Today’s Chicago Region Farmers Markets
Andersonville Farmers Market, 1500 W. Catalpa Ave., Chicago
3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Green City Wednesday Market, 1817 N. Clark St., Chicago
7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Palos Heights Farmers Market, 12217 S. Harlem Ave., Palos Heights
8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Uptown Farmers Market, W. Wilson Ave. & Broadway, Chicago
2:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Weather.com Forecast: Sunny, high 55
Accuweather Forecast: Mostly sunny, high 56
Cast Iron Man: Home at Last
So some men were born to brawl. Some were born to run. I, apparently, was born to cook.
I have been an avid home cook in the, um, decades since I went out on my own. For many years now, I’ve done almost all of my cooking with a mighty arsenal of cast-iron cookware (with a few stainless steel pieces for tomatoes and other acidic foods, which can pick up a metallic je ne sais quoi from cast iron).
Since the cast is out of the bag, it’s about time I introduced Cast Iron Man — my superhero avatar — to the Local Food Forum community. Cast Iron Man has made cameo appearances in several online venues over the past decade as I’ve worked to make sense of my food-writing second career, but my (hopeful) plans to make Local Food Forum a longterm project gives him hope that he is home at last.
[Shameless plug alert: Did you know that paid subscriptions to Local Food Forum make wonderful housewarming gifts? Please click the button below and imagine the gleam in my, I mean his, eyes.]
Like many people who become obsessed with meal preparation as adults, I initially picked up my food jones at a tender age. My mother was a good and prolific cook. And — you can confess things like this when you’re rounding the turn toward the finish line — I was a bit of a mama’s boy, who tagged along to the grocery store and watched my mom turn out vast quantities of food in a windowless kitchen, about the size of a small walk-in closet, in our apartment.
Because that kitchen had barely enough counter space for one, I didn’t start cooking for myself until my one year living off-campus at Michigan State University (I can do a fun little story about some of my rookie mistakes). I only got serious about it when I moved to Washington, D.C., and my own place in 1981. By the time I got married, and over the 36(!) years since, my wife Barb has been happy to allow me to pursue this most practical of hobbies.
My affinity for cast iron cookware developed over time. Even a fan like me admits there are some downsides. The pieces are big and heavy, making storage an issue in the tiny apartment kitchens that were the norm for me. They need to be kept “seasoned” with coatings of vegetable oil to keep food from sticking and to prevent rust. And because soap/detergent can ruin that finish — NEVER put cast-iron cookware in a dishwasher! — clean-up requires a little extra elbow grease.
But I came to admire the qualities that make many people swear by these sturdy black pots and pans. Cast iron is an amazing heat conductor, which makes it perfect for the “keep it simple” cooking I prefer: well-seasoned meat and vegetables, seared or roasted or sautéed to brown, then finished at a lower temperature (or reverse seared, meaning cooked at medium til done and then hit with higher heat to finish).
There’s a good reason why cast iron is most associated with the term “indoor grilling.” Nothing produces cookout results on the stovetop or in the oven like this material.
The tipping point for my conversion to cast iron curator was our move to Chicago almost exactly 10 years ago. Our apartment has a kitchen that is ventilated enough that stovetop cooking won’t automatically set off the smoke alarm, and is larger than what I previously had to work with.
(Mind you, not the humongous chef’s kitchen, with a center island and Viking stove, of my dreams. I’ve been known to press my nose to the glass of the luxury kitchen showrooms in the Merchandise Mart like a child at a toy store. The kitchen does sufficient storage space, though, and you can turn clear around without smacking your nose into the opposite wall.)
I’d already amassed a small cast-iron collection made up of a 10-inch skillet, a grill pan of the same size, and a 5-inch skillet. So when Barb asked me what I wanted for the holidays in 2011, I decided to take the opportunity to expand my stockpile.
I put two items on my wish list: a two-burner griddle that is a grill on one side and flat on the other, and a deep 12-inch skillet. Realistically, I hoped for one of these pieces. But Barb went to The Chopping Block, a local kitchen store that also conducts cooking classes, and bought both. She then lugged this 30-pound load of old-school heavy metal several blocks to the car.
I took that as affirmation both that she loves me, and also enjoys my cooking. And the cast iron family has grown by several more pieces since (although Barb has never asked again what I want for Christmas).
Now, to be honest, I’m in minorities here on a couple of counts.
It’s true that the cult of cast iron has been growing pretty rapidly in recent years. The most recent statistic I was able to dig up was that cast iron cookware sales in the U.S. totaled $176 million in 2018. That was five times the $35 million total in 2003 (which was just 4 percent of all cookware sales). Yet even with all the ensuing growth, cast iron cookware still amounted to a modest 12 percent of the total market.
It also is true that guys who own the home kitchen are still greatly outnumbered by those who don’t. Okay, traditional gender roles have fortunately weakened. There are numerous male celebrity chefs, and the idea of cooking as a competitive sport, popularized by reality shows such as Top Chef and Iron Chef, may be raising guys’ interest in the culinary arts. And then there was the pandemic, which has spurred an enhanced interest in home cooking across demographics. But husbands who do almost all of the cooking at home are still not anywhere near the rule.
I have a theory, however, that cast iron cookware can change that. While it is possible that the heirloom pan you have sitting in your cupboard might have been passed down from your great-grandma, you’ve got to admit that, as far as cookware goes, cast iron is pretty macho.
It’s the only kind of cookware that is so heavy that you could include it in your power-lifting routine. There’s even a hint of danger: Almost all cast iron equipment has uninsulated handles that command use of industrial-strength hot pads to keep from accidentally branding yourself for life.
It is also cowboy cookware, the stuff that came along for the ride in saddle bags and clanged from hooks in the chuck wagon as covered caravans of pioneers worked their way west. It is at home on the Range as it is, well, on the range.
So, men, will taking up cooking with cast iron impress your significant others and family and friends? You betcha it will, pardners.
It’s the Official National Craft Beer Week
It’s National Craft Beer Week. If you are a craft beer fan, you’re asking, ”Isn’t every week craft beer week?”
Nonetheless, as a craft beer early adopter from days of yore (meaning the late 1970s), I had to mark the occasion by sitting at a bar for the first time in at least 15 months. And for this special event, I chose Dryhop Brewers, a few blocks from home and producer of amazing beer since 2013.
The beer was great, and the best part was how extraordinarily unextraordinary it felt. Just like a normal day sitting at a bar drinking craft beer. Never before thought that would be anything but routine.
Some of you know that I used to write quite a lot about craft beer. Didn’t fit well with what I was doing the past few years, but now I make my own calls for Local Food Forum and craft beverages are very much part of the local food community, so I’m back.
DryHop opened in June 2013 to great expectations, which it fulfilled in spades. Owner Greg Shuff and the expertise of Brent Dubovick, director of brewing operations, enlivened a sleepy stretch of Broadway in Lakeview East with a wide range of beer styles and creative, sometimes cryptic, beer names.
They subsequently opened a second location, Corridor Brewery and Provisions, specializing in Farmhouse ales and located on Southport Avenue a bit more than a mile west (do-it-yourself bar crawl?). I haven’t been to their third location, Crushed by Giants, on Ohio Street just off the Magnificent Mile, which had the massive misfortune to open last year in the teeth of the pandemic, but I surely will soon.
As for the photographed beers, the lighter one at the top, is a Chess Not Checkers Czech Pils. Crisp, refreshing, with flavor — what a pilsner’s suppose to taste like. Below is Constant Headache, something to satisfy the old dark beer fan in me, even if the name did bring to mind some people about whom I’d rather not think about. To paraphrase Carly Simon, if you think that name is about you, it probably is.
I’ll be sitting down with my DryHop friends soon for an article in advance of their 8th anniversary next month.
Take a Quiz
This afternoon, the Andersonville Farmers Market will open for the season. The neighborhood in northeast Chicago is associated with immigrants from which country?
a) Iceland
b) Norway
c) Sweden
d) Denmark
Answer: c) Sweden. From the late 19th century through well into the 20th, Andersonville was identified as a Swedish community. Though today it is much more diverse, including a substantial gay/lesbian population, its ethnic heritage is remembered at the Swedish-American Museum located at 5211 N. Clark St.