Hi I’m Becky. Welcome to the Homestead. In this episode, we’ll be talking about Homestead cookware. I’d like to point out some of the benefits that I find in the pots and pans that I use while cooking on the Homestead.
First off, we have this enamel ware pot. And the enamel ware comes in different colors. And it always has the little grainy specks in it. I don’t know if you can see that. What it is, is a steel pan with the enamel stuck on it. What’s really beneficial about this is the easy clean up, because when you’re cooking all your meals home cooked, you don’t want to spend a lot of time washing the dishes. And we choose not to have a dishwasher so we have to wash all the dishes by hand.
You can use a piece of steel wool, you know a fine still wool or you know if anything does happen to stick, but I don’t find many problems with it. What I cook in this pan is rice. This is a really good, it’s big it’s shallow and it cooks rice really, really well. So we cook brown rice and we like rice so that’s what we cook in this pan.
The next enamel ware pot I have is a little heavier and bigger of course. But it’s just heavier steel it seems, but once again, and it has the enamel on it. It’s white and this one has the little black grainy specks on it. What I cook in this pot is soup. This is our soup pots and once again, of course, easy cleanup and we can make a great big pot of soup that will last for some couple of days. We love this pot.
Next, we have this smaller pot. Once again it’s a different color. And in this pot what I cook are beans. We’ll buy the dried pinto beans. You can do the navy beans, black-eyed peas, all the different dried beans. And this cooks them really, really well. And what’s nice about these pots is they can be used in the house but you could also use them on the campfire. So if you like to go camping, they’re really good for that. And even if the bottom turns all the way black. I’ll show you a cleaner in a few minutes, that you can use to clean this up after you cook.
Next, we’re going to talk about the cast iron. Here’s a big cast iron skillet which is really big and the nice thing about this is you can cook pancakes, eggs and bacon all at the same time. And it’s plenty of room. Another nice feature this has is it has low sides so you can flip your pancakes and your eggs really easy. I find it’s much easier with the low edge than with the deep frying pan.
Ok, let me get the next one. The next piece is this little frying pan, which I like this when I have to cook eggs. It’s perfect for that, if you want to do over with the eggs. Also you know you don’t have to make too big of a breakfast this is also the perfect size. This is also a good size to warm things up in. You don’t need a great big pot or pan. You just want to warm up some leftovers. This is perfect.
Next is the bigger frying pan. It’s the same thing, cast iron, same shape and everything. It’s just a bigger size. What I like to do in this is I’ll do pork chops in here, hamburgers, you know things like that. Also if you have to make a bigger breakfast you don’t have to have a __, you can use this as well. This works fine. What I have noticed about the frying pans, all the cast iron actually, is it cooks better with fat. So I know vegetable oil is considered a fat but these cook better with butter, olive oil, or lard, which doesn’t sound like too healthy with the lard and the butter but you don’t need much. Just a tiny bit and it doesn’t stick and it cooks really good. Some pound of vegetable oil will only makes it all gummed up and it just doesn’t cook as well. Also you just need to use medium heat. Medium is considered high when you’re cooking in cast iron. Because it’s nice and thick and it just holds the heat so well. And it cooks really, really good. Another thing that turns people off about the cast iron if they’re not familiar with it is actually wash it and since it is iron, you will see a little rust spots here and there.
Here is one of my favorite cast iron pot that I have and my sister-in-law just gave me this little pot and I love it. And when I use this little pot for, it’s really heavy. It’s very thick. It’s not too big. What I love to do in this pot is I put a piece of meat in there, you know, just big enough to fill the pot, pork or whatever you have. Then I’ll just put some olive oil in there and I put some garlic in there and I put this little lid on. And it just cooks the meat so good and so tender. And it’s probably the same idea as the crock pot. It’s just an old-fashioned crock pot. So I really like this little cast-iron and I can’t wait to use it on my wood stove.
As a homesteader, choosing enamel ware and cast iron has benefits. Some of the benefits are: it’s not very expensive. You can spend a fortune on just a set of pots and pans. The enamel ware is very inexpensive and it’s just fabulous the way it works. It’s very functional. The cast iron is the same way. It’s not too expensive and it really does last a lifetime. You can often find it at yard sales or maybe thrift stores, or different places. Sometimes your relatives you know, your grandmother or somebody might have it and they’re not using it anymore. So just bring it home, clean it up and enjoy using it.
Now I’m going to explain how to clean your cast iron and your enamel cook ware. A lot of people are little intimidated at first because we’re just not used to cooking this kinds of cookware nowadays. I mean half the food comes in the microwaveable container. You just microwave it, eat out of it and throw it in the garbage. So you know when you start looking around to buy things to home cook all your meals, you’re not quite sure so this will help.
This is called bar keeper’s friend and this is a product I have just discovered myself and it’s so good. I love this stuff. I clean my enamel ware with this. Another thing this is really, really good for and the reason I bought it originally, is if you’re like me and you like the old-fashioned bowl and toilet tubs, or the big old-fashioned antique sinks, this cleans it really, really well. A lot of those sinks and tubs come with stains in them and then they get stained too as you use them. This bar keeper’s friend turns it snow white. It just works so, so well.
Next one to talk about the cast-iron, people will tell you different ways to clean cast iron. Some people will say don’t use soap, some people say they start to fire outside and stick it in the ashes to burn all the buildup oil or what not off them. I like to use soap. I just don’t like the idea of not using soap and water when I’m washing the dishes. So what I use is just a little, it is metal, it’s not steel wool, it’s just metal, it’s just like a metal scrubby What I do is I put soap in the cast iron and then I just use cold water. I don’t use hot water and then I just clean it. Cleans it up perfect lickidy split and you’re done. Just make sure you dry it thoroughly. And then you’ll prevent the rust from developing a little bit of rust here and there.
Here’s a product that I really, really love and I enjoy it because it smells so good. It’s super pine cleaner. It’s made with all natural pine oil as the ingredients in it, and it’s biodegradable and it just smells so good. Most pine oils are made with synthetic pine products so this has the real thing in it.
I hope this has been helpful. Thanks for watching. You can email me with any questions or suggestions. Happy homesteading. Bye-bye.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services