A wonderland of outdoor cooking equipment awaits shoppers at Kief Hardware in Galliano.  The store offers everything from a $6.99 cast iron cornstick pan to a $2,000 Viking outdoor kitchen, with a selection of cast iron chaudieres, crawfish pots, deep-fryers, cajun microwaves, rotisseries, Weber grills, and smokers.

I added to my cast iron collection with the cornstick pan, but it did need a good seasoning before it was ready to use.  First, I scrubbed it well to remove any machine oil left over from the foundry, then I coated it liberally with solid shortening.  A quick heating, right-side-up,  in the oven at 250 liquified the shortening so that I could spread it evenly into the corn kernels embossed in the pan’s surface.  Back into the oven it went, this time upside down over a sheet of aluminum foil on the rack below.  Three hours at 250 yielded a light amber coating; it will deepen to black with repeated oiling & use.

Guess I’ll have some cornsticks with tomorrow’s Monday red beans & rice.