Re-seasoning My Stargazer and Wapak Skillets

Jan 10 2017

Back in November I got my new Stargazer 10.5 inch cast iron skillet, made in the USA. I used the Crisbee to season it three times. It never looked good and after using some of the seasoning came off. I tried to salvage it by seasoning with grape seed oil over top but was not satisfied with it. I decided to wait until after Christmas and then redo it. For Christmas my wife had bought me a vintage Wapak #3 skillet at an auction. After inspecting it I was a little excited about it because it had what looks like two A’s crossed with an arrow for a center logo I had never seen on a Wapak skillet. I hope I can learn more about it.

With the holidays over and very cold weather it was a good time to redo both skillets. I ran them through a self-cleaning cycle in my electric oven for 3 hours. This stripped them down to bare cast iron. I decided to use Crisco to season them. Jeffery B Rogers, my guru for cast iron seasoning and care said if Crisco was good enough for his Mother it was good for him! He has a Facebook site under the Culinary Fanatic. I wrote him about my Stargazer and using Crisbee and he had a similar outcome. He also tells about some Australian carbon steel skillets that are stamped from one piece. They were so smooth would not take seasoning well so now they shot blast them for a satin finish that takes seasoning.

That makes me wonder how the old vintage cast iron came, were any pre-seasoned then or did the cook just start cooking and season as they used.

After cleaning my skillets I placed them in my oven and set at 500 deg. F. I took them out at 200 deg. and rubbed well with Crisco then wiped clean with Scotts blue shop towels, they are highly absorbent. Then at 300 deg. I took them back out ant wiped again. Be sure and place them upside down in the oven this keeps any excess oil from pooling inside the skillet. They were in the 500 deg. oven for 30 minutes and then let cool.

I did the same procedure two more times but just went to 400 deg. for the half hour. Jeffry says the 500 deg. the first time helps set the color. My Wapak skillet came out a nice black and the Stargazer was a deep brown on the inside but nice and even.

For my first cook in the Stargazer I fried a pound of bacon. I had no stick at all and it cleaned up great afterwards. For easy cleaning my cast iron I use Scotts blue nonabrasive pads, for stuck on food I use a chain mail.

For any of you that have vintage cast iron here is a good site to help date it.
http://www.castironcollector.com/trademarks.php

Stripped Clean

First seasoning

Second seasoning

Third seasoning

My Holiday Meals 2016

Jan 06 2016

I am a little late getting my holiday meals posted this year. I didn’t feel good through the holidays, I am 74 and have been smoking for 62 years; I think it is catching up with me. Then after the New Year I came down with stomach flu. I did manage to cook 3 descent meals even though I chose simple easy things to fix and enjoyed having all the family here Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.

For Christmas Eve I had some good canned chicken with a can of cream of chicken soup in the Crockpot for sandwiches and some fully cooked ham and rye bread. My sides were Crockpot cheesy hash browns and some skillet fresh corn I had frozen. Our son and wife brought some meatballs and we had veggies for appetizers. My wife had things for dessert and our daughter brought some desserts.

After stuffing ourselves we all opened presents and later I made some popcorn. We had a great time.

New Year’s Eve I usually have some type of surf and turf for the wife and me. I found a nice beef tenderloin at my butchers 2 inches thick, ¾ pounds. I figured it was enough for us to split. I had some jumbo wild caught shrimp I skillet cooked with some garlic chive butter. My wife made salads and we had some dinner rolls with it. I got the tenderloin a little over done but it had great flavor and was tender. I went to bed shortly after supper and the wife woke me up at 11:30 to count down the New Year and watch the ball fall in NYC! That was our exciting New Year’s Eve!!

For years I have had pork and kraut on New Year’s Day for good luck. It is a German tradition, I am not of German descent but my wife is. I am glad her Mother taught her how to make drop noodles, (Knopfles) to add to the pork and kraut; it really makes the dish.

I had some fresh brats and metts thawed from my butcher. I added some sliced onion to the bottom of a Crockpot; added the brats & metts and a quart of my homemade sauerkraut undrained since we like it sour. I added a cup of beer and a cup of water. I got it all on about noon and we ate at 6:00. I baked some dinner rolls and made mashed potatoes in my Instant Pot with a mix of Baby Dutch and red new potatoes, plenty of butter and sour cream.

I think my favorite pork to have with kraut is ribs. My brats and metts I think were overdone; I had them in about 6 hours on low and 4 hours would have been long enough.

Wife set a nice table

My plate for Christmas

New Year's Eve supper

New Year's Day Pork & Kraut

Skillet Burger & Gravy, Roasted Potatoes & Carrots

Dec 08 2016

I sure messed up getting the pics of tonight’s cook. When I served the wife I said I forgot to get pics of the potato and carrot dishes. After downloading my pics I saw I also did not have a pic of the skillet full of gravy!

This is pretty easy to make and tastes good too. I had a pound of ground chuck and made up 4 patties. I seasoned them with a little McCormick’s gourmet burger seasoning. My sides were roasted baby Dutch potatoes and baby carrots. I made just enough for tonight’s meal. I added butter to the dishes, some garlic salt on both and a little Mirin on the carrots. They went in the microwave 1.5 minutes to melt the butter and stirred to coat. They went in a 350 deg. oven covered for an hour.

When they were in I made a batch of Pioneer Country Gravy and heated the skillet to do the burgers. I sprayed in some olive oil and did the burgers about 4 minutes per side. I removed them to a plate and took off most of the grease then added a handful of chopped onions. I added the burgers back in on top of the onions. They would help hold them off the bottom. I added the 2 cups of gravy and as soon as it was all bubbly I turned it down to a simmer.

I removed the covers on the veggies and stirred, the last 25 minutes were uncovered and stirred a couple of times. After I added the gravy the burgers went another 20 minutes partially covered. We had are usual toasted English muffins with the meal.

Even though I didn’t get as many pics as I wanted I did get a pic of the wife’s plate before I put some gravy over her potatoes. She doesn’t need her potatoes all smashed up like I do so I get plenty of potato gravy ratio!

Browning the burgers

Back in over the onions

Missing photos here!!!

Wife's plate

My supper

Soups On! Chicken & Veggies

Dec 07 2016

I had another easy meal tonight but it is soup weather! It was just 35 deg. today and the next 3 days will be in the high 20’s. I started out to make beef veggie soup but had some chicken and stock left to use so I made chicken veggie soup.

I didn’t have a recipe to follow I just bought what veggies looked good to have. I used; onions, celery, carrots, French green beans and a can of corn. Seasonings were salt, pepper, teaspoon of Savors WOW and a good teaspoon of dried parsley. I steamed some eggs for on top.

I heated my soup pot with a little olive oil and threw in the diced chicken breast meat; when it was starting to turn white I added the chopped onions, celery and seasonings. I let that cook a while stirring then added the chicken stock and all the rest of the other veggies.  I didn’t measure anything but had about a cup of each veggie. I brought it to a boil and turned down to a simmer and let cook about 40 minutes. It took just over an hour to prep and cook.

I served it up with a hardboiled egg on top and we both had buttered crackers with it. It sure hit the spot for a cold day’s meal. Most of the time I make beef veggie soup and the wife said she thought this was better but I still like beef. I think the Savor’s WOW (Way Out West) seasoning really enhances the broth and would do well in about any soup. You don’t need much I used a teaspoon for a quart of stock and probably a quart of veggies.

Ingredients

Chicken, onions & celery in

All in the pot

My supper

Skillet Chicken & Veggies over Rice

Dec 06 2016

I haven’t been feeling too perky and haven’t had much of an appetite. We had a few days of eating carry ins but last night I wanted home cooked. An easy meal is always cooked up in a skillet. I had chicken and veggies in the skillet over some yellow rice.

I bought some nice boneless skinless chicken breast strips. Some of them were tenders. For the veggies I had onions, garlic, red peppers, a few baby carrots, sugar snap peas and water chestnuts. I did the rice in my rice steamer. Seasoning was soy sauce and mirin. I added about a Tbs. of corn starch mixed in some water so give it a sauce coating.

I don’t know why but I have a devil of a time cutting the little tendon out of the chicken tenders. They make it look so easy on the cook shows.

I cooked the chicken in some olive oil, 5 minutes per side and removed from the skillet.

I added the chopped onions and garlic to a hot skillet with some more olive oil. I added the carrots and let cook until the onions were getting brown then added the peppers, water chestnuts and snap peas. I let it all heat a while then added the chicken and a few splashes of soy sauce and mirin. I stirred it all and then added the corn starch slurry and stirred some more.

I served it over the yellow rice that was done and tasted pretty good. The chicken at the front of my plate was the dogs share.

Browning the chicken

 All in about ready to serve

My supper

Beef Trisket (Tri Tip) Baked Potato & Skillet Asparagas

Dec 02 2016

I never heard of a beef tri tip and I grew up around my Uncles slaughterhouse and grocery. I guess they have been popular in California for a long time; and done over a red oak wood fire on an Argentina style grill. They are done kinda hot & fast to the desired doneness. I have done 4 so far and they were done for an hour of smoke at 200 deg. then went to 325 deg. to an IT of 145 deg.

I enjoyed getting back out on my smoker even though it was a cold damp 39 deg. I was glad when I went to my butcher the other day and he had a beef tri tip roast in the meat counter. I have wanted to cook one like a brisket since most in LTBBQ forum have tried it and says they are great.

It weighed 2 ½ lbs. and I trimmed a ½ pound of fat off. Thursday night I rubbed on a little olive oil then seasoned with salt, pepper, granulated garlic and parsley. I wrapped in plastic wrap and in the fridge overnight.

I got the Traeger heated to 210 deg. and after the roast had set out about ½ hour I got it on at 1:00 PM. I planned to eat at 6:00 and hoped to get it done by 4:30, wrap in towels and in the micro wave so I could do the sides.

A half hour in I knew it was going to get done early; I should have known it was not as thick as other tri tips I have done. At grill level I was running 225-230 deg. I was going to wrap at 140 deg. IT but decided to wait until 150 deg. In an hour and 15 minutes it hit 150 deg. IT. I laid it on two sheets of foil, added 3 pats of my gorgonzola garlic chive butter, double wrapped and back on.

To slow it down some I just went to 250 deg. at grill level I usually go to 300 with briskets.  It hit 200 deg. IT at 3:45, 2 ¾ hours total. I wrapped in towels and in the microwave.

At 4:30 I put a potato with potato rod in the oven at 350 deg. to bake 1 ½ hours. I cleaned the asparagus and made the sauce. I found the recipe at Seasons and Suppers by Jennifer and was called Skillet Asparagus Supreme. We love asparagus and this was a little extra good! It went into the oven at 5:30 to bake for 25 minutes. I forgot to get a photo of it out of the oven; I had already plated our plates. It does make a nice presentation.

It all came together at 6:00 and we sure enjoyed it. I served the wife first and poured a little of the pan juice over the beef but it would not have needed it. I sampled a piece while slicing and it was beefy tasting and moist. I toasted some English muffins and we had the gorgonzola butter on it. Before I got set down with my plate the wife said the beef sure is tender! 

Click Here for asparagus recipe link

The trimmed tri tip

Seasoned & ready for the fridge overnight

At 150 deg. IT ready to wrap

Some good butter added

My Skillet Asparagus Supreme ready to bake

Beef ready to slice

Slicing across the grain

My supper

Instant Pot Pork Chop Dinner

Nov 30 2016

I found a recipe at peggyunderpressure.com that sounded good and easy to throw together.  I changed a little on the cooking method.

Ingredients

·         4 thick-cut, bone-in pork chops

·         1 green pepper, chopped. I used a half pepper

·         1 onion, chopped

·         6-8 carrots, peeled & coarsely chopped. I had some baby carrots to use

·         6-8 Russet potatoes, peeled & coarsely chopped, I only used 3 large

·         1 small can of mushrooms, with liquid, or 1-2 cups of button mushrooms coarsely chopped (your preference)

·         1 small can of tomato sauce, or homemade tomato sauce or tomato soup (your preference)

·         Add enough water to the sauce to make 12 oz.

I had two kinda large chops from my butcher and browned them in a little olive oil on sauté, normal mode. I removed from the pot and added the chopped onions and cooked a minute or two then deglazed the pot with a little water. I placed the chops back in and then added all the veggies and tomato sauce.

I locked the lid and cooked on Meat stew normal mode for 15 minutes.  I served it with some toasted English muffins. Tasted pretty good; next time I would not add the water and use 2 cans of tomato sauce.  The sauce was a little thin and I like it a little thicker.

Chops and ingredients

Browning the chops

Onions and chops added

Rest of the ingredients added

My supper