Cast Iron fans, do you know about this web site?

[yy4me]

There is some good information in the Forum as well as the site in general.

http://www.wag-society.org/index.php

[eleny]

1. Thanks - I've bookmarked it for tonight!

:hi:

[Arkansas Granny]

2. Some of that old cast iron is just lovely.

[ginnyinWI]

3. I have a griddle like the long oval one they pictured.

It is up on the wall though--very old, belonged to my great-grandmother in the late 1800s. Then her daughter cooked on it for her nine kids. Got passed to my dad who used it for our family of five kids, then to me. It is actually worn thinner in spots, it's been used so much. It doesn't have the lettering on it like in the picture but it is the same shape with the same handles. It's made to fit over two stove burners at once so that you can make two pancakes at the same time. Handy when you have nine kids,I'm sure.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I'll bet that surface is as slick as glass. None of my cast iron is that old.

Some of it I've even rescued from the trash and given away to others after I've cleaned it up and gotten it well seasoned. My daughter recently told me that she had made the best cornbread ever and won't fry potatoes in anything besides the skillet I gave her.

[Warpy]

5. That site would be more useful

if their auctions were online instead of in bloody Missouri. I didn't bother with the eye candy section because it would be too frustrating.

All my cast iron is new, only 35 years old for the skillets. Since it's never been introduced to soap, it's slick enough that little sticks and what does can be dislodged with a little Kosher salt scrub.

One thrift shop close by has a guy who sells old cast iron but he's never had anything I particularly need. I do drool over the big chicken fryers, but I don't need them since I don't fry chicken and never cook for a crowd any more. Here in the southwest, those things are favored for Indian fry bread, so I'm leaving them for people who do fry bread.

Still, I would like a big 2 burner griddle, preferably with a grill on the other side. An online auction would be nice. Or maybe I'll just bite the bullet and get the Le Creuset jobbie I've been salivating over for 2 years.

[yy4me]

6. I have one of the chicken fryers and use it not for frying chicken

but to fry almost anything else where splattering might be a problem. The fact that it is deeper seems to help in that regard.

I can also brown meat in it for a stew and have the extra room for the liquid and veggies. Since I now cook for just myself, this holds enough for 2 or 3 meals. I can control the portions because I use steak, well trimmed instead of the store cut stew beef with all the hidden fat chunks. Using the top/round steak also allows me to make evenly sized chunks, 2 cans beef broth after browning and the rest of the steps as timing requires.

[pleah]

7. Thank you very much for the link!

I just found out from the panman that my oval cast iron roaster dates from 1900 to 1910! It is a SIDNEY #6, Sidney became Wagner. :hi: