Mrs. Alfred Packer enjoying new cooking implement

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x75034

Oh my.

hippywife  (1000+ posts)        Sat Feb-13-10 02:35 PM
HAS NOT YET DONATED TO SKINS'S ISLAND!
MRS. ALFRED PACKER
Original message

My newest kitchen purchase from Goodwill:

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/viewItem.asp?ItemID=5791085

It's very folk art. I need to clean it up and put it to use.

Okay, now, get this--from the link, it's a "Primitive Chicken Clay Cooker."

I look at the thing, and I dunno how one uses it, or for what.

Phentex  (1000+ posts)        Sat Feb-13-10 03:07 PM
HAS NOT YET DONATED TO SKINS'S ISLAND!
Response to Original message

1. Fun!...

what's the first thing you are going to make with it?

hippywife  (1000+ posts)        Sat Feb-13-10 03:27 PM
HAS NOT YET DONATED TO SKINS'S ISLAND!
MRS. ALFRED PACKER
Response to Reply #1
 
2. I was thinking it would be good for bread. I really, really hate tossing the water into the broiler pan for steam, and since I broke my enameled cast iron dutch oven...

pscot  (1000+ posts)        Sat Feb-13-10 10:55 PM
HAS NOT YET DONATED TO SKINS'S ISLAND!
Response to Reply #2

5. The Romertopf website tells how to use a topf for bread. Lot's of other suggestions as well. The dough goes into a pre-soaked pot and a cold oven. I tried it once. It worked OK, I think I get a better result using more conventional methods. Good luck.

housewolf  (1000+ posts)        Sat Feb-13-10 03:36 PM
HAS NOT YET DONATED TO SKINS'S ISLAND!
Response to Original message

3. Oh yes, that looks like it belongs in your kitchen

Hope it works out well for you.

You're finding some good buys on that site!

hippywife  (1000+ posts)        Sat Feb-13-10 03:41 PM
HAS NOT YET DONATED TO SKINS'S ISLAND!
MRS. ALFRED PACKER
Response to Reply #3
 
4. There's lots of good stuff there.

I'm trying not to get carried away.

And so the inevitable question: what is a chicken clay cooker?

The photograph at the link doesn't help any.

[GOBUCKS]

I don't think it's a clay cooker for chickens. Just looks like a ceramic dutch oven type thingy with a lid that looks like a chicken. Probably explosive.

[franksolich]

I don't think it's a clay cooker for chickens. Just looks like a ceramic dutch oven type thingy with a lid that looks like a chicken. Probably explosive.

Well, glass, unless it's Pyrex or Corningware, can shatter in the oven.

I'm concerned, though.

The primitive chicken clay cooker cost seven bucks, and one assumes three bucks for shipping, which wipes out all the spending money hippyhubby Wild Bill gives his wife each month (paying with a counterfeit $10 bill, of course).

Perhaps Mrs. Alfred Packer should've saved the money instead, until she had enough hidden away to buy a bus ticket back to Ohio.

[crockspot]

Looks like some type or copy of a Romertopf pot. Generally, you soak them in water, then put in some meat and vegetables, can be chicken, beef, whatever... It makes a decent pot roast. I have one around here somewhere, don't use it much.

[kenth]

Well, I'm dying to find a skillet for cooking fried chicken. We have a pork chop skillet, one for breakfast sausage, one for bacon of course, but I haven't had fried chicken in ages.

[PatriotGame]

Looks like some type or copy of a Romertopf pot. Generally, you soak them in water, then put in some meat and vegetables, can be chicken, beef, whatever... It makes a decent pot roast. I have one around here somewhere, don't use it much.

KFC has a drive through - that's good enough for me.

[The Village Idiot]

Well, I'm dying to find a skillet for cooking fried chicken. We have a pork chop skillet, one for breakfast sausage, one for bacon of course, but I haven't had fried chicken in ages.

It might be possible to use the fried potato skillet or the oven pizza skillet for chicken but I am sure nobody would ever try it. 

[kenth]

It might be possible to use the fried potato skillet or the oven pizza skillet for chicken but I am sure nobody would ever try it. 

Now that's just crazy talk. Using a fried potato skillet for chicken...  Chickens aren't even shaped like potatoes.

[GOBUCKS]

I have a very nice chicken leg skillet. I'm looking for one that's a little more rounded, for frying thighs.

[PatriotGame]

Well, I'm dying to find a skillet for cooking fried chicken. We have a pork chop skillet, one for breakfast sausage, one for bacon of course, but I haven't had fried chicken in ages.

Huh and why?
Once a cast iron skillet is properly seasoned, it can be used to cook most anything in a non-stick manner. I have a 12" skillet, 20" rectangular griddle, and a 8 quart camp dutch oven.
I seasoned them all but use the skillet the most. I cook bacon, chicken breasts, steak, pork loins, and a cat or two in my skillets and never have any cross-flavor contamination.

Proper seasoning is important as you probably know but proper cleaning is just as important. I won't go into the seasoning but to clean all of my cast iron cooking implements I first pour out all excess grease and other liquids, I wipe with a paper towel to semi-dry, then (this is the semi important part), I put 3-4 tablespoons of coarse or rock salt into the skillet and scrub the shit out of it with a wad of paper towels or a throw away rag. The salt scrubs the particulate and chunks off and hits the top of the porous cast iron to remove what is essentially the flavor layer of the grease that seasons the skillet.
I have found this works great for me and as I stated, I never have had any flavor cross contamination.

Just this morning I fried two eggs in my skillet without using any oil and the eggs came out clean and tasting like, well, tasting like egg. Certainly not tasting like the pork loins I cooked the day before.
Anyhow, if you buy cast iron, go to the local camping store or whatever and buy your cast iron stuff there. I did buy a lodge skillet and it was way over priced at $75.00 and it cooks NO different that the $17.00 skillet I bought at Bi-Mart.
Check out Lodge though for information before you buy.

Lodge Skillets


I always cook steaks in my skillet using this entire method to buy, season, and cook a steak and it is DA BOMB and holy shit does it ever please:

[youtube=425,350]PiQ0VOJmCbg[/youtube]



Oh frack where was I?  DUmmys are morons and ceramic chickens are stupid as far as a cooking utensil goes.

[franksolich]

Oh frack where was I?  DUmmys are morons and ceramic chickens are stupid as far as a cooking utensil goes.

Oh but sir, you missed something while you were away.

The primitives are too unimaginative to even think that one thing can have more than one use, and hence the comments by our colleagues.

The primitives, who whine about a lack of storage space for all of their kitchen implements, at the same time boast about their profusion of them.

A primitive usually has one 2-quart pot for boiling peas, another 2-quart pot for boiling corn, a third 2-quart pot for boiling rice, a fourth 2-quart pot for boiling carrots, a fifth 2-quart pot for boiling macaroni, a sixth 2-quart pot for boiling soup, and so on.

It doesn't occur to the primitives that one can use a single 2-quart pot for boiling more than just one thing.

And "ditto" for knives, spatulas, pans, and so help me, bowls.

A primitive would never use a 12" cast-iron skillet for making eggs, to make pancakes; a primitive would have to have a second 12" cast-iron skillet for that.

This idea that one item can be used for multiple purposes is alien to the primitive mind.

[The Village Idiot]

The primitives could learn a lot from Alton Brown... and he's funny too.