Peggy Scripture Woodson, Lake Charles, and Vance Perkins, DeQuincy, are two local cooks who appreciate cooking in cast iron. Woodson is a past Le Chien Cookers member. Perkins has been an active member since 2010. Le Chien is one of the nine Dutch Opening Gatherings (DOG) held in Louisiana every Saturday of the month. Men and women get together at state parks to cook in the great outdoors using only cast iron. Le Chien gets together the fourth Saturday of every month, now at Niblett’s Bluff until Sam Houston Jones State Park is open again. Le Chien membership is only $10 per year. However, nonmembers/the public are invited to join in the food, fun and fellowship. Perkins said a typical gathering features 10 to 15 cooks.

“I like cooking in cast iron because the heat is evenly distributed and the pots last for many generations,” Woodson said. “I have some of my grandmother’s cast iron.”

Perkins and Woodsen have become a little carried away with their cast iron collecting, but now have it in hand.

“I had hundreds of pots before I knew it,” Perkins said. “Some I’ll never use.”

Perkins said his wife enjoys the fruits of his labor, especially his cornbread, but if she knew how much he had spent, she might have something to say about it.

“At one time I had 40 cast iron pots,” Scripture said, “but I came to a point when I had to lighten my load. I sold some and gave some away to friends and children.”

It was the late Hershell Frazier who introduced Perkins to the joys of cast iron cooking in the great outdoors.

“His specialty was hush puppies,” Perkins said.

Perkins is known for his pineapple upside down cake and his stoup, a mix between soup and stew.

One of the most common questions Perkins gets at a cookout is, “How do you season cast iron?”

“That’s one of those kinds of questions that if you ask five different people, they’re going to give you five different answers,” Perkins said. “Most say, and what I’ve done, is to oil it down first. A common mistake is to use too much oil. Wipe it off. All that’s left is a microscopic layer. Bake it in the oven at 400 degrees for an hour. Turn the oven off and let it cool. Repeat.”

This creates a black patina.

“Most cast iron comes pre seasoned from the factory these days,” he said. “I’ve heard some say that’s not good enough, but it is. Of course, unseasoned bare metal means the food is going to stick. That’s my take on it.”

As for using soap on cast iron. Perkins does. How else would he be able to get the sugary remains from the pan after he makes his pineapple upside down cake?

“But of course, tell this to another cast iron cooker and you’ll get an argument started at the drop of a dime,” he said.

He said when back in the day when soap was made with lye, it did eat away at the cast iron but dish detergents are milder now.

“Cast iron is not as delicate as people make it out to be,” he said. “Any recipe you can find can be cooked in a cast iron dutch oven. All you have to do is learn to control the heat. Maybe it’s just psychological, I don’t know, but it seems to me that food cooked and eaten outside just tastes better.”

Join Perkins at the next Le Chien gathering to determine how to regulate the heat for baking outdoors in cast iron – another common question from the uninitiated. In the meantime, here’s a pineapple upside down cake recipe that is baked in cast iron, in the oven from the online site, allrecipes by Jen S.

Ingredients 

1 stick butter

1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

1 20 oz. can sliced pineapple

1 4 oz. jar of cherries

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups white sugar

½ cup butter

2 eggs

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt one stick butter in the bottom of cast iron skillet over medium heat, about three minutes. Sprinkle sugar evenly over butter. Add pineapple slices on top of sugar. Put cherry in middle of each ring. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in bowl. Cream sugar and butter together in a bowl. Add eggs and mix. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk. Add vanilla extract. Mix well. Pour over pineapples. Bake in preheated oven until cake is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let cake cool for 10 minute before inverting on serving plate.