Cast Iron Beckerheads, Sound Off!

[1066vik]

cinnamon roll french toast - in a cast iron pan, of course.
slice cinnamon roll in half, soak in egg/milk/vanilla mix, fry up in butter.

 

[The Warrior]

Oh hell yes. Looks awesome. :thumbup:

 

[mbay1455]

cinnamon roll french toast - in a cast iron pan, of course.
slice cinnamon roll in half, soak in egg/milk/vanilla mix, fry up in butter.

100 years ago when I went to college there was a little hole in the wall place on campus that made toasted rolls by splitting cinnamon rolls in half and cooking them in butter on the grill. Served them all day and night. Could get them with a scoop of ice cream too. Mmmmmm... Thanks for the quick trip down memory lane.

 

[Expatriated]

I don't post much over here on BF because, well, it's gayer than 4 guys kissing 3 guys. But, I do check into this thread from time to time to see the developments.

I have recently stumbled onto what I think is an excellent, all around seasoning--Everglades Cactus Dust BBQ Rub for burgers and steaks. It's as good as Smokey C's (don't tell Casey!). Their regular Everglades seasoning is good too. I use it for rice, chicken, whatever. It's sort of like Mrs. Dash or season salt or something along those lines, not like a bbq rub.

Seems like they are mostly a SE thing, being from Florida. I know Publix carries them if y'all have any of those around. Or you can order the products online. I don't have any affliliation with the company (I wish!), but just thought I'd pass that along for you guys to try out.

 

[Guyon]

Gayness aside (I assume expat means happy), I kept it simple today with chicken skewers and burgers. It was all tasty.

 

[crazyengineer]

Hillsville flea market find, no 10 Dutch oven. About to start cleaning it up. Some scotch bright and oil to scrub the rust off, then season it and I'll start cooking with it. I'm thinking a good jambalaya with it first

 

[crazyengineer]

The only markings I can find, anyone know the manufacturer?

 

[Expatriated]

The font and size of the "10" looks like an older Lodge. But I don't see an upper notch in the heat ring and I can't see the 9 and 3 o'clock positions where there should be 2 other notches.

Because it says Made in USA. It's no older than late 50's, early 60's.

My best guess is Lodge but it doesn't match up exactly with ones I've seen from that era.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

The font and size of the "10" looks like an older Lodge. But I don't see an upper notch in the heat ring and I can't see the 9 and 3 o'clock positions where there should be 2 other notches.

Because it says Made in USA. It's no older than late 50's, early 60's.

My best guess is Lodge but it doesn't match up exactly with ones I've seen from that era.

The notches were only in the skillets according to some of my cast iron resources.

It looks like a post-1960 Lodge dutch oven made for generic sales. Same quality as the "marked" stuff, just not marked LODGE so it could be sold, usually at a price lower than Lodge MSRP, through a variety of retailers (hardware stores, department stores and builder's supply/lumber yard stores).


The general "keys" for these -

DO under the size number - stands for Dutch Oven (SK would mean Skillet). Added in 1950s
MADE IN USA in the center added after 1960
The "molder's mark", usually the molder's initials, at 6 o'clock was added in the 1930s.

There are "tells" for each major manufacturer for their no-name stuff, but there's a ton of small producers that are no name as well.

Everything made by LODGE prior to 1930 had LODGE on it, regardless of the intended distribution market.

 

[crazyengineer]

Cool, growing up (and even now) mom cooked in an identical one for roasts, jambalaya, stews and what not. I snagged it for $60.00 at the last flea market. Starting to season it this week sometime

 

[gonebad395]

Other then passed down cast iron where do you guys get yours? I have one that's was my great grandmas and was passed down to my grandma then to my wife it's a nice skillet. We use it for bg's in the mornings mostly. I thought I've read most cast irons newly made aren't worth a shit, am I wrong ?

 

[NixKustoms]

I know some guys grab them at garage and estate sales. I've got most of mine from cabelas.

 

[gonebad395]

I know some guys grab them at garage and estate sales. I've got most of mine from cabelas.

How do you like the cabelas cast iron? I'm lucky I live like 5 mins from the Hammond Indiana store shop there all the time. Let me know about the cast iron I've been looking for a Dutch oven for a long time.

 

[NixKustoms]

I get mostly lodge iron. I like them just fine. Made in America. Can't go wrong mang.

I don't think I've got any cabelas brand iron.

 

[gonebad395]

Hey man thanks alot

 

[NixKustoms]

Make sure your season them well. Even new ones seasoned well will preform well.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Other then passed down cast iron where do you guys get yours? I have one that's was my great grandmas and was passed down to my grandma then to my wife it's a nice skillet. We use it for bg's in the mornings mostly. I thought I've read most cast irons newly made aren't worth a shit, am I wrong ?

Modern Lodge is decent. About the best you'll get unless you track down one of the few "modern" small production guys. Not many of those.

I inherited a few skillets and corn bread muffin pans from my maternal great-grandmothers and grandmother. I've found a few other pieces at garage sales, estate sales and antique stores. Antique stores usually want an arm and a leg for so-so stuff.

My most recent score was a very vintage Griswold #8 hinged double fryer for $50 at a "do-it-yourself" estate sale - no professional estate sales people running it - just a big garage sale where "everything went". The only problem with the fryer is that it is going to take FOREVER to re-season.

The guy was mid-60s only child bachelor whose idea of cooking is to order pizza. He was selling his mother's stuff and had a friend SAND-BLAST all the cast iron to bare metal to "make it look like new". He said that his mother must have not been paying attention to her cooking as she got older because all of it was "burned black". It is definitely all shiny now. Probably gonna take AT LEAST 5 or 6 seasoning runs to make it decently usable. I probably should have scarfed up the skillets as well, but I already have several users.

I found a very rusty/crusted small (7") #5 out in the old workshop in the back of a drawer today. I think my grandfather must have been using it to melt stuff in the shop. That one's gonna have to go through the electrolysis process to clean up the rust.

You can get some stuff kinda cheap on fleabay if you're patient, but you have to watch out. Some of the "vintage" stuff is recently manufactured (1970s or newer) overseas.

castironcollector.com has a ton of info about cleaning up rusty/gunked iron. They also have a few pages dedicated to identifying the old makers and the "non-collectibles". Some of the non-collectible stuff is decent enough to use on a day-to-day basis, but you have to watch out. The quality of it sucks and a lot of the Chinese import cast-iron is made with questionable quality recycled steel and or pot-metal.

 

[Guyon]

He was selling his mother's stuff and had a friend SAND-BLAST all the cast iron to bare metal to "make it look like new". He said that his mother must have not been paying attention to her cooking as she got older because all of it was "burned black".

 

[zzyzzogeton]

You have no idea how difficult it was for me not to say many of the things I was thinking as he related, very proudly in fact, of "how new" his friend had gotten the cast iron to look.

All I ended up saying was that I thought it would work well once I had seasoned it back up. He asked what seasoning was. With as straight a face as I could maintain, I told him "It works best when it has a well developed black coating built up. Cooks better and cleans up easier." And walked away with a bunch of little old ladies laughing.

Paybacks are best when done by a 3rd party. safer too.

 

[SaturatedShadow]

Finally got around to getting a Sportsman's Grill this fall.