Cast Iron Chaos

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Cast Iron Chaos

The art of culimancy (cooking magic), with an emphasis on using cast iron for making eye-opening and
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A place of Chaos, magic, delightful delicacies and dishes, and sniping directed at idiots. Welcome to Cast Iron Chaos, a personal exploration of the fringes of belief and order. This is my personal page, where I indulge in pasttimes that capture my fancy, and hopefully encourage others to open their eyes, take chances, and see the world from a somewhat different perspective. This site will NOT be

repeating the tired mantra, "Open your eyes, wake up sheeple, you are being lied to." Those words are bleated again and again by idiot conspiracy theorists. What's more, you see this nonsense in every forum in existence, regardless of what your interests are. How can there be conspiracy theorists in a hobby that should be as innocent and fun as cooking? That's easy, as there are closed-minded fools around you regardless what subject you are researching. I subscribe to the school of anti-censorship, of which the argument is follows: Expose it and laugh at it. By doing so, you demonstrate you are a better person than they are.

11/01/2024

Reportedly the quality of Henckels knives has gone downhill over the past decade or two. The knives with a single stick figure are the cheaper quality knives; they're the ones you can find at TJ Maxx and other big box stores. The higher quality - and much more expensive - Henckels knives are the ones with two stick figures on the logo. Way back in 2010, I got one of these for my girlfriend at the time. Hopefully she still has it. The cheaper Henckels knives are still good quality knives, and I daresay anyone who owns one of those would be quite happy with it.

We're SLASHING prices on top quality knives This Black Friday! We are a proud supplier of Zwilling J.A. Henckels, sharply endorsed by Michael Myers

*****DISCLAIMER***** Please note that Zwilling JA Henckels makes kitchen knives, which are not intended to be used as weapons or ammunition. Lance Restaurant Supply does not condone the use of kitchen knives for any purpose other than in the kitchen, doing kitchen things. The Michael Myers endorsement is nothing more than a fun way to advertise kitchen knives that will be on sale on Black Friday. Facebook, please let us run our ads!!!

11/01/2024

And it begins again: Black November.

10/31/2024

One reason I am visiting a friend this evening is, there supposed to be a lot more kids in this neighborhood than mine. My vintage cauldron is set up and filled with goodies. We’ve had two kids so far, and darkness has not yet fallen. The weather has been perfect today. Until today, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a Halloween where the temperature reached 80°. There have been a number of them where the temperature has reached the 50s and 60s, as well as some when the temperature has dropped through the 40s and 30s. Now just spend the next 2 to 3 hours relaxing, waiting for the kids to show up.

10/31/2024

This Halloween, I’m spending the evening visiting close friend. For supper, we have Halloween monster mash! This was made in an aluminum Caldero. It’s interesting that “Caldero” sounds very familiar very similar to “cauldron.” While I don’t know the exact history, I’m certain it’s not a coincidence. Because my friends don’t eat pork (not for religious reasons), we cooked up a little more than a pound of ground beef, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, cumin and chili powder, and mixed that in. Otherwise, the recipe is here: https://modemac.com/colcannon

10/31/2024

My younger brother dressed up as someone familiar this Halloween. I sent him a message saying, "Hey, that's my costume." He replied, "I tell people I'm dressed up as my oldest brother."

10/31/2024

Photos courtesy of Les Vaughn. I was of the impression that Best Duty was a company that imported Asian-made potjies into South Africa for sale, and export. My own #3 potjie is a Best Duty, but nowhere on it does it say "Made In South Africa." Perhaps they made potjies at first, then later they imported them from Asia to save costs?

10/31/2024

Happy Halloween.

10/30/2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AG8BIIhs-k

'Twas the night before Halloween and the cauldron was bubbling, conjuring up magical potions to enchant all of the visitors to our YouTube Live tonight! Ton...

10/29/2024

OK, that’s it. I swear this is the last time I try streaming a live YouTube video off of my phone. Every single time I’ve tried this, it has been interrupted and the feed has crashed. I apologize to everyone.

10/26/2024

It’s done.

10/26/2024

Today is the first day of voting here in the state of New York. Not bad at all for a Saturday morning, especially since the weather is a beautiful full day.

10/26/2024

I learned last year that this is called a "burning bush" because of its bright red color in the fall. It's not native to America but apparently it isn't considered an "invasive species" because it doesn't damage the environment, or drive out other species. Update: I was incorrect, and this is indeed an invasive species. Hopefully, I’m not going to get a notice to take this down, at some point in the future.

10/25/2024

I guess it’s real: I’ve just ordered two packages from Target.

10/25/2024

Found at Ollie's tonight: a six pound bucket of Snickers for $27. That may seem outrageous, but consider the price of candy has skyrocketed due to the exploding price of chocolate. I was expecting to spend $50 or more on candy this year, so $27 is a bargain compared to that. Snickers are usually among the candy of choice for tricker-or-treaters, and I certainly love them. If there are leftovers, I'll have to get rid of them quickly so I don't eat them myself.

10/25/2024

I've been receiving letters from the "Center for Voter Information," letters designed to use guilt or shame to get me to vote. I will definitely be voting, but I can only wonder what others feel when they receive a letter like this: "Remember, who you vote for is private, but whether or not you voted is public record. Compared to other voters in your state, your voting record is ABOVE AVERAGE." This means they are compiling public voting records into a database and using it to send these suggestive letters to people, in order to encourage them -- or scare them -- into voting this November.

"Sincerely, Gail L. Kitch, Board Chair, Center for Voting Information." The Web site of the Center for Voting Information does not say who funds them, only that they are a 501 (c) non-profit organization. That means nothing in this day and age. The "About Us" section of their Web site does not say anything about the group itself, it only gives a lengthy description of the methods they use to gather their information about us. There's also a paragraph of that Web page that says, "Our Site does not currently take any action when it receives a Do Not Track request. Do Not Track is a privacy preference that you can set in your web browser to indicate that you do not want certain information about your webpage visits collected across websites when you have not interacted with that service on the page. For details, including how to turn on Do Not Track, visit https://www.donottrack.us." In other words, they don't care if you don't want them to keep track of you.

See also: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/center-for-voter-information/

10/24/2024

I am very grateful to everyone on my YouTube channel for a pleasant and fun live session last night. I was expecting to see political arguments…not from the regulars on YouTube, but from a lot of newcomers. That did not happen, and we had an easy-going and fun time last night. Best of all, we made two dishes in cast-iron that I am proud of…well, at least one dish. That, of course, was the Minnesota hotdish: tater tots drowned in cheese sauce, with a base of ground turkey and mushrooms. On the other hand, I could not bring myself to overcook a chuck eye steak, although I did have to smother it in ketchup. See you next week on YouTube live!

10/24/2024

Big shout out to my newest top fans! 💎

Alma Wasilewski, Jonathan Laux, Tate Hun, Art Wurk, Stella Waldvogel, Lee Hollenbacher, Todd Woodford, Jim Fischer, Huey Bryan, Josh Lewis, Jeff Tevyaw

10/23/2024

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ftcs-rule-banning-fake-online-reviews-effect-115009298

A federal rule banning fake online reviews is now in effect

10/22/2024

Don't look now, but we're getting political...sort of...on Cast Iron Wednesday tomorrow. There's a recipe going around for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's "Turkey Trot Tater Tot Hotdish" that I'd wanted to try as soon as I first heard about it. If nothing else, I've learned the "hotdish" is a Minnesota tradition, and that also makes me want to give it a try. I love local recipes, and I've enjoyed making Cincinnati chili, Rochester garbage plates, South Carolina BBQ hash, and of course Boston baked beans and Binghamton spiedies. And so we'll be making a Minnesota hotdish tomorrow night, in cast iron! (And in order to be "fair and balanced"...ahem...we'll also be providing some of the favorite food of the "other" candidate in this year's election.) Kindly note I am NOT going to be preaching politics during this YouTube Live session, and I'm not interested in political arguments. Also, the names of the Presidential candidates have long since been blocked on my YouTube Live chat. Furthermore, political trolls will be blocked as soon as possible if or when they appear on this YouTube Live session.

Don't look now, but we're getting political...sort of...on Cast Iron Wednesday tonight. There's a recipe going around for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's "Tur...

10/22/2024

I've had an idea of what to make during YouTube Live tomorrow, and it looks like I'm going to be making people angry again.

10/22/2024

“🎉 Facebook recognized me as a top rising creator this week!”

That quote above was auto generated by Facebook. I’ve been creating content on this page for at least 10 years now, so I don’t know why Facebook suddenly decided to say I am a “top rising creator. “

10/21/2024

The Wapak number 9 seems to have the barest amount of pitting on a little bit of the cooking service, but only very minimal. Otherwise, it is an excellent condition. For some reason, the outside sides in particular are glass smooth. Not sure why the outside was polished to such an incredible degree, but it is.

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http://www.modemac.com/

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Videos

You might have castironitis if... #12 #castiron

A look at the new cast iron pans from Lodge Cast Iron, being sold at Dollar General.

And here's a scam just waiting to happen. It's safe to say any online group you don't know that claims to be doing "raffles" is a scam. Consider: everyone in the raffle sends his money to the person running the raffle. That person decides who the winner is, and it's probably a fake name. The others lose their money and get nothing. Also, the guy running this group set up his Facebook account only three days ago. Also, the title picture is a stolen from an actual cast iron collector's group, and is certainly a copyright violation.

You might have castironitis if... #11 #castiron

You might have castironitis if... #10 #castiron

You might have castironitis if... #7 #castiron

You might have castironitis if... #9 #castiron

You might have castironitis if... #8 #castiron

You might have castironitis if... #6 #castiron

You might have castironitis if... #5 #castiron

You might have castironitis if... #4 #castiron

You might have castironitis if... #3 #castiron

You might have castironitis if... #2

This guy said this pot is from Lodge, though it is actually from Camp Chef. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

You might have castironitis if... #1

You might have castironitis if... #29

The Star Wars cast-iron pan cake pans have not been released this year. That means they are going to go on sale as “collectors’ items” with ridiculous prices.

It’s time for the annual Walmart fruitcake sighting. Fruitcake will last for months when it’s soaked in rum; but this stuff has an expiration date of next May, even without the booze. When you see the fruitcake at Walmart, and you know that like it or not, the holidays are here.

It’s ALMOST impossible to screw up a turkey…

Happy Thanksgiving.

What's cooking in cast iron tonight? Garlic smothered pork chops. We sprinkle the chops with kosher salt and seasoning, and let them chill in the fridte while we prepare the garlic. Add a bunch of garlic cloves and half a cup of clarified butter to a cast iron pan, and gently roast it at 300 degrees for just under an hour. Now we use some of the oil from the garlic to sear the pork chops in cast iron until they reach 145 degrees. We squish the garlic and add the rest of the oil, plus flour to make it into a roux, and keep stirring in milk until we have lots of gravy. We smother the pork chops in the gravy, and serve them good and hot.

Hasty pudding is the Northern version of what they call grits in the American south. It's what soldiers often made in the Revolutionary War and the American Civil War, and it's nothing more than water and cornmeal, boiled to the consistency of a thick pudding. Some modern recipes add spices, milk, and even ice cream, but this is the original basic recipe from soldiers who didn't have those things. It's then sweetened with maple syrup and a little butter. And I was surprised at how delicious this was! I was expecting it to be about as tasty as hardtack bread, but the syrup gave it a special sweetness that I really enjoyed. I love it when I discover something new that I really love, and I'm giving this simple dish from history a thumbs up.

It's that time of year.

o I did a practice run by cutting up a turkey and roasting the separate pieces, rather than roasting the entire bird. And the end result was FANTASTIC! This was my first time butchering a turkey, and the word "butchering" certainly applies here because I only did a medicore job cutting the bird apart. But that didn't matter, because that only affected the final presentation...and as you see here, the roasted turkey parts still turned out fine. The biggest difference with roasted turkey parts is in the presentation: you don't have a giant roasted turkey as the centerpiece for your Thanksgiving dinner. But, as you've seen, you can still present a platter of roasted turkey, and allow your guests to pick and choose what they want. Most importantly, this turkey cooks FAST! Instead of spending all day roasting the turkey, you can have this done in under two hours, and the oven will then be free for cooking other dishes.

Check out this “interesting” eBay listing: an Asian made cast iron dutch oven.

Cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving is like fruitcake at Christmas: it's treated like a weird jello side dish that we have to serve, even though no one likes it. That's because you're not eating cranberry sauce the way it's supposed to be eaten. People think it's some sort of weird salad sitting on the side of your dish, but it's called cranberry sauce because as surprising as this may be, it's a sauce. Cranberry sauce is ment to be served right on top of your turkey just like gravy, and when you do this you'll be amazed at how the sweetness of the cranberry sauce blends with the savory taste of your turkey, to produce a taste that's really delightful, and delicious. And once you've eaten your turkey with cranberry sauce, you may never want to have another Thanksgiving without it. Cranberry Sauce recipe: http://www.modemac.com/wiki/Cranberry_Sauce Cast Iron Chaos on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CastIronChaos