What The Cast Iron Pot Said to the Cast Iron Kettle

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight

The Cast Iron Pot said to the Cast Iron Kettle:

“Ever since you whistled at me I have been captivated by your charms. I supposed I was ‘pre-seasoned‘ to succumb to you. However, our romance at times is quite a ‘fine kettle of fish‘. You tend to reach a boiling point with me quite easily and sometimes you are a little over the top with your family pedigree of enameled cast iron cookware relatives.

Enameled Cast Iron Fry Pan

Admittedly they have an aesthetic appeal but at the heart of the matter, you and I, and even they, are made of the same stuff ‘cast iron‘. We all come from good stock. Our romance will endure and we will share many happy times together in the kitchen long after other cookware  has lost its ‘non-stick’ quality and has been discarded. We will ‘stick together‘ but the food will not  stick to us.”

Lodge Red Enamel Dutch Oven

Iron Out Smooth Cooking with Cast Iron Cookware

Perhaps you have resolved to eat healthier in 2010. Cast Iron Cookware can help you “iron out” some of the difficulty in preparing a healthier fare for your family.

The farm families who own Cabot have created a recipe perfect for any occasion.  We are grateful to them for a healthy recipe with a new “wrinkle” on healthy eating.

CHICKEN CORN TORTILLA SOUP

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 cups water

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon canola oil

4 cups reduced- sodium canned chicken broth

16 ounces fresh or frozen white corn

1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies

Corn tortilla Chips

6 ounces 50% Reduced Fat Cheddar, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)

Preparation:

1. In a cast iron sauce pan, combine chicken breasts and water. Bring to gentle simmer and cook just until set in center.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium cast iron skillet
   

   Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet

   over medium heat, combine onion, garlic, and oil; cook, stirring until onions are tender. Set aside.

3. Transfer cooked chicken to plate to cool. Strain cooking liquid into another saucepan.
4. Add canned broth to cooking liquid and bring to simmer. Add corn and cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and reserved onion mixture and cook until heated through.
5. In each of eight large soup bowls, arrange about 8 tortilla chips. Shred cooled chicken and divide among bowls. Ladle hot soup over chips and chicken, top with grated cheese.

Cozy-up to a bowl of this soup with your family. You will love how it tastes cooked in cast iron that “allows you to taste the food not the cookware“.

Cook In Cast IronTonight

Camp Cooking Accessories from Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Camp Cooking Is Fun!

Is there anything wrong with using straightened wire clothes hangers or even the tines of a yard broom to roast hot dogs? Probably not. Is there an easier way to roast our hot dogs and marshmallows? Is there a way to turn them out in quantity for your kids, troop or camping party? Is there a more fun way to roast hot dogs and marshmallows? The answer to all four questions is YES!

Check out these products and just imagine the fun you could have.

Rome Dog 'n Brat Cooker

Rome Cast Iron Hot Dog Cooker

Cook In Cast Iron When You Camp

Rome Hot Dog/Marshmallow Cookout Set

Cool Cast Iron Camping Cookware & Accessories

Some really “cool“  Camping Cast Iron Cookware and Camping Cookware Accessories are really “hot” for  2010 camping.

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet

There are some really good reasons to get to the great outdoors and camp.

Here are some:

• the soul deadening pace of modern life. Even if you win the rat race you are still a “rat”.
• the ceaseless activity that drains our vitality.
• being harried and hassled by life’s demands
• being stuck on fast forward and running on empty
• add your reasons and comment below

Some Reasons to Go Camping:

• camping is fun and family friendly
  

  Camping is Cool

• camping allows you to be who you are and want to be in a place you want to be. Tension is who you think (or others think) you should be. Relaxation is who you are (Chinese Proverb).
• camping is still affordable
• fun activities while you camp offer numerous possibilities. Use your imagination
  

  Rome Panini Presses

• no doubt you can think of others. We would love to hear from you.
  

  Rome Popcorn PopperLodge

  

  Rome Firepit Cookout Set

  

  Round Pie Iron by RomeS'More Maker

• 

  Camp and Cook In Cast Iron

Cast Iron Cookware With a Spinach Salad Popeye Would Love

Every good cook should have a spinach salad in their repertoire and Chef Paul Prudhomme’s is one Popeye would love and so will you. The Chef points out that along with the traditional elements in the salad, the tasso and cane vinegar give it a decided Louisiana flavor.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil (where would Popeye be without Olive Oil?)

9 ounces tasso, or any premium-quality cooked ham, cut into 1/4- inch cubes

1 medium-size onion, cut into julienne strips

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into julienne strips

1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into julienne strips

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup dried currants

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup cane vinegar or any sweet vinegar

1 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned

Two 10-ounce packages fresh spinach

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat a heavy 10-inch skillet
   

   Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet

   over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the olive oil, tilting the pan so the oil spreads over the entire bottom, then add the tasso, spreading it evenly. Cook, stirring and scraping the bottom occasionally, until the tasso is lightly browned, about 4 to 5 minutes. During this time notice that the seasonings from the tasso mingle with the oil.

2. Add the onion, stir well and scrape up any brown bits that may stick to the bottom of the skillet, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is brown around the edges (as its sugar caramelizes), it’ll lose its acid taste as well), about 4 to 5 minutes, then stir in the bell peppers, garlic, and citrus juices and cook, stirring occasionally, until the colors of the peppers become very bright, almost glowing, then darken as they are lightly browned from the heat, about 6 to 8 minutes.
3. Stir in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, currants, raisins, and grapefruit. Cover, remove from the heat, and let cool to room temperature, during which time the currants and raisins will plump and absorb the other flavors.
4. Remove (when the dressing is cool) the stems and any bruised leaves from the spinach and wash well. Shake or spin the spinach dry, place it in a large serving bowl, and pour the dressing over it. Toss lightly to coat all the spinach leaves and distribute the ingredients evenly. Serve at once.

Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Tastes: Exciting Flavors from the State that Cooks. This is a good one.

You may not be Olive Oil cooking for Popeye, but you will all enjoy this savory salad prepared in a cast iron skillet.

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight

Cast Iron Cookware Camping Essentials

Essentials for Camping

When camping, it is important to eliminate the non-essential and pack as lightly as possible. While not exactly light, there are two pieces of cast iron cookware that I will always take with me.

ONE:  a cast iron camping dutch oven

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven

The cast iron camping dutch oven is small enough to pack easily and large enough to feed a family or group. The flanged lid will hold hot coals to facilitate cooking and to keep ashes out of the pot. The cast iron camp lid can be turned upside down for use as a griddle. The dutch oven legs provide stability and safety for use over your campfire or fireplace. This camp dutch oven is a skillet, saute pan, casserole cooker and fry pan all in one. A castiron pot is a lifetime investment. In our family cast iron cookware is passed down from one generation to the next. The cast iron dutch oven was originated for outdoor cooking and for centuries has done it’s job.

Add to Your Outdoor Cooking Enjoyment

Two: a cast iron 10 inch skillet

The cast iron skillet is ideal for eggs, bacon sausage, pancakes and omelets for breakfast. You can fry saute, make desserts like stewed apples and other fruits.  You can grill your meats. The cast iron skillet also can serve as a grill, and griddle.

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet

Why You Should Use Cast Iron Cookware Tonight

Lodge Cast Iron Cookware

You perhaps have and use a nonstick pan all the time. Do not forget about the cast iron cookware you may have stored away in your cabinet.

There are reasons why you should get out the cast iron and use it tonight.

• cast iron cookware is so versatile that it can go from stove top to oven to grill with ease
• cast iron cookware allows you to bake a gooey pineapple upside-down cake in it as well as fry unbelievably crisp and tasty catfish
• cast iron cookware will enhance your reputation as an excellent cook

Pull out your hand-me-down skillet, or purchase a new pre-seasoned pan and try this recipe for Pork Chops with Pepper Jelly Sauce.

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet

Ingredients:

4 (1/2 inch-thick bone-in pork loin chops (about 2 1/2 lbs.)

1 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp.freshly ground pepper

3 Tbsp. butter, divided

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 laege jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup red pepper jelly

Steps:

1. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Melt 1 Tbsp. butter with oil in a 12 inch cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add pork chops and cook 8 minutes; turn and cook 10 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 150 degrees. Remove from skillet, and keep warm.
2. Add flour and jalapeno to skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 to 2 minutes or until flour is golden brown. Add wine, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet; cook 1 minute or until almost completely reduced.
3. Add chicken broth, and cook 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Whisk in pepper jelly until melted and smooth. Cook 3 to four minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining 2 Tbsp. butter. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Return pork to skillet; turn to coat. Serve pork with sauce.

Cook with a cast iron skillet tonight and you will be an avid advocate of cast iron cookware.

CAST IRON COOKWARE ALLOWS YOU TO TASTE THE FOOD NOT THE COOKWARE

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight

Supersize Your Wallet Not Your Body with Cast Iron Cookware

Good News for Dieters

How can you super-size your “assets” not your, er…body?

Research has shown that dieters who are offered a financial reward as an incentive to lose weight are five times more likely to meet their goal when compared to other dieters who have no potential monetary reward.

This has led to a number of incentive programs:

• companies have started offering everything from gift cards to cruises to employees who shed excess pounds in an effort to cut overall health care costs.
• Corporate Sponsors give cash prizes to obese participants who drop enough weight in a year.

What a healthy and well conceived idea! It is a win/win proposition for sponsor and participant.

This leads me to a question: Is there a pot

Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

that can help you get rid of or avoid acquiring a “pot” and save you money at the same time? Cast Iron Cookware Shop proposes the following for your consideration:

• cooking in cast iron cookware can be conducive to cooking healthy meals of veggies at home and avoiding the “bloat” that can go with “fast food“. Cast iron cooked meals are “slow food” and can lead to enhanced communication in the family.
• cooking in cast iron can save you money in the long run. Yes, you can find less expensive cookware but you will be replacing it relatively soon. Cast iron cookware is an investment and not just a purchase. You will still be enjoying the quality of your cookware long after you have forgotten what you paid for it and you can pass it on to your children and grandchildren.
• cooking in with cast iron cookware instead of eating out is cost effective and will save you money.
  

  Lodge Cast Iron Cookware

If you want to super size something in 2010, cast iron cookware offers you an incentive to use the cookware that will allow you to taste the food not the cookware.

Offers Incentives for Cooking

Food with a French Accent Cooked in Cast Iron Cookware

Out of the melting pot of French, Africans, Native Americans, Spanish, and others who settled in Louisiana, there has emerged a unique culture and cuisine and a way of life known as Cajun.

Gumbo with Rice

Cajun cooking has spread far and wide across the USA and even abroad. The swamps and the plantations of Louisiana are the birthplace of this unique cuisine.

The terms “Cajun” and “Creole“, in culinary terms, are often used interchangeable. However, there are differences in the ingredients and the style of cooking.

Judith Bluysen in “Cajun: A Culinary Tour of Louisiana” writes:

“Louisiana Creole cooking is the cuisine of cooks and chefs…Cajun cooking, while as labor-intensive and flavor rich, is a family project: a poor man’s cuisine based on abundant indigenous ingredients hunted, raised, or gathered”. I may assure you I have eaten both and they are both excellent.

In my home, my wife is from “Creole” origins but cooks primarily “Cajun”.

There are several givens for our family:

• a gift for cooking
• a love of eating and sharing food
• a need for a cast iron dutch oven and cast iron skillet.
  

  Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

  

  Lodge 12 Inch Skillet

For food lovers everywhere, get out a cast iron pot and try a Cajun Seafood Gumbo. C’est si bon.

SEAFOOD GUMBO

Ingredients:
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped bell peppers
1 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
5 bay leaves
8 cups water or shrimp stock
6 gumbo crabs, broken in half
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage
2 dozen oysters, shucked with their liquor
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped parsley
File powder to taste

Steps:
Combine the oil and flour in a large cast-iron pot over medium heat. Stirring slowly and constantly for 20 to 25 minutes, make a dark brown roux, the color of chocolate. Add the onions, bell peppers, celery, salt, cayenne and bay leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until very soft. Add the water or shrimp stock and stir to blend. Add the crabs and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours. Add the shrimp and crab meat and cook for 15 minutes. Add the oysters, green onions and parsley and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the edges of the oysters curl. Remove from heat. Remove the bay leaves. Serve with file powder passed at the table. Serves 6.

Cook Cajun in Cast Iron

Louisiana Cooks in Cast Iron Cookware

For as long as I can remember my Louisiana family has cooked in cast iron cookware.Every Friday my Dad would hang a huge cast iron dutch oven on a wire between two trees and fry prodigious amounts of cat fish and french fries for family, visiting relatives (many times vacationing with us) and friends. It was really a communal meal. Since we lived on Cross Lake, Shreveport, Louisiana, we caught the catfish and dressed them ourselves. I wonder what ever happened to that cast iron pot? As an adult, I would love to still have it and would treasure it like the “Holy Grail“!

My Dad would have loved to have had a tri-pod for the Friday night fish frys and when we went camping.

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven and 43 1/2 inch TriPod

Matt Pelton got it right in “The Cast Iron Chef”

“There are no words to describe the tastes of food prepared in this way (cast iron cookware); it is like a symphony of perfectly balanced flavors. There is something magical about Dutch-oven prepared food. It began as a necessity and has become a pleasurable pastime”

Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Dutch Oven cooking is not just a hobby, it is a staple in Louisiana kitchens today. Many dutch ovens are coming out of storage, out of attics, being dusted off, discovered anew and put into use. Cast iron cookware is not just big in the kitchen, it is enormously popular among camping and out door enthusiasts.

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven

Many people think of a Dutch Oven as only a type of “antique crock pot” or a slow-cooker. In Louisiana kitchens, including ours, there are four cooking methods that you can use with a cast iron dutch oven:

1. Roasting (all the heat is coming from the bottom of the Dutch Oven.
2. Broasting (most of the heat is coming from the bottom with a little heat on top)
   
3. Baking (equal heat on bottom and top)
   
4. Broiling (all of the heat is at the top. Usually used in the finishing stage or with dishes that require heavy caramelizing on the top)
   

   Lodge Red Enamel Dutch Oven

Louisiana cooks have found that their options are almost endless whether cooking in the kitchen, at their back yard fire pit, or in the great outdoors camping.

Discover or Re-discover cast iron Cookware and you will enjoy ease in cooking, great tasting food, non-stick cookware that cleans up easily and cookware that allows you to taste the food not the cookware.

For Kitchen or Camping