Best Potatoes Ever aka Cast Iron Skillet Potatoes

This recipe comes from Susan in my favorite cast iron cooking group. It is a keeper!

Brush bottom and sides of a baking dish or cast iron skillet with olive oil.
Using a mandoline or a sharp knife, slice potatoes crosswise into desired thickness. 
Arrange potato slices vertically and loosely in prepared dish or skillet.
Sprinkle garlic and Italian seasoning on top of potatoes. 
Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
Dot potatoes with butter. 
Cover skillet or dish with foil and bake in a 375 F oven for about 1 hour or until potatoes are tender. 
Remove foil, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes or until crisp.

Louisiana Style Blackberry Cobbler in a Cast Iron Skillet

I grew up deep in the south where the blackberries grew wild and plentiful.  This is one of my favorite dishes to make with them. In cast iron, of course!


Ingredients
1/2 stick butter, melted, plus more for greasing pan
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup whole milk
2 cups fresh (or frozen) blackberries
Whipped cream and/or ice cream, for serving
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 3-quart baking dish with butter.

In a medium bowl, whisk 1 cup sugar with the flour and milk. Whisk in the melted butter.

Rinse the blackberries and pat them dry. Pour the batter into an 8 or 9 inch cast iron skillet  . Sprinkle the blackberries evenly over the top of the batter. Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar over the blackberries. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 1 hour. When 10 minutes of the cooking time remains, sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over the top. Top with whipped cream or ice cream. 

Roast in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

1. Preheat oven to 275. Heat your cast iron dutch oven over medium high heat. Add 3 tbs olive oil and let it get really hot. Salt and pepper the chuck roast on both sides. Cut the onion in large pieces and brown in dutch oven, and then remove Thoroughly wash carrots, chop and add to dutch oven and toss them around until slightly brown, about a minute or so. Remove the carrots and allow pot to become hot again.  Add the roast to the pot and sear 1 minute per side and then remove to plate. Turn heat to high and deglaze the pot adding one cup of the beef broth. Add Meat back to pot, followed by carrots and onions. Pour beef broth into pot to cover the meat half way.  Cover pot and roast for 3-5 hours depending on the size of your roast. 

Vintage Cast Iron Cookware Hual

Many people prefer vintage cast iron to a new shinny piece.  Any pan made before 1957 is considered vintage.  We find one of the best ways to score them is at auctions and estate sales. You do want to make sure you are getting a solid piece.  We will be posting about how to clean your cast iron and season it very soon! 

Cast Iron Brownies

• Dessert is only a cast iron skillet away!

• 3/4 cup butter
• 2 cups white sugar                   
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9-inch oven-proof skillet.
2. Place butter in a microwave-safe bowl; heat in microwave until melted, about 30 seconds. Add sugar and cocoa powder to butter and stir. Heat butter-cocoa mixture in microwave until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds.
3. Mix vanilla extract into butter-cocoa mixture. Stir eggs into butter-cocoa mixture; add flour and stir until batter is well mixed. Pour batter into the prepared skillet.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of the brownies comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. 

Double this recipe if you plan to use a 9 by 13 Enameled Cast Iron Pan

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Cast Iron Decals DIY

If you love to display your cast iron this may for you!  It is a great way to display a cast iron skillet hanging on the wall. This was done using a Silhouette Cameo 3 vinyl cutting machine.  The design was purchased in the Cameo store, cut out using Oracle 651 and then applied to the skillet.  It does not damage the skillet and can be removed at any time.

Griswold Cast Iron

Griswold cast iron pots and pans, skillets, dutch ovens, and other kitchen items had a reputation for high quality, and they are well known to antique collectors and sellers. The easily recognized "cross" logo seen on Griswold products from the 1910s through the 1960s was modified several times over the years. Historians and collectors note these modifications and use them to "date" these pieces, to gives more accurate estimates of their age and approximate date of manufacture.

• The "Griswold cross" logo was first used by the manufacturer during the 1910s. For several years until the early 1920s, these pans had a slanted, slightly italicized "Griswold" name at the center of the cross. The age and quality of these pans make them among the most desirable for collectors, and as such they are often sold for high prices at antique malls and fairs.
• The logo was changed to block lettering during the 1920s through the 1930s. This version of the Griswold logo is the most popular and well-known of the different variations, and images of this logo are often seen as the standard for representing collections of antique cast iron cookware in general.
• During the early 1940s, Griswold changed its logo to a much smaller sized image, commonly known as the "small logo" Griswold. The company produced pans with this logo until its acquisition by the Randall corporation in 1957.
• After being acquired by Randall in 1957, the Griswold foundry and manufacturing plant in Erie, Pennsylvania was closed. Further cookware was produced at the Wagner foundry in Sidney, Ohio. Pans were produced with the Griswold logo from 1957 through the mid-1960s, though these pans did not include the "ERIE PA." mark. In the early-to-mid 1960s, a number of pans were produced with dual logos, displaying the images of both Griswold and Wagner. The Griswold logo was phased out by the late 1960s, and further cast iron from General Housewares was labeled with the Wagner Ware logo.

I recommend having Griswold Cast Iron: A Price Guide on hand to help identify your Griswold pieces.