Story of My Wagner 1891 Original Cast Iron Skillet
“Sulae, you’ll be cooking with these long after I am gone and in the ground.” – Granddaddy
Month: May 2023
Cast Iron Cream and Beer Cornbread Recipe
Cornbread cooked in cast iron recipe. There’s really no other way to cook cornbread, is there? Buttery; soft-centered and crunchy-crusted, no-stick corn bread.
Chipped Cast Iron – What Is My Cast Iron Worth…TO ME?
What is Your Cast Iron Cookware Worth?
Some of you may ask that question about some of your cast iron cookware. But, I am guessing that all of you have a piece that is worth more to you than what you’d find that same piece selling for at a garage sale, eBay, or even in a flea market. Some of our cast iron cookware tell us a story each and every time we cook with it.
My son just turned 16-years-old. He’s rocking the 10th grade and is excited about his future. Rolling back in time to his 4th grade year, his elementary school sponsored an old west learning day with an outfit called Wagons Ho! I was his school’s school nurse and tagged along on his field trip “just to make sure no one got hurt.” Hey! It’s a legit reason.
I also brought my camera; the principle asked me to take photographs of the Wagons Ho! field day. I do some stock photography as well. And, though I would not be able to sell the images of the children, there would be plenty to photograph that would work for stock.
Along with all the cool activities they had for the kids to participate in, they were cooking a tri-tip pot pie beef stew in a 16-inch cast iron camp Dutch oven that would feed all the teachers and also the children.
The cowboy fella placed that gigantic pot right into that fire. Being a cast iron junkie, the image of that pot sitting in the flames was beautiful. I took that photo of that pot in that fire and continued on with my day as daddy, school nurse, and event photographer. I was a man with many jobs and enjoyed every minute of it.
When I got home, my focus was to post-process the images of the children for the school’s presentation and to let the parents get a copy of their child’s photograph that the school gave each one. The images that I had taken for stock sat on my hard drive for sometime after that. How long? I can’t remember. It’s something I usually neglect.
Taking the photographs is fun; processing the photographs is work.
Anyway, after seeing that big pot, I decided I’d be on the lookout for one to purchase from someone. Sure! I found a few. They were big, black, and beautiful. And the prices ranged from $450-$600 US. Truth be known, my 14” often sat in the carry bag unused for months at a time. I didn’t need a 16” camp cast iron Dutch oven; I wanted one.
Lo and behold a Facebook market listing for a Lodge 16-inch camp cast iron Dutch oven came about. They were asking $100. Lickety-split and boogity boogity, I was over there faster than a knife fight in a phone booth! I’d been looking all over hell’s half acre for one of these and I was bound and determined to get this one.
As you mighta guessed it, it wasn’t perfect. There was a chipped off piece from the rim of the lid for that pot. The lid was intact and the pot was perfect. The chipped off piece would not affect the pot’s cooking none.
“How about $80?”
The lady took my eighty dollars and waved me bye.
I ordered a bag for it, packed it away and clicked “done” on that bit of a to-do.
That Wagons Ho! field day was in the spring of 2017. The summer was full of cooking, adventuring, and photographing (we school nurses enjoy them summers…yes we do [for me that’s a “did enjoy”]). Then, come along the fall, start of school, and eventually the winter.
I find that I do a lot of post processing on my photographs in the winter. The folder with those Wagons Ho! images came up and there was that image of that gigantic cast iron camp Dutch oven sitting in that fire…with a chipped off piece from the rim of the lid.
Now, you go figure that one out. I’ve had that pot since 2017 and it’s one of my favorite pieces of cookware…because it now has a great story. It’s an impressive beast of a Dutch oven and can feed an army…we know that well, it fed two hungry 4th grade classes and all the teachers including yours truly. I am always tickled when I take it out and cook with it; memories of that day…what a good day it was.
It’s also a treat when I see the notification that I have sold an image from one of my stock companies. Every once in a while, that image will pop up as having sold. That chip is such a tell-tale that I am glad it’s there.
I understand that Lodge put the hiatus on those 16-inchers in 2000 and then fired them back up in 2003 for another 10 years before calling it done. I’ve had this one going on 6 years as of 2023 and one day my boy will have it and remember that day with his old daddy there at his school on his field day.
Hey. Thank y’all for being here and letting me share this story. My name is Sulae and I love to share the magic that comes out of my black pots and pans. You all keep on cooking in those black beauties and enjoying those frosted glasses of that fermented barley pop. We’ll see you next time on Beer and Iron.
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