There's nothing like cooking in cast iron...unless it's cooking in your mother's cast iron and the way she taught you to cook.
This was Sunday's dinner and happens to be Carey's favorite: roast beef, potatoes, and carrots--roasted in the oven, then finished up with gravy made on the stove top--all done in the cast iron skillet that's so old I don't know who the original owner was. My favorite? Swiss steak. Mmmmmm.
I'm so thankful to have had a mother who was a good cook and who passed down her skill, recipes, and cookware.
What's one of the favorite meals you remember your family sharing?
My mother used to make a recipe handed down from her grandmother who immigrated from Poland. It involves big, giant meatballs, sauerkraut, tomato sauce, and potatoes. Might not sound great, but it is.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had good cookware handed down to me. Alas, I got myself my first cast iron skillet and treat it like gold. I love it.
When my mom moved from the house she had lived in for over 40 years ( I was moving at the same time), she accidentally left my grandmother's iron skillet in the stove where she kept it. The movers packed everything, but of course did not look in the oven and we did not think of it. By the time she realized it, it was way too late.
ReplyDeleteWhen my mom moved to an assisted living center, I came to help sort through things.I looked for the old, pitted metal roasting pan, but it was gone. "Every Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas ham and Easter leg of lamb we enjoyed was cooked in that old pan.
The dispersion of a 45 year household is overwhelming and fraught with emotion and memories. My kids still haven't forgiven me for not bringing back some of the Christmas houses they remembered so fondly, and I could kick myself for not thinking of that. It was mind boggling, sifting through everything.
I do have my grandmother's old Wagner aluminum dutch oven, but do not use it much since I don't think aluminum is healthy to cook in. I do have treasured recipes though, and they are gold to me!
Vicki
oh my, it looks good. I have a cast iron and it went rusty, I didn't realize you had to treat them!! And to think readers often think I have it all together! Ha!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started using my cast iron skillet I did not have it seasoned very well and I did not like it. But now that I have it broke in good I use it way more than my non-stick pans.
ReplyDeleteRenee', I hope you make the recipe and enjoy thinking of your mother and grandmother.
ReplyDeleteVicki, oh, that is just heartbreaking to leave the skillet behind! Mine is often in my oven too, as after I wash it, I put it in a hot oven for awhile to make sure that all water is evaporated so there will be no rust. I just leave it in there to cool, and it stays in there till the next time I use the oven. ...And I know from experience that splitting up a parent's household goods is so hard. ...hugs...
FT, now that you've got that behind you, I'm sure that you DO have it all together! LOL
Tracy, I am never tempted to buy new cast iron cookware for just that reason...but I do look at it when I come across some in an antique store! :)