Spicy Black-Eyed Peas

Posted on by December 31, 2023

The recipe below was first made while at the farm during Christmas 2013. It is based on Paula Deen’s recipe you can view by clicking here. Our version is provided below as edited by Mary.

The first time we only made ½-pound of peas so reduced her quantities by half and substituted a few of our ingredients. The ingredients below are for 1/2 pound of peas.

Ingredients

We used about three cups of spiral-cut ham chopped into about 3/4″ squares.
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
8-ounces dried black-eyed peas, washed and soaked water which was brought to a boil for 1 hour.
2/3rd of a 12-ounce Rotel tomatoes with green chiles
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili power – we did not have this and I am not such a fan of chili powder so skipped it.
1/2 teaspoon A couple of good shakes from a commercial shaker of “freshly” i.e. recently home-ground black pepper
1-1/2 cups water – use homemade chicken stock if you have it handy – we did not this time.

Directions

  1. Add the peas to boiling water and bring back to a boil. Turn off heat, cover and let sit for one hour. Pour off the water.
  2. In No. 9 cast iron double skillet, saute the ham, onions, and garlic, adding about half the suggested salt and pepper until onions are tender.
  3. Add diced tomatoes, green chiles, and water. Stir until well blended then add the peas. Add water to have peas covered by no more than 1/2″.
  4. Add to skillet and cook over medium heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the peas are tender. Add additional water, if necessary. Salt and Pepper to taste.

They are now ready to serve……beware, these get better and better as you eat them as leftovers. You will be hooked.

No. 3 Birmingham Stove & Range’s Red Mountain series Skillet

Posted on by November 28, 2013

Bought on Ebay on Nov. 27, 2013 for $20.00 with shipping for $5.95. Did not bid as bought it with the “Buy Now” offered by seller. Seller was theuermann of Des Moines, Iowa.

No3G BSR insideNo3G BSR top No3G BSR bottom

Seller responded to my inquiry about the skillet’s history as follows: (S)he acquired it when “ picking up pieces at auctions and flea markets and I have fallen in love with [CI] now as well. Part of the the reason I love cast iron so much, besides its amazing cooking ability, is the history and mystery behind the CRUD that comes on the pieces we find. Who used it? What did they cook in it? What was their life like? It is kind of romantic to think of the stories cast iron tell. 🙂

When we got this pan, it was so heavily coated with years of “love” (crud), I couldn’t make much out as far as identifying it. I consulted some friends in a cast iron Facebook group, researched one of my favorite cast iron websites and discovered I had this little gem. When I get a piece that is covered in crud, I place it in a large of lye & water. That is a standard cleaning process for cast iron covered in years of build up. Once it comes out, I place it in a tub of vinegar and water to neutralize the lye and remove any remaining rust. ”

In another paragraph he referred me to the Cast Iron Collector page on BSR. The fact that he used that page to classify the pan explains why I found the plan classified correctly before I decided to buy it.

Cast Iron Collector says:
All BSR
– If heat ring, unbroken and inset
– Ridge on bottom of skillet handle does not flatten out at sidewall of pan

1930s-1940s “Red Mountain” series
– ¾” high size number, typically followed by pattern letter(s) or dots at 6 o’clock
– Older examples often seen with number skewed to 6:30 and pattern letter at 5:30
– Older Red Mountain examples have larger pour spouts than later

Therefore my conclusion for its date of manufacture is about 1940.

 

Crusty No Knead Bread ToTry

Posted on by September 28, 2016
Most Awesome Crusty No Knead Bread
By the kitchen whisperer on Facebook.
First made fall of 2013.
Ingredients:

3 cups bread flour
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp table salt
1 1/2-3/4 cups water (room temp)
Any add-ins you want (nuts, dried fruits, cheese, spices etc…)

Instructions:

  1. In a large bowl add in the flour, yeast and salt. You need to make sure the bowl is at least 2 times the size as this will easily double in volume.
  2. Whisk to combine.
  3. Add in the water and mix with a wooden spoon – do NOT use a stand mixer.
  4. Mix it until it’s combined and forms a ‘shaggy’ dough. Just make sure that all the flour is incorporated. It will not be a smooth dough – that’s how it’s supposed to be.
  5. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place overnight for at least 12 hours but no more than 24.
  6. When you’re ready to bake, put the rack in the middle and preheat to 450F.
  7. When the oven reaches temp, put your dutch oven pot in the oven WITH THE LID on.
  8. Let it heat up for 30 minutes.
  9. While that’s heating up, use a dough scraper and scrape your dough onto a heavily floured surface (or you can flour parchment paper and put it on there). *See note
  10. Shape into a ball, tucking the sides under. It will be sticky but that’s good.
  11. Cover lightly with plastic until the 30 minutes is up.
  12. Remove the pot from the oven and plop the ball down in. Or if you transferred it to a floured parchment paper, you can place the whole thing inside (try to remove the excess flour).
  13. Replace the lid and bake for 30 minutes. No peaking!
  14. Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes.
  15. Remove from the oven and using tongs remove the bread and cool on cooling rack.

Notes:
If you’re not comfortable with shaping the dough, when you remove the pot from the oven after 30 minutes you can carefully just pour the dough into the pot. It won’t be a perfectly round bread loaf but that’s okay – it’s just rustic. If you do pour it in, just jostle the pan around to kind of even out the dough before putting the lid on. But practice with shaping the dough. You can’t screw it up.

Mary’s Red Beans

Posted on by January 17, 2025

She made this for the first time on 10/5/13 by combining several recipes found at Allrecipes.com. The best we ever made. We have used this recipe many times and on 1/16/2025 we made it again with a few changes as noted below.

1 pound dried red beans. Dropped in boiling water to sit for one hour to remove sugars. Then pour off the red water and rinse.

Saute the following in a cast iron skillet till the onions are translucent and pepper still firm:
1 yellow onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped (1/16/2024 – 6 small bells from the garden)
2 stalks celery, chopped

Add all the above to the ingredients below in a No. 4 cast iron scotch pot. Cover with a commercial aluminum pizza pan for the first three hours of simmering.

  1. 8 C   Ida Garten’s chicken stock – Homemade. 1/16/2025 – Did not add chicken stock. Made stock by boiling a somewhat meaty ham bone from a spiral-cut ham for about 4 hours.
  2. 1   large ham bone from Honey Baked Ham with a lot of ham still on it. – 1/16/2025 – Did not add a second ham bone.
  3. 1   pound smoked beef/pork sausage from Best Stop in Lafayette LA, cut into bite-sized pieces. 1/16/2025 – Added green onion smoke sausage from Bergerons.
  4. 2   bay leaves
  5. 1/16/2025 – Used 3 tablespoons of Kit’s Creole Seasoning we make from her recipe in lieu of the next 5 items. Added 1 more tablespoons at tasting. Next time add 4 initially. The added 3-4 shakes of cayenne pepper from our SS countertop shaker.
  6. The original 2013 recipe used these five spices:
    • 1 T   Creole seasoning Benoit’s Best spice salt-free Cajun seasoning. 1/16/2025 – Used Kit’s creole seasoning we make from her recipe.
    • 1/2 t   dried thyme
    • 1/2 t   dried sage
    • 1/2 t   cayenne pepper
    • 1 T    dried cilantro

4/7/2018 – Made with ham stock made from HoneyBaked ham bone that was simmered for 4+ hours instead of Ina’s chicken stock. Used Kit’s Creole Seasoning. Did not have dried cilantro and forgot to add fresh before serving. Used Green Onion Sausage and added near end of the cook so it did not overcook, get tough and add grease to the beans — per advice for crawfish boils and it seemed to be applicable here. The sausage was tender and flavorful.

1/16/2025 – See inserted changes with this date.

No. 8 Lodge Deep Double Skillet Unmarked

Posted on by October 7, 2013

Won on Ebay on Sept. 28, 2013 for $41.00 plus $14.61 shipping from Bryant, Alabama. Seller was iamthewann. He is a melt-mold production supervisor at the Lodge factory.

Markings on bottom are 8 over FS  and MADE IN USA in the center so it was made after 1960.

Eric responded to my question about it history with the following.  “Not sure of the age of these items. The chicken fryer was purchased on Sand Mtn. in North East AL at a flea market that runs every Sunday. I have had it a long time. It was taken to work shot blasted & run thru the seasoning line at Lodge. I picked up the lid when i was visiting my parents in Florence AL a few weeks back. The man I got this one from cleans & seasons his own skillets. He has a booth in Florence & only sells Cast iron skillets on Sat & Sun. ”

No8 Lodge Deep Double Skillet with Lid Unmarked bottom inside No8 Lodge Deep Double Skillet with Lid open No8 Lodge Deep Double Skillet with Lid Unmarked top outside No8 Lodge Deep Double Skillet with Lid Unmarked top inside No8 Lodge Deep Double Skillet with Lid Unmarked left side No8 Lodge Deep Double Skillet with Lid Unmarked bottom outside

No. 3 Skillet by Martin Stove and Range Co.

Posted on by September 22, 2013

Won Sept. 21, 2013 for $15.50 plus $12.34 shipping from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Sold by patk5.

A history of the company is at GCICA’s site.

No 3 Martin Skillet Top No 3 Martin Skillet Bottom

 

 

 

 

Seller responded to my inquiry saying: ” I bought it locally (Harrisburg, PA) at a yard sale from a middle-aged family in a new house. It wasn’t that dirty when I bought it and didn’t require much cleaning. I sprayed it with Easy Off, put it in a bag and set it in the sun for a day.”

I asked Ernie, a Martin collector and a current ‘melt, mold production supervisor’ at the Lodge factory, about its age he said: “They made these from 1920-1950. Some say the smoother the finish the older it is but I don’t believe that to always be true. Some of the old castings with rough finishes can be caused by wet sand. In making hand molds the sand was piled on the floor and the old squeezers were on wheels & rolled along the pile of sand using it up as they molded. This also allowed the molds to be carried off the squeezer & laid out on the pouring floor before the weights & jackets were put on. With all that said, most molders used facing sand on the surface of the pattern to get the smooth finish.

If the facing sand ran out & they were shoveling from a pile this would also cause a rougher finish. If the mold was not rammed good or bounced in the flask this would also cause a rougher finish. When the molders were paid piece work this would hurt quality because molders could short cut and make more molds per day which would result in them making more money.

Facing sand was made on the side with the normal molding sand. As you said it is much finer because it was mulled in a small Muller that sat on top of a wheel barrel. These were referred to as speed mullers.The molder could shovel a load in and mull it till he got the fine grain distribution of sand he needed. This sand was used on the surface of the pattern to get that smooth finish.
Molding sand is recycled & used over & over. The sand up against the casting surface is burnt when a mold is poured. This affects grain size so new sand is added back into the system to make up for that. Most foundries monitor the size of their sand thru testing.
In the old days new sand was added per experience and sight. Sand was made in batches by adding seacoal, bond, water, & a few other materials. The muller man could test each batch for wetness with a ruler in a quick compactability test & adjust as needed. This sand was hauled to the molding floor & laid out for the molders. Molders would take some of this sand & speed mull it to get finer grain sand to get that slick finish.

Hope this helps.”

Loaf Pan by Lodge

Posted on by September 10, 2013

Won on Ebay on Sept. 08, 2013 for only $14.99 plus shipping of only $6 as it shipped with the Lodge No. 3 I bought yesterday from the same guy, Ernie, in Bryant, Alabama. His ebay name is iamthewann. On the bottom is incised USA DP 4L3 at the end opposite the current version of the Lodge logo.

Ernie responded to my question and said that this pan was cleaned and seasoned at the Lodge factory where he works. He also said: this is an early version made in the 1980’s; seasoning at Lodge was by spraying with vegetable oil then into an oven for 45 minutes up to 650 degrees.

Lodge Loaf Pan inside Lodge Loaf Pan top and side Lodge Loaf Pan top

No. 3 Lodge Skillet, unmarked, one notch

Posted on by September 8, 2013

No. 3 Lodge Skillet, one notch with molders mark 1P. Won on Ebay on Sept. 07, 2013 for $9.00 plus $8.47 shipping from Bryant, Alabama.  Seller was iamthewann.

One-notch Lodges were made in the 1930’s.  Click here for more info.

No 3 Lodge Skillet one notch Bottom No 3 Lodge Skillet one notch Top

 

 

 

Seller responded:  “I found this on at a farm sale of a 110 year old home contents and land in Section Alabama. They had quite a few iron items & had taken good care of most of them. I love the old skillets because of their finish. I do like to rescue old skillets clean them up & put them back in service for many more years of cooking. The one you got was made by Lodge in the 1930’s & was hand molded. Lodge went to automatic molding machines in the 60’s & now pound out the skillets. The finish now is not as smooth as the old ones made by hand.

I lived in Florence Alabama for years & worked at the Foundry Of The Shoals, this was in the same building Martin Stove operated in. I am a big Martin collector but just can’t pass up smooth skillets made by other companies when I find them. I currently work at LODGE in TN as a melt, mold production supervisor & we make around 120 tons of skillets daily, & I still look for old ones on the weekends when I can. The great thing about Lodge is I can take an old skillet to work & have it cleaned & seasoned.”

So this No. 3 was cleaned and seasoned in the Lodge factory.