[Sca-cooks] Reflections on cooking with cast iron

[Pat]

Today I made musgoe soup in my big cast iron  frying pan for lunch for Mama and me.  I browned some leftover hamburger, added a limp half onion that was cut yesterday, and some Italian spiced diced tomatoes from Saturday, and some left over mac and cheese from my Grandson's supper on Saturday.  When everything was hot, I immediately poured it all into a serving dish and washed the pan out by holding it under running hot water and scrubbing it with a plasticc scrubby.  I then dried it with a paper towel, and put it up with an oily paper towel in it.  
My cast iron is suffering from Mother's dementia.  Luckily she is still quite capable of minor cooking chores and cleaning, but while I was at Gulf Wars, she "cleaned" all the pots and pans.  When I got home, she quite proudly showed me that she had scrubbed "all that black stuff" off of all the stainless, and the cast iron.  Of course, all the cast iron was rusting, but she thought that was normal.  So, I'm having to redo the seasoning on all my cast iron.  Some of them had been in constant use for decades, and one or two had to be discarded.  
However, instead of the hissy fit I'd have pitched a year or so ago, I smiled and thanked Mama for all her hard work.  I have learned that my Mama's feelings are much more important than all the "things" in the world.  At the rate her memory is declining, I doubt if we'll have too many more years together, so why make any of our moments hurtful?


Pat Griffin
Lady Anne du Bosc
known as Mordonna the Cook
Shire of Thorngill, Meridies
Mundanely, Millbrook, AL
Vert, between four cauldrons or, a cross checky argent and sable