Period Cast iron skillets

[Clark Badgett]

How many here have period cast iron cookware that they use at LHs? The closest I have is late 1870s, and has been in my family for 5 generations. I have often wondered why most of the progressive military reenactors will snub their noses at Cast iron in general, when a small era skillet often weighs less than those made from sheet iron, and are often smaller. Anyone often wonder what I am wondering.

[calico_outlaw]

Re: Period Cast iron skillets

I am not sure exactly when cast iron was mass produced. I do an 1850s Western post impression and I was using a cast iron pot. I say used because I cant document its authenticity and I found something interesting. In 1856 the steamboat Arabia was carrying goods to western settlements along the Missouri. The ship sank and its cargo was completely preserved, the food stores where still edible. The ship was carrying dishware, tools, clothing, guns, food, medical supplies and Jewelry. An inquire to the museum let me know that they have not uncovered one cast iron pot or dutch oven. This is suspicous because of the rural settlements that it was catering to. If you want further info, their web site is

https://www.1856.com

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[Johan Steele]

Re: Period Cast iron skillets

Cast Iron has been around since before the time of Christ, HOWEVER, and it's a big However what we call modern Cast Iron is quite a bit different than what was used prior to about 1880. THere is an earlier thread on this site that is well worth searching for. Cast Iron was heavily used for tools and IIRC this is where the improvement came from and it trickled down into cookware in the late 1870's-1880's.

[Drygoods]

Re: Period Cast iron skillets

Greetings,

In reply to your question about using real cast iron. I do. Perhaps it is because I live in an old remote area, but mine is from early 1850s. They have a nice hand forged handle with rivets. Also, the end of the handle has a nice little circle swirl just big enough for my thumb and very handy for hanging with a square nail on the wall.

I also have a large collection of antique spider pots, roughly 18 of those. Spider pots seem to be a dime a dozen in this part of the country. I have about five spider kettles. Most folks here use them for planters with that shabby chic idea of decorating. My husband hates them as they tend to scatter across the garage floor. When I choose to grill, I use a bent wagon wheel which works perfectly and was often used by those who had already arrived at their destination.

I run a period boarding house and so kitchen supplies are very important to me. It does take time to find all the necessary goods to outfit a kitchen, but it should look period and function well. My only real thought as to why you can find such a high number of period pots in an area is that after they reached their destination in travels, it was either too much to continue traveling with or worth bartering away for food.

There are quite a few books that help describe what period untensils and pots you should look for. For who to lay out a period style kitchen room, try Period Kitchens by Judith Miller 1995. For how to recognize period cookware and how to use it try The Forgotten Arts & Crafts 2001 (excellent source guide). Last, I would suggest The Country Kitchen with is a Time Life (American Country series)....this one is nice because it not only shows what cast iron was used at the hearth, but a general overview of what to cook with cast iron. Both of those last two books, especially the Forgotten Arts & Crafts should be read as just about everything in it was second nature to anyone of the 19th Century, especially those living in rural areas.

Ok, more than my 2 cents worth of saying yes I use period cookware....so put 50 cents on my tab. :wink_smil

Mfr,
Judith Peebles

[Hank Trent]

Re: Period Cast iron skillets

An inquire to the museum let me know that they have not uncovered one cast iron pot or dutch oven.

That makes no sense. The following is from the list of items found on the Arabia, published in "Treasure in a Cornfield, the Discovery and Excavation of the Steamboat Arabia," by Greg Hawley. I've not included the cast iron parts of the boat, or the cast iron building items like doorknobs.

Pot with swing handle cast iron 10
skillet with long handle cast iron 13
griddle cast iron 2
pot with three feet cast iron 2
meat grinder cast iroin 1
griddle cast iron 3
grain grinder cast iron 4
kettle with lid, spout, cast iron 2
deep skillet w/handle, pouring lip cast iron 1
stove cast iron 1
stove base cast iron 12
coffee mill wrench cast iron 25
Pot with flared rim cast iron 1
pot with straight sides cast iron 1
stove foot cast iron 26
meat grinder with handle cast iron/wood 1
sad iron cast iron 23
glue pot cast iron 2
ladle with pouring edge cast iron (included with tools, probably for melting metal rather than food use) 1

Someone who visited the museum a few years ago was kind enough to send me some pictures of items on display, and there's a wall of cast iron pots beside the ironstone dishes. A couple of the pots are also pictured in Treasure in a Cornfield.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Period Cast iron skillets

How many here have period cast iron cookware that they use at LHs? The closest I have is late 1870s, and has been in my family for 5 generations. I have often wondered why most of the progressive military reenactors will snub their noses at Cast iron in general, when a small era skillet often weighs less than those made from sheet iron, and are often smaller. Anyone often wonder what I am wondering.

I have several original cast iron pots and pans. One bake kettle and lid has been dated to the late 18th century and together they weigh over 30 pounds. I also have a smaller spider, as well as several stove top pieces and a scotch bowl.

From what I have researched there are two types of period cast iron skillets, spider pans (those with legs) used in hearth cooking and cast iron used on cook stoves. Oftentimes, when one purchased a cast iron stove, a set of stove furniture came with the stove or had to be purchased.

In the Russell & Erwin 1865 hardware catalogue, there were several pages of cast iron cookware. They had both the spiders and the flat bottomed ones, as well as bake pans that were similar to our muffin tins, enameled cast iron cookware. The bake pans were called cast iron and the other pieces were called hollow ware.

I also checked in _Historic Accounts_ and found quite a few cast iron pots and pans being sold. One interesting aside was that the cast iron pots, pans and lids were sold by weight and usually sold separately. The going rate per pound of a pot or lid was 4 1/2 pence or 6 cents per pound. (The shilling and pence notations were found in a number of store ledgers at that time but referrred to U S money and not English shillings and pence. A more complete explanation is found in _Historic Accounts_.) The porcelain lined kettles were priced differently; they had a specific price rather than being sold by weight.

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Period Cast iron skillets

That makes no sense. The following is from the list of items found on the Arabia, published in "Treasure in a Cornfield, the Discovery and Excavation of the Steamboat Arabia," by Greg Hawley. I've not included the cast iron parts of the boat, or the cast iron building items like doorknobs.


Someone who visited the museum a few years ago was kind enough to send me some pictures of items on display, and there's a wall of cast iron pots beside the ironstone dishes. A couple of the pots are also pictured in Treasure in a Cornfield.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

I checked my pictures of the Arabia and of the cast iron items on display, they had the pot bellied kettles on legs, tea kettles, coffee grinders, both spider and flat bottomed skillets, flat bottomed deep pots, plus two enamel lined cast iron pots.