- [Narrator] Molded by sand,
smelted by extreme heat,
and highly resilient,
the cast iron skillet feels at home
in just about any kitchen,
but how did it get that way?
This is How We Eat,
and today we'll explore the history of cast iron.
- I've got lots of Lodge, 'cause I like Lodge.
Just a standard pancake griddle.
You know, you can't beat it with a stick.
You get it nice and seasoned
and you can do almost anything with this.
- [Narrator] This is Dr. Leni Sorensen.
She is a brilliant and acclaimed food historian
who also happens to adore cast iron.
- My sense of the first use
of cast iron is that it's from China.
- [Narrator] The Chinese developed early versions
of pyro technologies such as the blast furnace,
which was needed to create stronger forms of smelted iron.
Most of these claims are sourced
from findings in historic cemeteries.
Evidence of early smelted iron dates all the way back
to the 8th century BCE during the Zhou dynasty.
Of course, back then it was not primarily used for cooking.
The growing population of China and fluctuation
of war that occurred both called
for effective farming tools and weapons.
By smelting iron in a blast furnace,
it became stronger than previous iterations,
but at the same time was cheaper than bronze and copper.
For about 1,000 years,
cast iron could be considered one
of the most important materials in China.
- But we mustn't forget that Sub-Saharan Africa
there is iron industry among the Bantu,
again for weaponry.
So there's a number of different groups
that have a desire for this technology.
- [Narrator] There were many trade routes
in the ancient world.
For example, the Silk Road.
The Chinese were said to be guarded about iron
and it wasn't until merchant sailors arrived
on their land did that change.
- In terms of the Dutch influence,
for a while they were the merchandisers of the world.
Once they kicked the Spanish out,
they become very wealthy
and they're going to all of the places.
- [Narrator] The Dutch became some
of the first European explorers exposed
to new crafting techniques,
such as sand molding,
which could be used for almost any smelted metal.
After building two templates representing the inside
and outside of a design,
the cavities are filled with pliable sand
and then pressurized to take the shape of the cavity.
Once the shape takes hold,
the templates are removed
and the two sand molds are sealed together.
At this point, a smelted metal, typically copper,
would be added to the mold
and it would simply take the shape of the design inside.
- If you're a blacksmith and you're pretty competent,
you've been making really great copper,
the idea of iron isn't foreign to you.
It's a concept that you go,
oh yeah, I could make that.
And if I was gonna do it, I would do it this way.
Would perfect it, I would put a handle on it.
You can make lids that are so sturdy
and strong that you can pile coals
and then you've got an oven.
- [Narrator] While the Dutch
were refining approaches to cookware,
their techniques mainly consisted
of the finest conducting metals such as copper.
Things did not change in Western Europe until this man,
Abraham Darby, made a profound discovery.
He realized that if you baked coal just long enough,
it would refine it,
burning off its impurities.
The final result is called coke
and is more efficient than traditional coal.
With coke, Abraham was able to build larger blast furnaces
and create commercial grade cast iron.
Utilizing techniques he had seen in Holland,
Abraham began production on more affordable cookware
consisting of cast iron.
It was at this point that cast iron started
to become increasingly popular for cooking
within England and would grow throughout Europe
before finally making its way to the Americas.
French and English traders would bring plenty
of cast iron pots and pants on the voyage
across the Atlantic.
- And they're all interacting with indigenous people.
And what are the things that they're trading?
Well, they're often trading pots,
and who are they trading them with?
Really not the men, but the women,
who all say, oh God!
What are wonderful thing.
This great iron pot, I love it,
because many cultures only had clay
or they had amazingly tightly woven baskets,
which they used with hot rocks,
which is you can imagine,
a deeply tedious chore.
But now you've got a cast iron pot
that you can put right in the fire.
Fashions change by the elites and the marketplace
that brings this stuff in.
Now the very poor, the impoverished, the enslaved,
they're just dealing with whatever sifts down
to the bottom of their world.
So within the culture of enslavement in the late 17th
and early 18th century,
owners are using iron pots as part of the provisions
that they're giving to their enslaved people.
We know that Jefferson,
in order to encourage women to marry on the plantation,
he encouraged them that if they did so
they could get an extra blanket and an extra iron pot.
- [Narrator] Cast iron was almost becoming a currency
in many ways and taking on the form
of investment amongst all communities.
There was also limited choices when it came
to properly cooking food.
- The other part of cast iron cookery
that I think caught on and was widely appreciated,
probably very early was because you could get it
so hot is that your food got really well cooked.
You remember you have many people
for whom the loss of teeth very early meant
that they really needed that food
to be cooked really well in order
to get the full nourishment from it.
- [Narrator] While it was durable,
it was more likely the functionality
of cast iron that attracted people to adopt it.
You could use it in the house on your cast iron stove
or out in the elements directly over a fire.
Its ability to retain heat was also incredibly useful.
- In the northern parts where weather was really quite cold,
particularly in the logging camps,
many times men at work were brought their dinner
by horse in a wagon.
They figured, made a big, thick wooden box,
and you take straw,
stuff it down at the bottom.
Make a layer at the bottom
and then your hot pot that's nice and bubbling,
and you're gonna stuff straw all the way around it,
really tight, and then you're gonna put the lid on,
and then you're gonna put in the back of your wagon.
It's 15 below out there,
and all of these Paul Bunyon types are out there
with their Swede saws and their axes.
By the time they get out there,
this food is done,
and so nothing would've been more fantastic than
to have this hot, savory, you know,
high caloric meal brought to you in a fire box.
I did try it once and it works.
- [Narrator] American companies such as Griswold,
Wagner, and Lodge emerged at the late 19th century
and started to focus on cookware
that was meant for the kitchen.
However, with the invention of modern appliances,
such as the electric stove,
cast iron became less known in the modern American kitchen,
but never truly died out.
- By the end of the century,
you begin to have people cooking on gas stoves.
By the first decade of the 20th century,
they're cooking on electric stoves,
and some of these pans are not as useful.
- [Narrator] Suddenly in the mid-20th century,
new and lighter forms of cookware emerge,
which caused the heavy and cumbersome cast iron pan
to become less popular in home kitchens.
Properly seasoning cast iron is a major factor
when it comes to cooking and its ability
to prevent rust while being stored away.
It wasn't until 2002,
when Lodge started a new pre-seasoned version,
which helped eliminate the need
to manually season their cast iron and cookware.
Now, instead of having to create their own seasoned layer
by baking the pan,
customers could buy ready made cookware.
Fashion tends to repeat itself
and while ease of use can help,
why has there been such an uptick in purchases?
- Because they're utilitarian.
They actually can be used for something.
They're not make believe.
They're not faux history.
People love to be very nostalgic about the 19th century
when there were four million enslaved people
and a man could beat his wife.
There's much about the past that's just really crappy.
And so if we have some things that help us connect
to older ways of doing things or just things
that have been for a long time
and we have now a newer version of it
but it still connects us to the past
that is utilitarian, and handsome, and well made,
that's cool.