Seasoned cast iron... seasoned supple souls

One of my wedding presents was a black iron skillet, a gift from mama. She had four iron frying pans. One was a large high sided skillet with a lid used for frying chicken. There was another one about the same size but shallower for cooking bacon and eggs. Daddy liked his eggs fried over easy, basted in the bacon grease and served over grits. The small skillet was not used much. Then there was the skillet with only a lip around the edge. This was used to cook hoe cakes, a crispy cornmeal patty. Nothing fancy about these skillets... no ridges to drain away grease, no see through lids.
When Teflon coated skillets came out, we gave it a try and soon tossed them to the back of the cabinet. Iron skillets seasoned and properly cared for are as slick as Teflon and better for you. Every young woman in the South knew how to season an iron skillet. Rub it down with lard or shortening and cook in a slow oven for several hours until slick and shiny. Never let water stand in it. Scrub it with a dry salt rub and wipe it out. If you need to, use hot water to wash it but no soap, and dry thoroughly. If your frying pan lost its seasoning or rusted because of carelessness, it was very forgiving. Just repeat the original process to restore its usefulness.
My cast iron collection has expanded over the years. We picked up some cornbread stick pans at an antiques store. Sonoma and Williams had a Christmas tree shaped cornbread pan one year on sale. Michael got interested in cooking in cast iron and we have two huge cast iron Dutch ovens for soups and stews. I have a biscuit pan with individual compartments for the biscuits, a long rectangular pan that covers two burners and its lid serves as a griddle, a very large skillet that will scramble dozens of eggs and trivets to keep them from burning surfaces. At a neighborhood auction, we bought an old cast iron waffle iron. Skillets from my grandmothers are among my frying pan collection. Worn smooth and shiny slick from years of use, they are heart treasures for me.
My daddy’s mother, GrandMary, made biscuits three times a day for every meal. She had a good hand for biscuits. They were light and soft, made for butter melting. I used to watch her work up her dough. She never measured anything, the measurements known by sight. After the mixing and kneading, she would pinch off a piece, shape it, place it in the cast iron skillet and pat it down. Sometimes she would pat the tops with milk. For children’s snacks, she would make us a sugar biscuit by poking a hole in a left over biscuit and filling it with sugar. In retrospect, the sugar was probably less than a teaspoon but it tasted wonderful to us children. Try as I might, my biscuits never look nor taste like hers. They are the Gold Standard of biscuit making.
In this season of Beginning Again, the Age of Resolutions, I turn to my cast iron pans for comfort and resolve. The Time of Darkness is lightened by soups cooked and shared from cast iron kettles. Biscuits and cornbread crispy brown come to the table for butter and honey, a taste of sweetness in this cold, cold winter. If you need to cook soup in a hurry, use the pressure cooker, but you won’t get the same deep, rich flavor that comes from all day simmering in a cast iron pot.Cast iron pans heat evenly and slowly with no hot spots so they are ideal for baking and simmering. They are heavy and do take tender care but nothing worth doing is ever easy, or so my grandma used to say. For me, the quality of the food prepared in cast iron more than makes up for any “inconvenience.” And someday they will pass on to the next generation who will, I hope, appreciate them for the slow time, the take time to do it right qualities they possess. Perhaps they will be treasures of the heart for some of those who will come after me.
Dear God, let my cast iron soul be seasoned again this year with the grease of your goodwill. Let me soak up your goodness and grace in the oven of life, the heat of troubles and joys. Refresh and renew a right spirit within me so that I might be supple and limber in body, mind and soul as I live through this Year of Our Lord 2010. And when I fall short, when my soul gets rusty from neglect and abuse, call me back to myself and to You. Let me be useful this year to You and to others, I pray. Thank you for keeping me as a heart treasure. Amen.