The BP long read, musing on the past, present, and future of our pans.
THE SCIENCE OF CAST IRON
Sean Brock has been called many things—visionary chef, farm-to-table hero, Southern culinary revivalist, agricultural anthropologist—and we’ll add one more, which anyone who has eaten at his renowned McCrady’s in Charleston already knows: mad scientist. We chat with him about the thermodynamic properties behind the pan.
LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF CAST IRON
We know we might be a little biased, but we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, especially coming out of the historic month of July that holds our great nation’s Independence Day: the cast-iron skillet should be on the American flag.
LEGS AND ALL
Cooking soft-shell crabs, there is no right or wrong way—sautéed, grilled, fried—but there are a few tips to save you time and trouble. Whatever you’ve been taught, know that size doesn’t matter. Just always buy them live, preferably cleaned, and keep them on ice until it’s time.
MUST LOVE DOGS
There’s a bit of an unofficial motto around here at the Butter Pat offices. Three simple words that sum up who we are as people, and as a company, and the kind we like to keep. It might say more about our ethos than any marketing team could make up. And we have a feeling, if you’re cooking on cast iron, you might abide by the maxim, too.
OUT OF THE ORDINARY
It all started with a broken pan. Here we were, along the edge of the Chesapeake Bay, and there it sat, on the ground before us. “A black pan,” as our grandmother, Estee, used to nonchalantly call it—a 10-inch, unmarked hunk of cast iron that held little if any value, except of course, that it was hers—nearly split in two.
IN THE PURSUIT OF STORIES
Here at Butter Pat, we love a good story. The kind that stick in our craw, that lean us back in our chairs, or leave us slapping our knees. That we listen to intently over cocktails, or tell with gusto around the campfire. They’re usually the long, rambling, roundabout ones that make us slow down and stay awhile. Introducing, the Shaggy Dog
