A Look at Cast Iron Cauldrons
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ต.ค. 2021
- Halloween is upon us once again, and now is the time of year when many of us break out our cauldrons for some holiday magic. Whether your magic has to do with casting spells, or with conjuring up a delicious harvest feast to celebrate this night, probably the most famous image of Halloween is that of a witch, brewing a magical potion in her cauldron. There's something traditional and mystical about cooking in an old cauldron, and there have been many kinds of cauldrons made over the years and the centuries. And for those of us who may want to own and use our own cauldron, here’s a look at some of the kind of cauldrons you may find in your search for vintage cast iron.
Oh, and I have to say, I grimaced when Harry Potter read his shopping list, and the list said he needed a pewter cauldron of number two size. Pewter?!? It’s true that pewter is made of mostly tin, but you know what else is in pewter besides tin? Lead. Well, cheaper pewter is mixed with lead, and you can bet there are a lot of cheap pewter items out there, possibly including real pewter cauldrons. But while cauldrons have indeed been made of brass, bronze, silver, steel, and just about any metal you can think of, the true traditional cauldron has always been made of cast iron.
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My grand mother used a small cauldron to cook food in, tiny stubby legs. I am a collector of miniature cast iron cauldrons. I love the vintage stuff as they were beautifully made, right curves and better smoother casting. I have a salesman Alba cauldron that comes with tall legs like potjie African pot but it has a neck that has a smaller diameter and comes with a lid. This tiny and very well made cauldron fits in my hands. I acquired another one that a lot bigger, same design and from that I ground out that Alba brand of cauldrons were made in Portugal. I love the round shape of a cauldron and those 3 legs! Most beautiful shape and because one can relate these pots to ancient times, you feel like you are using something grand!
This evening my neighbor passed over my fence, mind you he lifts motorcycle engines that he repairs in his shop. I now have two huge cauldrons he gave me grunting all the way. One is heavier than the other and larger of course. One appears to be about 15 gallons and the other about 20 gallons. I lived in Philadelphia for 50 years and I have old milk jugs that are marked as such. The handles are the same as your handles on the cauldron which you were seasoning on the tripod. Unfortunately holes were drilled or punched in the bottom of both. His wife was using them as planters on the mountainside behind our homes. Tomorrow, after I don my steel toes boots I am going to attempt to identify them fingers crossed they are both Saverys cauldrons. Now I am concerned they may be valuable and abhor the idea of keeping them outside in the rain. I love cast iron cookware and she offered and I accepted. I will be leaving them to her in my will as I am much older than they are. They certainly appear to be Saverys at first blush. I was in open toed shoes and I would not entertain the idea to go near them as curiosity was killing me and I prefer not to have a broken foot or leg. So, I went in and was curious about these and this is where I ended up. Great history, fabulous information. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a Savery cauldron in their American history section. Who knew? We all know how discriminating curators are with their pieces so yours must be a huge deal. Of course the restoration would be great on these two pieces but holy cow what a labor of love. I would have to use a mechanical wire wheel on a drill to remove rust. We can no longer burn anything in our town since we are located a couple miles away from the famous town that is burning underground due to the picnic fire in the early 1960's. One thing I will say is they have the most amazing antiques here. Especially the diamond and tourmaline cocktail ring I bought for a dollar a few years back. Gaudy but still a great find. I have since moved away from Philly, obviously since we don't have the famous coal mine fire in Philadelphia. Thank you. This was amazing.
I found a slant logo Griswold 3 leg cauldron last week antiquing. Perfect timing for your video!
I have an old cauldron I use in my practice. It was tagged chimney holder. It was extremely rusty but cleaned up so nice.
oh gosh!!! thank you for the info!!! found a cute little pot at a yard sale. it was under $5 and is priceless to me. thanks to you i know now it was used to melt metal.
thankfully I haven't cooked anything in it yet!
You can tell an antique cast iron 3 leg pot is from a worn leg causing the pot to wobble. This is from being placed and removed from earthen ovens.
Thank you for this video! I'm a little late to the party on this one. One of my first cast iron pieces was a fire starter pot which my mother purchased for me for around $30, minus the pumice wand. I decided to restore and season it, and it still makes for a good if slightly heavy cooking vessel for my fireplace.
All kerosene residue and paint was safely removed over a fire, and then a thorough wire brushing removed all rust. So far, 2 years of regular use and it performs like any other small pot!
Hey I'm a cast iron geek to lol I love it.
Cant get enough thank you from a kindred spirit.
Good job as always Eric.
This video was AWESOME you should do more like this one, you know more about cast iron then you think !! THANK you Frank from montana...
Great information. Thank you.
When I think about a big cast iron cauldron, I picture Granny Clampet brewing a batch of lye soap or possum stew out by the cement pond.
th-cam.com/video/XFK9TO1v8H0/w-d-xo.html
great show. i really enjoyed it.
I’ve had potjie on my mind recently. This was a very edifying video. There’s more to the history of cauldrons than I would have guessed.
Super accurate. Thank you so much!!
Great 👍 video thanks for sharing your knowledge of cast iron
Your best video yet.👍🏻
Thanks for the video!
You will get another million views with this video...very nice
great video thank you
I had a good clean smaller one given to me. Just wish I had the lid.
Nice cauldrons.
I love cast iron.
I live just few miles away from where the Iron ore was mined for BSR and the Red Mountain series. I was there a few weeks back and saw some iron ore and thought about getting some and sending it to ya lol... There is a channel called Underground Birmingham where they explore those minds and the working conditions ...
Oh, there is no question the ironworkers in those days did not work under the best of conditions. BSR also used prison labour in their early days. Especially a century later, we can’t condemn the cast iron pans that those labourers produced with their own hands, as some way of atoning for the way they were used and exploited.
Nothing more annoying than people who drill holes in CI turn them into planters.
Can be welded up but yes verrrrry annoying!!!!!!!
Very informative video thank you! Who would I contact to help identify a large cauldron that I recently purchased? It has double lines on the bottom and small ears, I believe it is 20 gallon or larger.
That sounds like a typical cauldron from the late 19th to early 20th century. Those big pots were most commonly used, in fact, for washing clothes as much or even more than cooking food in those days. The introduction of washing machines made those pots obsolete, which is why they stopped making them.
I have a small cauldron with a gate mark, a sprue mark, and flat top ears.. In addition the botom is marked S & P Phila 5 P... I think it pre-dates the Civil War. Can you help point me in the right direction to find out about S & P? Thank you for your good work and informative presentations.
The Cast Iron Collector web site has a database of foundries, which mentioned their name but does not offer any information at all on them. All I could suggest would be to browse local records there and see what may turn up.
Then please do a part 2 (and 3.....) and do a full history! THANKS Eric!
What is the one loop for on the side of the pot used for??
As far as I know, it's so you can lift it.
✌🏼💚🙏🏻
Has anyone ever seen a cast iron stove and cauldron built in one. The cauldron sits in the actual wood stove and is enclosed on all sides
Can’t say that I have. Is there a picture of one?
so what is the origin of that freaky illustration that appears @ 00:35? reminds me of bosch and bruegel...........
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_witch_at_her_cauldron_surrounded_by_beasts._Etching_by_J._Wellcome_L0019609.jpg
@@castironchaos thank you modemac, that is a very stirring image................
I got a random question that I don't know where to ask really. Has anyone ever deep fried on a cast iron, not to actually cook something, but to season a skillet? Like heating it up and just letting it be for hours with no intention of using the oil so it wouldn't matter if the oil burned up.
I don't see why you couldn't do that, although there doesn't seem to be much of a purpose to it. A number of people leave their used frying oil in the skillet for a long time before re-using it.
this causes gunk. thin layers of oil are to polymerize flat, what you described polymerizes in undesirable and useless chunks that rip off with use. Flat polymerized oils form slick nonstick because it doesnt scrape off if you use wood utensils. the chunky stuff always rips off no matter what
have you ever seen a cauldron with 3 ribs, flat top handles with a raised stamp of a phoenix under the word "phoenix"?
many table ware items were, once upon a time, made from pewter..... as late as the 1960's many a naughty school boy owned a pewter beer mug with glass bottoms.... that glass bottom dated back to ancient england when any able bodied lad needed to be wary of press gangs collecting recruits for the royal navy..... i had a genuine german stein with the pewter lid and still have another one that was gifted to me a number of years ago but the composition of the metal seems to be quite different.....hope the newer one is safe for use around alcoholic beverages...........
Well, as noted, it’s cheap pewter that has lead in its makeup. There have occasionally been reports, unfortunately, of kids’ toys today with a high lead amount because of this. Also, it wasn’t until the 20th century that they finally started cracking down on lead in food-related items.
@@castironchaos also in the 1960's, sears & roebuck sold a kit to mold toy soldiers out of lead; for young boys to use if you can believe that...............
OTO?
Plz recommend me a 100% food grade cauldron that has a fat round belly and holds just enough for 1-2 people’s worth of stew
Cast iron pots in that shape can be expensive, whether they're new or vintage. I did a search and the best I could find was this: www.amazon.com/Pre-Seasoned-Potjie-African-Quarts-Wooden/dp/B08DQWVXDB/ It's much easier to find a modern day dutch oven, which still works fine. The lowest price is probably this: www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-5-Quart-Cast-Iron-Dutch-Oven-with-Handle/55208717 The best quality dutch oven at this size is probably this: www.amazon.com/Lodge-L8DD3-Cast-Iron-Dutch/dp/B000LEXR0K/