornbread&_sop=15

Keven wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote:

Keven wrote: Look what I found! http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/clt/3198161846.html

Oh, so cool. Good luck with buy (GLWB?).

Apparently these aren't all that rare like I had envisioned: Should I just pick one that's not that rusty and perhaps made by Wagner or Griswold? http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=cast%20iron%20cornbread&_sop=15

The reason so many of us like the old ones is that the cooking surface is smoother. A lot of the new ones have a fairly rough surface. That being said, I don't know if the antiques were that rough and just smoothed out over the years, or whether they were just made better to begin with. If you want to buy new, visit a few stores where you can inspect them in person.

http://www.lodgemfg.com/

I drive by the exit to the Tenn. store every time I go to an ETR a-x

For those of you who have a dutch oven, you may be interested in this recipe for No Knead Artisan Bread that I posted in the recipes thread. You can use cast iron or stoneware for this recipe, pictured is the loaf I made using a cast iron dutch oven. Delicious and easy!

Marjorie Suddard wrote: ...cast-iron cornstick pans that make the manna from heaven. They are magic...

Truth. I wonder where my grandmother's got away to...

Also: when making cornbread, just put the drippings or shortening or whatever fat in the pan and preheat the whole works in the oven. Once the oven comes to temp, pour the melted fat back into the batter, stir it up a little, then pour the whole batter back in the pan. It’ll sizzle when it goes in if the pan is hot enough (hint: it will be, your oen just made it 400 degrees or so). No need to heat up the house melting shortening on the stovetop, that’s just silly.

Confession time, though- I don't mix mine all up from scratch. Martha White and White Lily both make a perfectly suitable no-sugar-having dry ingredient mix that you just add fat, an egg, and some buttermilk to, and you're done. Probably not as good as scratch made in grandma's skillet, but close enough to get by.

Jake wrote: No need to heat up the house melting shortening on the stovetop, that’s just silly.

Never once had a problem with heating up shortening causing the house to get hot. Now, heating the oven to 400°, that does warm up the house.

Speaking of cast iron, I have had a cast iron grill pan for years. It looks like this:

I have not used it much, simply because the minimal contact makes cooking take a long time, and even cooking even harder. Well, it finally dawned upon me to use a lid, and cooking with the pan is just so much easier. I just made some breakfast sausage patties, and they turned out like grilled spicy porky burgers; definitely a different taste and texture than the uniform dark brown crispy texture characteristic of typical pan-fried sausage.

I like it.