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My Favorite new cooker, back to the olden days cast Iron


Totem

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beware what I am about to post is dangerous and totally goes against my pack light philosophy.

However a buddy of mine made me see the light this year at deer camp. I was camping Rocket and hunting every day and would come in for lunch and fumble around with soup or dirty pans. My buddy only had one small old antique cast iron seasoned dutch oven. we are talking old school not the new ceramic coated cast irons.

I was complaining about all my second hand pans (the place they go to die is the toy home when i get new ones) when he told me I need to embrace second hand and said "try this". He handed me the old dutch; it was the one with the wire for a handle etc. I was looking to cook Bacon and a lot of it. I said no thanks that bacon will burn to it.

No it wont...

So I tried this marvel of metal. It took a bit longer to cook the bacon but there was something magical; i threw an entire package of thick cut in and went back outside for a beer and smoke. we all got to deer talking and several minutes went by before i remembered the bacon.

my buddy said not to worry that old cast iron always cooks everything perfect.

I opened it up and it indeed had a pile of perfectly cooked bacon. Super crunchy but not dry almost a deepfried goodness to it.

i did a couple cheapo packages of bacon in it next days breakfast and it too was perfect. I ended up cooking soup, mac n cheese you name in that thing only ever rinsed it cause he said not to soap it. we fire cooked in that thing too. I asked him where he got it; he told me goodwill for 5 bucks. I am hoping Santa hooks me up with one; i went searching for one and found some that were either covered in enamel or way too expensive. Great food though... So whats the danger? the weight. I bet that thing outweighed all my second hand pans maybe by a pound or two. Totally acceptable though for what it cooks.

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Go to Ebay and search Lodge Dutch Ovens. Make sure you get one with a rimed lid so you can bake in your oven and not just cook in it. Wait for a good $$, including shipping cause these suckers are heavy.

Maybe Goodwill like your friend. Although here in WY everybody knows what they are and they disappear fast.

Mine is 4 years old and just starting to cook great.

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I have been carrying a 90+ year old #8 Griswold frying pan and a similar size flat Wagner griddle around in my campers for over 30 years. I love them. If they get really nasty, scrub them out with a rag and a handful of sand. My EX-wife basically gave away a very nice set of Griswold pans with lids that belonged to my great-grandmother. I have forgiven her for cheating on me but will never forgive her for selling those pans.

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wow man that's horrible...the pans gone.:)

we were using the sand/water scrub, rinse then throw in fire technique to clean it every time it came out BLACK and ready to go.

we also have an old Wagner squarish saute pan thing at home that is fully seasoned I found out. It was rusting away in my wife's old camping gear from 14 years ago so we broke it out and cleaned it then rubbed it down with sesame oil and salt and let it bake. Came out black. it makes decent bacon, but no where near that dutch ovens quality. I will be frequenting garage sales and goodwills.

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When looking at used cast iron cookware, you will sometimes find a cracked piece. You can check for cracks by holding the pan by the handle and striking the edge of the pan with your fingernail. The pan should ring like a bell. If the pan goes "clunck" when you strike it, leave it at the garage sale because it is cracked.

I once bought some of the nastiest pans you have ever seen at a sale. I got 3 #8 frying pans and a pancake griddle for $5 for all 4 pieces. They were rusty, full of "stuff" and my wife said that there was no way she was ever going ot cook in them. I built a nice hot fire in the wood stove and let each pan get VERY hot. When I took the pans out, they were almost glowing. I took the hot p[an outside and put it on a dry piece of firewood to cool off. When the pan is cool, you just wipe out the crud and you have a very clean (unseasoned) pan. The pans were super smooth, and my wife could not believe that they were the nasty pans that I bought.

I season my pans by cooking some old fashion fry cakes (doughnuts) Some people will think it discusting but they taste best when cooked in very hot lard. They taste great, just don't tell people what you cooked them in. Most of my friends ask what was for supper AFTER we eat. They know it will be good, they just never know what it will be, might be bear, elk, vension, wild turkey?

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I season my pans by cooking some old fashion fry cakes (doughnuts) Some people will think it disgusting but they taste best when cooked in very hot lard. They taste great, just don't tell people what you cooked them in. Most of my friends ask what was for supper AFTER we eat. They know it will be good, they just never know what it will be, might be bear, elk, venison, wild turkey?

Every thing tastes better when fried in lard and its the only thing to use for biscuits. Besides the Dutch Oven I have a 22"x3/16" plow disc that has been converted into a Wok and a 65,000btu propane burner. Not real handy to store but boy does it cook great

WME

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Season with flaxseed oil for the best result. Buy from harbor freight for 20 when on sale. http://www.harborfreight.com/12-inch-cast-iron-dutch-oven-44705.html I am a cheapskate, Kim.

Wow I never knew that they carried this. Is this pan any good? I have a 20% off coupon...

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the best timles cast iron there is another kind of dutchoven looks like a real deep skilet with a lid have my grand mothers been in my family for a hundred years for real my grand parents married in 1909. only two good cookware our opinon american made cast or stainless REVERE. there was american company WAGNER WARE out of bussnes i think if you see it buy it good cast

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GRISWOLD IS A VERY OLD COMPANY during the american civl war they made the CONFEDERATE GRISWOLD REVOLVER. i have one of their squre skillets grandmothers.

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I have both Wagner and Griswold. I also have some "no name" stuff that has at my house for over 30 years and works well. I love cooking in a good cast iron pan that is super smooth on the inside and well seasoned. The outside can look like scrap metal for all I care. They usually have a lot of cooked on gunk and I don't try to get it off.

I bought a #14 Wagner frying pan (14" wide at the base, 15" wide at the rim) that hangs on my kitchen wall with my #3, #4, #5, 2--#6, #7, 2-#8, and my good stainless pans. When people ask what I use it for, I tell them that it is my omelet pan. They usually think about that for a couple of seconds and call me on it.

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I was checking out the HF version Dutch oven.. It has feet.... My buddies pan was flat bottom. My stovetop at home is glass.. I don't think the leg ones will work. Thoughts anyone?

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I was checking out the HF version Dutch oven.. It has feet.... My buddies pan was flat bottom. My stovetop at home is glass.. I don't think the leg ones will work. Thoughts anyone?

The ones with legs are for campfires so coals get under there -- and their top is flat, for coals to go up there too. There are DOs that have flat bottoms, they make the rockin' world go round, yeah. Kim.

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The DO with legs that I have has a slightly rounded bottom. If you cut the legs off, it will not set flat on a cook surface. As previously stated, DOs with legs are for cooking on wood fires. They made great breakfast biscuits.

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Leave the angle grinder alone. Get the right tool for the right job.

A big ole fry pan with a cast iron lid will do what you want at home.

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i have two dutch ovens the newer one is flat bottom wire handle you can still set it in the coals and use on a stove my old one is a VOLRATH my grand mother , mother ,to me 7 inches deep handle like a skillet and has a matching lid. the flat bottom is still a good all around use some people pile coals even on the no rim lid. good to see people get into cooking with cast enjoy

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People will ask many questions about cast iron cookware when they see you using it at a campground. It is a good conversation piece.

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wifers just made grilled cheese in the CI skillet this week... she overloaded them triple cheese so there was overburned cheese flashing goodness. alot of burned spatter.

she thought the pan was gonna be a pain to clean so she just set it aside. I hit that thing up at 2:00 AM and using a butter knife got the burned cheesy goodness after that pan had cooled. It simply pried right off. gotta love this stuff.

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  • 1 month later...

Cast iron is the best. The legs are perfect for cooking with charcoal. Most of the people I met when I first moved out west had old recipes, and they explained the process down to how many pieces of charcoal under the oven, how many on the lid, and more or less the exact placement.

I'm thinking for my little Chinook one of those is worth the weight. There's no oven in my rv, so if I want anything baked, one of those Dutch ovens with legs are the only way I'm going to get it. A deep Dutch oven without legs is only good, in my opinion, for trying to recreate, on a burner, the REAL experience and taste of cooking with a Dutch oven over fire coals or charcoal. But that's completely ok, and I even own one. I'm no purist :)

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  • 2 months later...

wife scored the ultimate cast iron setup; its a deep pan and a shallow pan that have reciprocating grooves around the pan lip; so that they can be combined to make a larger dutch oven like thing. Super heavy old greasy and she scored them for 5 bucks at a garage sale. Cant wait to bake them clean and post a pic

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