My dad was a waster of fortunes on the most worthless items. He would constantly go to auctions, but never buy anything worthwhile.Instead, the auctioneer would always turn to him to bid on a pile of junk no one else would, so I and my Mom would get to spend hours unloading these piles of things of no use.
After my old man was taken from this plain, I would stumble about his things and piles of things with a frown and shake of my head as I had moved them once, and I was not about to be moving them again, as most of it seemed to be some form of heavy things.
I remember for years in his tool shed, which was an old outhouse he got for who knows what, there was this old cast iron pan on the floor which was pitted horribly and rusted beyond value.
One day as I was in my "nuture the broken thing the world threw away", I decided to pick this Island of Misfit toys pan up and see if it would like to come home and play.
I scrubbed that pan and it was still rusty. I boiled vegetable oil in it, washed it, and it was still rusty. I cooked dog food in it, scrubbed it, seasoned it, and it still was this dirty pan with pits like the moon in it.
Finally, it decided it liked me, and we started getting along a bit better as food was not turning colors in it and those pits were starting to take an aura of character instead of craters.
It actually at that point started to be a Wagner number 6 again, with round bottom, and not smoke ring at this point.
*The publisher is a snob and for some reason only loves cast iron pans with smoke rings.
The other evening as I was going to make hash browns from my garden potatoes named Agria, I spotted among my horde the castaway cast iron pan, and decided after a few years non use to see how she would behave.
There are secrets in cast iron, and one of the major one is to use animal lard, as vegetable oils just do not behave the same way. Hog lards coat like a film which is very important to cast iron as it is that coating which builds up and keeps the pan from sticking. It also sweetens the pan.
I never cook water laden foods in cast iron as it destroys the non stick nature. That includes hamburger to chicken which tend to caramelize.
So in went my hog lard, in went the shredded potatoes, and upon turning, they were golden brown, a new little bit of lard to make it all non stick, and in the end, my hash browns were quite lovely, topped with sour cream and hard cracked pepper.
In time, this pan would rejuvenate completely as the lard will fill in the now indentations, and produce the look of cast iron as it should be.
Most people do not realize that cast iron in it's original state is pitted and with use, that is how one gets what is the look of cast iron in the antiques.
I do not know why so many people abuse metal pans. I see all sorts of criminal misbehavior, and in all cases I can bring the pans back to life. That is the reason for noting this as if you happen upon garage sales, dumpsters or whatever that you see these horrid looking pans, which include stainless steel and aluminum, you can fix them up to workable condition.
I purchased this horrid Presto 60 pressure cooker which some old gal had left tomatoes in for some time as she cooked them. I do not know if she died or what, but the pan I got for a price of a dollar for the reason the pressure weights are like 25 dollars, was really almost eaten through.
I wanted to have my blacksmith weld this pan, but never got around to harassing him to do it. Then last year, the Holy Ghost said, "Why don't you put some of that JB Weld you are playing with on all those massive pits?"
So I did, and I'll be blessed again as I have used that pan for plum pudding and chicken and it just breathes to life.
This of course is a not "try this at home" thing as only experts should, but I have this old pressure canner which I found on my parents junk pile, that needs all sorts of things including petcock and pressure gauge, burrs..........you know it is just a worthless aluminum pot that anyone should just put in the recycle pile.
It though has a massive crater in it, as I suppose some canned tomatoe broke and ate it almost through. It is now locked in my shed under a pile of snow, but I'm thinking I can hear this pot calling me wanting to come into my home.
Sure it will require the JB to weld, and not fall apart, and more money probably than if I got a used one, but I think this will be a grand adventure and will probably be one of my favorite canners providing it does not blow up.
I remember a Louisiana huckster who sold me a Kwik Kook canner which was broken. I mentioned that to the woman and she went wild as she knew it was broken, but was terrified in I was using the thing. She begged me to send it back to her, but I enjoyed the trauma of a woman who sold me a damaged product now horrified she would be sued if this thing blew up.
It is all fine. The release pressure coil spring goes off at 14 pounds and if I tap it, it will run to 15 pounds which cans anything I care to deal with. It is more romantic knowing this canner has character, as anyone can run a pan which behaves.
The thing is in Obama driving up all energy prices and who knows if America is not going to return to the stone ages, so it is always good to not spend a great deal of money on things no one wants, but are going to be worth a person's life, when of course all that corning ware and non stick crap goes up in smoke on a flaming fire.
Oh well back to trying out my X Ray Specs............every time I order a pair, the world must be coated in lead as I can't see a thing with them on.
agtG
