Lodge Logic L10C03 4 Qt. Cast Iron Camping Dutch Oven

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

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

This Lodge 4 quart 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  that facilitate cooking and  keep ashes out of the pot. The cast iron camp lid can be turned upside down for use as a griddle. You actually get two cast iron cookware products for the price of one. 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. How’s that for a utility castiron pot? A lifetime investment you will be able to pass it on to your children or grandchildren.  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.

Camping is Cool/ Cast Iron Cookware is Hot

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

The Gateway to Family Fun with Cast Iron Camping Cookware and Accessories

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

What do you do when family is not as fun as it once was? Here are some suggestions that may help put the fun back in family. They may just be the Gateway to Family Fun you have been looking for.

Cast Iron Camp Cookware: Gateway to Family Fun

• a family outing or camping trip can be the occasion to rediscover just how much fun being together can be. Hunting, fishing, hiking, exploring, birdwatching, photography and campfire cooking.

Teach your kids to cook over a camp fire or a fire pit.

Check out these easy ways to use cast iron camping cookware products:

Rome Dog 'n Brat Cooker

A Firepit Cookout set

Rome Firepit Cookout Set

gives you numerous fun options:

Make toasty sandwiches or fruit pies in your Rome pie irons.

Roast hot dogs or marshmallows in your Rome Hot Dog/Marshmallows Roaster.

Do not forget every one’s family favorite S’mores. Make three at a time in your Rome S’more Maker.

Not all camp cooking is done in a dutch oven or a skillet. While these are wonderful for preparing the main meal, what about dessert or fun activities around the campfire before time to turn-in?

Rome Popcorn Popper

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

Cooking Around a Campfire with Cast Iron Cookware and Accessories

Lodge Combo Cooker

What travels well, cooks evenly, cleans up easily and is just about the perfect cookware for campfire and outdoor cooking?The answer: cast iron cookware. All you need is a campfire with a few hot coals and anyone can cook in the great outdoors or at your backyard fire pit. You do not have a be a rocket scientist or a professional chef.

WHAT YOU NEED TO GET STARTED:

Really, all you need is two pieces.

1. A Dutch Oven (also called camp ovens)
   

   Lodge Camp Dutch Oven

2. A skillet with a lid. Many outdoor     cooks consider other pieces necessary but these two are adequate to get you started.

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet/ Fry Pan

SOME BUYING TIPS:

• If you shop for a dutch oven, be sure to look for one that comes with a reversible lid that functions both as a lid and when turned over is a griddle. The griddle side has a concave shape which keeps your pancakes, bacon and eggs, bacon, etc. from falling off or dripping into your coals.
• Skillets, like a  Cast Iron combination deep skillet and shallow skillet/griddle is a useful addition to your castiron cook ware. The shallow skillet serves as lid, skillet and griddle. This multi-use cooker is a dutch oven, saute pan and fryer, all in one.  If you want just one cast iron cookware piece for your camping and outdoor cooking, this might just be what you are looking for.

DO NOT FORGET SOME CAMPING COOKWARE ACCESSORIES THAT ARE DESIGNED FOR BIG TIME FUN

When you planing your camping trip, outdoor excursion or back yard cookout, do not forget cast iron camping cookware and camping cookware accessories.

Rome Firepit Cookout Set Includes pie irons, hot dog/marshmallow roasters. s'more maker

Round Pie Iron by Rome

Rome Dog 'n Brat Cooker

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Cast Iron Cookware Will Warm Your Food and Your Family

Posted by Doyle Bailey for The Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Where is the center of warmth in your home? In our home it would have to be the kitchen. My wife and I both enjoy cooking and I do not even mind the clean-up afterward. There is even a special stool where the younger grandchildren stand to help their “Nona” cook.There are rocking chairs in our kitchen for friends to rock and chat with us. There is a lot of warmth and it does not all come from the oven or cook top.

We have a large collection of cast iron cookware and I suppose these grandchildren will teach their children to cook using the same dutch ovens, roasters, skillets, cornbread pans and casseroles.

Our "Family" of Cast Iron Cookware

Sometimes we take the fun and warmth outside to a firepit where we roast hot dogs, marshmallows, S’mores.

Camp Cooking Is Fun!

Cast iron cookware travels well to the back yard or to your campsite with Waffle Makers, Panini Presses, Pie Irons, Bread Bakers and Dog ‘n Brat Makers.

Bask in the warmth of your kitchen, your backyard fire pit or at your campsite with cast iron cookware and cast iron cookware camping accessories.

Rome Panini Presses

Use cast iron cookware and cast iron camping cookware accessories to cook your food, keep it warm with cast iron’s great heat retention and help keep family relationships warm and cozy.

Rome Firepit Cookout Set

Warm up to family, food and cast iron cookware tonight. It will allow you

TO TASTE THE FOOD AND NOT THE 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 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

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