Use of cast iron spider for cooking

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In shopping at a flea market, today, I found a cast iron spider (a frying pan with 3 legs.) I would use it with charcoal briquettes, as with a Camp Dutch Oven, but do any of you readers have any experience in using these unusual pans....how many briquettes to use, and any other info you may know of. Much obliged, if you do. I have no idea how old the pan is....wonder how recently they were made. Never see them in stores.

-- Jo Ann (MaJo@Michiana.com), November 28, 1999

Answers

Hi, Jo Ann! I did a search using GOOGLE, and came up with the following:

http://www.jastown.com/cooking/cooking.html

Once you are at the Website, the 3rd item down is the cooking spider. Click for a picture and more info......

Ray in OKC, OK

-- Ray (raymondo@prodigy.net), November 29, 1999.


Hi, Jo Ann! I did a search using GOOGLE, and came up with the following:

http://www.jastown.com/cooking/cooking.html

Once you are at the Website, the 4th item down is the cooking spider. Click for a picture and more info......lots of other interesting items here as well...

Ray in OKC, OK

I reposted to correct my error...

-- Ray (raymondo@prodigy.net), November 29, 1999.


Ray....thank you for your trouble! I looked up that site (never heard of Google before!),,,and found it. Interesting site. However, their spider doesn't look like mine. If you cut my spider's legs off, it would look like a regular round frying pan, with 2 1/2" sides. Pretty neat item.....if I only knew more about how to use it.It could probably be used on a gas stove, tho I have electric.

-- Jo Ann (MaJo@Michiana.com), November 29, 1999.

Jo Ann, there is one in Lehman's catalog, page 35 of the new 1999 revised addition.Web site www.lehmans.com

Camp dutch oven-the most practical way to bake and cook over camp fires,Touse,set kettle in coals on built-in legs.Next, shovel more coals into flanged lid to surround food with heat.This is what the catalog said about the product.

They have a camp dutch oven cookbook with over 100 recipes,plus tips on care,seasoning ,etc.#91-808 for $14.95.

Hope this helps.I still need to season all my cast iron pans.

-- Maggie (song bird@iwon.com), November 29, 1999.


Jo Ann,

I know these spiders are still manufactured & sold by Lodge:

http://www.lodgemfg.com/

The standard ratio for baking something in a dutch oven is one third coals one the bottom, & two thirds on top. Something like 9:18.

So you might start with 9 & see what happens. If you're planning to fry something in fat, be sure to be careful about the fire danger. {Don't throw water on a fat fire, my aunt received some nasty burns by reacting on instinct to a pan fire}.

You might visit the Lodge website & fire off an e-mail question to them, they're nice folks. Also maybe the International Dutch Oven Society website has a message board, or at least a cast iron afficianado whose brain you can pick. Good luck, it sounds like fun to me.

-- flora (***@__._), November 29, 1999.



I did contact Lodge.....they do not mfgr. spiders. And, altho I just gave my son my Lehman's catalog, I checked p. 35 (as well as other pages) many times for Camp Dutch Ovens, and I'm sure they have NO spiders. (This had no lid, either, tho I don't think spiders ever did. I plan to try it, this coming spring. My new spider is in excellent condition. Sure wonder how old it might be. I see where another company makes spiders, but they look totally different- no sides. Thanks for your interest.

-- Jo Ann (MaJo@Michiana.com), November 30, 1999.

I don't think I've ever seen a new spider pan before but you can find them occasionally used. I've used one that belongs to a friend and have been wanting one myself.

Determining cooking temperature is highly experiental. I've got about four charts detailing so many briquettes on top or bottom to arrive at a particular heat level and none of them agree. There's too many variables that affect it to have any certainty.

In baking the one that I more or less use is the "rule of twos". There should be two briquettes for every inch of pan diameter and there should be two more briquettes on top than there is on the bottom. You'll still have some pretty big variation but it's a starting point.

As for the pan, use it like you would an ordinary cast iron frying pan. If you have a snug fitting lid it'll function as a short Dutch Oven. Here are two good sites to find Dutch Oven info:

http://www.idos.com

This is the International Dutch Oven Society.

http://www.macscouter.com

The MacScouter site is an informational site for Scouting activities. Click on the food and cooking area.

........Alan.

The Prudent Food Storage FAQ, v3.5

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@sprintmail.com), November 30, 1999.


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