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Sanders still using ironware

It is documented, on Wikipedia, that cast iron vessels have been used for cooking for more than 2,000 years, valued as kitchen items for their durability and ability to retain heat, thus improving the quality of meals cooked in them.

Cast iron cookware was popular wit homemakers until the introduction of the no-stick cookware. Today, however, cast iron cookware is recommended by many professional cooks and chefs, as reliability and durability is again recognized
In fact, many of the vintage pieces can still be used today, as Deanna Sanders does in cooking for her family. She also restores old iron cookware by immersing the items in a solution of lye and water and using a battery charger to “cook” them (electrolysis) for four or more hours.
She then washes and cleans them thoroughly, and then seasons them in her kitchen gas stove oven. The finished product is clean and seasoned, and looks and cooks like new.  
Deanna also likes old stoves and though she doesn’t have an extensive collection of those, she does have an old wood-burner kitchen range that has a unique feature that blends in with her iron skillets.
Deanna and her husband, Kenny, also raise and show registered longhorn cattle at their attractive and interesting rural home and longhorn cattle ranch. .
The Sanders have five children, three of whom still live at home.
Deanna shares her interests in old cookware, not for the value, but because she appreciates the thought and feeling of women of past years cooking in the iron skillets and pans for their families.
Deanna …
… put her iron skillets, fry pans, Dutch ovens, etc., on display, completely covering the countertop of a large island/food bar in her kitchen, with many of the skillets in stacks of two or three.   
She began explaining different cookware items and their uses, such as an iron teakettle. There are skillets of every size, from very small to a very large one with no handles.
Not Just a Collection
Deanna doesn’t just put the ironware on display; she cooks in it for her family. Some are from  her family, in which her mother cooked, and some she has purchased in antique shops.  
She has favorites for cooking some foods, such as the large, deep one in which she fries chicken, another one for fried potatoes and a smaller one in which she fries their breakfast eggs. She also has a large oblong iron pan, which she uses for baking pizzas for the family.
And a Very Special One …
… is the iron waffle iron that she found hanging in her parent’s shed. She uses it often to cook waffles for her family.
The waffle iron sets on a round iron ring base, allowing removal of the grids for cleaning after their use. She uses the waffle iron on her gas kitchen stove burner, but it was made for a wood burner range, which her mother probably used.
Another special piece is a flat iron griddle, most likely used for pancakes or frying bacon, as one side is smooth (for pancakes) and the other has a grid for cooking bacon, etc.
The smooth side of this one is personalized with the initials, RBL, which is the brand for their cattle – River Bottom Longhorns, – and is destined, not for cooking, but to be, in the future, hanging on their wall in a place of honor.  
About Cast Iron Cookware
Deanna has learned the different brand names that are found on the bottoms of the skillets, and some are as old as the early 1800s. Some brands she has are Wagners and Grishold.
Many cast iron cookware companies have shut down. The Lodge Manufacturing Co. is the only one now manufacturing iron cookware.
Numbers are also imprinted on the bottoms of the pots and pans, and an interesting fact about the numbers was shared by Deanna,
She also likes old stoves and has a woodburning that kitchen range. The stove has the familiar round “lids” that can be lifted up to add wood or to put the cooking utensil next to the fire.  
This stove has the traditional size lid, but also has a series of removable smaller lids in it, with numbers on them corresponding with pan numbers.
The range of smaller lids may be removed individually to accommodate the pan with the corresponding number for faster cooking of the contents of pan.
Deanna’s Cleaning Method
Deanna has cleaned the most crusty and rusty of iron cookware through electrolysis, using a large tub of a solution of lye and water, and a car battery charger.
She places the item to be cleaned in the lye water, attaches the battery charger ends to a wire on which the pan is suspended in the lye water and leaves it in the bubbling solution for about four hours.
She then cleans and washes the utensil thoroughly, applies a light coat of lard and bakes it in the oven for a certain length of time. When removed from oven and wiped and cleaned of lard or residue, the pan is ready for cooking.
She said that she is not interested in selling any of her ironware, but plans on sharing it among their children someday.   
   
 
 

Deanna Sanders demonstrates the ‘electrolysis’ method she uses to clean old iron cookware.

Deanna Sanders is pictured with some of her iron cookware.

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