My mother's cast iron

It's been that kind of week, so I thought I'd cheer myself up by sounding off about things that I'm grateful for. So thank you, mom and dad, for leaving me the big 12-inch skillet with the kill-ya-heavy glass lid, and especially for the cast-iron cornstick pans that make the manna from heaven. They are magic, and they remind me of you.

Margie

I'm grateful for my grandfather's - then father's - Blackhawk floor jack. It is from my grandfather's Chevy dealership in the '30s and '40s and it could prop up God if He felt like resting.

I never met my grandfather, but I'm grateful to my dad for leaving me that jack, and for teaching me as much as he could about cars. I think about him every time I use it.

I have one of those skillets myself - I got it from my mother, and I think it came from her mother so it's probably 100 years old by now.

I've got Grandma's dining room set, complete with the dishes that I 've eaten Christmas dinner off of for the last 60 years. They'll be passed on one day.

I've got the drafting set my dad used in college. It's sitting on my desk up stairs and still gets used on occasion. I have my grandfathers Craftsman table saw that I still use, and my grandmothers first camera. And from the previous generation, I have my great grandmothers 1891 printing of Arabian Nights, given to me by my grandmother. The continuity through the generations has always amazed me, and a lot of it ties back to the family farm that we have been farming since the 1830s. The dirt is still growing food and raising cattle and most importantly growing memories with the next generation.

I also have my grandfather's Craftsmen table saw, his 220v air compressor and whatever power and air tools my uncle didn't want. I use them often. He taught me how to use many of them working on anything from birdhouses to Mack trucks.

Our regular cookware is a pair of 8" cast iron skillets my grandma left me.

We also have a couple of cast iron skillets that are heirlooms from my wife's mother's side. It's great to have a couple of items for daily use that remind you of them.

My grandfather died on Christmas Eve 1985, but that's his drill press down on my work bench. I'm pretty sure he bought it in the late 50's. It came with a bench grinder and he paid $25 for the pair, brand new.

Oh, and he made the vice...

Miss Suddard. On the patio. With the cast-iron. I have the cutest, smartest, funniest baby in the world, and we're gonna play on the beach and stick firecrackers in some flounder bungholes in a few weeks. Life is good.

I'm grateful for lucking my way into a freaking awesome job at a small nondescript general-repair shop that sees all manner of interesting hardware come through (this week: '70 Buick GS, small-bumper MGB mit 302/T5/8" swap, '54 Ford mit 351W, next week: Grand National, ???) and is run by someone who is a racer at heart and believes that since he doesn't like working weekends, he won't, and neither should his employees.

And I get paid to do it, too!

Dr.Linda has a cast iron skillet from her grandmother. It was rumored to have seen campfires with covered wagons. Makes great cornbread.

Than you dad for my receding hairline. Now there's now no way any woman will find me sexy, except my wife but I give her a large check every other week so she has to.

DrBoost wrote: Than you dad for my receding hairline. Now there's now no way any woman will find me sexy, except my wife but I give her a large check every other week so she has to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t144cdYJj8U

I don't have Grandma's cast iron, but I have cast iron because of Grandma. So although it wasn't hers, I am frequently reminded of her when I use it. I am also extremely critical of nanner puddin because it doesn't live up to hers.

Secretariata wrote: I don't have Grandma's cast iron, but I have cast iron because of Grandma. So although it wasn't hers, I am frequently reminded of her when I use it. I am also extremely critical of nanner puddin because it doesn't live up to hers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx8EujvMmSM

Damn you, Suddard! I have a couple of Grandmother's (seriously "old school" Southern woman..if we'd called her "grandma" she would have sent us out back to pick our own switch) skillets, but my sister got the cornstick pan. Another night of pain & anguish while I recall my failure.

Especially since I'm living with a woman who knows sugar has no place in a cornbread recipe. (have I just floundered the thread? )

I don't have any heirlooms from my blood ancestors, but that's why I buy other's heirlooms off craigslist and give them a good home.

If you need to re-season any old cast iron, my advice is to treat it with easy-off to remove any grunge, scrub thoroughly with a brillo or sandblast to remove rust. Then rinse and apply a thick layer of crisco shortening to all sides, turn upside down in a cold oven, lay foil on the rack below and heat to 200 degrees for 1 hour. Remove, wipe off excess shortening, place back in oven for another hour and allow to cool before touching.

Makes the best bacon and eggs ever, my cast iron pans do.

friedgreencorrado wrote: Especially since I'm living with a woman who knows sugar has no place in a cornbread recipe. (have I just floundered the thread? )

+6098765432123456

In reply to EastCoastMojo:

One of our oldest ones was actually placed in the dishwasher by SWMBO's son (he thought he was helping). Neither one of us caught it, we just threw in the soap/closed the door/hit "start".

The outside rusted, but the inside was seasoned so well that it was pretty much untouched. There's a significant difference in our ages, we have a constant friendly argument about whether or not that skillet once belonged to my great-great grandmother, or her great-great-great grandmother. Both of us figure that if the inside surface survived, it must have been frying bacon for close to 100yrs.

Anyway, you're right. They can be brought back.

My mom has the same cornbread set, I believe it was my great grandmother's. It will probably be mine (and then my daughter's) at some point.

My dad left me some odds and ends, my most treasured are the pic of him on his Harley which was taken just after WWII and a 1980s picture of him giving the one finger salute to the camera. I gotta scan and link those.

EastCoastMojo wrote: Makes the best bacon and eggs ever, my cast iron pans do.

Yoda cooks with cast iron?

I scored a cast Iron cornstick pan at a garage sale for 50 cents...makes the most delicious corn cakes Ive ever had.

Im super grateful that my Moms mom is still around. Im super grateful that my Grandfather served our country in Korea...and came home to have a daughter

Mostly Im grateful that the sun comes up every day, I get a paycheck at the end of the week, and I keep waking up on the warm side of the dirt...a birth defect coulda killed me, instead, Im married, have a job, 10 fingers, 10 toes, and a family who loves me.

In the end, things are pretty great, no matter how much the sky seems to be falling.

4cylndrfury wrote: In the end, things are pretty great, no matter how much the sky seems to be falling.

Quoted for truth.

My folks are still around to use their cast iron, which I'm very thankful for.

I've got Grandfather's Swiss drafting set, use it at least once a week at work. I didn't know him very well (he was ex-military, and a pretty reserved individual), and as Grandmother slowly distributes his things to my brother and I, I'm getting a better and better idea who he was, which is awesome. Wish I'd been 10 years older while he was alive.