In the rolling hills of Tennessee, I spent my childhood raised in a quaint little town called Greenbrier. The vibrant green pastures and winding country roads were a joy to travel in the bed of my mom’s pickup truck. I spent most of my days around my grandmother who loved to cook southern meals for other folks. Mammie tilled the dirt and harvested the food. Every Sunday after church, we ate lunch around her farm table. Mammie made everything from scratch. Homemade and made with much love and care. It went without saying, cooking for the family was Mammie’s love language, so we didn’t speak much around the rugged farm table. The subtle moans and grunts were all that was needed to know we all felt her love; and those moans and grunts are perhaps every southerner’s love language when gathered together over excellently prepared food.
Inspired by Mammie, I wanted to cook southern meals that made my family moan and grunt at the table. As a young mother and not much experience in cooking, I wanted to grow my kitchen. At a yard sale I found two rusted cast iron skillets for $5. Not knowing how to repair the skillets, I began my research. Today, the satisfaction I get from repairing a cast iron skillet and learning how to cook properly with cast iron is very rewarding.
From antique cast iron skillets to current production of cast iron cookware, cast iron is sure to be the work-horse of your kitchen providing savory meals and a meaningful story for a beginner or the well-seasoned (see what I did there) cast iron cook in your home.
