Re: HAY/Seasoning

[jimeats]

I read much further back in this thread about boiling hay in the cast iron.
I've done this in the past with and old vessel with a questionable history. After stripping it down to the bare metal it was recormmended to me by an old timer to boil sweet hay in it.
It dosen't season the pot any but resweetens the metal. Smells good when cooking also.
He then said to while pot was still warm to coat lightly with lard and put her back to the heat.
At the time I had ready access to fresh hay and did many a pan that way all with good results.
I just picked up a sweet pot with cover an early one with gate marks no markings other than #3 on the lid interior.
It holds 3 quarts and is shaped like a flower pot with ears on the very top that have holes for a bail handle. But it appears that a bail handle was never on it, no wear marks at all.
Anyway I thought it would make a sweet baked bean pot.
So I'm going to saunter over to the neighbors barn and steel some hay from the horses mouth to resweeten this gem.
I wish I could post pictures, no input on my computor for a digital camera that I know of. When I bought this thing I was told it was the last computor I'd ever need. Yeah right. Jim

[Daniel McDowell]

The hay thing reminded me to share something with you guys, several years ago I ran out of room for my CI and need some new shelves, I had bought a pick up load of rough cut 5/4's cypress for my wifes basket business, and I made a 7X3 set of shelves. Now when I put my pots on the shelf while they are warm after drying, the next time I cook it makes the whole kitchen Smell just like fresh cut cypress, I love it maybe some of you wouldn't but I thought I would share that,

[Jesse and Kim Dunfee]

Great tip Jim. I'm going to try that. As for the camera thing. Your camera should have came with a cable that will plug into a usb port on your PC

[Chub]

I think that the history of  hay in the Dutch was to remove rust rather than season the pot.

[jimeats]

I never said that it was to season, BUT TO SWEETEN the cast.
The iron being pourus will take on some flavoring or carry over flavors of some of the previous items cooked in the vessel.
Not sure if I'm right though, I've only been doing this for 40 years. I have to get more experiance before I can give an edgeumucated answer. Jim

[jimeats]

I tried boiling hay in the oven or pan, not impressed. I was, until your method, greasing the item with crisco, turning it upside down in a oven at 350 for a hour, letting them cool on their own in the oven, this leaves them streaky at times, and not black, but more a honey colored. Your method with the preheating worked amazingly, less smoke, less smell, and a beautiful dark black color, the first go around.

Here is the first mention of Hay.
Nothing to due with removing rust. But the poster Dwayne may have thought it was a way to season a pan. Not so, it just sweetens a pan then it must be seasoned. I'll nail it down one of these days. Jim

[Chub]

Scroll down to where it says, "I have rust".
It mentions the use of hay.

www.logcabingrub.com/products/dutch-oven/dotips.html

www.cooking-outdoors.com/cast-iron-rust-removal-by-norcaldutchovendave

Let us know when you nail it down Jim.

[fatfutures]

Well, both links say to add cider vinegar to the hay. Many of us use vinegar to remove rust. Not sure what the hay would contribute to that.

[jimeats]

Scroll down to where it says, "I have rust".
It mentions the use of hay.

www.logcabingrub.com/products/dutch-oven/dotips.html

www.cooking-outdoors.com/cast-iron-rust-removal-by-norcaldutchovendave

Let us know when you nail it down Jim.

I am responding to this post on this fourum.
I don't care to waltz around the www to see what everybody else is doing.
I am just telling you how an old timer explained it to me.
And I must say I'm happy with the results.
After 40 years I've tryed most methods and I'm stlll willing to learn a new one.
But I've come to realize that you can't reinvent the wheel. Jim

[fatfutures]

Jim, I don't doubt that the hay can sweeten the pot (so to speak)!

And, I agree... I just don't see where it could possibly remove rust. The links listed above DID use hay in a treatment for rust but they also used copious amounts of vinegar at the same time.

I'd be curious to try a hay sweetened pot... now, to find some hay! LOL

[Roger Barfield]

Jim, what does it mean to sweeten it?  I haven't heard that term used before, but there's lots I haven't heard of before.  Does it remove the bad taste they get if they're rancid or something like that, or is it just when it's bare metal and going to get it's first seasoning?  

[Chris Stairs]

Michelle,

      My lawn is a 60 acre hayfield. How much do you need?

[fatfutures]

I dunno, Chris.... enough to fill 8 dutch ovens?

 ;D

[C. B. Williams]

Hay is an old trick in curing concrete in hot weather. In hot weather, concrete tends to dry on the surface first, then when the rest dries, the surface will develop hairline cracks. (an expansion-contraction thing)
To keep this from happening, after finish troweling, the hay is scattered over the surface and wet down to slow the surface drying. It simply acts as a moisture absorber, and keeps the concrete wet for a much longer time than just water, because the water without the hay would quickly evaporate.

I think in the case of the vinegar soaked hay, it acts the same way.

[jimeats]

Jim, what does it mean to sweeten it?  I haven't heard that term used before, but there's lots I haven't heard of before.  Does it remove the bad taste they get if they're rancid or something like that, or is it just when it's bare metal and going to get it's first seasoning?  

Yes it does Roger. We all have a pan or skillet that we may have done some onions and garlic in, fyed off meatballs etc. The next time it's put to the heat even after cleaning you can smell the previous items that were cooked in it.
The same goes for a vessel that's been abused or had something in it that may have been undesireable.
This may very well be a step that's unnessary, but for certain conditions I've used it succesfully in the past. It will and does remove unwanted tastes from the pans.
The old timer explained it to me this way. His mother had a huge cast kettle that was used for washing over a fire. Come fall when they were taking hogs she would resweeten the wash pot with hay before rendering down the leaf fat.
Made sense to me so now I do it with a strange item of questionable heritage.
It can't hurt. Jim

[Chris Stairs]

Jim,  that makes a lot of sense.

If you want to try this, and live in a city where hay is not growing on your lawn, the best place to find it is at a race track stable. We don't have dairy cattle anymore, so all our hay is sold to local truckers who sell it down state. The sweet timothy hay fetches top dollar from the horse people. They buy only the best. Anything less goes to feedlots. Those guys will buy anything if the price is right.

[Chris Stairs]

The old timer explained it to me this way. His mother had a huge cast kettle that was used for washing over a fire. Come fall when they were taking hogs she would resweeten the wash pot with hay before rendering down the leaf fat.

Jim,

    My grandfather knew that vinegar would help absorb odors. When they stopped keeping chickens in the late 70's he decided to use the old chicken coop for a tool shed. It was well insulated, and the inside was paneled in "aspenite" AKA chipboard. He painted it with vinegar to lessen the smell. I think the hay might help. It might tend to use osmosis to absorb the vinegar solution, thus trapping the odors. Or he may just have been trying to disinfect it. But it did cut the smell.


Chris