SIZZLING STEW, sweet cobblers, and crumbling cornbread are all staple dishes for the Wilson County Cast Iron Community, and their commitment to teaching and serving means that anyone in Lebanon and Wilson County can experience the wonders of cast iron cooking.
Cast iron has been a staple of construction and equipment for millennia, and cast iron cookware is no exception. From skillets and griddles to cauldrons and woks, functional cast iron cookware has been in use for over a century, making it a highly practical and historically significant part of any family’s kitchen. For Cast Iron Community Administrator Ryan Bennett, it is all he uses to cook with.
“Anything that you can find to cook with that’s stainless steel, or copper, or Teflon, or whatever, you can pretty much find in cast iron,” Bennett said. “It’s the original nonstick cookware, and [that’s] one of the things we like about it.”
The three other administrators, Dave Stout, Scott Selliers, and Richard Stout, all have that same love for cast iron. They and the other group members love to cook with it, and many love to collect vintage pieces through yard sales and estate sales. In fact, Dave Stout first organized the group as a way to share his passion for cast iron and its history.
“He has a deep-rooted passion, as the four of us all do, to restore and use and understand the history and significance of vintage cast iron,” Bennett said. “The goal of it was to kind of have a place where people who enjoy cast iron or want to know more about cast iron, or maybe inherited some family heirloom cast iron pieces — to help know how they can use it and cook with it and not be afraid of it.”
They coordinated in a Facebook group, sharing pictures, recipes, and restoration tips. In early 2020, the group had only around 30 members. All of that changed when the pandemic hit.
“Restaurants shut down, and people were stuck at home,” Bennett said. “They started pulling out some old cast iron cookware they had, and they said, well, now’s the time for me to learn how to cook with it.”
Now, the Facebook community has over 1,100 members. Many of those pulled out heritage pieces, their grandmother’s cast iron skillet, or a piece their parents used while camping, and the group worked with them to date and restore that cookware. “It was sort of a lifeline for a lot of us to be able to help people and do things constructive over a difficult season of life,” Bennett said.
Now that the pandemic is over, they have been able to do much more in the Wilson County community. The Tennessee State Fair, the Wilson County Fair, and Fiddlers Grove have all been visited by group members, doing demos and exhibitions on how cast iron was historically used. Many of their demonstrations involve cooking, and audience members are always welcome to sample the food made.
“I think the most important thing, more than seeing it being cooked and tasting it, is to be able to sit around while it’s being cooked and just talk,” Bennett said. “There’s a relationship piece of that because you have to kind of watch it. You have to keep an eye on it; you can’t leave it and do something else, so you kind of are stationary — and we’re not stationary very much in our world anymore.”
However, the administrators are most proud of the group’s service component. The Cast Iron Community has fed local firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and teachers. They love cooking cauldrons of stew for Compassionate Hands and the people served there.
“The core of it is, it’s just a group of folks who like to get together and use cast iron and cook outdoors,” Bennett said. “If we can make people understand it better, if we make people smile and make them happy with some good food, and if we can help others along the way, then that’s just even better.”
So dig into your closets, attics, basements, and kitchen cabinets, and pull out that cast iron. The Cast Iron Community can help you start your adventure in cast iron cooking. GN
