The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook: A Treasury of Timeless, Delicious Recipes Author: The Lodge Company | Language: English | ISBN:
0848734343 | Format: PDF
The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook: A Treasury of Timeless, Delicious Recipes Description
From Booklist
Contemporary focus on good, healthy cooking has led to a renaissance of interest in cast-iron pots and pans, the sort that Grandma used so effectively. Today’s top chefs swear by cast iron for searing meats and fish, and a well-seasoned, properly maintained cast-iron pan can be nearly as nonstick as any fancy Teflon skillet. Tennessee’s Lodge factory has become practically synonymous with cast-iron cookware, so it’s consistent that Lodge should generate a cookbook to show off their products’ best culinary characteristics. This collection of recipes offers dishes for every family meal, from breakfast through dessert, and includes both stove-top and outdoor cooking. Recipes cover what most will recognize as conventional, unpretentious American home-style food. Since nothing but cast iron produces that inimitable crisp-crunchy brown crust typical of the finest southern cornbread, that topic alone merits its very own chapter. --Mark Knoblauch
Review
"Cast Iron cookery IS American cuisine, and Lodge IS cast iron. Therefore, Lodge IS American cuisine." (
Alton Brown 2011-01-00)
"There is nothing I own that I use more than my 13 lodge skillet, except maybe my toothbrush." (
Peter Kaminsky, cookbook author and the producer of the Mark Twain Awards 2011-01-00)
"The Lodge Sportsman Grill is simply the best hibachi I've found outside of Japan--not to mention one of my favorite grills on Primal Grill." (
Steven Raichlen, cookbook author and host of the PBS cooking show Primal Grill 2011-01-00)
See all Editorial Reviews
- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Oxmoor House; 1 edition (February 7, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0848734343
- ISBN-13: 978-0848734343
- Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I have been using cast iron cookware for several years, but this is my first cookbook devoted solely to it. For this review, I'll avoid talking about the advantages of cast iron since those are well discussed on the product pages for cast iron cookware.
CONTENT - The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook is paperback, but it has a thick strong cover and binding with a nice matte surface that I think will hold up well in the kitchen after many years. I get my cookbooks pretty dirty, but I think grease should wipe off pretty easily from it. The book is about 80% cast iron recipes, with a lot of short stories from employees and cast iron enthusiasts talking about their love for cast iron or sharing a special memory from cooking with it. There are also a lot of cooking tips scattered throughout that will help ensure your recipes are a success. A few of the stories are mildly interesting, but most I could do without and seem like testimonials that I could just read on the Lodge web site. A lot of things like "I can remember inheriting my grandma Sally's 40-year old cast iron pan and I make her famous peach cobbler in it every year..." But a lot of people who use cast iron develop a somewhat emotional attachment to it, so stories like this can be a nice touch and don't seem to take away from the actual recipes. Most of them are printed in the margins, which is where a lot of cookbooks usually just leave wasted empty space. The book contains a total of 191 recipes plus a dozen or so recipes for sauces, etc. There are 92 color pictures, which I feel is a good ratio to the number of recipes. Maybe a couple dozen of the recipes are reprinted from other cookbooks.
I love cast iron cookware in all forms, am a charter member of a Dutch oven cooking club, and a Dutch oven cookoff competitor. At last count, I own seven cast iron camp ovens, three Dutch ovens, a stack of skillets, a square cornbread pan and a two griddles. My antique cast iron includes several Griswold skillets, a deep gumbo pot and a fish cooker.
I believe a camp oven (the style with three legs, and a lid designed for holding coals) is a must-have in any preparedness or survival kit. Further, I contend that simple, tasty recipes that can be cooked outdoors are survival tools.
With that background, I would have to classify the latest slick stock, full-color cookbook from Lodge as cast iron porn. It's like free heroin to an addict, or a "Drinks on the house!" to an alcoholic. As soon as I got a copy, I sat down and read it cover-to-cover.
Lodge, FYI, is the only cast iron cookware manufacturer in the United States. Founded by Joseph Lodge in 1896 in South Pittsburg, TN, the company continues to manufacture a full gamete of cast implements.
Lodge quality is a given. While I own other brands of cast iron, most of my camp ovens are Lodge. I rely on the Lodge even heating, overall quality and consistent cooking times in competitions as well as family reunions.
The cookbook is divided into several useful sections, which include breakfast; soup, stew, gumbo and chili; the main course; desserts, breads and biscuits and caring for cast iron.
The recipes come from all over and the ones I've tried are fantastic. The book is also a good read. If you're like me, you love reading the stories behind the recipes, and the ways they may have originated.
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