Culinary Conversations

[karstopography]

@karstopography
The cast iron holds heat very well.
Like last night I made French fries in my cast iron sauce pan and once heated up the rascal just kept on kicking.
No pan heats as even as people want it but that's just the way it is.
These are the two complaints about Lodge cast iron.
It's heavy.
And it takes a long time to heat up.
Does that sound familiar with today's society?
Everyone wants things easy and they want it now.
So what they've done is cast skillets thinner to make them lighter.
Changed handles and so on.
Hand made not mass production like Lodge.
You can not buy your way into being a good cook.
No more than you can pick up a guitar and start off any good at all.
It takes experience and determination.
I normally know what I'm going to cook before I get home.
If it's involving cast iron I put it on to slowly heat up when I get home.
As God is my witness I started driving a cast iron skillet when I was around 9 or 10 years old standing on a stool.
I started driving on the farm at that age too.

So anyway the thin carbon steel came along because cast iron that thin is easy to break.
But it is light weight.
It heats fast but the drawback is it cools off fast too.
I was in the Breed and company store and I was looking for carbon steel skillets and found the Smithey carbon steel skillet.
Every thing in that place is high end
They had le creuset too and some other brand like star gazer or something.
Also high end German cutlery costing hundreds of dollars.
I had to get outta there before I bought something.

My son’s apartment is a few blocks from the west campus Breed and CO. I’ve been in that store, and it is not your ordinary hardware store, but I think they started out more or less as a hardware store.

I got a Le Creuset enameled cast iron dutch oven for Christmas from my folks. I gave away to my daughter my Pioneer Woman enamel cast iron Dutch oven for making Sourdough bread. The pioneer woman one was actually heavier and a bit larger and a slightly different shape than the Le Creuset. The Le Creuset is noticeably less prone to having things stick to the enamel and burn, though.

We get delicious sourdough bread from my daughter since I gave her my dutch oven, especially her cheese and jalapeño version. I can eat my weight in that bread, the plain or the cheese and pepper type.

[worth1]

@karstopography
I used to go to the one you're talking about back in the mid 80s.
Then in 2015 or so new owners and a sort of rebranding took place.
There were several stores like that in the area and if you broke your blender or the top stopper for it you could find the replacement there.
I can't remember the name of the place to save my life.
That was pretty much the beginning of the end for old Austin.

[worth1]

@karstopography
I did some looking and Smithey uses several layers of pure grape seed oil to season their skillets.

[bower]

I saw some enameled cast iron pans in the supermarket for half price the other day. Tempting but very heavy to handle and a bit large for my kitchen sink.
I need to rebuild my kitchen. Hasn't been set right since I got the new fridge.

[worth1]

I saw some enameled cast iron pans in the supermarket for half price the other day. Tempting but very heavy to handle and a bit large for my kitchen sink.
I need to rebuild my kitchen. Hasn't been set right since I got the new fridge.

Are they enameled inside and outside or just outside.
What brand were they?
I'm always curious as to what other people have available.

[bower]

These ones were white enamel on the inside and blue or red on the outside, so enameled throughout. Big heavy lids, done the same.
I didn't notice the brand name. Will check and see what they have.
It's a supermarket really, so a lot of their wares are crap! Buyer beware...

[worth1]

Just discovered a product our HEB stores sells.
It's a store type brand called Mi Tienda it means my store.
I bought 2 types of salsa.
The first one I've tried this morning is..
Fire roasted salsa pasilla.
It's really good and you can taste the fire roasted in it.
Next is fire roasted salsa jalapeno.
Both are really good.
You can actually see the charred bits of peppers in them.
Both made in Mexico.

[worth1]

I need to add neither one has any vinegar in it.
A real deal breaker for me adding vinegar to salsa.

[JRinPA]

Lime juice in it instead? That is what I use, I also dislike vinegar in salsa.

[worth1]

Lime juice in it instead? That is what I use, I also dislike vinegar in salsa.

Citric acid for the pasilla and lime juice powder and citric acid in the jalapeno.

[JRinPA]

So look for salsa on the shelf that lists citric acid in the ingredients? As opposed to vinegar?

Does that stuff have an ingredient list or did you buy and try to deduce a lack of vinegar?

[bower]

In the cookware, the enameled pans were still on special this week. It's store branded, PC (dominion stores).
This stuff is so heavy I can't imagine it as a kitchen convenience. I pass on the empty weight alone.
There is no cooking benefit that I can imagine that would make it worthwhile to do the heavy lifting, and washing it will be a pain, obviously. What's the guff about this cookware that makes it better than a light steel pan?? Would it be worth the inconvenience?

[worth1]

So look for salsa on the shelf that lists citric acid in the ingredients? As opposed to vinegar?

Does that stuff have an ingredient list or did you buy and try to deduce a lack of vinegar?

Yes it has an ingredient list.
With the usual stuff they put in salsas when it's commercial.
Yes I look for stuff without vinegar and instead citric acid.
I use it in my Hot sauce as well as lime juice.

[worth1]

In the cookware, the enameled pans were still on special this week. It's store branded, PC (dominion stores).
This stuff is so heavy I can't imagine it as a kitchen convenience. I pass on the empty weight alone.
There is no cooking benefit that I can imagine that would make it worthwhile to do the heavy lifting, and washing it will be a pain, obviously. What's the guff about this cookware that makes it better than a light steel pan?? Would it be worth the inconvenience?

That's the Presidents Choice brand.
I looked it up earlier today for possible makers for Canadian brands.
I guess sometimes I'm a detective.
It's cast iron so it retains heat and uses less energy to keep hot.
Yes it's heavy but it suppose to be.
Works great I'm an oven.

https://www.presidentschoice.ca/product ... 1413754_EA

[bower]

I do get the benefits of cast iron, I just don't think it's worth it for my personal investment in cooking and cleaning up.
Lazy... probably. If I had a wood stove going that was hot all day long, then cast iron would be a no brainer.
But my lifestyle isn't there.
Cooking in cast iron on the stove is another matter, without the enamel. There are benefits to that beyond the retention of heat.

[worth1]

I would like to have a cast iron braising pan but it ain't gonna happen anytime soon.
Mostly because I have a lodge cast iron 12 inch pan and a 12 inch cast iron lid I bought separately.
The 12 inch pan has two short handles as opposed to a regular skillet.
Plus a variety of Dutch ovens.
Many say the braising pan needs to be shorter but who knows.
Who knows I might have one in a closet.

[Sue_CT]

Wordle 1,007 3/6

[worth1]

Wordle 1,007 3/6

How'd this end up here.

[pepperhead212]

:
I didn't think that had anything to do with food.

[karstopography]

@worth1 and @pepperhead212 Word salad?