HAPPY MARDI GRAS TO ALL

[Guest the_muddy_man]

Well i was born in the SOUTH  SOUTH BROOKLYN  COURT AND DEGRAW ST

Thanks actually I am just a mook

[Long Mike]

I have had the luxury of Dining at Arnaud's and Brennen's, and have had more than my share of Hurricane's at Pat O'Brians.  I would much rather have a beer and the cuisine prepared in someone's back yard in SW Louisiana.  Now THAT is groceries!  BTW, thanks for the Abbeville plug Catt.  Ther are a couple of restaurants in that little city that will blow your socks off.  Black's and Dupuis' come to mind.  When I was in my late 20's I set a BP record of seven dozen oysters on the half-shell at Dupuis'.

[Water Dog]

Thanks, Skillet, he was one of the best.

I learned about making making a roux from Justin

Talking about all this food.  With a handle like "Skillet", you ought to be running a restaurant yourself.  I love my own iron pans.

That Zydeco, Creole party music, goes along with all the other music from down there and blends in well with all that good food and fun.

Fun is where you find it, Me and the Missus need to get back down there.    

Can't understand why Muddy would hang around 'up noth'.  

[Catt]

Long Mike

Black's steaks are better in my option than any place in New Orleans  

[skillet]

Water Dog,

 I really like to cook myself, wish I was better. I'm not an intuitive cook, have to have a receipe in front of me which I practice on forever and then maybe change a little. I think I've seen every episode of Justin's, and thought they were all great! Just now learning how great cast iron is for cooking.

 The nickname comes from anything but cooking (maybe we'll get into it one day, rather an embarrasing story) and I have the scar to prove it ;D...

                                                     As Ever,

                                                      Skillet

[Water Dog]

;D Skillet, in that case, you might want to stick with light wt. aluminum.....and duck

Sorry to continue to drift Muddy but I need to share something with anyone just getting into iron cookware.

They tell you to cure or season it in the oven at 300* and that is OK if you want to stink up and smoke up the house.

My 87 year old Mother-In-Law told me of a much better way. I asked her what they used to do when the pans got too much gunk baked on them and needed re-newing. She said that they just tossed them in the fireplace, got them red hot, burned off the coating and then poured and spread lard on them.

Caution: you have to be real, real, careful, lard will flame when the pan is red hot and you don't want to do this in an enclosed space, like a living room. Maybe that is why we see so many old chimneys out in the fields down here... ;D

Heat them over any kind of fire, grill, whatever, outside and throw a dollap of lard in the pan and spread it around. If the pan is hot enough the lard will quickly go into the pores of the iron, and make you a nice black cured pan. Keep heating and spreading on the lard with a rag until you have the shiny slick cured pan that you want.

I have greased them up and turned them upside down in the grill and cooked them at high temp but putting them directly on a fire works best.

I'm the kind who 'duct tapes' down the safety features on chainsaws, lawnmowers, 'kill switches' etc., so you might take care in following my directions on most anything where you could get hurt. ;D

[Catt]

Curing cast iron pots the safe way propane burner outside  

[skillet]

 The 10" skillet I've got has really got a case of jungle rott on the outside (have no earthly idea how old it is or where it came from). I knew how bad it was if you did it the conventional way and was waiting for Spring so I could air out the house when finished. If I try it this way does it really have to get redhot (that might be a recipe for disaster even outside

                                                       As Ever,

                                                        Skillet