Sorghum French Toast

Any cook worth his or her salt would undeniably say a cast iron skillet is one of the most indispensable items in the kitchen. Lodge has led the way for Americans to cook honestly and sensibly for generations. The family-run company has a long history of making good cookware and giving back to their community of South Pittsburg, Tennessee.

I am proud to be included in their new book, Cast Iron Nation. Two of my favorite recipes, Sorghum French Toast and Gooey Chocolate Skillets, are between the covers. I also wrote an essay about inheriting my grandmother's skillet and what that fine pan means to me today. Bursting with 200 recipes, this book keeps cast iron pans hot from sunup to sundown.

It's not often we see Made in America anymore and Lodge is keeping that homegrown tradition alive. As one of those that continues to heat their basic black screaming hot on top of the stove and sizzle away with it in the oven, I am thankful that cast iron continues on.

Sorghum French Toast

This fancy version of French toast is as comforting and rich as it is beautiful. Right out of the oven, it’s puffed high above the skillet edge calling for a memorable morning around the table.

1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
10 oz. challah bread
1 1/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
8 large eggs
1/4 cup sorghum syrup
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground ginger  
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 tsp. powdered sugar

1. Grease a 9-inch cast iron skillet with butter.
2. Slice bread into 1-inch slices. Cut each slice into 6 pieces. Arrange in skillet, crust sides up.
3. Combine milk and next 6 ingredients. Pour over bread. Chill 45 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Remove skillet from refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.
6. Combine cinnamon and next 3 ingredients. Sprinkle over top of bread. Dot with 1/4 cup butter.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
8. Remove from oven. Use a small sieve to dust sugar over top of bread. Serve immediately.

Serves 6 to 8

Images and recipe from Lodge Cast Iron Nation, copyright 2014. Used and reprinted with permission.

The Day Our Skillet Went Cold

Each year on January 27, I re-post my tribute to my grandmother Tom. She will be missed as long as I'm living.

It was on this day, only 11 years ago, that our family lost my beloved grandmother Tom. I’ve never written about that day. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve spoken of it with more than a handful of people. There are three days in my life that each and every detail live on so vividly in my mind and this is one of them. I was with her on the exact moment she no longer was on this Earth. It is equally as precious as the minutes when my children were born.

Tom was healthy her entire life, much more so than any other person I’ve known. She cooked daily until she was 100, never had a problem with arthritis, and often wore Nike running shoes the last few years of her life. Only weeks before her death, she was confined to a hospital bed, but still, uttered not one single complaint. Just like always, she never missed a moment to say, “I love you,” or to hold our hands.

I have always felt that Tom and I were connected on an even deeper level than that of a grandchild and grandparent. Our pure love of the kitchen bound us like nothing else could. It was her cast iron skillet filled with fried chicken that first taught me how comfort and love could be tasted and shared without saying a word.

For years, we cooked together, ate together, and talked for countless hours about recipes, cookbooks, and our loves of fat back, Coke in bottles, and Nathalie Dupree. One of her finest days was when Mama brought her to cook with Nathalie and me in the very kitchen she’d seen on television so many times. Simply by sharing a stove, she taught me how imperative the act of cooking can be to a state of real happiness. Being blessed with the gift of sharing the moment when her soul went Home seemed natural and was the ultimate last chapter in our long story together.

My parents and I were with her all day, talking of everything we could think to say. We tried to fill the empty air with subjects that would keep all of our minds off the fact that her death was eminent. We talked about food, work, family, friends, and memories of days gone by. The nurses kept coming in and out, checking Tom’s pulse and blood pressure, which of course reminded us of why we were all there.

A family friend, Jane Knowles, came in to visit Tom one last time. She held Tom’s hand, stroked her hair, and sang Holy Ground with a voice that was nothing short of an angel’s. It was during this magnificent song that Tom left us and went on to meet the Lord she so dearly loved. It’s as if she waited for Jane and her hymn to say goodbye to all of us. Recalling these few minutes of witnessing my Tom drift away leaves me short on words and overflowing with tears.

In memory of Tom and her life so very well lived, I share her fried chicken recipe that has brought me comfort hundreds of times. It is with her skillet that I cook on and never forget.

Tom’s Fried Chicken

1 (3.5 pound) whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces

1/4 cup salt

1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup all-purpose flour

Place the chicken in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup salt and cover with cold water. Soak the chicken for 45 minutes. 

Remove the chicken from the salt water and drain on paper towels.

Heat the shortening in an 8-inch cast iron skillet or a large deep skillet to about 360 degrees.

Sprinkle the chicken with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper.  Coat each piece completely with flour, shake off the excess and gently place the chicken in the hot shortening.  Fry 10 to 12 minutes per side or until golden brown, about 25 minutes total. Fry chicken in batches to prevent the skillet from becoming crowded. 

Check the temperature of the oil occasionally.  If the oil is too hot, the chicken will be too brown on the outside but not fully cooked through.

Drain fried chicken on a cooling rack placed over a rimmed baking sheet.

Serves 4

Copyright 2014 Rebecca Lang Cooks, LLC. All rights reserved.
rebeccalangcooks.com

 

Cooking with Lodge Cast Iron

Never ever, not in a million years, trust a Southern cook that doesn’t own a cast iron skillet. With qualities that don’t come easy, cast iron cookware is literally a must-have for even the most novice of cooks. No other cookware does what cast iron can do. Naturally nonstick, ready for a killer sear at all times, cast iron is comfortably at home both on the stovetop and the oven.

It’s not often that I look forward to the specific date a cookbook is released. The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook had me checking my calendar and nearly marking off the days like a schoolgirl waiting for summer vacation. The cast iron skillet is the one piece of equipment that bonds all Southern cooks together. We all have one (in my case, several) and most of us list it near the top of our most treasured possessions. Lodge Manufacturing has been supplying cooks with cast iron for over four generations.
Most people cook just a few recipes in their cast iron and are missing out on so much of the fun. Now, thanks to this companion for the trusted cookware, the possibilities are endless. Cooking without Lodge is as silly as spending a Sunday morning on the back pew in a church with no preacher.

Pimento Cheese Panini Sandwich

Nothing is simpler to make for a quick dinner than a delicious sandwich served with a salad or a bowl of soup. This recipe from Gourmet Gadget Gal blogger Jane Gaither twists together two classic southern sandwiches, the pimento cheese and the BLT, and presses them into an oozy melt sure to please your family. If you don’t own a panini press, you can always use a smaller preheated cast iron skillet to press the sandwich down. This recipe makes enough pimento cheese for eight sandwiches but it will keep in your refrigerator for two weeks.

Makes 1 sandwich

Pimento Cheese Spread:

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

One 4-ounce jar diced pimentos, drained

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon prepared horseradish

1 teaspoon hot sauce

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

A few grinds of black pepper

6 tablespoons mayonnaise (Jane likes to use Dukes)

Panini:

2 slices (1/3-inch-thick) bread cut from a dense loaf

Softened butter

2 strips thick-sliced bacon (Jane uses Benton’s from Vonore, Tennessee), cooked until crisp

1 ripe tomato, sliced

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the ingredients for the Pimento Cheese Spread. 

2. Butter each slice of bread on one side.

3. Heat a 12-inch Lodge Grill Pan and Panini Press over medium-high heat.

4. Place 1 slice of bread, butter side down, on the hot grill pan. Spoon 3 tablespoons of the Pimento Cheese Spread onto the bread and spread it to the edges. Add the bacon and sliced tomato, then the second slice of bread with the butter side facing up.

4. Take the hot panini press and place it on top of the bread for 2 minutes, pressing gently to flatten the sandwich.

5. Remove the press, then remove the sandwich to a plate. Enjoy!

Vidalia Cornbread

Vidalia onions grow only in south Georgia and are available from late April until mid-September. They can be found in most grocery stores during these months. Carolyn Gonce LeRoy has had this recipe for over forty years and makes it often.

Serves 8

2 cups white self-rising cornmeal

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large egg, slightly beaten

2 cups finely chopped Vidalia onions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch cast iron skillet.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, milk, oil, and egg until well blended (the batter will be thin). Stir in the onions, mixing well.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared skillet and bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Recipes and images courtesy of The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook (Oxmoor House, 2012)
Copyright © 2012 Rebecca Lang Cooks, LLC. All rights reserved. 

I was supplied a free review copy of The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook from Lodge Manufacturing.

The Day Our Skillet Went Cold

It was on this day, only 8 years ago, that our family lost my beloved grandmother, Tom. I’ve never written about that day. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve spoken of it with more than a handful of people. There are three days in my life that each and every detail live on so vividly in my mind and this is one of them. I was with her on the exact moment she no longer was on this Earth. It is equally as precious as the minutes when my children were born.

Tom was healthy her entire life, much more so than any other person I’ve known. She cooked daily until she was 100, never had a problem with arthritis, and often wore Nike running shoes the last few years of her life. Only weeks before her death, she was confined to a hospital bed, but still, uttered not one single complaint. Just like always, she never missed a moment to say, “I love you,” or to hold our hands.

I have always felt that Tom and I were connected on an even deeper level than that of a grandchild and grandparent. Our pure love of the kitchen bound us like nothing else could. It was her cast iron skillet filled with fried chicken that first taught me how comfort and love could be tasted and shared without saying a word.

For years, we cooked together, ate together, and talked for countless hours about recipes, cookbooks, and our loves of fat back, Coke in bottles, and Nathalie Dupree. One of her finest days was when Mama brought her to cook with Nathalie and me in the very kitchen she’d seen on television so many times. Simply by sharing a stove, she taught me how imperative the act of cooking can be to a state of real happiness. Being blessed with the gift of sharing the moment when her soul went Home seemed natural and was the ultimate last chapter in our long story together.

My parents and I were with her all day, talking of everything we could think to say. We tried to fill the empty air with subjects that would keep all of our minds off the fact that her death was eminent. We talked about food, work, family, friends, and memories of days gone by. The nurses kept coming in and out, checking Tom’s pulse and blood pressure, which of course reminded us of why we were all there.

A family friend, Jane Knowles, came in to visit Tom one last time. She held Tom’s hand, stroked her hair, and sang Holy Ground with a voice that was nothing short of an angel’s. It was during this magnificent song that Tom left us and went on to meet the Lord she so dearly loved. It’s as if she waited for Jane and her hymn to say goodbye to all of us. Recalling these few minutes of witnessing my Tom drift away leaves me short on words and overflowing with tears.

In memory of Tom and her life so very well lived, I share her fried chicken recipe that has brought me comfort hundreds of times. It is with her skillet that I cook on and never forget.

Tom’s Fried Chicken

1 (3.5 pound) cut-up whole chicken

1/4 cup salt

1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup all-purpose flour

Place the chicken in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup salt and cover with cold water. Soak the chicken for 45 minutes. 

Remove the chicken from the salt water and drain on paper towels.

Heat the shortening in an 8-inch cast iron skillet or a large deep skillet to about 360 degrees.

Sprinkle the chicken with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper.  Coat each piece completely with flour, shake off the excess and gently place the chicken in the hot shortening.  Fry 10 to 12 minutes per side or until golden brown, about 25 minutes total. Fry chicken in batches to prevent the skillet from becoming crowded. 

Check the temperature of the oil occasionally.  If the oil is too hot, the chicken will be too brown on the outside but not fully cooked through.

Drain fried chicken on a cooling rack placed over a rimmed baking sheet.

Serves 4 to 6