The Old South Pot: A Symbol of Success

“In the old days, the hall mark of successful plantation life was the iron pot” according to Francois Mignon in”Plantation Memo: Plantation Life in Louisiana 1750-1970 and other matter”.

Oakland Plantation, Bermuda, Louisiana

When there was no silver on the dining room table, you could survive on pewter, earthenware, china or porcelain. You might even survive if your white-columned mansion went up in flames, but “life without an iron pot was rugged in the extreme“.

“In Louisiana all during the 1700’s (Great Pots Era), iron cooking utensils ranging from little three-legged pots nestling safely upright on the ashes in the hearth (today we call them camping Dutch ovens) to the big iron skillets, so masterfully handled by Negro cooks, were familiar equipment in town and plantation homes alike. It was early in the 1800’s however, that the day of the great pots dawned…sugar had come into its own and from year to year greater grew the demand for bigger and even bigger iron pots in which the cane juice could be started on its way to syrup and eventually to granulated sugar…”

Iron pots for making syrup and sugar, wash pots or clothes and iron pots for cooking food; they are all a part of what was life on a plantation. The iron pots from life on a plantation are today reminders of an almost forgotten yesterday. Some can still be seen on the Cane River Creole Plantations of Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Today’s cast iron cookware

Lodge Cast Iron Cookware

may be pre-seasoned, enameled and somewhat unlike its predecessor from the past, but is still indebted to pots from the past for a heritage of nostalgic appeal and excellent cooking. Old fashioned? A little heavy? Nevertheless, cast iron cookware has its place in today’s kitchen and in the camping gear of out door cooks.

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven

Lodge 12 Inch Skillet

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Cookware with Benefits for Everyday and Gourmet Cooking: Castiron Cookware

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Castiron Cookware combines the versatility of cooking for everyday and for gourmet.

Lodge Cast Iron Cookware

You can cook just about anything in cast iron. Of course castiron cookware is best known for its good old fashioned cooking but do not let this reputation fool you. Due to its even heating qualities (heat retention and distribution),and the fact it can be used in the oven and on the stove top, you can cook just about any food, including gourmet in it.

Cast iron cookware offers:

1. a large selection of pots, pans, and cookware shapes. You can choose from cast-iron griddles, grill pans, serving pots, Dutch ovens, pizza pans, roasters, casseroles, waffle makers, muffin pans, corn bread pans, camping cookware, bread bakers, dog’n brat, panini sandwich toasters, pie irons roasters and more.
   

   Cast Iron Cookware

2. multi-use pans A single pan covers a multitude of dishes. A single cast iron skillet can be used to bake a cake, make cornbread, sear a fillet, roast a chicken, fry potatoes, or stir-fry vegetables. You can get a cast iron casserole with a grill pan lid and have two pieces for the price of one.
   

   Kinetic Casserole Enamel Grill Pan

3. cast iron cookware does not particularly care where you use it. You can prepare a dish in enameled cast iron cookware and take it to the table and serve from it there. It is so attractive that it will enhance your table with a presentation appeal and it will keep your food warm throughout your dinner due to its heat retention. Cast iron camping cookware is at its best at your backyard fire pit cookout or at your camp site in the great outdoors.
4. cast iron cookware can cook almost anything (including gourmet dishes). “Cast-Iron Cooking for Dummies“  by Tracy Barr has great techniques for cooking and recipes as well.
   

   Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Cast Iron Dutch Oven: the Pot that Won the West

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Some say the cast iron dutch

Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

oven goes back hundreds of years. Others maintain the dutch oven originated with the Chinese 2,500 years ago. A great source for further investigation is “Dutch Ovens Chronicled, Their Use in the United States” by John G. Ragsdale, published by the University of Arkansas Press.

In 1704 Abraham Darby traveled from England to Holland to inspect the Dutch casing process which used brass vessels cast in sand molds. When he returned to England, Darby experimented with this process and eventually patented a casting process using a superior quality of molding sand as well as the process of baking the mold to improve casting smoothness. Soon Darby was casting and shipping pots to the new colonies as well as other parts of the world. Ragsdale suggests that the name “Dutch Oven” may have originated from the original Dutch process for the casting of these metal pots. Others believe that the name may have come from Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania who used similar cast iron pots or kettles.

Cast Iron Dutch Ovens can have:

• a  flat bottom having three legs to hold the oven above a bed of coals for a heat source from below the dutch oven
• flat sides and a flat, flanged lid for holding coals for a heat source from above the dutch oven therefore giving it an “oven” effect
• a steel bail handle attached to the “ears” on each side of the dutch oven near the top to enable carrying

This type of oven is a cast iron camping dutch oven.

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven

Cast Iron Dutch Ovens also come Enameled

Lodge Red Enamel Dutch Oven

in beautiful colors that are so attractive that you can  serve your guests at the table from your dutch oven. Your food will stay warm because cast iron is great for its heat retention.

When the West was opened and the United States was expanding and people were on the move, they were forced to leave their large, heavy cook stoves behind.  People learned to cook complete meals from stews to soups, bread to biscuits, in their Dutch Ovens.  This pioneering spirit is not a lost art. Wonderful and tasty meals are still being prepared today in cast iron cookware.The cast iron dutch oven was the “Queen of the Fleet” when the Prairie Schooners rolled westward. It still reigns.

TASTE THE FOOD NOT THE COOKWARE WITH CAST IRON COOKWARE

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Cast Iron Cookware Shop Celebrates Flavor with a New Orleans Jambalaya

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Cast Iron Cookware Shop celebrates the flavor of New Orleans by  offering you the opportunity to jazz up your menu with a popular and traditional New Orleans dish. No matter where you live, you can celebrate in an authentic New Orleans style flavor.

This spicy, flavorful dish is perfect for a party, and it really is “big easy.” The recipe can be easily doubled to serve 16 by using 2 packages of Jambalaya Mix, doubling all the other ingredients and cooking in a cast iron Dutch oven or cast iron  saucepot.

Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

The Big Easy Jambalaya

Makes 8 (1-cup) servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

1. Heat oil in large deep skillet

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet

or 5-quart Dutch oven

Enamel Dutch Oven

on medium heat. Add onion and bell peppers; cook and stir 7 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften.

2. Stir in tomatoes, water and Jambalaya Mix. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes.

3. Stir in shrimp and sausage. Cover and cook 10 minutes longer or just until shrimp turn pink and rice and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired.

CAST IRON COOKWARE  LETS YOU TASTE THE FOOD NOT THE COOKWARE

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

Cast Iron Cookware and Roasting Potatoes

Cast Iron Cookware Shop offers a real Holiday Helping Hand for delicious sides that will delight your family and guests. Roasted New Potatoes with Blue Cheese Ranch Dressing and Green Onions (from Chef Bobby Flay) complement any holiday meal.

Roasted New Potatoes with Blue Cheese Ranch Dressing and Green Onions

Ingredients:

2 pounds new red or yellow potatoes, halved

Canola oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup Hellmann’s or Best Foods Real Mayonaise

2 cloves finely chopped fresh garlic

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/4 pound crumbled blue cheese

4 green onions

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Place potatoes in a casserole or roaster with the oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven until golden brown and tender, about 25 minutes

Transfer potatoes to a platter (you can actually continue preparation and even serve your potatoes from you enamel cast iron casserole or roaster.

Whisk together the buttermilk, mayonaise, mustard and garlic in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Fold in the blue cheese and green onions

Spoon the sauce over the potatoes and serve (serves 4 persons)

You family will love this dish, especially when prepared in cast iron cookware.

Lodge Red Enamel Casserole

Red Enameled Roaster

Chipotle Orange Glazed Pork Chops

Looking for an easy dinner? An easy-to assemble glaze will give your pork chops a sweet and spicy flavor. Chipotle Orange Glazed Pork Chops, done in a cast iron grill is your savory solution.

Cast iron Enamel Red Roaster/ Grill Pan Lid

Ingredients:

2 tbs. pure maple syrup

2 tbs. thawed frozen orange juice concentrate

1 tsp. finely chopped, seeded, canned chipotle chili, plus 1/2 tsp. adobo sauce in which it comes packed

4 3/4-inch-thick (about 8 oz. each) center cut, bone-in pork loin chops

1/2 tsp. salt

Casserole with Grill Pan Lid

Preparation:

1. In small bowl, combine maple syrup, orange juice concentrate, and chipotle.

2. Coat cast iron grill pan with cooking spray and preheat over medium-high heat.

3. Sprinkle both sides of chops with salt. Brush one side generously with glaze. Place chops in grill pan, glazed side down. Brush other side with glaze.

4. Cook over medium-high heat until cooked through but with slight blusgh in center, 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Lodge BBQ Grill Grate

(Ellie Kriegar, from Reader’s Digest)

DAYS OF FOOD,FUN,FAMILY,FRIENDS AND FESTIVITY

HOLIDAYS:  Days of food, fun, family, friends
and festivity.

* Have fun with your friends.

* Enjoy food with your family.

* May the holidays be a festival of joy.

for you, for your family and for your friends.

Make your holiday funds go farther. Make your Holiday even more festive. Take advantage of our holiday sale; and give a gift of good taste.

10% off all Red Enamel Cast Iron Cookware, both Kinetic and Lodge. Order now to insure shipment arrives for your special holiday meal.

Shop early for your holiday gifts.

Sale lasts until November 30, 2009.

Watch for the Lodge Red Enamel products that are being added.

Lodge Red Enamel Casserole

Lodge Red Enamel Dutch Oven

Cast Iron Cookware Sales Rising

The International Housewares Association reports dollar sales
of cast-iron cookware are up 20 percent.

Cookware You Can Love

Why is this?

• Interest is growing thanks to pre-seasoned pans.
• Celebrities using the pots on TV cooking shows.
• Consumers’ growing concerns that nonstick coatings can flake off. Is it any wonder that simple, rib-sticking foods like bacon and eggs
  are back on the plate?

There is no better time than now to fall in love with cast iron cookware or fall in love all over again with the cookware loved by your mother and grandmother. There is nothing old-fashioned about the cookware that is the truly non-stick, lasts forever and allows you…

TO TASTE THE FOOD AND NOT THE COOKWARE.

Enamel Roaster/Grill Pan Lid

Cast Iron Red Enamel Roaster

This casserole "beauty" with grill pan lid would love to live in your home.