We keep going with the celebration of the launch of my book,
Simple Thai Food, and our series of giveaways.
Here’s number three on the list of fabulous things that are up for grabs this week: a pre-seasoned cast iron charcoal grill from Lodge as well as a copy of Lodge Cast Iron Nation Cookbook.
I’m a fan of cast iron cookware. I have been since I was in grade school when my mother picked up a cast iron skillet, something extremely uncommon in everyday Thai cooking, from a garage sale hosted by an American family in Bangkok. Admittedly, it’s a pain to season, maintain the patina of, and care for cast iron cookware; it’s also a pain — literally — to carry it from place to place because of the weight (which means that even if cast iron cookware were a thing in Thailand, I doubt that street cart vendors would be inclined to use it). But what you get out of it, in my opinion, makes up for the inconvenience and extra burden.
Remember when I recommended
Lodge’s 17-inch cast iron skillet to you as my favorite pan to make
pad thai in? Its pre-seasoned cast iron Sportsman’s charcoal grill is another cool product you may want to consider getting.
If you need to grill several chicken quarters or hamburger patties for a crowd, a large barbecue grill or kettle grill would serve you better. But when it comes to smaller things, especially when they come on bamboo skewers, a hibachi-style grill is more appropriate. Look at the photos of street vendors in Thailand above to see why: a small hibachi-style grill cooks and chars just the meat, sparing the bare parts of the bamboo skewers for you to use as “handles.”
If you look at the photos of my
grilled pork on skewers (
mu ping) and
grilled Northeastern sausage (
sai krok isan), you’ll see that the way I grilled them is not the most ideal way — definitely not the way these things are grilled in Thailand. But it’s necessary, because all I had was a kettle charcoal grill. This means that I need to use a pair of tongs to flip the skewers as they rest directly on the fire and get too hot to handle. It also means that unless I’m extra careful, I can easily burn the “handles.”
Not a deal breaker. Just something I had to put up with.
With this cast iron charcoal grill from Lodge, you don’t have that problem. As with all cast iron items, this grill needs some TLC and takes a bit longer to heat up. But once you got it going, it goes for a long time. Cast iron’s ability to retain heat, as you know, is legendary. Note also, that the cast iron grate can be flipped over so that the cooking surface could be closer to the fire — something you want when grilling Thai-style skewered meat dishes.
No purchase necessary. We only ask that you follow SheSimmers and Lodge on Facebook and Twitter. Also, even though the giveaway is open to everyone, the prize can only be sent to an address within the United States. So if you live outside the USA, you can still enter and have the prize sent to your US-based friend or family as a gift.
You have 7 days to do so. Good luck!
via:http://shesimmers.com/2014/03/simple-thai-food-book-giveaway-3-lodge-sportsmans-charcoal-grill-cast-iron-nation-cookbook.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SheSimmers+%28She+Simmers+...%29
