I had just awakened and crawled
from the little bed I always slept in when I stayed with my grandparents.
This bed was covered with an olive-drab green spread of a material,
which always fascinated me: silk. It was, in fact, part of an old military
parachute, which my grandmother had gotten somewhere, cut and hemmed,
and made into a coverlet for the little twin bed. I used to lie in it
and use my leg to raise the cover high above the bed. Then I would quickly
drop my leg and marvel at how slowly the cover would settle back to
the bed. It was an endless source of fascination to me and I would do
it over and over.
My grandfather was nowhere in sight.
He followed the Indian tradition of moving with the sun and moon. We
used to laugh and say that when the chickens went to roost, grandpa
went to bed and then woke up the rooster next morning. It was about
the truth. He didn't, as far as I know, wake the rooster, but he did
go to bed at sundown and was up again just as the sun was cracking the
darkness. He would be out and doing chores before any of us were up.
Well, except for grandma. She got up around 6.30 am and started breakfast
which would generally vary little from fried bacon, fried sausage, eggs
(either fried, or scrambled), hot biscuits with butter and Sorghum molasses
on the side, and strong black coffee. Sometimes, instead of eggs, she
would make hotcakes. I had milk to drink, but I was also allowed to
have one coffee with about a glass of cream and a pound of sugar added.
When it came to coffee, my grandfather
did something that, to this day, I can't understand how he did it. He
would take an empty cup, walk over to the stove, pick up the boiling
percolator from the top of the stove, and pour boiling coffee into the
cup. It would be boiling so furiously it seemed to froth and bubble
into the cup. Then, without even a blow or two to cool it, he would
gulp down a big swig! I remember once watching and pondering whether
I could do that or not (I was all of 6 years old) when he seemed to
read my mind and said to me, 'Don't you ever try this, boy. It will
burn you so bad we will have to stick you in the well to cool you down!'
Then he chuckled.
Well, as an adult I have tried it,
and I still can't do it, nor can I understand how he did. But he was
a tough old boy, and that coffee was only one of the ways he was tough.
Yet, in all his toughness, he never once raised his voice to me or put
a hand to me. Neither did my grandmother. I could not say the same about
my parents or the home I lived in. My grandpa had, in his time, killed
two men (that I know about) and thumped a few people, but he was always,
always kind, patient and gentle with me.
In those days, Teflon did not exist
and, if it had, I doubt my grandmother would have had it in her house;
and no fancy accessories for her, either. She liked the basic, time
tested, down to earth kitchen utensils made for real cooking and not
for looks. Her pots and pans, with the exception of the coffee pot,
were mostly cast iron. All her frying was done in a big old 14 inch
black cast iron skillet and cornbread was baked in either a cast iron
skillet, or in cast iron pan molds which turned the cornbread batter
into little baked cornbreads shaped like ears of corn. By the way, she
abhorred cornbread with sugar in it. She made cornbread the original
way with buttermilk and no sugar. Sugar in cornbread was as sinful to
her as pancakes made with mud.
About cast iron skillets
Black cast iron skillets were the
original non-stick frying pans. Yes, things will stick in them, but
if you take care of them and clean and season them properly, they will
pretty much be non-stick. I have two of them in my kitchen now, a 12-incher
and a 14-incher and I can fry pancakes in them and turn them without
ever once having one stick. I can fry an egg with a minimum of oil,
and turn it light as a feather, and no sticking.
The key to an iron skillet is the
seasoning. No, I am not speaking of spices here, I mean conditioning
the skillet for use. Whether you buy a new iron skillet or a used one,
the first thing to do is scrub it thoroughly in hot soapy water, then
dry completely. Don't just dry it until it is visibly dry. After drying
it by hand, set it on a stovetop burner, and heat for 5 minutes over
medium heat. Then cool. It is now ready for seasoning.
Sellers of iron skillets today (and
of Teflon ones, too) recommend seasoning with cooking oil. I do not.
I have found that using cooking oil, which is a vegetable product, will
over time form a sticky substance that is infernally hard to clean and
will cause things to stick in the skillet. I cook with cooking oil,
but I always season (condition) my skillets with lard.
I keep a one pound package of pure
lard in my fridge. After I have dried and cooled the iron skillet, I
rub a liberal coating of the lard over the inside of the skillet, being
sure to coat the sides as well as the bottom. Next, I place it on a
burner again, heat it over low heat until hot, and then let it cool.
After it has completely cooled, I wipe out the excess lard with a paper
towel. I let it sit until completely cold, then heat it again and wipe
out the lard again. I let it again cool until completely cold. Coat
once again with lard and repeat the process. This time, however, after
wiping out the excess, the skillet is now ready to be put away until
needed.
Each time after you use the skillet,
do not clean with soap unless you have cooked something sticky in it,
or made sauce or gravy. To clean, pour boiling water in the skillet,
leave standing for 5 minutes or so, pour out the water and wipe clean.
Dry well, then recoat with a thin layer of lard. Put away until next
use.
There is a reason for the way these
steps are done. For instance, after wiping dry, the skillet is further
dried by heating. This is because the cast iron is porous and water
can get in the pores. Although unseen, it may cause rust and will likely
interfere with the seasoning process. The reason for seasoning is to
fill these minute pores with lard. The more lard packed into the pores,
the more 'non-stick' the skillet becomes. Boiling water is used to clean
the skillet for the same reason. Soap can get into the pores and if
not well rinsed, can affect the flavor of foods cooked in the skillet.
You will, from time to time, have to use soap, so be sure to rinse well
with very hot or boiling water to remove all soap. Then season as above.
In the case of stuck food, or stubborn
stuck-on burnt food, a piece of steel wool or a soap filled scouring
pad may be used. Just remember to rinse well.
Cast ironware is virtually indestructible
with one exception: if dropped on a hard surface, or banged with something,
they will crack. It takes a pretty good blow, but they will shatter,
especially if cold. Many a camper has learned that lesson by dropping
one on a rocky surface during a cold spell. Otherwise, with a little
care, they can last a lifetime and the more they are used, the better
they are and the more non-stick they become. I once dug up a cast iron
cornbread pan that had been buried in the dirt for about 50 years. A
little hot water, a steel scouring pad, a lot of elbow grease, and a
lot of patience and it came out as good as new.
Grandmothers last a lifetime, too,
but unfortunately life eventually wears them out. However, their memories
and their love continue on forever. When I first started this piece,
I felt my grandmother's love, and I feel it still as I finish. I have
no pictures of her because my family seldom took pictures. Never the
less, I have her vision in my mind, and her love in my heart. I picture
her somewhere up in heaven, bending over an old wood cook stove, with
a big iron skillet, making breakfast or frying chicken. When I draw
my last breath, I will not be surprised to look up and see grandma standing
there, calling me to come in and get washed up just as she used to do
so often. So, grandma, wherever you are, you are still special to me,
and this whole article is dedicated to you. I will never forget you.
©
