I inherited cast-iron skillets, what do I do now?

Hello dear readers!

Well, it was my birthday last week and my mother sent me two of her beautiful cast-iron pans that have been in our family for years.  This gift was pre-arranged and discussed (I mentioned that I wanted them).  I patiently waited to see what this "surprise" would be.  Would the cast-iron skillets need to be restored? Will I ruin them?  What meals do I remember my mom making in them?  What should I make in them?

I was so excited that I must have mentioned that I was getting these pans to everyone I met. 

And the people I talked to had stories to tell: from having them ruined by helpful guests who zealously cleaned the pans with soap, to just forgetting about them - only to find them later rusty and ruined, to searching for pans in vintage stores to try and restore them back to their former beauty.

The pans that my mom sent me are beautifully seasoned.  Their patina are perfectly black.  I suspect, knowing my mom, that she probably dressed them up a bit prior to sending them to me, but perhaps not.

Given that my mom was a busy working woman her whole life, I somewhat expected a disaster to arrive in the mail. I expected to need to restore them and not be able to use them right away. Since these are in such good condition the restoration project has been diverted.  Thanks, Mom!

They arrived perfectly seasoned and ready to go.  Now what?  A bit of fear ran through my body.  Most of my cooking experience is with using woks, sheet pans and my Le Creuset Dutch ovens. What do I do now?

I texted my mom - so what do I make with these?  She quickly texted me back several ideas.  I have to admit, I am a little nervous having these heirlooms.

There are online-only classes you can take from Craftsy to teach you cooking tips and more, please take a look at Craftsy. 

Part of the fun of receiving an heirloom cast-iron skillet is to try and look up its history and learn where it might be from. 

Most likely my mom’s skillet on the right was made in the 1960’s or shortly thereafter.  It clearly shows that it was made in the USA. The 1960s was about the time when the there were new trade requirements for manufacturers to identify the country of origin on their pieces.

According to this article, if a pan has one or more notches in the heat ring, it is likely a vintage Lodge.

My kitchen is small and my townhouse has an open loft style.  The smoke alarm is too close to where my stove is and our exhaust system is just what is attached to the microwave hung above the range.  

I have been begging my husband to just remove the microwave (we never use it) so we can put in a hood exhaust system; because when I cook, I like to get things hot and sometimes smoke happens. 

My husband has made some comments about these pans: "So should we expect the smoke alarm to be going off when you use those skillets?" or "Should I be ready and waiting to shut the alarms off?" (Just ignore him! He means well and supports my numerous projects!)

So what to cook? 

Epicurious warns what not to cook, which is pretty much anything with acid.  No tomatoes, no vinegar, nothing sweet (although one of the ladies I discussed skillets with told me she that has two: one for sweet recipes and one for savory, which I thought was a pretty good idea) and nothing too delicate, like a flaky white fish.

There is nothing delicate about these pans!  They are heavy.  When I was asking people about their stories and memories about cast-iron pans and skillets, I heard many colorful, funny and sometimes alarming examples of what not to do with these pans.  Some of these stories didn't involve cooking!

My first attempt to cook with these pans will be simple pan-seared filet mignon, with a side dish using my mini Le Creuset cocottes.  I will toss a salad in my new wooden salad bowl that I bought for my birthday last weekend while we were in Sonoma, Ca.

These days, I am cooking for just two, but one of my daughters will be home soon from college for the summer.  I think she has some meals on her wish list. 

If you are interested in shopping for your next heirloom cast-iron pans to pass on you your future generations, try Milo or  Kerekes kitchen & Restaurant Supplies. 

I will update this blog with the results! Stay tuned and please share your family stories with me. 

The Truth Is, I Love To Cook

For me, I like having fewer belongings and not having to clean up a bunch of stuff. My mother is just beginning to explore minimalism.

My mother spent her career working as nurse. She was a pretty busy lady who didn't have much time to cook. Now that my mother is retired, she is trying to simplify her life and hopes to downsize. Or at least get a handle on her belongings.

Through this process of trying to downsize, my mom keeps offering me her belongings. Sometimes this feels more like a threat, she says, "I am going to send you my Great Books of the Western World!"

My fear is coming home to a moving van ready to deliver The Great Books and a bunch of furniture that would take six hunky men to move. (Mom, if you are reading this - I don't want The Great Books -the men can stay! John, if you are reading this I am just joking!). Mom, please send the "The Great Books", A.K.A “The Great Conversation”, A.K.A. “A Bunch of Books” to Ethan!

Ethan is my college-aged nephew. I am sure Ethan's dorm mate in college would really appreciate (sarcasm) being able to stay in the comfort of their dorm (now filled with bulky books), and not having to take that walk uphill in the snow to the school library to read about Marxism and more.

How can we not appreciate our previous generation’s belongings? In order to avoid inheriting a bunch of heavy furniture and stuff that my mom should have gotten rid of a long time ago and to avoid hurting her feelings - I suggested that she send me some of her favorite cookbooks that she doesn't want anymore.

A few days later, UPS alerts me that they delivered a package to my doorstep. Several more days later, I finally get around to opening up the box.

One of the first books I pulled out of the box was The I Hate to Cook Book, written in 1960 by Peg Bracken. You can buy a used one on Amazon.

Instantly, I had memories of some not so fond of dinners that my mother made. For example: Tuna Noodle Casserole, a dish my sister still loves and makes it for her kids. Is this the book that taught her how to cook?

While glancing through another cookbook The Spice Cookbook, by Avennelle Day and Lillie Stuckey (1964), I found a note from mother's foster brother Jon. He had given her a cookbook for Christmas in 1964. He asked her if she was still planning to move to California.

My mother was living in a small midwest town, just graduated and was about  move to California. I started to fill with emotion and begun to understand how much history can be found in old family cookbooks and just how much about my mother's story was being told. I will have to explore that cookbook more later - as I heard the Coq au Vin recipe is really good. This time fond memories of my mother’s cooking were kindled. I loved her stir fry, and looked forward to it every time she made it.

In the introduction to The I Hate to Cook Book, Bracken says this book is not for women who like to cook. Her book focuses on recipes that are easy to make. In fact she says, "This book is for those of us who want to fold our big dishwater hands around a dry Martini instead of a white flounder, come the end of a long day."

Peg Bracken moved from Saint Louis, Missouri to Portland, Oregon to be a copywriter around the same time my mother moved from Missouri to California.

The New York Times reported that Peg Bracken had a passionate dislike of traditional womanly duty. They reported that in 2007 she died in her home in Portland, Oregon at 89. She was a northwest gal like me. RIP, Peg.

I can imagine Bracken lunching with the ladies, smoking cigarettes - and bitching about cooking and other housewife duties. This sounds a lot like my post-tennis practice gatherings where my friends whine over wine. During lunch, and likely a few too many daytime Martinis, Bracken suggested to her friends that they share their easy-to-make recipes. This eventually led to her writing her first cookbook.

In her cookbook, there are 30 recipes that her friends gave her - with the idea they would have about a month's worth of ideas for dinner.

Now, my friends, I am asking you to send me a recipe that follows almost the same criteria in Bracken's I Hate to Cook Book. I will publish the first thirty in this blog. This will prove the following:
That I have friends
That my friends care about me
That my friends are willing to share

Please send me your favorite recipes that meet the following criteria:
They all taste good
They are easy to make
Each has been approved by representative women person who hates LOVES to cook

Note: I modified Bracken's #3 criteria - since most my friends love to cook and I think our feelings around cooking has changed a lot for both men and women since the feminist era of the 60s and 70s.

The truth is, I love to cook - especially when I have time. In the meantime, I am going to wrap my hands around a dry Martini from "Famous New Orleans Drinks and how to mix 'em" (1957) and wait and see if anyone reads this blog, posts their favorite recipe, or just stops in to say "hi."