Lodge Cast Iron Six Quart Camp Dutch Oven

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

The Lodge Six Quart Cast Iron Camping Dutch Oven is small enough to pack easily and travel well. It is large enough to cook meals for a family or group. The flanged lid holds hot coals to facilitate cooking with heat from a above like an oven and  keeps ashes from falling into your 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. This Dutch Oven from 1890 is an example.

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight on Your Firepit or When You Camp

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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

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

Cast Iron Cookware Shop Offers Camp Cookware and Accessories

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Cast Iron Cookware Shop offers great options to compliment your camp cooking gear.

Camp Cooking Is Fun!

Get ready for your camping and outdoor recreation activities with cast iron cookware products and accessories from Lodge and Rome.

Rome Firepit Cookout Set

A rugged Lodge tripod made of hot rolled half inch solid bar stock with 24 inch galvanized chain. The tripod legs measure 43 1/2 inches. Use with any cast iron product that has a bail handle. such as a Lodge Dutch Oven, camp dutch oven or cast iron kettle. Cook your food over the campfire and keep it at serving temperature in your castiron pot. This tripod travels well in car, truck or camper. (dutch oven not included)

The Rome Firepit Cookout Set includes a round cast iron pie iron, a square cast iron pie iron, a S´more Maker, and Hot Dog-Marshmallow Roasters.

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet/ Fry Pan

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

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

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

IT’S EASY BEING GREEN WITH CAST IRON COOKWARE

There are some very special reasons why Cast Iron Cookware is so Green:

Use Cast Iron and Be Green

Cast iron  Cookware is naturally non-stick cookware. When properly seasoned (see below) nothing will stick to it. Cast iron will eliminate the need for  costly, toxic chemicals used to create the non-stick surfaces in modern cookware.

Lodge 6 Quart Camping Dutch Oven

Cast Iron Cookware is Eco-easy clean up cookware. All cast iron cookware requires for clean up is hot water and a stiff brush, so you avoid any harmful chemicals in detergent or solvents.

Cast Iron Cookware can stay in the kitchen or out doors because it can take the heat. It  withstands much hotter temperatures and evenly distributes and maintains the heat better than traditional cookware. And since it holds heat so well, you will use less energy to cook. Plus it’s perfect for outdoor cooking. Just remember that cast iron gets hot. so use an oven mitt when handling a hot pan.

Cast Iron Cookware provides a great opportunity not to purchase more “stuff“.. Don’t ever worry about buying a cast iron skillet or other cast iron cooking vessel—like a dutch oven—from a resale shop or garage sale. Even if it looks rusty and dirty, it can be cleaned and re-seasoned and continue on cooking, forever.

How To Properly Season Cast Iron Cookware

First, wash your cast iron cookware. This is the only time you will need soap to clean it, but you want to be sure you remove any dust or dirt. If you have a brand new cast iron piece, you will need to do this to remove the wax coating that is on it to keep it from rusting until it’s seasoned.

Coat your piece in some type of oil. Cast iron has a porous surface. The seasoning process will fill and smooth the surface to make it non-stick. Some type of oil is used to facilitate this process. I use Crisco vegetable shortening. Traditionalists would use lard. You can use plain old cooking oil, too, but you will get better results with Crisco. You want to coat the entire cooking surface with the shortening.  Don’t glob it on, but every nook and cranny should have a nice, medium layer of shortening. Use about as much as you would use to coat a cake pan for baking.

Bake it in the oven. Next, you just pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and put your cast iron pan in for an hour or so.  After heating, turn off the oven and let it cool completely while still in the oven. Then it’s ready to go!

Heating the cookware creates the oxidation that prevents rust and makes the surface non-stick. Some cast iron users advocate heating the pan slightly before applying the Crisco to ensure that the pan is completely dry and to open the pores of the pan before seasoning. Not a bad idea, but remember cast iron gets HOT.  Use oven mitts.

Newly seasoned cast iron will take on a dark brown coating. After long use, it will become glossy black. The non-stick properties of the pan will increase with time and use, so use your cast iron often. Remember, seasoning is a process. Even though cast iron can be used immediately after the first seasoning, your cookware will get better and better over time.

How do I re-season a used cast iron piece? If you buy a cast iron piece second hand, the process is still basically the same to re-season it, with one exception. First wash it in hot soapy water, as above. Then I put it in my oven on the highest setting (or on the self-cleaning setting if you have one) and let it bake for a few hours without any oil or shortening. This will remove any rust and the old seasoning. Let it cool, then follow the steps above to re-season.

CAST IRON COOKWARE; TASTE THE FOOD NOT THE COOKWARE

Go Green with Cast Iron Cookware

CAST IRON COOKWARE BEST FOR CORNBREAD

Nothing   tastes better with a meal than good corn bread

Delicious Cornbread!

and nothing bakes cornbread better than cast iron corn bread pans. You can bake your corn bread in a good ole cast iron skillet, cast iron muffin pan, or a cast iron corn stick pan or cornbread wedge pan. The cornbread stick pan or cornbread wedge pan will give you more tasty and crispy crust.

Lodge Cornbread Wedge Pan

CHAMPIONSHIP CORNBREAD (Recipe by Chef Bobby Flay)

Prep Time: 5 Minute(s)
Cook Time: 25 Minute(s)

1 package (8-1/2 oz.) corn muffin mix
1 can (11 oz.) Mexican-style corn, drained
1/2 cup Hellmann’s® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise
1 egg, slightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Spray cast iron cornbread pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

2. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl until moistened.

3. Spread evenly into your cornbread pan.

4. Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
   

   Lodge Logic Cornstick Cornbread Pan

TASTE THE CORNBREAD NOT THE COOKWARE WITH CAST IRON COOKWARE

Lodge Logic Straight Sided Muffin/Cornbread Pan

Crispy Salmon with Green Herb-Caper Sauce and Asparagus Cheese Puffs

What a wonderful recipe from Bobby Flay, who for years has shared excellent cooking ideas with us. Make your crispy salmon recipe taste even better when you prepare it in a cast iron casserole and if you have one with a grill pan lid it is like getting two cooking pans for the price of one. If you prepare your  healthy meal in a holiday red enamel casserole, you can serve your family or guests directly from the attractive dish on your table. Cast iron cookware not only has even heat distribution as you cook, it retains the heat to keep you food warm. Another plus is that cast iron cookware is unsurpassed when it comes to clean-up time.

Ingredients:

• 4 (7 ounce salmon fillets, skin on)
• freshly ground pepper and salt
• 1 cup of rice flour
• 1/2 cup water
• olive oil for searing
• Herb Caper Sauce, recipe follows
• 4 lemon wedges for garnish
• Asparagus Cheese Puffs, recipe follows

Directions

Season fillets with salt and pepper, to taste. Combine rice flour with water to make a light loose batter. Heat a large skillet with about 1/4-inch of olive oil. Coat fillets with batter, place meat side down, and sear until golden brown about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn over and sear the skin side for 1 to 2 minutes.

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet/ Fry Pan

Immediately plate and drizzle each fillet with the Herb Caper Sauce. Serve with a lemon wedge.

Serve the salmon with Asparagus Cheese Puffs.

Herb-Caper Sauce:

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup capers
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon fresh chopped oregano
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Combine all ingredients, except for the lemon juice, in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper. Whisk in the lemon juice just before serving.

Asparagus Cheese Puffs:

• 1/2 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and blanched

• 3/4 cup milk
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into  small pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• Pinch of cayenne
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup coarsely grated Manchego
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Bring milk and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan or casserole over medium high heat. Combine salt, flour, curry, and cayenne in a small bowl. Remove the milk from the heat and add the flour mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and pulls away from the sides. Place pan back on the heat and cook for about 20 to 30 seconds until the mixture becomes a little dry. Scrape the mixture into a large bowl and let cool slightly. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, adding another only when the previous has been incorporated. Add the asparagus and both cheeses to the dough and mix until combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Kinetic Enameled Casserole with Grill Pan Lid

Spoon rounded tablespoons of the mixture onto the sheet pan. Bake in the middle of the oven until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the puffs from the parchment and serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings (Recipe Bobby Flay, 2001)

TASTE THE FOOD NOT THE COOKWARE WITH CAST IRON COOKWARE

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