
I’m not ashamed to admit it. Aside from shooting, hunting and fishing, I have another almost as obsessive of a hobby—I like eating. More accurately, I like cooking and eating. However, you won’t catch me watching Paula Deen while baking butter cookies and listening to Michael Bublé. I eat like a man; therefore, I cook like a man. Few things are more satisfying than frying up some venison that was walking around on four hooves only a week before, or wrapping some dove with juicy bacon and jalapeño just before tossing it on a red-hot grill. I don’t claim to be an expert chef but I know what I like and I can prepare it from start to finish. I’m not sure why, but wild game you bothered to dispatch yourself seems to taste twice as good. It must be some prehistoric caveman thing we dudes never bothered shaking from the gene pool. In a world where public schools and institutions try to curb manly behaviors and tendencies, I’m proud to say I can still literally bring home the bacon—it’s just usually attached to a wild hog and bleeding all over the bed of my truck.
Ultimate Survival Gear
What’s up With Seasoning?
Most cast iron sets you buy today are pre-seasoned. No, it doesn’t mean someone poured paprika and thyme all over your pan. A seasoned piece of cast iron cookware merely has a thin layer of stick-resistant polymerized fat and oil on the surface. This semi-permanent layer of fat serves two purposes: it keeps the food from sticking to the pan and protects your ironware from rusting. Iron, as you know, rusts very easily. However, a thin layer of fat or oil will prevent the oxidation process—just like the thin layer of gun oil on your firearms. It doesn’t take much and your gear will last well into the apocalypse.
No Dishwasher?
Cast iron as a survival tool is a time tested strategy. It has been a mainstay in every pre-electric kitchen since the Han Dynasty in 206 BC. With only a little fat or oil and a heat source, you can cook just about any type of food you can get your hands on. If the power grid ever goes down for an extended period, you can turn your living room fireplace into a hearth and still eat like a king. No prepper has a complete collection of gear until they can feed themselves from something other than a dehydrated baggie. Buy iron and keep it forever.
Do you use cast iron when cooking? What is your favorite wild game recipe? Tell us in the comment section.
I once carelessly left two cast iron pans in the oven during a “clean” cycle. When everything cooled down they were clean shiny iron, with about a tablespoon of clean clear oil in each one. They were easier to re-season than when I first bought them.
How do you reseason a cast iron object when the blackening has been removed by some idiot?
@Tom: To re-season your cast iron, it’s the same process as when you buy it new. Make sure your pan is clean and dry. Thoroughly coat the pan with a thin layer of lard or shortening (Crisco makes shortening and it’s in a can); if you cannot find lard or shortening, use an oil like canola or peanut. Place it in an oven that is preheated to 450 for about an hours (it may smoke a little, but that’s ok). After the hour is up, turn the oven off and leave the pan inside until it is completely cool—maybe go to the range and do some shooting while you wait. You should be go to go! ~CTD Donna