How PC are square skillets?

[Joe Yanta]

I 've got an older American made 8" square cast iron skillet. It would sure be handy on my limited space fire grate. How PC are square skillets? When did they come into use?

Any help or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

Joe

 

[ameling]

Oooooh, this is one of those ... tricky ... subjects, with much "dogma" accepted and believed on faith alone.

Simple answer on the square cast iron skillets is early 1900's. The answer on cast iron skillets in general use is Civil War and later. Ditto what is now called a Dutch Oven. Some few "unique" examples can be found before then, but they generally came into common use about the time of and after the Civil War. All those Griswold, Wagner, My Pet, ect. brands are very late 1800's on into early 1900's.

Now, they all are "accepted" at many events and rendezvous - mostly because people like to use them so much and because they look "old timey". And that "trumps" that PC thinking.

So it is a matter of personal choice if you wish to use them. But some events with strict time period rules might not allow them. Personal choice.

Just my humble thoughts to share, and best used in conjunction with your own research.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. Who also likes his cast iron frypans, but just doesn't bring them along to any event before the cowboy/old west time periods.

 

[Joe Yanta]

Mike, as ususal, you can add a clear perspective on the subject. Perhaps I should adopt the idea that I dont want to be square going to a rondy that judges your camp. And at the rondys that are a little more open, I'll go for it.

Seven dutchs, brazier, and a skillet. Kinda makes me hungry just thinking about it.

Thanks Mike :hatsoff:

Joe

 

[wwpete52]

They are only accepted if you cook breakfast for everyone at the next rendezvous! :grin:

 

[Joe Yanta]

Well Pete, I am a two oven breakfast kind of cook. Biscuits in one and gravy in the other. If thats your liking grab a plate.

Joe

 

As long as they make round flapjacks I think they are okay.

 

[ameling]

Hey, I like my cast iron cookware also. I just have to carefully choose when/where to use them. Upstairs I have 5 or 6 dutch ovens (including an itty bitty 7 inch one), and around 8 cast iron spiders (just like a dutch oven but with a skillet handle instead of a bale handle). But those cast iron spiders are mostly post Civil War, and work best around the chuck wagon or in the lineshack. Ditto the dutch ovens.

That's why I and several other people have been playing around with something called a Tourtiere. It is what the French used to bake over an open fire with before the mid 1800's and the coming of the dutch oven. It is basically a sheet iron or sheet brass pan with a high/tall cover with a flat top. You use it just like you would a cast iron dutch oven - including putting coals on the cover (some were made with a little lip on the top to help hold those coals on top).

Last spring I sent two down to the Colonial Trade Fair and Rifle Frolic at Fort de Chartres. They worked well and I received a bunch of feedback/critique of them. Back in September I sent three of the new "mark 2" versions up to the fur post gathering at Pine City MN. They worked great. One lady loves her's so much that she baked 7 pies and a double layer chocolate cake in hers - just over that weekend. And she also made 2 meat dishes in just the bottom part as well. It sounds like she was a pretty happy camper that weekend.

So I keep looking around for more documented cooking gear to ... tinker with.

Enjoy your cast iron cookware. Just check the event rules/guidelines to see if it is acceptable at the places you wish to attend. I enjoy mine at home (like every morning), and at the cowboy/old west events I get to.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. Here are a couple pics of those Tourtiers. These are made from sheet iron. The one with the legs is the "mark 1" version, the other is the "mark 2" version. The ladies all preferred no legs. They said they could then just put it on the coals or a trivet, but could also then use it on a grill or a braizier.

That little coil of iron rod inside them is an internal "trivet" - to set your pie pan on so that it doesn't set right on the bottom pan and scortch.

 

[wetpowder]

I like that vice better. :hatsoff:

 

[ameling]

Yes, I like that little vice also. It's a "wagon tong" or "shipboard" version of the classic leg-vice. That normal long leg was made short, and a bottom bracket was made to lock onto that stub of the leg and another bracket to hold it onto a short beam - instead of the normal mounting plate. It was "factory made" this way. But it also is from the late 1800's on into the early 1900's for time period. It will slip over and clamp onto a 2 to 2 1/1 by 6 or 7 inch beam.

And I have TWO! The only two I ever saw in person instead of in books. I heard of several others that sold at farm auctions a number of years ago. And they all sold well over 100 bucks - with one running close to 300! Sure glad I got mine for less.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. And I've been promised a lot of ... good eats ... from several of those ladies who got/used those tourtieres - the next time I'm at the same camp as they are!

 

[Homesteader]

Hey Mike, when are you gonna let those of who have been chomping at the bit buy one of those beautiful cookers from ya?

 

[ameling]

As soon as I get a materials ... supply problem ... worked out. My source for the base pans to start with fissled out suddenly. And I'm searching about for a metal spinner to work with so that I can bypass that other source.

So right now I only have that one in the pictures with the legs on hand - the smaller and lighter metal one. And a couple people waiting on the heavier/bigger "mark 2" version - when I can scrounge up the right materials to start with.

It tends to happen often. I make up a couple "neat items" from some materials on hand, and then suddenly a bunch more people want them. So then I really have to ... scrounge around ... to be able to make more!

So it goes.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. I'll keep you in mind and drop you a note when I get any more made up. And one of these days I'll have to keep one for myself!

 

[mazo kid]

And a couple people waiting on the heavier/bigger "mark 2" version - when I can scrounge up the right materials to start with.
p.s. I'll keep you in mind and drop you a note when I get any more made up. And one of these days I'll have to keep one for myself!

Mike, I would appreciate being placed on your list to get one also. I did a search for tourtier and only came up with meat pie recipes....are they named for the pot in which they were made? I was looking to see if there were any modern makers out there and if they would pass for PC.

 

[ameling]

You won't find much on Tourtieres - unless you can read French and go to various cooking/food sites over "across the pond". And there just aren't current makers - since few people "bake" over an open fire anymore. Occasionally you can find an old original one being offered for sale - like on the French version of ebay. That's what Murier did, won, and had shipped over. And a web search will usually just bring you to the meat pies that are named after them. It's one of those problems you run into with something that went out of common usage back in the early 1800's.

So it goes.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. Still working on my ... materials supply problem ... on making more of the tourtieres.