[Sca-cooks] Re: pots and pans

[she not]

Patrick Levesque wrote:
> 
> Well, we often talk about knives and our favourites 
> brands here, but what about pots and pans?


I like cast iron =personal preference and because it's the only period  cooking implement I dare use-don't know where to get my copper pots retinned, and as for ceramics, well, I drop things..although bean pots and romertopfs are fun to use until i do.

 Iron's versatile, non stick (ok, easy to clean), good conduction, durable, can use on stove, oven or open fire, can even use it as an oven, it adds iron to food,  (with the drawback that it discolors acid food, but I console myself that that's a period problem) and it's available in any shape or size I can imagine.  There's a fantastic catalog put out by an amish  business in ohio called Lehmans Non Electric goods-I just wish lids were easier to find.

cauldrons are wonderful utensils, everybody should have one, especially me.  kettles that hang on chains from tripods are great for adjusting heat when the pyromaniacs have been at the fire..and well designed tripods can double as spits..

Stainless steel is good -especially if you like brewing or dyeing too..and a big stainless bowl is great for making the top of an brick/earth oven in camp. also, if you don't have a bamboo steamer, a heat proof plate on an inverted bowl will work, as long as the lid fits.

mining pans (for washing gold out of stream gravel) make good big pie pans

But oh, I coveted, I drooled,  I positively gnashed my teeth with desire for great glorious wheelbarrowloads of the cookware I saw at the food market in Tijuana- lovely big deep frying pans with two foot handles for shaking over the fire, griddles and salamanders and washtub sized boiling pans and clay pots with lids, glazed and unglazed, shovels for coals, huge flat pans and long oblongs perfect for setting under a spit roast (most were lightweight non-stainless steel, fairly cheap)- even some of those potbellied clay  heater things (chimoya? sounds like?) that had removable chimneys with a grill at the join.. and I haven't even mentioned the beautiful molded "silver" serving ware.

having wiped my chin and returned across the border, I expected the local group to have a scadians dream kitchen, but for some reason they had no interest in acquiring mexican goods and were content with the usual foil pans and stuff..and in the EK few groups took advantage of all the lovely antique pots that nearly littered the roadside..go figure.  maybe it has something to do with groups' reluctance to acquire/store quantities of cooking gear.

I don't like teflon for 2 reasons..bring it to an event and the gods of mischief ensure someone will scrape it with a fork, and food really does taste  and cook different in different materials-teflon seems to make fried food wet, for instance..

gisele


		
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