Archive for the ‘Cast Iron’ Category
Eating deep fried foods should not be an every day occurrence but lets face it we Americans do like our fried foods. Many Americans do actually have a deep fryer at home, whether it be of the counter top variety or a stove top cast iron deep fryer. Many folks have outdoor propane fryers or turkey fryers as well.
Making a choice to eat healthy foods, like salads and boneless, skinless, chicken breast are better for your cholesterol and blood pressure. Many people have to eat this way due to the high rate of obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol in this country. But lets face it, eating healthier foods is expensive. Getting chopped meat that is 97% lean is pricey. Buying chicken breast that has been made boneless and skinless is also not cheap. Purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables is iffy due to the short shelf life. It’s not like you can freeze lettuce to use at a later date. You can always grow your own produce, which keeps down chemical exposure, to you and your family, but not every one has a green thumb, or a yard big enough to accommodate a big garden.
Mrs. Obama has been making an effort to get the country to slim down, grow a garden, and eat foods that are better for them. Many fast food restaurants are even jumping on the band wagon and offering healthier choices. But, lets face it, when you go out to a restaurant to eat, fast food or fancier, odds are in this economy that you are going to indulge yourself in fatty, comforting, deep fried, high caloric goodness. Many people can’t just afford to go out to eat anymore. When we do, why would you want to have roughage, tofu, and bulgar wheat when you can have a burger and french fries, or a steak and smashed potatoes 
with a slice of cheese cake for dessert? If you are eating healthier foods at home and on your lunch hour, you are certainly going to treat yourself if you are able to go out to eat. Besides, most fast food restaurants offer great deals on a combo burger and fry meal, where the healthier items are usually a bit more price wise.
There are many people in our country that are still out of work. Some have taken jobs way out of context to what they went to school for just so they can keep a roof over head and feed themselves and their families. I know a young man that has taken a job in retail at an electronics box store. He went to school to become a gym teacher or athletic coach. I know a woman that has been working in property management most of her life. She is now a cashier in a grocery store. I know a man that actually passed the bar exam. He now sells french fries at festivals and fairs. It can be a very trying experience when you were used to living a certain way or were expecting other things in your life.
People take comfort in deep fried, fatty foods. When your belly is full and it was something that tasted good, it can put a smile on your face and ease some tension from earlier in the day. The same old piece of grilled chicken and steamed broccoli is just not going to do that for you. People know that they should be eating healthy, but if a burger and fries can wash away your woes for a while once a week, then I say have at it!!
Now that we’ve talked about indoor fryer safety, it’s time to move outdoors.
Having a turkey fryer or any outdoor propane deep fryer is fun. It adds flavor to your holidays. It’s an extra versatile cooking appliance for backyard barbecues, and a great added piece of cooking equipment for tailgaters. You can deep fry, steam, boil, simmer, and stew with a traditional turkey fryer. When it comes to hot oil and flames, always remember…safety first. This goes for any outdoor cooking equipment, but especially when frying oil, flames, and propane tanks are involved.
Now as I said having an outdoor fryer is fun, but it is also a serious business. Caution and common sense play a big role here.
Wearing appropriate clothes, like having shoes and sleeves are a great idea. Having all of the proper tools from your fryer kit right on hand is a necessity. You don’t need to search for the grab hook or basket lifter when the time comes to use it. Other important equipment to use and have on hand when using any outdoor propane deep fryer, are heavy duty long gloves, safety goggles, a bucket of sand and an all purpose fire extinguisher. Remember…water and hot oil don’t mix. A hose used on any grease or oil fire can just make matters worse.
Always use your propane fryer outdoors. An open area is best, away from houses, garages, wooden decks, trees, and shrubs. Find a nice, flat, level piece of ground. Make certain that children and pets have another area to play in. You also want to be certain that your deep fryer will not be in a walk through area. Always make sure that there is at least 2 feet of space between your propane tank and the fryer burner. Make sure that no one is going to try to walk between the tank and the burner. Place your tank and fryer so that any wind will blow the heat of the burner and fryer away from your LP gas tank. Keep in mind that there are some outdoor electric fryer units on the market. The same goes for these units. They are intended for outdoor use, not in your kitchen or on your wooden porch or deck. You also want to make sure that your cord will not get walked into, yanking the cord out of the wall or flipping your fryer over.
Never leave the fryer unattended. This goes for any type of deep fryer, indoors or outdoors. You always need to keep a careful watch during the deep frying process. If a grease fire occurs, turn off the gas immediately and cover the stock pot with a lid. Sand and again an all purpose fire extinguisher are great to have on hand. Also if your oil begins to smoke badly, immediately turn off the gas.
Being sober while deep frying is pretty important. You will have time afterward when the cooking is done and the oil has cooled or been stored away. Keeping your friends that are partying, safe and away from the hot oil is important too. Just like the kids and the dogs, make sure that any rowdiness, rough play or an over zealous drinkers have there own place far from gas tank lines, burners, and hot oil.
Make sure that your stock pot or Dutch oven is properly centered over your burner. You don’t want food or hot oil upending because the pan just wasn’t centered.
Remember to use the tea bag dunking method. Any time you add something in to hot oil, it is going to bubble and spit. Just dropping a turkey or whatever you are frying, right in to the stock pot is just asking for trouble. This will result in a major boil over and a possible fire hazard. If you are really worried, when the time comes to put the turkey in the pot, shut the burner off for a couple of minutes until your bird or other food, is safely nestled in the pot. Then turn the burner back on.
Always give your fryer proper time to cool down before straining or disposing of the oil. Even though the unit is turned off, the oil will remain hot for quite a while. You still need to keep the kids, big and small, and dogs away from it while it cools. With a traditional turkey fryer, get a battery operated pump or enlist a friend or two to help strain and funnel the oil. The oil can be used again if stored properly. Once the oil is cooled, you can strain and funnel the oil into storage containers with ease. If tailgating, funnel empty warm oil into clean, metal Gerry Cans. The cans will still be hot but they may be stored out of high traffic areas. The fryer will cool down quicker allowing you to put it away sooner. That way you may enter the stadium and enjoy the game, without the danger of someone stumbling into your hot fryer while you are away from it.
Don’t be scared of your deep fryer. Have fun with it! Just use caution, think safely and use sober, common sense.
This past week, there was an article in the Washington Post Express called “Campfire, Rewired: Gadgets to Make Cooking While Camping A Breeze” written by Nevin Martell. He discusses some products to make camp cooking easier. Trailer camping and tailgating with grills and smokers are always an option. Tenting and hiking are a completely different entity. I mean it’s not like you can pack up a BBQ smoker in your back pack and hike into the woods with it.
One of the products featured by Nevin in his article was The Li’l Smokey by Camerons. The manufacturers at Camerons have a few products that make tenting and cooking a breeze. The Li’l Smokey, The Mini Gourmet Smoker and The Stovetop Smoker. These are stainless steel cookers that can be used outdoors using sterno, your campfire or a gas burner. Great for camping or backpacking as they are much lighter than your cast iron skillet. The lighter the better. These “smokers” can also functions as a steamer, a poacher, a roasting pan or a stovetop oven. All the components nest together inside the base for convenient storage and clean up is quick and easy.
And they aren’t just for outdoor cooking. You can use them at home as well. Apartment rules against barbecue grills got you down? With these smokers you can smoke food anytime you want.
Are you an amateur gourmet cook? Want to add some smoked garlic or smoked salts to zest up a recipe? These indoor smokers are perfect for this application.
The uses here are endless. With the specially ground, kiln dried, all natural smoking chips you can add many different flavors to whatever you’re cooking. The traditional hardwoods are available as well as some fruit woods and specialties like bourbon soaked. You can even mix and match some of the flavors to make unique flavorful blends.
Smoking foods made easy. Cooking in the great outdoors or just like the great outdoors right on your stovetop!
This past week there was an article regarding deep frying in The New York Times. Not something that you would expect to see in The Times. There were even a few recipes as there was also a discussion of different types of breading that may be used when deep frying.
The article entitled “Everybody Outside With the Deep Fryer”, by Melissa Clark, made some great points regarding outdoor use of a deep fryer. When you deep fry indoors, whether using a cast iron, stove top deep fryer, or a counter top deep fryer, you always end up with a lingering odor in your house, not to mention a nice coating of oil on everything. Melissa’s husband decided to take their counter top deep fryer outside. They invited their friends to a deep fry party. Having a whole party devoted to deep fried foods allowed Melissa to play and experiment with different kinds of foods and different types of coatings. From sweet to savory, appetizer to entree, Melissa got to have fun, feed her guests, and didn’t have an oily, smelly, messy kitchen to deal with afterward.
Using an electric deep fryer outside is OK, but typically not recommended by the manufacturer. It is not an item that you could ever keep outside permanently. Some units can handle the outdoor exposure, but the heating element would need to be taken off after every use and brought indoors. If you really do deep fry all of the time, and you have a nice back yard, why not consider an outdoor propane deep fryer? These units are made to stay outside and range in size from small to large professional grade. Even if you don’t deep fry all of the time, having a propane fryer can add to your BBQ menu. While you are grilling steaks you can fry a batch of onion rings as a side dish. While grilling a nice tuna steak or some nice stripped bass you can deep fry a batch of french fries, hush puppies and clam strips. After smoking some delectable delights all day on your BBQ smoker, you can deep fry some candy bars, cookies, or fried dough for dessert.
Deep frying outdoors, especially in the hot, sultry summer months is an excellent idea. Whether you decide to get a propane deep fryer or just take your counter top deep fryer outside. Happy frying!
Having a deep fryer can make your life easier. You can cook food in half the time that it might take you to prepare something another way. I know that I can’t make a convincing argument that deep fried food is good for you. It is food that is cooked in fat. But if done properly, the food should quick cook, sealing moisture in and keeping the fat out. The key is to not let the food absorb the oil.You can cook meat, vegetables, fish, and tasty desserts.
Speaking of tasty desserts, doughnuts are a perfect reason to have your own deep fryer. Many people eat doughnuts for breakfast, but you can eat them for snack, for dessert, or anytime. These delectable pieces of fried dough are part of what make this world go round.
Some people like yeast- raised doughnuts. I prefer cake doughnuts. These are leavened with baking powder or baking soda. Some people like glaze. Some people like powdered. I like a little bit of sugar, or really just plain, warm, right out of the fryer, with a glass of ice cold milk.
Here is a great cake doughnut recipe:
5 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 1\2 tsp. salt
1\2 cup room temperature sour milk(milk with tsp. of lemon juice)
2 room temp. eggs
1 egg yolk at room temp.
3\4 cup granulated sugar
1\2 cup vegetable shortening, melted and cooled
1\4 cup molasses
1\2 rounded tsp. lemon zest
1\2 gallon frying oil
Sift the dry ingredients, except the granulated sugar, in a large bowl. In another mixing bowl, combine the granulated sugar, sour milk, eggs, egg yolk, melted shortening, molasses and lemon zest.
Gradually add the dry mix to the wet mix stirring gently. (Do not over mix, this tends to make tough doughnuts. You will still see a little flour.) Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator
for about an hour.
Time to heat the oil. Get your counter top fryer, cast iron Dutch oven or other stove top deep fryer ready to deep fry. Heat the oil to 370 degrees F.
Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Knead for 1 minute. Roll out to 1\2″ thickness. Cut rounds with a doughnut or pastry cutter (3 1\2″) then cut out centers with a smaller cutter. (1 1\2″) If you don’t have doughnut or pastry cutters, get creative. Use a washed, clean veggie or a large glass, and a shot glass for doughnut holes. Gather your scraps and re-roll and cut until done.
One of the best ways to avoid over absorption of oil, in fried foods is to not over crowd. Over crowding can cause the oil temp. to drop too low and prevent items from cooking properly. Only do 2-3 doughnuts at a time. Carefully drop the rings into the hot oil. Make doughnut holes if you like. They will float in about 30 seconds or so. Fry for another minute. Turn the doughnuts over and fry for another minute. Turn them once again and fry for one more minute, until golden brown.
Drain on paper towels or place 1\2 cup of sugar in a brown paper bag. Place doughnuts, about 2 at a time in the bag, and shake. NEVER LEAVE YOUR FRYER UNATTENDED! Store the doughnuts in a warm place until they are all done.
Get a cold glass of milk & enjoy!
I am currently in Concord, North Carolina. I was watching the news the other day. I unfortunately did not get to see the whole segment because of time constraints, but they had a bit on an elderly man and his cast iron skillet. The man was adamant about his cast iron pan. He claimed that he loved this piece of cookware so dearly that he was going to take it to his grave with him. I am assuming that he wanted to have the skillet buried with him.
That is really unfortunate for this gentleman’s family members. I have found that cast iron cookware, when cared for properly, as I am sure this man’s pan is, will last for generations. It would be a nice hand me down to his children or grandchildren.
Many folks don’t know how good cast iron is in cooking. When properly seasoned, a cast iron pot is the ultimate in non-stick cookware. You don’t have to have special cooking tools so that you don’t scratch the surface. You can always re-season a pan when need be. You can’t re-Teflon a non-stick skillet. Cast iron pans heat more evenly and are extremely versatile. You can cook with cast iron anywhere: stove top, oven, grill, even in a bed of coals or over an open fire. You can deep fry, bake, stew, griddle, saute, barbecue and grill with cast iron cookware.
There are many people that are passionate about cast iron cooking. I do wish I had had the time to stay and watch the news segment on that old man and his cast iron pan. I dearly love my cast iron cookware and love to tell people about it. I bet that man had that pan passed down to him. I hope he changes his mind and decides to leave the pan to his favorite grandson, or something, and continue his passion for cast iron.
Having leftovers from St. Patrick’s Day can be tricky. Especially if you had a large crowd, and no one in America eats vegetables anymore. The leftover meat is easy. You can make corned beef hash or Rubens. Leftover pre-cooked cabbage can be a pain. You can just fry it in butter and eat it that way. It can always be put on corned beef sandwiches in place of kraut. But there is another way.
Colcannon:
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1 pound cabbage or 2-3 cups leftover cabbage
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1 pound potatoes or peeled leftover boiled potatoes
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2-3 leeks
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1 cup milk
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salt and pepper to taste
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1 pinch ground mace
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1/2 cup melted butter
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In a large pan In a large saucepan, boil cabbage until tender; remove and chop or blend well. Set aside and keep warm. Boil potatoes until tender. Remove from heat and drain. Season and mash potatoes well. Stir in cooked leeks and
milk. Blend in the cabbage. Make a well in the center and pour in the melted butter. Mix well. I used leftovers. Peeled my boiled potatoes and mashed them. Sliced and chopped up about 2-3 cups pre-cooked cabbage. Fresh leeks sliced and simmered in milk, added in and 1\2 cup melted butter. Mix in some crispy chopped bacon.
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If made fresh, leftover colcannon can be made into potato croquettes by adding a little flour to the mix. Some fresh chopped parsley too.(optional)
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Roll into balls. Dredge in flour. Dip in egg wash and then bread crumbs. Deep fry in hot oil in a cast iron skillet until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
For a decent corned beef hash recipe visit our past post: Corned Beef Hash in a Cast Iron Skillet
Yes controversy.
I have been making Irish soda bread for years. My recipe comes from The Fanny Farmer Baking Cookbook. The prologue to the recipe even states that Traditional soda breads are NOT SWEET! They can accompany any meal.
My husband grew up in Ireland. He always told me that the recipe that I made, tasted just like Grandma’s. Though Grandma’s was cooked in cast iron in a peat oven. Mine was, and still is, baked in an 8″ cast iron skillet in my oven.
It irks me to no end when I go into a store during the St. Patrick’s Day season, and see Irish soda bread all done up with raisins, or caraway seeds, and then covered in a hard sugar cookie glaze. This is the farthest thing from traditional Irish soda bread that you can get. When Americans decided that traditional Irish fruit bread was traditional classic soda bread, I do not know. It is made with bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), therefore making it a soda bread or cake, but it is so far from classic soda bread that it is not funny.
Poor people in Ireland certainly did not have the sugar and raisins for daily bread. Why would you use sweet cakey bread with raisins in it to sop up your lamb stew anyway? But a nice moist, fresh piece of bread slathered with butter is perfect here. Left over bread was usually toasted and slathered with butter and preserves or put in the frying pan to sop up bacon grease and then toasted to perfection. Certain times of the year, you were lucky to get any fruit at all anyway. At Christmas time it was a very special present if you received an orange or other piece of fruit with your gifts.
Traditional Irish fruit bread has many names. Spotted Dog, Sweet Cake, Curnie Cake, Spotted Dick or Railway Cake depending on the area of Ireland that you came from. Given the sweetness of this item, it would be appropriate to sprinkle powdered sugar on top or maybe even a glaze of sugar. But this is not what you want to eat with your Shepherd’s Pie or your boiled corned beef, which by the way is another American tradition, not Irish. This is something you would eat for tea or after dinner as a dessert item.
I am going to include the recipe for both Classic Traditional soda bread, and Spotted Dog so that you may see the similarities, but the definite differences.
Classic Irish Soda Bread:
4 cups flour
1 1\2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking SODA
2 cups buttermilk (milk with tablespoon or 2 lemon juice…let it sit & curdle a minute before you add it to flour mixture)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Grease an 8″ cast iron skillet. In large bowl toss together dry ingredients. Add buttermilk…stir briskly with fork til dough forms together in a rough mass. Knead on a liberally floured surface for about 30 secs. Pat into a 8″ round about 1 1\2 thick (mine is always thicker than that) Slash a large 1\4″ deep cross across the top. Place in cast iron skillet & bake 45-50 mins. or until nicely browned and the cross has spread open. Transfer to a rack to cool, then wrap in a slightly damp tea towel and let it rest for 8 hours. Wrapping the baked, cooled bread in a damp towel helps it to settle and makes it easier to slice.
Spotted Dick:
4 cups flour
2 tsp. sugar
1\2 tsp. salt
1\2 tsp. baking soda
1\2 cup raisins, sultanas, or currents
1 1\2 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1 egg (optional…you probably won’t need all the milk if you use the egg)
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Sift the dry ingredients together. Add the fruit and mix well.
Making a well in the center, add the egg and\or milk. Using one hand, mix in the flour from the sides of the bowl, adding more milk if necessary. The dough should be softish, but not too wet and sticky. When it all comes together, turn it out onto a floured surface. Knead for a few seconds, just enough to tidy it up. Place in an 8″ cast iron skillet. Cut a 1\4″ deep cross in the top. Bake in the 450 degree oven for 15 mins. then turn down the temp. to 400 degrees F and cook for an additional 30 mins. or until cooked.
Serve freshly baked, cut into thick slices and spread with butter. Or you can cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar or put a sugar glaze on at this point.
I just became aware of something new. New to me anyway. I have never thought of a head of cabbage as an item to grill on my Brinkmann grill. I always think of cabbage as boiled with corned beef, or chopped and grated for slaw. Grilling it is simple enough to do. It would be great for a tailgate menu just for the simplicity alone. It would make a nice addition to any grill menu.
Take a whole cabbage. Remove the core. Fill the core with 1\3 stick of butter, salt and pepper. Wrap the whole head in foil, and throw it on the grill. Cook until tender. (Adding a strip of applewood smoked bacon or 3 in the foil might make some nice flavor too).
Another take on this simple but tasty side dish is to quarter the cabbage, rub it with olive oil, sprinkle with Cajun spice, or other spices, and throw it on the grill. Again, just cook until tender.
This would make a nice addition to a rack of ribs or pulled pork. There are many ways to make this one your own. Have fun with it.
A bit more hard core version of the grilled head of cabbge comes from the BBQ man himself :
(Based on a recipe from Raichlen’s BBQ USA) Take a medium to large head of cabbage and core out the top to a depth of about 3-4 inches. In a cast iron skillet, sauté a diced jalapeno pepper and half a small onion. Add approximately 8 ounces of chorizo or andouille sausage and cook. Once done, transfer the meat mixture to a strainer and collect the draining fat. In a bowl, add the meat mixture to 2 tablespoons of shredded cheddar cheese. Place the meat and cheese mixture in the head of the cabbage and top with more cheese and a tablespoon of butter.
Grill the cabbage for approximately 2 hours. If the cabbage begins to darken too much put an aluminum foil tent over it. When you can stick a skewer all the way through the cabbage, it’s done. Remove from the grill, cut into pieces, and serve.
Spring is starting be make itself known where I live. The spring equinox does not actually arrive for about 3 more weeks, but I have started seeing my bulbs popping up around the yard. No flowers yet, but I can see some foliage popping. We have had a winter here, to rival those of days gone by. I, all of my 44 years upon this earth, here on Long Island, have never seen this much snow. I remember having a good blast every February and it was usually cold enough to last for about 2 weeks. But, anyhow, it has been a long winter, which is kind of unusual for these parts. We are usually directly affected by the Gulf Stream. The snowy weather is not usually part of our region. Colder temps. but usually quite mild.
I am usually an all winter griller. My grill and outdoor propane deep fryer were under so much snow this year that it was too big of a deal to dig a path to the grill. We were shoveling out the driveway and the sidewalks like every other day. I didn’t have the gumption to did a path anywhere else. So I settled for all indoor cooking this winter. Slow cooker, cast iron Dutch oven, my Crock Pot BBQ Pit, my counter top deep fryer, and I used the broiler a few times. This really has to be the first winter that I did not grill outdoors at all.
Well, spring has finally sprung as far as I am concerned. All the snow has finally melted in my yard. I can get to my grill & my Cajun Fryer. I think that it is time for a good old fashioned barbecue and fish fry. Seeing that Fat Tuesday is upon us, I may just have to make this happen. I need to get a big old pot of jambalaya going, deep fry some fresh fish and grill up some brisket and ribs.
Of course, my outdoor cooking equipment has been outside, under wraps, but outside. It never gets put away because normally I could be seen in the middle of January grilling steak or doing Beer Can chicken. So seeing as my cooking gear has spent the winter under a pile of snow, I guess I will have to give it all a thorough once over. Check my hoses and regulators and my propane tanks. (Yes, I said tanks. I keep 3 at all times. One for my grill, one for my deep fryer, and one spare.) This should be done normally anyway, but as I said, this past winter has been an anomaly. My grill has never gone this long without food on it. I cooked a prime rib in my grill for Christmas dinner, and it hasn’t gotten any love since. My Cajun Fryer hasn’t been used since Thanksgiving. I had planned to deep fry half of my freezer stores on Superbowl Sunday and for The Daytona 500, but there has just been too much snow.
This week is the week I intend to give my cooking equipment a whole lotta love. I am going to deep fry a turkey breast, and some fish. I am going to fire up my grill. The gloves are off, or I guess I should be putting them on. It’s time to get back outside and start cooking again!