Heavy Black Porn: Cast Iron Edition

Thanks to my newest, bestest friends in the whole world, I am the proud recipient of a collection of brand-new cast iron cookware  ...the only recompense they asked about was some Yanqui Mike's #99 Breakfast Sausage (I´m gonna throw-in a slab of Vingt Cinq - Baines Best Bacon for good measure!)

Cast iron cookware can´t be beat.  The kind of heat you can attain with it is unequaled.  That means you sear and brown food to a crunchy ecstasy like with nothing else.  All that black is almost pure carbon ...and pure carbon rivals the best synthetic non-stick surfaces.  Added plus: you actually get dietary iron in the foods you cook in it!  The fact that you might be able to hand it down a couple-two-three generations may or may not interest you.

I´ve always loved the stuff ...but I was never in the proper line of succession to inherit any of the great pieces that my grandmothers and great-grandmothers used to create all those incredible family meals. Instead, I had to purchase it.

The problem was that the stuff fell out of favor in the 1960's and for quite a while it wasn´t easily available, at least not to city dwellers.  When it started to come back, people didn´t like it!  It wasn´t black!

Gramma never told anyone that, when she first bought her's, it was a dull grey and that all that black was the result of careful breaking-in (seasoning) and decades of loving cooking.

Consumers were daunted, to say the least, by the prospect of heating, cooling, applications of fat and salt, then more heating and oiling ...and waiting (the bane of yanqui consumerism.)

Worse, the grey stuff was coated with a wax (to keep it from rusting during shipment) that had to be melted-off and scrubbed-clean before the seasoning process could even begin.

Later, cheap versions imported from countries who shall remain nameless, were coated with a black substance that was rumored to be toxic.

Now, however, the last remaining US factory gives you a tremendous, somewhat traditional, and non-toxic head start!  It makes perfect sense for the forge that already has all that foundry heat going for it to do it for you ...but it took Lodge Mfg to take it upon itself to spray their finished cookware with vegetable oil and run it back through the crucible and bake-on a finish that drove most would-be owners crazy.

So here´s the loot!

A 12 inch Skillet

Man, is this thing big!  The 12 inches is the diameter of the cooking bottom, cooking surface of the pan.  At least 2 inches deep.  It´s great to have the "assist" handle ...because this baby is heavy: 8 lbs./3.63 kilos.  I think this thing is gonna go live in the campo on the woodfired stove.

Reversible Griddle

This is definitely a City Item!  First order of bidness: Tortillas de Pancho Villa!  They also sell raw tortilla dough which I am dying to experiment with.  I feel confident with this slab of big iron.  My porteña Missus took one look at the other side and said, "BIFES!"

Dutch Oven Combo

Here another item destined for city use: the 3 quart dutch oven with a 10 inch lid that doubles as a shallow skillet.  Fits my apartment-sized stove so perfectly.  Gonna get a lotta use.

5 Qt. Dutch Oven

This bastard is probably WAY too big for me and My Missus ...but, who knows?  I certainly won´t mind knowing that it's around in case I enter the 2013 Annual Buenos Aires Chili Cookoff!

4 Qt. Dutch Oven

Here's the REAL campo item!  The above described "Dutch ovens" aren't really Dutch ovens ...they are just good heavy cook pots made for heating from the bottom.  A real Dutch oven is a covered pot that can act like an oven if heat is applied to ALL sides.

This baby is designed, with it's patitas in mind, to be set into a pile of campfire coals, then surrounded with more coals, then ...coals piled on top!  If you look at the lid, you'll see that it is flanged to hold coals on top without their falling off the sides.  With nothing more than the remnants of a good campfire, you can bake anything in it that you could in any oven.

Whew!  What a haul!  My undying gratitude to one of Buenos Aires' most recent immigrant families for stuffing this and some other over-sized, over-weight stuff into their container for me.  Some of the stuff were essential garden tools ...so I guess they can also expect some tremendous heirloom tomatoes come summer!

Thanks again guys,
Mike