Anybody use these to cook in?

[WarPony]

I picked these up at my Grandparents place and wondered if anyone used them to cook in. They were used as flower pots for many years.
http://www.tnttt.com/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=2256&image_id=102064

[Mukilteo]

as long as they weren't used to melt lead in the past.....

[doitright]

I have used that kind to boil salt cured hams in. They were used for rendering lard or warshing clothes in. I do think they are too large for led use but you never know. Looks like alot of pitting but I bet they will clean up good. I hope they do not have any holes in the bottom to drain water for flower pot use. Here in west tn most of the large pots were used for flower pots and cracked in the winter. If they did not crack the people would drill holes to dran water. Best of luck with them and let us see a photo of them cleaned up.

[WarPony]

I have used that kind to boil salt cured hams in. They were used for rendering lard or warshing clothes in. I do think they are too large for led use but you never know. Looks like alot of pitting but I bet they will clean up good. I hope they do not have any holes in the bottom to drain water for flower pot use. Here in west tn most of the large pots were used for flower pots and cracked in the winter. If they did not crack the people would drill holes to dran water. Best of luck with them and let us see a photo of them cleaned up.

Nope, they are not cracked or have holes drilled in the bottom. There's alot of heavy pitting but I think they'll be good to use for cooking in.

Jeff

[Woodbutcher]

They look pretty badly rusted. I tried cleaning up (using electrolysis) a dutch oven that looked that bad. The rust came out OK but I had trouble holding the seasoning in the pits. With a liner it would work fine. I have read that sand blasting is bad for cast iron cookware. It said the seasoning would not old either. But I have no first hand knowledge of that. It could be a fun project and the price was right!

[aggie79]

I may have completely lost my mind (again) but I thought I saw a YouTube video where molasses was used to strip rust on cast iron. Clean and de-grease the rusted cast iron first and the soak it in an 8:1 mix of water to molasses. Every couple of days or so pull it out and wire brush the cast iron. Repeat this until there is no rust.

Now to try to find that source.

[Zollinger]

I may have completely lost my mind (again) but I thought I saw a YouTube video where molasses was used to strip rust on cast iron. Clean and de-grease the rusted cast iron first and the soak it in an 8:1 mix of water to molasses. Every couple of days or so pull it out and wire brush the cast iron. Repeat this until there is no rust.

Now to try to find that source.

If I remember right it's some other kind of molasses not the cooking kind. I bet it would be a bugger to clean out the syrup, but it would smell real good!
I would take one of those if given to me for free. To me it would be fun trying to bring it back to life.

[Mike B]

One of my Dutch oven buddies has one. He is also a blacksmith, so he constructed a tripod for it. We used it at our Dutch oven demonstration at the grand opening of this new park in Coeur d'Alene, ID:



We made Hunter's Stew in the pot. Note that it came with no lid, so he made one out of wood.

[Tom Kurth]

Lotsa different uses for those. I remember Mom making home-made soap in something like that. And we had neighbors when I was about ten who made apple butter in a bigger one every fall. Best apple butter I've ever had. I think Cajuns use them for jambalaya, gumbo, etc. I bet there were different uses in different parts of the country. Where did you Grands live?

Best,
Tom

[WarPony]

MikeB, I remember that pic from a few years ago...... That does give me another option.

Tom, my G-parents lived in Gardner, KS........ all I remember them being used for is for flower pots.

I may have them sandblasted and use one for a turkey roaster. I wonder if I could make a lid out of plate steel to hold coals????

Jeff

[pmowers]

When my son cleaned out the garage of the house he had bought, he had 2 of these up in the attic. I think that his father-in-law uses one to make burgoo in. For those who are deprived, burgoo (known by its detractors as roadkill stew) is a Western Kentucky version of Brunswick Stew. Burgoo uses shredded mutton as the main meat along with corn, potatoes, other vegetables, secrets and lots of black pepper, cooked for hours. The Catholic parishes in the area have some serious competitions over burgoo.

If you want to experience what heaven smells like, come join us http://www.bbqfest.com/

[CAJUN LADY]

I've got one in my back patio area...used as a flower pot. It was just in too poor a state to try and get it back to useable. Brother n law gave it to me as a birthday present years ago. Love it!

[sdakotadoug]

A motorcycle rally in Franklin, Neb used a couple of them several years ago to provide soup/stew. They dug a pit and put a couple of railroad rails over it. Fired from underneath one of the pots always had something good in it 24 hours a day. The best dirty rice I ever had was made about 3 AM in one of them. Ah fond memories, Doug

[lancew]

i get my ham and beans from these every year at Apple and Pork festival. yummmmmm