My husband worked in the Logging Woods here in Deep East Texas all his life. About 30 years ago, one of the old saw hands came to my husband carrying a LARGE cast iron skillet. ....Toby told my husband he found the handle sticking out of the dirt. He asked my husband to restore it and give it to me....in exchange for a pan of biscuits for him on occasion. It's a 16" cast iron skillet! ...have to have 2 hands to use this one! I still think of Toby every time I use it. 🤗
That's awesome! As a kid who grew up in the south, there's basically a cult around cast iron. There's a great big one that's almost 2 feet wide and almost looks like a shallow wok. I have no idea what was cooked in that one, but someone, somewhere in time, really needed a bloody great cast iron basin. It's always stumped me what it's for.
A couple of stories about culture shock: When my wife-to-be first visited my home in W. KY, she wondered what was in the coffee can hear the stove. Of course it was bacon grease. I had to show her our canister set, which had one labelled "grease" to convince her that people DO actually cook with it. The other thing she discovered in the garage was something hanging there in a greasy paper bag with cardboard on the floor. She described it to me, and exclaimed, "Dad got a ham! She was aghast when I told her how long it had likely hung there. I should mention that my father was a very successful surgeon, and I and my son are also physicians, and my brother a dentist and his daughter a physician. We were not poor farmers. I think my poor wife must have thought she had fallen into a time warp. Fortunately, she is still with me almost 47 years later.
Yeah, far too often the focus ends up being on big events and politics and war and what not but these are things that are as important in our daily lives as they were for people 300 years ago.
As a young woman growing up in VERY rural Italy, Parma to be exact, at the turn of the 20th Century my grandmother learned to cook using implements just like those, and on an open hearth as well. Needless to say when she came to America and discovered the wonders of gas stoves she NEVER looked back!
@@russellrlf Amazing all right, but in the old country Grandma didn't think anything of it, it's just how things were. I'll tell you a story and I'll try to make it a brief as possible. I've got a very interesting book at home called "Down Jersey," published in 1940 and about some of the lore of southern New Jersey. Anyway the author of the book Cornelius Weigand knew an Italian immigrant who ran a shoe-shine stand in one of Philadelphia's train stations. Anyway, the Italian gent visited a Colonial historic site in the Philly area, saw the kitchen fireplace with its utensils and recognized everything in it. Just like the house he grew up in in Calabria! "In the old days, for all people everywhere it was just the same!" he said. He was right!
Gas stoves are amazing. I'm going back to the old ways homesteading though lol. I'm sure she's able to cook Gordon Ramsay under the table with modern equipment after doing things the old way for so long!
@@teekotrain6845 Sadly, Grandma's no longer with us, she passed away in 1982. But let me tell you, she WOULD have cooked Gordon Ramsey under the table! And if he mouthed off to her like he's mouthed off to some of the people on his shows he'd have gotten a frying pan to the side of the head!
One of my ancestors built a house on the Shenandoah River in 1700. He had a puddling Forge, maybe to do something like these... The house is still these, the fireplace is enormous and I can see all of these in that fireplace... Wonderful.
Puddling forge is for making Puddled Wrought Iron, highest quality Iron on the market for its time if its Thrice Puddled. You couldn't cast with a puddling furnace only forge weld.
I'd imagine the rounded bottom would actually help the castings work better and produce more usable pots, as a primary thing. From what I remember from casting classes (decades ago) the primary factor across ALL casting design is *speed*, getting your molten metal where it needs to be as fast as possible to minimize heat loss and differentials across the piece, and the round bottom would keep the metal moving much better by letting gravity help pull the metal into place instead of having to be pushed by the inflow through the gate. The rounded bottom might also make it a more even-heating pot by spreading the heat for cooking more quickly and allowing hot air to spread up the sides so as to bring heat to the food from more directions at once.
@@emccoy No woks have a round bottom so you can lean in over and only heat some of it while the other half of food is almost done. Making fried rice for instance. You lean it over as you incorporate the ingredients. Don't want your eggs burning.
In German we have a saying. When you have to move faster we say "Leg einen Zahn mehr zu" which translates to "Put one more tooth on!". It came from using the saw tooth. If you need a hotter pot you would have put it on a lower tooth so it boils faster.
In Dutch we have the same but the other way around 'Zet het een tandje lager' ('Put it a tooth lower'), but it means you should slow something down, interestingly enough. You could say you should 'put it a tooth higher' as well but then it means you should speed up. I don't think it has to do with boiling pots though, but some other mechanism now lost to time.
I learned the meaning of this German idiom at Marksburg near my home on the Rhine river. Wanted to share this when I saw you already posted the German idiom!
My mother had an antique Swedish tea kettle, made from copper, tinned on the inside, with three forged iron legs, which had been riveted to the top of the kettle, and a wooden handle which stuck out from a sleeve which had been brazed to the side of the kettle, 90 degrees from the spout. One leg had been repaired by riveting another length of forged iron to it to extend it where the old leg had been broken off, short. She would use it in the fireplace at Christmas time to make spiced tea, and mulled wine. Still working after over 200 years!
tea is probably fine, but mulling wine in it might be dangerous. Alot of those old materials such as copper, tin, and pewter would leach out when exposed to acid especially if you cook it for a long time like tomato sauce or canning. Wine is only mildly acidic and not cooked for very long but its not a good thing for your health if it does leach out.
@@mcgrawnelson4722 Actually, the tin coatings inside copper pots and pans is to protect against copper leaching - especially when cooking acidic foods.
@@ifyouloveChristyouwillobeyhim No. Tin is an element, and doesn't leach into food. Some tin *compounds* can be quite toxic, put pure elemental tin is quite safe. That's why they coat the insides of copper cookware with it. The copper can leach into food, and build up in the body to unsafe levels. The tin coatings prevent that. I'll bet that you're thinking of solder, which is an alloy of tin and lead. Solder lined cookware would (indeed) be quite dangerous.
Hi: Gentleman knows how to cook , but not a Blacksmith. The round hole tramel is made from bloom iron , that is why it has all the delaminations. The waffle iron is a very well forged pro made one , not some home made crude job. Same with the basket handled stove lifter, a simpler to make item , but well done. I like the segment overall , but feel the need to point these things out. I have made my living for 42 years as a Blacksmith and know how to make all these items and can well judge the skill needed , Daniel Tokar The Willow Forge
@@mysticmeg111 Hi: Yes, webpage and youtube channel. You will have to google willowforge , they don't let you post addresses and links. TH-cam search Daniel Tokar. I make things to order, send me an email and I can give you a price and an idea of how long it will be. Thanks Daniel Tokar The Willow Forge
Hey Daniel tokar from the willow forge, I want to get into blacksmithing but it seems like an expensive hobby (power hammer, kiln, all that stuff is very expensive) is there some way to get into it as a hobby without spending a ton?
@@lordbarron3352The complete Modern Blacksmith by Weygers , is the best overall book on improvised blacksmith shops and tools. If you have the time , you can make everything from scrap for very little money. He was a Merchant Sailor 60 years ago and had to fix parts in remote locations around the world and he watched local craftsmen make stuff in those places. Great book to start. Daniel
I can actually see why you'd want a round bottom for saucepans. I find that using a wood spoon or a whisk is so much easier in a round bottomed bowl vs my modern saucepan. Getting the flour out of the inner corners while making a gravy is sooo annoying! I wish we could bring those back!
I love cast iron. I grew up in Charleston and remember watching wrought iron being made into fencing. Fascinating!! Thank you for having this amazing guest on the show!
I've always been enamored of cast iron cookware. I didn't inherit any pieces or buy any antiques, just purchased the modern ones. I had one for a long time, and it was well seasoned. Sadly, one time I set it on the stove burner to dry off, and forgot about it. My routine was to finish up the kitchen cleanup, then take the iron skillet off the burner. Well, I forgot and left the kitchen. Some time later I smelled something burning, then heard a small explosion. It was the skillet cracking in two, split down the middle crosswise (perpendicular to the handle). There was nothing for it but to turn off the burner and let it cool down. Ever since then I stand right at the stove when the skillets are on the burner drying.
Sounds like it had an innate casting flaw, probably a bit of the casting sand or an air bubble in the metal, or mishandling at the factory causing a difficult to see hairline crack. A cleanly cast and undamaged piece should be able to easily withstand heating to red-hot, well beyond the temperature range possible with any common house stove, without any damage (aside from burning off the seasoning).
I had that happen…put an enameled iron skillet on the stove eye, preheated it, turned to put the steak in-and bang, a piece of iron shot past my face and the skillet cracked in half. A flaw in the iron, apparently. Certainly an eye-opening moment.
I have a metal trivet with a ceramic tile on it that I use to put under various hot pans and dishes when i want to put them on the countertop or the table so the surface doesn't get burned. Last night I put it under the air fryer pan so the counter top didn't get damaged. It's basically very old tech holding up something very new tech.
That is how I seasoned my cast iron. I have a cast iron skillet from 1880 and a Dutch oven from 1840. Both purchased at tag sales. Had a bear of a time restoring them, but love them.
I would love to have an antique Dutch oven. I asked for one as a Christmas gift years ago, but never had the heart to tell my husband the the Lodge one he got me wasn't right (the lid is convex so there is no way to put coals on top to make it an oven). I have several vintage skillets and they are my favourite cookware.
This was awesome! When Michael was talking about being a steward for that simple lifter thing ( I forget what it was called, lol), it was such a beautiful sentiment. Antiques like that, still in use, still having life, what a connection that must be to the people of the past.
It's kinda funny, the name salamander has still stuck in the restaurant industry. They have this little specialty high temperature finishing broiler called a salamander broiler that is very popular among high end restaurants.
In German there's the saying "Leg mal einen Zahn zu!" (Roughly: "Put on another tooth") when you want someone to hurry up. It's derrived from the sawtooth they used back then, meaning "Put your dish closer to the fire so it cooks faster". Funny how things go
It goes back to the Romans. They believed a salamander was created in fire, and breathed fire. The name of tools like that is an allusion to it. If you've ever seen the logo for the Italian petroleum company Agip, it's a salamander. When French director Francois Truffaut filmed his version of "Fahrenheit 451", he used the salamander as the symbol of the firemen, too.
I know this is probably just vocabulary in the heat of the moment, but I’ll throw this in because there’s a lot of misinformation out there about how to care for cast iron cookware, and I had to learn the hard way. When seasoning cast iron, you are trying to *polymerize* the fat (fat chains cross-linking at high heat, forming a hard plastic-like layer), not carbonize it (burning food to soot). Carbonizing usually happens when someone is scared to thoroughly clean their pan and leaves a thin layer of food residue. When they cook again, the food residue burns to carbon, and a layer of seasoning build on top of that layer of carbonized food. Repeat a few times, you’ll get a “gunk/seasoning lasagne” which will easily chip and flake off (which probably reinforces the false myth that you shouldn’t use soap with cast iron). Proper seasoning involves clean layers of seasoning built up over time, each layer polymerized or cross-linked to each other to make a very strong and smooth surface. Any carbonized food present will prevent those layers from attaching to each other. Our great grandmothers used lye soap to clean their cast iron, so we shouldn’t be afraid of using some milder dish soap with each use. I used to believe that false myth that you should never use soap on cast iron, and only used a scouring pad, and my seasoning flaked and chipped all the time. Then I read an article by a modern cast iron skillet maker, who debunked that, showing that not only is proper seasoning very strong, but also it is chemically unaffected by soaps or detergents (you know this if you’ve ever tried to clean hardened grease off a fryer or range hood!) I started scrubbing my cast iron with dish soap after reading that years ago, and I haven’t had any flaking. I haven’t needed to re-season a pan since.
Other myths include that it has to smoke to polymerize and that moderate seasoning temperatures yield a soft deposit (certainly slower but not softer). One thing: lye soaps, like castile soap and Neutrogena(R), aren't necessarily harsh.
Awesome job Jon and Michael, your collection of Colonial Cookware is fantastic. Really enjoyed this video and will be sharing this alot. Thank you so much for keeping OUR HISTORY ALIVE. Fred.
As a prepper and homesteader, I find these explorations into the intricate details of early American cooking, building, and society to be incredibly important and valuable. Keep up the great work!
I'd love to see you do a video about how people took care of babies and toddlers in the 1700's. No one ever talks about that. I'd love to know about how they kept them safe, what kind of toys they played with, and what kind of activities people did with them back then.
Exactly the type of ironware that I want on the hearth in my planned log cabin restoration... I have a few already.. my favorite is the legged 12in. skillet my father had and used on fishing trips when I was a boy...
My uncle received from his granfather an old cast iron cauldron, so old that the bottom was worn to the point of breaking with a wooden spoon. It was a large and decorated piece, about 20 liters, with the feet shaped like lion paws and the brim with a patern of twisted vines. It became a very fancy plant vase.
I love this show and it's one of the best on youtube. Always cheers me up. pasta Grannies is my other big favourite, new episode each Friday and is always so sheering.
My grandmother had a favorite way to season cast iron. She had 2 stoves, a 1943 Frigidaire electric and a wood stove. She didn't like getting either up to 500. So she'd get garbage fatty meat and fry it. She'd smear it around a bit. Once it was done, she'd clean the skillet and toss the meat. After the third time, she'd taste the meat to see if it was ready or if it had a metallic taste. Before you knock me, one traditional way to season a wok is similar.
It's absolutely fascinating learning about the kinds of utensils they used then. NOUN utensils (plural noun) an implement, container, or other article, especially for household use. "kitchen utensils"
Just traced back one of our family lines to Jamestown in 1609 and read a huge last will and testament of that lines from 1786. What cool family lineage I came across! Several of the members fought in the militia against Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Guillford courthouse in N. Carolina. Time to make some meals they may have eaten now! Love your videos! And what a fascinating period to learn about!
Jon and Michael, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Michael, what a great collection you have! Thank you for explaining that you are simply the steward of these pieces while they are in your possession and that someone else will take on that role when you pass them on to another. Also, it’s great to see how people made due and put their skills to work. A piece may not have been the prettiest, but it was functional and got the job done. Thanks again for this very informative episode!
I’ve forged so many s hooks! I really want to build an outdoor kitchen right next to my garden. I’m familiar with the cooking style and I’m somewhat proficient but there’s always something new to learn! I’m slowly building my kitchen ware. We use cast iron for cooking full time already. I season mine much like Michael.
One of the most interesting episodes yet! And “yes” it seems that everyone has their own opinion about seasoning their cast iron…I have mine but I know other methods work just as well and maybe even better.😉
I love beeswax and oil on my cast iron you heat both together it makes a suave. Works like a dream. If you dont make it you can buy it too. Love my cast iron
Having cooked in both, I think the Townsend's cast iron pots are much much better than the originals! He's outdone himself with those. :) also.. I had the bale cut off on mine and use an original hinged 18th c. pot lifter for it instead. I think it would make a very nice option if Mr. Townsend's smiths were able to reproduce the lifters.
wow, this was a wonderful video, thank you both, well thanks to the whole crew! I would so love to have such a nice collection. But some of these I have never seen before and now I know more what to watch for when I am out and about.
What a great episode! And fabulous collection 😍 Personally, I cook with seamless one piece wrought iron (and nickel-free stainless steel) pots and pans. It’s new tech using old materials. It’s not as cool as using really old pans, but instead of imagining backwards, I like to imagine forwards and think of who will be using my cookware hundreds of years in the future…
VERY TIGHT OPENING!!!! First 30 seconds were fabulous. Relationship to the cookware, relationship to the guest speaker/educator, all while drawing the audience in for relationship/experience. Townsend is on fire creatively, and in the moment...which always draws the audience to having that experience. Ok, now I'm gonna go finish watching this show!!! I'm an American wife and mother...who buys a lot of cast iron.
Great collection. thanks Michael. I love cast iron. pretty much cook with a variety of them skillets, dutch ovens, flat irons, etc. most of the time. In the summer they get used over the outside fire pit as well.
Canning, soap making, laundry, bathwater, dish washing water, cleaning - many uses for these things. There are quite a few TH-camrs who cook over campfires with similar things. Brilliant. I love my CI cookware. I have one OLD pan that's thin and smooth but someone put it on too high a flame to warm it and sure enough, it's a little warped. Still works great and rarely does anything stick!
We season our cast iron by rubbing it in hog's lard and setting it in a hardwood fire. As it seasons we add additional layers of fat and said it back in the fire. when we finally remove the pot we give it one more coating of hog's lard and let them cool down. Love the video
Loved loved this episode!! Cast iron cooking pans are the best! Appreciate the detailed info and historical uses of the different elements. I have a couple of skillets that have been passed down for three generations which isn't that long of a time but still holds great connections for me knowing that three other women in my family tree also fried chicken and flipped pancakes from this skillet ! Hopefully my grand children will take up the skillets when it is finally passed on! Or some other person who appreciates the utility and can enjoy them! Thank you again for the lovely video !
A awesome show, thanks guys for all the information on cast iron kitchen implements. I've learned something new today which is good. I always try to learn something every day and I can always rely on one of your videos to do it. 👍
The iron bakestone that is examined at 9m and is attributed to Scotland, is very like a Welsh 'bara planc', these are still available in most cooking shops in Wales - although they are usually about half the thickness of the one shown.
We have a big stone mortar and pestle. Wifey makes alot of her own things. It works great. We also have the little wood ones. An iron one would be cool
My favorite pieces of cast iron we have are long handled 3 pronged levers, (one curving up in the center and two curving the opposite direction on the sides to keep from slipping) that my poppy had forged to take the lids off our Dutch ovens without burning ourselves. They’re a lifesaver, especially when cooking and baking for all 12 of us.
I grew up in an old 1803 farm house. I recognized a few of these items that were hanging in the basement when I was a child. Good to finally know what they were for. I loved this episode!
What a pleasure to see these cooking tools, and especially the evidence of the hard-working cooks' handling of them until they were well used. I love my cast iron; nothing cooks like a properly seasoned iron surface. I still use a mortar and pestle. Mine is black granite and weights in at 8 pounds. There is a quality to the substances ground by hand that just cannot be achieved with a spice grinder or food processor.
I have a big footed cauldron that goes back at least to my great grandmother. For at least 60 years, it's had a large crack down the side, making it useless for cooking. I'm the third generation to use it for a flowerpot! It should last for another 60 years, with many a petunia or rosemary finding a home there. ♥️ From Kentucky
As a relative newcomer (5 or 6 years) to cast iron cooking/collecting, I found this video very informative. I love your collection! I have around 85 usable pieces I've restored but none as old as those. My pride and joy is a #9 Wagner waffle iron (pat 1896 I think, hard to read) that I use regularly to the delight of my family. Most of mine are 1900 on up, my newest being an Appalachian Cast Iron #8 Gem pan 2021. My largest is a 20 gallon kettle with legs and a drawn bale. Hoping to start its restoration this summer but boy is it heavy lol. Thanks for the great content!
Wonderful episode. I use my very modern cast iron pans often. I wish I'd been able to talk my grandmother into giving me some of hers. Lord knows how old they'd have been.
Thank you for this video! I loved the part where you talked about the seasoning of the cast iron cookware. I have two old pans that perhaps I could save because of your video. Thank you.
I have an old school forged tripod I put over the fire ring. I love my trammels and multi sized s hooks. for dutch oven cooking and such. Out here in the woods we cook over the fire a lot with cast iron and hand forged items. My fire anchor, spit, trivets, and squirrel cooker are more of my favorites as well.
My husband worked in the Logging Woods here in Deep East Texas all his life. About 30 years ago, one of the old saw hands came to my husband carrying a LARGE cast iron skillet. ....Toby told my husband he found the handle sticking out of the dirt. He asked my husband to restore it and give it to me....in exchange for a pan of biscuits for him on occasion. It's a 16" cast iron skillet! ...have to have 2 hands to use this one! I still think of Toby every time I use it. 🤗
Sweet!
Wonderful!
Thats such. Sweet story
Glad you are still using it
That's awesome! As a kid who grew up in the south, there's basically a cult around cast iron. There's a great big one that's almost 2 feet wide and almost looks like a shallow wok. I have no idea what was cooked in that one, but someone, somewhere in time, really needed a bloody great cast iron basin. It's always stumped me what it's for.
A couple of stories about culture shock: When my wife-to-be first visited my home in W. KY, she wondered what was in the coffee can hear the stove. Of course it was bacon grease. I had to show her our canister set, which had one labelled "grease" to convince her that people DO actually cook with it. The other thing she discovered in the garage was something hanging there in a greasy paper bag with cardboard on the floor. She described it to me, and exclaimed, "Dad got a ham! She was aghast when I told her how long it had likely hung there. I should mention that my father was a very successful surgeon, and I and my son are also physicians, and my brother a dentist and his daughter a physician. We were not poor farmers. I think my poor wife must have thought she had fallen into a time warp. Fortunately, she is still with me almost 47 years later.
Sometimes I laugh with people buying way expensive survival gear. Our greatest resource is our granparents and great grandparents and so on
I love this type of information. The common items people used in daily life are so often overlooked when learning about history.
Yeah, far too often the focus ends up being on big events and politics and war and what not but these are things that are as important in our daily lives as they were for people 300 years ago.
I always love seeing some of Michael's collection, when he demonstrates at living history events.
As a young woman growing up in VERY rural Italy, Parma to be exact, at the turn of the 20th Century my grandmother learned to cook using implements just like those, and on an open hearth as well.
Needless to say when she came to America and discovered the wonders of gas stoves she NEVER looked back!
That sounds amazing.
@@russellrlf Amazing all right, but in the old country Grandma didn't think anything of it, it's just how things were.
I'll tell you a story and I'll try to make it a brief as possible. I've got a very interesting book at home called "Down Jersey," published in 1940 and about some of the lore of southern New Jersey. Anyway the author of the book Cornelius Weigand knew an Italian immigrant who ran a shoe-shine stand in one of Philadelphia's train stations.
Anyway, the Italian gent visited a Colonial historic site in the Philly area, saw the kitchen fireplace with its utensils and recognized everything in it. Just like the house he grew up in in Calabria!
"In the old days, for all people everywhere it was just the same!" he said. He was right!
Gas stoves are amazing. I'm going back to the old ways homesteading though lol. I'm sure she's able to cook Gordon Ramsay under the table with modern equipment after doing things the old way for so long!
@@teekotrain6845 Sadly, Grandma's no longer with us, she passed away in 1982. But let me tell you, she WOULD have cooked Gordon Ramsey under the table!
And if he mouthed off to her like he's mouthed off to some of the people on his shows he'd have gotten a frying pan to the side of the head!
I don’t blame her! It made cooking easier. And if the gas went out, she knew how to cook with fire.
One of my ancestors built a house on the Shenandoah River in 1700.
He had a puddling Forge, maybe to do something like these...
The house is still these, the fireplace is enormous and I can see all of these in that fireplace...
Wonderful.
Puddling forge is for making Puddled Wrought Iron, highest quality Iron on the market for its time if its Thrice Puddled. You couldn't cast with a puddling furnace only forge weld.
I'm emailed Townsends awhile back begging for this exact topic to be covered!
Today is a happy day 😊
Shoulda joined his Patreon for faster response
I'd imagine the rounded bottom would actually help the castings work better and produce more usable pots, as a primary thing. From what I remember from casting classes (decades ago) the primary factor across ALL casting design is *speed*, getting your molten metal where it needs to be as fast as possible to minimize heat loss and differentials across the piece, and the round bottom would keep the metal moving much better by letting gravity help pull the metal into place instead of having to be pushed by the inflow through the gate.
The rounded bottom might also make it a more even-heating pot by spreading the heat for cooking more quickly and allowing hot air to spread up the sides so as to bring heat to the food from more directions at once.
I cook with a cast iron skillet that has been passed down my family for 160 years all the time. you cant beat well seasoned cast iron
A rounded bottom is used when making sauces. This prevents food gettin caught when trying to incorporate in to a sauce Like a French saucier
Thats why woks have a round bottom!
@@emccoy No woks have a round bottom so you can lean in over and only heat some of it while the other half of food is almost done. Making fried rice for instance. You lean it over as you incorporate the ingredients. Don't want your eggs burning.
Oh wow, that's great advice for modern use
"Saucier" is fun to say.
As an industrial Wood Pattern Maker who has made patterns for cast iron cookware I really appreciate this episode! Great stuff here.
In German we have a saying. When you have to move faster we say "Leg einen Zahn mehr zu" which translates to "Put one more tooth on!". It came from using the saw tooth. If you need a hotter pot you would have put it on a lower tooth so it boils faster.
Thank you for sharing that! Pretty unique! :D
In Dutch we have the same but the other way around 'Zet het een tandje lager' ('Put it a tooth lower'), but it means you should slow something down, interestingly enough.
You could say you should 'put it a tooth higher' as well but then it means you should speed up.
I don't think it has to do with boiling pots though, but some other mechanism now lost to time.
@@A_A828 That's very interesting. I didn't know that. 😊
As a kid of German grandparents, I'm into it.
I learned the meaning of this German idiom at Marksburg near my home on the Rhine river. Wanted to share this when I saw you already posted the German idiom!
My mother had an antique Swedish tea kettle, made from copper, tinned on the inside, with three forged iron legs, which had been riveted to the top of the kettle, and a wooden handle which stuck out from a sleeve which had been brazed to the side of the kettle, 90 degrees from the spout. One leg had been repaired by riveting another length of forged iron to it to extend it where the old leg had been broken off, short. She would use it in the fireplace at Christmas time to make spiced tea, and mulled wine. Still working after over 200 years!
tea is probably fine, but mulling wine in it might be dangerous. Alot of those old materials such as copper, tin, and pewter would leach out when exposed to acid especially if you cook it for a long time like tomato sauce or canning. Wine is only mildly acidic and not cooked for very long but its not a good thing for your health if it does leach out.
@@mcgrawnelson4722
Actually, the tin coatings inside copper pots and pans is to protect against copper leaching - especially when cooking acidic foods.
Doesn't tin contain led?
@@ifyouloveChristyouwillobeyhim
No. Tin is an element, and doesn't leach into food. Some tin *compounds* can be quite toxic, put pure elemental tin is quite safe. That's why they coat the insides of copper cookware with it. The copper can leach into food, and build up in the body to unsafe levels. The tin coatings prevent that.
I'll bet that you're thinking of solder, which is an alloy of tin and lead. Solder lined cookware would (indeed) be quite dangerous.
Hi:
Gentleman knows how to cook , but not a Blacksmith. The round hole tramel is made from bloom iron , that is why it has all the delaminations.
The waffle iron is a very well forged pro made one , not some home made crude job. Same with the basket handled stove lifter, a simpler to make item , but well done. I like the segment overall , but feel the need to point these things out. I have made my living for 42 years as a Blacksmith and know how to make all these items and can well judge the skill needed ,
Daniel Tokar
The Willow Forge
Do you have a web page and can we order from it???
@@mysticmeg111 Hi: Yes, webpage and youtube channel. You will have to google willowforge , they don't let you post addresses and links.
TH-cam search Daniel Tokar.
I make things to order, send me an email and I can give you a price and an idea of how long it will be.
Thanks
Daniel Tokar
The Willow Forge
Hey Daniel tokar from the willow forge, I want to get into blacksmithing but it seems like an expensive hobby (power hammer, kiln, all that stuff is very expensive) is there some way to get into it as a hobby without spending a ton?
@@lordbarron3352The complete Modern Blacksmith by Weygers , is the best overall book on improvised blacksmith shops and tools. If you have the time , you can make everything from scrap for very little money.
He was a Merchant Sailor 60 years ago and had to fix parts in remote locations around the world and he watched local craftsmen make stuff in those places. Great book to start.
Daniel
@@danieltokar1000 they can just click your name and that takes them to your TH-cam page
I can actually see why you'd want a round bottom for saucepans. I find that using a wood spoon or a whisk is so much easier in a round bottomed bowl vs my modern saucepan. Getting the flour out of the inner corners while making a gravy is sooo annoying! I wish we could bring those back!
Michael is a great guest. I always enjoy the videos with him.
I love cast iron. I grew up in Charleston and remember watching wrought iron being made into fencing. Fascinating!! Thank you for having this amazing guest on the show!
I've always been enamored of cast iron cookware. I didn't inherit any pieces or buy any antiques, just purchased the modern ones. I had one for a long time, and it was well seasoned. Sadly, one time I set it on the stove burner to dry off, and forgot about it. My routine was to finish up the kitchen cleanup, then take the iron skillet off the burner. Well, I forgot and left the kitchen. Some time later I smelled something burning, then heard a small explosion. It was the skillet cracking in two, split down the middle crosswise (perpendicular to the handle). There was nothing for it but to turn off the burner and let it cool down. Ever since then I stand right at the stove when the skillets are on the burner drying.
Sounds like it had an innate casting flaw, probably a bit of the casting sand or an air bubble in the metal, or mishandling at the factory causing a difficult to see hairline crack. A cleanly cast and undamaged piece should be able to easily withstand heating to red-hot, well beyond the temperature range possible with any common house stove, without any damage (aside from burning off the seasoning).
@@EphemeralTao I was thinking that exact same thing.
I agree with luchog, a bad casting. Be glad for the time that you had it.
I had that happen…put an enameled iron skillet on the stove eye, preheated it, turned to put the steak in-and bang, a piece of iron shot past my face and the skillet cracked in half. A flaw in the iron, apparently. Certainly an eye-opening moment.
I set a timer when I put my cast iron on the burner to dry just so I don't forget it by accident.
I have a metal trivet with a ceramic tile on it that I use to put under various hot pans and dishes when i want to put them on the countertop or the table so the surface doesn't get burned. Last night I put it under the air fryer pan so the counter top didn't get damaged. It's basically very old tech holding up something very new tech.
This was fascinating. Working with iron tools over fires several times a day, I wonder how common it was to burn oneself
I like how Jon lets his quest have the show when demonstrating their specialty.
That is how I seasoned my cast iron. I have a cast iron skillet from 1880 and a Dutch oven from 1840. Both purchased at tag sales. Had a bear of a time restoring them, but love them.
I would love to have an antique Dutch oven. I asked for one as a Christmas gift years ago, but never had the heart to tell my husband the the Lodge one he got me wasn't right (the lid is convex so there is no way to put coals on top to make it an oven).
I have several vintage skillets and they are my favourite cookware.
@@heidim7732 mine are inherited from a family members. I do a lot of cooking outside so I use them a lot.
This was awesome! When Michael was talking about being a steward for that simple lifter thing ( I forget what it was called, lol), it was such a beautiful sentiment. Antiques like that, still in use, still having life, what a connection that must be to the people of the past.
Seeing how these things are built and what purpose they serve is always fascinating.
Kya
Ar to
They’re great tools. No plastics to produce waste to the land fills.
@@ramencurry6672
Who in their right mind would cook food with plastic utensils?
It's kinda funny, the name salamander has still stuck in the restaurant industry. They have this little specialty high temperature finishing broiler called a salamander broiler that is very popular among high end restaurants.
In German there's the saying "Leg mal einen Zahn zu!" (Roughly: "Put on another tooth") when you want someone to hurry up. It's derrived from the sawtooth they used back then, meaning "Put your dish closer to the fire so it cooks faster". Funny how things go
Honestly the blow torch kinda sucks unless you are trained haha. I always screw up my creme brulee
It goes back to the Romans. They believed a salamander was created in fire, and breathed fire. The name of tools like that is an allusion to it.
If you've ever seen the logo for the Italian petroleum company Agip, it's a salamander.
When French director Francois Truffaut filmed his version of "Fahrenheit 451", he used the salamander as the symbol of the firemen, too.
@@MrCarlbrooks You can still buy the irons and use them. Though I guess it's definitely a choice, a fashion, to use one, rather than necessity.
Every Chinese restaurant has one they use it to cook the BBQ ribs
I know this is probably just vocabulary in the heat of the moment, but I’ll throw this in because there’s a lot of misinformation out there about how to care for cast iron cookware, and I had to learn the hard way.
When seasoning cast iron, you are trying to *polymerize* the fat (fat chains cross-linking at high heat, forming a hard plastic-like layer), not carbonize it (burning food to soot). Carbonizing usually happens when someone is scared to thoroughly clean their pan and leaves a thin layer of food residue. When they cook again, the food residue burns to carbon, and a layer of seasoning build on top of that layer of carbonized food. Repeat a few times, you’ll get a “gunk/seasoning lasagne” which will easily chip and flake off (which probably reinforces the false myth that you shouldn’t use soap with cast iron). Proper seasoning involves clean layers of seasoning built up over time, each layer polymerized or cross-linked to each other to make a very strong and smooth surface. Any carbonized food present will prevent those layers from attaching to each other. Our great grandmothers used lye soap to clean their cast iron, so we shouldn’t be afraid of using some milder dish soap with each use. I used to believe that false myth that you should never use soap on cast iron, and only used a scouring pad, and my seasoning flaked and chipped all the time. Then I read an article by a modern cast iron skillet maker, who debunked that, showing that not only is proper seasoning very strong, but also it is chemically unaffected by soaps or detergents (you know this if you’ve ever tried to clean hardened grease off a fryer or range hood!) I started scrubbing my cast iron with dish soap after reading that years ago, and I haven’t had any flaking. I haven’t needed to re-season a pan since.
Other myths include that it has to smoke to polymerize and that moderate seasoning temperatures yield a soft deposit (certainly slower but not softer).
One thing: lye soaps, like castile soap and Neutrogena(R), aren't necessarily harsh.
Awesome job Jon and Michael, your collection of Colonial Cookware is fantastic. Really enjoyed this video and will be sharing this alot. Thank you so much for keeping OUR HISTORY ALIVE. Fred.
As a prepper and homesteader, I find these explorations into the intricate details of early American cooking, building, and society to be incredibly important and valuable.
Keep up the great work!
They are just so useful and if taken care of last for ever
I'd love to see you do a video about how people took care of babies and toddlers in the 1700's. No one ever talks about that. I'd love to know about how they kept them safe, what kind of toys they played with, and what kind of activities people did with them back then.
That would be super interesting
Yes! When did play pens start evolving?
@@vgil1278 I'm sure many people made them back then.
@@Melissa0774 Sorry. No. Playpens were invented in 1922 by Emma Read.
@@robinlillian9471 Maybe, but I'm sure there had to be unofficial versions of them that people made before that.
Exactly the type of ironware that I want on the hearth in my planned log cabin restoration... I have a few already.. my favorite
is the legged 12in. skillet my father had and used on fishing trips when I was a boy...
My uncle received from his granfather an old cast iron cauldron, so old that the bottom was worn to the point of breaking with a wooden spoon.
It was a large and decorated piece, about 20 liters, with the feet shaped like lion paws and the brim with a patern of twisted vines.
It became a very fancy plant vase.
Thanks for sharing your marvelous collection, Michael. Really enjoyed seeing the variety.
I love this show and it's one of the best on youtube. Always cheers me up. pasta Grannies is my other big favourite, new episode each Friday and is always so sheering.
I absolutely love cooking over an open fire with cast iron pots and implements! I have bought a few pieces off of you Jon.
My grandmother had a favorite way to season cast iron. She had 2 stoves, a 1943 Frigidaire electric and a wood stove. She didn't like getting either up to 500. So she'd get garbage fatty meat and fry it. She'd smear it around a bit. Once it was done, she'd clean the skillet and toss the meat. After the third time, she'd taste the meat to see if it was ready or if it had a metallic taste.
Before you knock me, one traditional way to season a wok is similar.
I do that with a slice of bacon.
@@goatkidmom that was usually what she'd use. But it had to be the cheap mostly fat bacon. She wanted as much fat in the skillet as she could get.
Similar to what I do, although I just grab a chunk of lard. Once it’s good enough, cornbread finishes it off.
I am glad that someone is out there collecting these wonderful pieces; I love my cast iron and I'm thrilled to see that not much has changed with it.
@townsends That is some nice heavy metal!
It's absolutely fascinating learning about the kinds of utensils they used then.
NOUN
utensils (plural noun)
an implement, container, or other article, especially for household use.
"kitchen utensils"
you mean spoons, forks, and knives?
Jon and Michael, proving you don't need a degree to be an expert in history. Great information, great video!
Schools are indoctrination stations. I learned more in my first year out of school than my entire time in school.
@@teekotrain6845 Same here (and I'm a teacher!).
Just traced back one of our family lines to Jamestown in 1609 and read a huge last will and testament of that lines from 1786. What cool family lineage I came across! Several of the members fought in the militia against Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Guillford courthouse in N. Carolina. Time to make some meals they may have eaten now! Love your videos! And what a fascinating period to learn about!
I havs a few relatives who were born in the colonies in the 1600's.
Jon and Michael, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Michael, what a great collection you have! Thank you for explaining that you are simply the steward of these pieces while they are in your possession and that someone else will take on that role when you pass them on to another. Also, it’s great to see how people made due and put their skills to work. A piece may not have been the prettiest, but it was functional and got the job done. Thanks again for this very informative episode!
I’ve forged so many s hooks! I really want to build an outdoor kitchen right next to my garden. I’m familiar with the cooking style and I’m somewhat proficient but there’s always something new to learn! I’m slowly building my kitchen ware. We use cast iron for cooking full time already. I season mine much like Michael.
What type of oil do you use?
Im planning on building an outdoor kitchen this summer
One of the most interesting episodes yet! And “yes” it seems that everyone has their own opinion about seasoning their cast iron…I have mine but I know other methods work just as well and maybe even better.😉
This reminds so much of my grandma. It is the 1st time I'm coming across this channel and I don't doubt I'll watch every single episode you make.
Michael is such a nice guy and anxious to give out his knowledge. John is very knowledgeable too and you two go well together as teachers. 👍🏻
Thank you! I love seeing historical cookware and kitchens. I find them super interesting.
I love beeswax and oil on my cast iron you heat both together it makes a suave. Works like a dream. If you dont make it you can buy it too. Love my cast iron
One of the best videos you’ve ever done. Bravo.
Having cooked in both, I think the Townsend's cast iron pots are much much better than the originals! He's outdone himself with those. :)
also.. I had the bale cut off on mine and use an original hinged 18th c. pot lifter for it instead. I think it would make a very nice option if Mr. Townsend's smiths were able to reproduce the lifters.
wow, this was a wonderful video, thank you both, well thanks to the whole crew! I would so love to have such a nice collection. But some of these I have never seen before and now I know more what to watch for when I am out and about.
What a great episode! And fabulous collection 😍
Personally, I cook with seamless one piece wrought iron (and nickel-free stainless steel) pots and pans. It’s new tech using old materials. It’s not as cool as using really old pans, but instead of imagining backwards, I like to imagine forwards and think of who will be using my cookware hundreds of years in the future…
By far one of your more inforative videos John. Thanks for bringing in the items Michael. This is a wonderful episode.
This is especially useful when you're looking through 18 century estate inventories (I as I recently needed to) and see certain terms. Thanks. :)
VERY TIGHT OPENING!!!! First 30 seconds were fabulous. Relationship to the cookware, relationship to the guest speaker/educator, all while drawing the audience in for relationship/experience. Townsend is on fire creatively, and in the moment...which always draws the audience to having that experience. Ok, now I'm gonna go finish watching this show!!! I'm an American wife and mother...who buys a lot of cast iron.
I like how you can see Michael's nerdiness and joy when he talks about the details on this or that piece :)
Every single time I see a new video from these guys, I'm reminded about how dope they are. Keep up the good work guys!
What a wonderful collection! We love our old cast iron. It’s all we use. Still looking for some with the legs on.
Great collection. thanks Michael. I love cast iron. pretty much cook with a variety of them skillets, dutch ovens, flat irons, etc. most of the time. In the summer they get used over the outside fire pit as well.
This episode is already one of my favorites. Thank you so much.
Canning, soap making, laundry, bathwater, dish washing water, cleaning - many uses for these things. There are quite a few TH-camrs who cook over campfires with similar things. Brilliant. I love my CI cookware. I have one OLD pan that's thin and smooth but someone put it on too high a flame to warm it and sure enough, it's a little warped. Still works great and rarely does anything stick!
This was fun to watch! As you guys were displaying the pieces I was thinking how great the seasoning looked. I’m glad you touched on the topic
i live in NH and metal detect as a hobby....this is amazing to ID many pieces ive dug. love it!
Thank you for taking me away from a very troubled war for thirty minutes, gentlemen. Immersive, educational, and fascinating.
The twisty handle on that lifter has a functional use! The greater surface area to volume ratio makes it cool faster.
Yes, he said that; but he also said it still gets quite hot.
We season our cast iron by rubbing it in hog's lard and setting it in a hardwood fire. As it seasons we add additional layers of fat and said it back in the fire. when we finally remove the pot we give it one more coating of hog's lard and let them cool down. Love the video
That was fantastic, thank you both for so much information that was very entertainingly presented. 😀
Loved loved this episode!! Cast iron cooking pans are the best! Appreciate the detailed info and historical uses of the different elements. I have a couple of skillets that have been passed down for three generations which isn't that long of a time but still holds great connections for me knowing that three other women in my family tree also fried chicken and flipped pancakes from this skillet ! Hopefully my grand children will take up the skillets when it is finally passed on! Or some other person who appreciates the utility and can enjoy them! Thank you again for the lovely video !
You had me at the thumbnail. I collect antique cast iron. Sure enough this is the best channel on the internets
I'm surprised there isn't a company from India, as they still cast things the old way, making these in replicas.
Woowww. Every video of yours just fills my heart with satisfaction.
Best video in a while. Cooking-adjacent videos (without actually cooking a recipe) are valid and amazing! Loved it!
That is a wonderful collection of antique cookware, thanks for sharing it with us!
always a pleasure to listen to michael.
Love love love Michael. He is so knowledgable but unpretentious. A warm snd wonderful man.
I watched this video while cooking dinner in my antique cast iron pan. 😁 I appreciated your seasoning tips - I'm due to re-season my cast iron!
Great segment. Thank you both.
What about food and ingredient storage?
This was a fantastic video. So interesting to see how people cooked their food, back then, and cooking implements that were used. Cheers!
Yessss. Been waiting for this one!
Love this stuff. Thanks to your friend for bringing them.
A awesome show, thanks guys for all the information on cast iron kitchen implements. I've learned something new today which is good. I always try to learn something every day and I can always rely on one of your videos to do it. 👍
gotta love cast iron, my oldest piece is from the early 1800's i believe, my every day pan is early 20's, absolutely fantastic!
The iron bakestone that is examined at 9m and is attributed to Scotland, is very like a Welsh 'bara planc', these are still available in most cooking shops in Wales - although they are usually about half the thickness of the one shown.
We have a big stone mortar and pestle. Wifey makes alot of her own things. It works great. We also have the little wood ones. An iron one would be cool
My favorite pieces of cast iron we have are long handled 3 pronged levers, (one curving up in the center and two curving the opposite direction on the sides to keep from slipping) that my poppy had forged to take the lids off our Dutch ovens without burning ourselves. They’re a lifesaver, especially when cooking and baking for all 12 of us.
I grew up in an old 1803 farm house. I recognized a few of these items that were hanging in the basement when I was a child. Good to finally know what they were for. I loved this episode!
Round bottoms have more surface area to the coals and also easier to spoon for mixing. Lovely video- Longfellow's Blacksmith
What a pleasure to see these cooking tools, and especially the evidence of the hard-working cooks' handling of them until they were well used. I love my cast iron; nothing cooks like a properly seasoned iron surface. I still use a mortar and pestle. Mine is black granite and weights in at 8 pounds. There is a quality to the substances ground by hand that just cannot be achieved with a spice grinder or food processor.
My cast iron pans are work horses . Best non stick cookery I've ever owned.
I have a big footed cauldron that goes back at least to my great grandmother. For at least 60 years, it's had a large crack down the side, making it useless for cooking. I'm the third generation to use it for a flowerpot! It should last for another 60 years, with many a petunia or rosemary finding a home there. ♥️ From Kentucky
What a wonderful, informative, vlog!!
One of my all time favorites, so far.
Another great video, thanks Townsend team!
As a relative newcomer (5 or 6 years) to cast iron cooking/collecting, I found this video very informative. I love your collection! I have around 85 usable pieces I've restored but none as old as those. My pride and joy is a #9 Wagner waffle iron (pat 1896 I think, hard to read) that I use regularly to the delight of my family. Most of mine are 1900 on up, my newest being an Appalachian Cast Iron #8 Gem pan 2021. My largest is a 20 gallon kettle with legs and a drawn bale. Hoping to start its restoration this summer but boy is it heavy lol.
Thanks for the great content!
Thank you for displaying so many great cooking items and giving me so many ideas for my blacksmithing adventures.
Michael's way of seasoning is perfect! I don't doubt he'll get letters from people, but his way works super well!
Yes. You don’t want puddling because it will make a film over it.
Very nice--especially the cauldrons!
Awesome episode guys.
Wonderful episode. I use my very modern cast iron pans often. I wish I'd been able to talk my grandmother into giving me some of hers. Lord knows how old they'd have been.
Thank you for this video! I loved the part where you talked about the seasoning of the cast iron cookware. I have two old pans that perhaps I could save because of your video. Thank you.
I have an old school forged tripod I put over the fire ring. I love my trammels and multi sized s hooks. for dutch oven cooking and such. Out here in the woods we cook over the fire a lot with cast iron and hand forged items. My fire anchor, spit, trivets, and squirrel cooker are more of my favorites as well.
Excellent 👏👏👏 I enjoyed this video immensely ☺️ Thank you!
I would so love to make a pilgrimage to John's store. Such a long drive, but worth it someday.
17:20 the twist in the handle he's referring to is called a basket twist. Mostly decorative, but it gives the tool a nice shape to fit in the hand