-Cast-iron skillets are very cool.

A little bit of salt and pepper.

And they are America's quintessential cookware.

-This is an aebleskiver pan.

See?

Isn't it fun to say?

-[ Laughs ] I'm gonna make a little cake sandwich, if you will, with this walnut streusel.

So seasoning it... that's to fill these pores.

[ Metal clanging ] I got talent!

No?

[ Laughs ] My corn bread and coffee cake baby.

♪♪ Mmm.

I need to be alone now.

♪♪ I'm Vivian -- part chef... This is a match made in heaven.

...part student... What is gluten anyway?

...full of questions.

What's this?

How cold is it in here?

How do you heat it up?

Welcome to "Kitchen Curious."

-Major funding for "Kitchen Curious with Vivian Howard" is provided... the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, the proud partner of South Carolina ETV and South Carolina Public Radio.

With the generosity of individuals, corporations, and foundations, the ETV Endowment of South Carolina is committed to sharing entertaining and uplifting stories and series like "Kitchen Curious."

And by Penny Kay Cooper.

Additional funding provided by... the Bea and Ray Norwood Foundation -- building community in Florence, South Carolina.

And First Citizens Bank.

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cellphone rings ] -Hey, Warren.

-Hey, Vivian.

-How are you?

-I see you starting another TV show.

-You heard it on the streets?

[ Laughs ] -On the streets.

So tell me about the show.

-It's kind of like a food variety show that, you know, digs into questions that basically everybody who has a kitchen has.

-Where are you gonna do some cooking?

-Well, you know that old church at the end of my driveway?

I bought it and fixed up the kitchen in the back.

And I'm gonna do the cooking in there.

I might even, you know, hold some church services.

Who knows?

-Praise the Lord.

Mm.

-[ Laughs ] I'm going to the Copper Mill Mercantile a little bit later to look at cast-iron skillets.

Do you want to come?

Can I get you before you head to have your Friday cocktail?

-Sounds like a plan.

[ Birds chirping ] ♪♪ -You know, there's not that much to do in this small town in Eastern North Carolina.

But one of the things that we do have a lot of are really excellent antique malls.

One just opened, like, on my way to work, and it had, like, the most amazing collection of vintage cast iron I've ever seen.

And my farmer friend, Warren Brothers, loves to talk about cast iron.

He loves to cook in cast iron.

♪♪ Warren.

-Hey, Vivian.

-It's so good to see you.

So we're gonna go shop for some cast iron, some vintage.

-I'm up for it.

I'm up for it.

-Vintage like you, Warren.

-Right.

♪♪ What are you looking for?

-I am generally, like, interested in pans from foundries that no longer exist, like these Griswolds.

What are you looking for?

-Something big like that.

[ Metal clangs ] -Okay, so this -- the number 14.

You know, the lower the number, the older the skillet.

So this is, like, the 14th cast.

-Right.

-This is Wapak.

-Wapak.

Number eight.

-Number eight.

-A number eight?

I thought that just meant 8 inches.

-That -- Is that 14 inches, you think?

-No.

Heck no.

It's bigger than that.

-It's bigger than that.

-It's got to be.

That's a 10.

-That's... -We got to find some help.

-Hello.

-We got all kinds of questions.

-Okay, I got, hopefully, all kinds of answers.

-Tell us what's on the back and what it all means.

-Okay, so this one's made by Wagner Ware out of Sidney, Ohio.

This is pattern number 1060.

And then if we flip the Wagner Ware around to the front, that's a size 10 skillet.

-Okay, so I was wrong.

-[ Laughs ] -[ Laughs ] -So this would have been designed for your more modern stoves.

Most cast-iron started about 1800s.

You know, woodburning stoves.

So they had a heat ring... -Had a ring.

-...on the bottom.

-I always wondered about that.

-Oh, yeah.

-And that would set it up off your stove and allow the heat basically to disperse.

When we started going more modern stoves, the heat ring was not needed because it would sit directly on the burner.

-Okay.

-Yep.

-What's the coolest thing you've had come through here?

-It's over on this side.

This is an aebleskiver pan.

See?

Isn't it fun to say?

-[ Laughs ] -It's a Danish pastry.

-Okay.

-And basically "aebleskiver" translates into "apple slices," so it's an apple turnover.

But they're also good for poaching eggs.

-And then what is that?

-So this is a colonial breakfast skillet.

So you cook your bacon here.

Slide your bacon grease over.

Crack your two eggs.

-I'm getting that.

If I don't find something else, I'm getting that.

-The cast iron is fun to me because I can find it rusty.

I get to restore it, which is a fun process.

This is kind of the condition that I find a lot of my cast iron.

-I've done that.

-Yep.

This is what happens when you leave it in your sink, use some salty foods, or if you just forget about it.

-I tried to restore one, but this one had grunge all over it and was really rusty.

Came out of the bushes by my mama's house.

And I just put it in the fire and the rust kind of flaked off, and then I seasoned it and it, you know -- And I'm using it today.

-Right.

-Alright.

Well, I have made a decision.

I think I'm gonna get this.

Even if I don't use it, I'm gonna talk about it.

-It's got a story.

-Yes.

And you can borrow it.

-I'll just come over and let you cook me an egg.

-Thank you.

I've learned so much.

♪♪ As a chef who hangs her hat on Southern food, I've gotten a lot of questions over the years, but you'd be surprised what the number-one question I've gotten is.

It's not about corn bread or collards or biscuits or grits or banana pudding.

It's about this guy right here -- cast-iron skillets.

People want to know why we use them, how to clean them, how to store them, if they make food taste better.

And, you know, I'm here to tell you that cast-iron skillets are not rocket science.

But cast-iron skillets are very cool, and they are America's quintessential cookware.

So we're gonna make two breakfast items today, and we're gonna start with something I call Odds and Ends Shakshuka.

♪♪ ♪♪ Shakshuka is a North African dish that is generally tomatoes and onions and peppers simmered with some spices.

Eggs are cracked on top.

And then that's baked.

So it's a satisfying, filling, healthy breakfast.

So my Odds and Ends Shakshuka is basically when I go into my refrigerator and I look at all the little bits of things that I have left from the week, and I put them in a skillet, heat it up, and then crack some eggs on top and bake it.

So in my pan right now, I've got some butter melting and I'm gonna add some spinach.

I've always got some kind of leafy, quick-cooking green in my fridge -- spinach or arugula.

Even romaine would do here.

Put a little bit of salt and pepper on top of that, let it wilt just a little bit.

And I also always have some beans in my pantry.

So these are canned pinto beans that I just rinsed and drained.

The thing that's gonna bring this together and give it, you know, the flavor and the sauciness, the tang that we're looking for in our shakshuka is my spaghetti sauce.

So I made spaghetti on Monday night and I always have leftover sauce.

If you don't have spaghetti sauce hanging around in your fridge, there's all kinds of things you can use in here.

You could use straight-up canned tomatoes.

You could use any type of soup you made.

Anything kind of saucy, tangy, really flavorful that you can nestle an egg inside is gonna work for you here.

So I'm using spaghetti sauce.

[ Sizzling ] Whoa.

Hold on.

So you see I have this nice little bed of saucy goodness.

And now I'm gonna start cracking my eggs on top.

So in culinary school, you learn the way that you're supposed to crack eggs.

And, you know, they tell you that you need to crack each egg into its own private vessel before you drop it in to what you're cooking.

And I'm gonna start doing that, but I may not finish doing that.

So I'm gonna take my little cup here and make a little divot in my shakshuka, a little gravy hole, if you will, and pour my egg in.

So I'm gonna try to get five eggs on top of this.

And I wanted to make sure that I was using white eggs today, because I think that there is a perception that brown eggs are better than white eggs.

But just like people, you know, what's on the outside really doesn't matter that much.

♪♪ And then one more.

I already -- I started doing it the right way, and then I couldn't stand it.

[ Laughs ] So now I'm going to hit my eggs with a little bit of salt and pepper.

What they're sitting on top of is seasoned, but the eggs themselves are not.

So don't forget about them.

They are the star of this dish.

Black pepper.

And then I'm going to take this to a 350-degree oven for about 12 minutes.

You could certainly cook it longer if you want your eggs cooked through, but I want my whites set and my yolks a little bit runny.

♪♪ So here I have my Odds and Ends Shakshuka in my vintage cast-iron skillet.

And I think, you know, with this one dish right here, I've already answered one of the questions people have about "why cast-iron?"

I mean, there aren't many things that you can start a dish on the stove, put it in the oven, and then bring it out and serve it in that same dish.

So, you know, we've already seen a lot of the value of cast-iron right here.

I'm gonna shave a little bit of Parm on there 'cause I always have Parm in my odds and ends in my refrigerator.

I love to have shakshuka or anything saucy with eggs with a piece of toast.

So the eggs are set on the outside and still a little runny on the inside.

But that's, you know, my preference.

When you make your shakshuka, you can do whatever you want.

Mmm.

That's delicious.

Hearty, full of flavor, salty, a little bit sweet, tangy.

I mean, this is, like, the breakfast of my dreams.

Put some tomato sauce and some eggs together.

A little bit of bean, a little bit of green to make me feel good about myself.

Put it on a piece of bread.

It does not get any better for Vivian Howard.

Warren and I had a great time antiquing at the market, and while I love vintage cast iron, if you were to go to my house, you would mostly find new cast iron.

And if you were to go to my restaurant, you would find us cooking on cast iron's European equivalent -- carbon steel.

So today we're going to Charleston to a place that makes both.

[ Bell rings ] Hello, Isaac.

-Hey, Vivian.

Great to see you.

-How did you get into all this?

-I got into this restoring old pans that I would give to friends and family, and then thinking about, "Hey, nobody's making modern cast iron in a vintage style."

-So vintage cast iron would be?

-Vintage cast iron would have this smooth, polished, machined surface.

So we're taking raw casting and then we're treating and machining that surface to get to this naturally nonstick surface.

-This is really sexy over here.

Like... -This is.

This is carbon steel.

Where cast iron is poured into its form, this is hammered into form.

You take a piece of metal and you shape it by either hand or by machine, and you sort of forge it into its shape.

-One of the things I like about the carbon steel is that the handle is curved and more ergonomic.

-Right.

-And I find that it doesn't get hot as quickly as a cast-iron, which is one piece of metal.

-Yeah.

-So give me some tips on leaning cast iron or carbon steel.

Do you use any soap?

-Soap is fine, particularly if it's a dirtier pan.

-You know, I've been to people's houses and they've got this cast-iron skillet.

They're so proud of it.

-Yeah, yeah.

-They've cooked in it for a million years.

And it's got, like, an inch of gunk.

-The gunk is what you want to avoid.

And a spatula is the best tool to clean the gunk off.

So get rid of the gunk.

-And the gunk is not seasoning.

I'm glad we cleared that up.

-Yeah, yeah.

♪♪ [ Machinery whirring ] ♪♪ -So cast iron, when it's made, is molten iron that pours into a sand mold, the iron hardens, the sand breaks away, and you have something that looks like this, that's really rough, pretty heavy.

-This feels like a lot of the skillets in my local hardware store.

-Yeah.

Less-expensive cast iron typically really needs to be seasoned.

-So seasoning it, like, in the way that people are thinking about it, putting it in their oven with some oil on it -- That's to fill these pores.

-That's a big reason, is to cover over that roughness.

-I don't think I ever really knew that.

-Yeah.

So we've created what really is a naturally nonstick surface.

So this is phase one and phase two -- a polished cast-iron skillet.

♪♪ This is the seasoning process.

Josie here is putting on just a very light layer of seasoning.

Seasoning is literally just oil and heat bonding to the metal of the pan.

Raw iron will rust.

-Right.

-And when you have a coat of seasoning on it, it protects it from rust.

-And is that why, you know, like, after you cook with your cast iron and you also might put a -- rub a little oil in the pan?

-Exactly.

The fun thing about cast iron is, you're always seasoning.

Every time you cook with it, you're either adding or you're taking away some seasoning.

-What kind of oil is that?

-So in our case, we use grapeseed oil, which is... -Fancy!

-The reality is, you can use lots of different oils and neutral oils are good -- vegetable oils, canola oil.

-From here, these go in an oven.

-In an oven!

Oil and heat is really all it is.

-Very cool!

In the States, most people are familiar with cast iron, but carbon steel is a whole different story.

And watching it being forged is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

-What we're looking at here are all the parts at various stages of production.

-Right.

-The pan portion, we start out with a blank.

This is a medium carbon steel.

It gets textured and it gets stamped.

Then it goes and it gets pressed into shape and hand-sanded... ...to that finished-edge quality there.

-It's amazing that this becomes that.

-It is.

This is the farmhouse skillet handle.

This one becomes... that one.

So... -That is that?

-Yeah.

-Wow.

You did a lot of stretching at some point.

-Absolutely.

So over here, we're heating up the handle blanks to about 1,800 degrees.

That'll probably take about two minutes.

-Okay.

So you're a blacksmith?

-I am.

-I didn't think blacksmiths existed anymore, I guess.

[ Both laugh ] -There are only a few cities in this country that would even know what you did if you told them that you were a blacksmith.

That's why I chose Charleston.

It's a town that appreciates ironwork.

Alright.

I think those handles are ready now.

-They're hot.

♪♪ -So, first, he's stretching out.

He's making an hourglass out of 1/2 of the handle.

Now he's just relieving the corners.

He's just taking off the edge.

The part he's doing now is the actual part that you hold.

It's what makes every handle unique because he's impressing that texture on the end and they're all gonna be completely different.

-Yeah.

♪♪ -Yeah, we're gonna put you to work.

-Okay.

[ Laughs ] So I'm gonna make a handle?

-We call it the helper handle.

So what you're gonna be doing is the initial taper, okay?

-I'm most concerned about my feet.

-We're gonna take this fire-resistant welding jacket.

Put it on your toes.

-Okay.

That sounds good.

Yeah.

-And I will put this on there.

There you go.

Yeah.

You're perfect.

Alright.

-Alright.

-Tongs in the left hand... right there like that... and hammer right on the end.

You're making the steel stronger with every blow of the hammer.

Hey, you're doing great.

Look at that.

Real nice.

Yes!

-I got talent!

No?

[ Laughs ] -Yeah.

No, you've got a future in this, for sure.

So it's getting cold now.

-It's too cold.

-So we're gonna put it back in the fire and heat it back up.

-Okay.

-So on this next one I want you to do this curve.

-Okay.

-Okay.

Yeah.

You're starting to put the curve in there.

-It doesn't look exactly like that, but it's not terrible.

-Not terrible at all.

-I've done enough.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪ When I think about the most classic dishes that are both cooked in and served in cast-iron, corn bread comes to mind, and so does fruit cobbler.

But if I'm being honest, I've made both on TV too many times to do it again.

So today, to show off my carbon steel, I'm combining the two, and we're gonna make a corn bread coffee cake with blueberries and walnut streusel.

If I don't hit somebody with this first.

Lord.

So... ♪♪ We're gonna start like you start a lot of cakes, by creaming butter and sugar.

So I've got unsalted butter here and granulated sugar.

And I'm gonna turn my mixer that's fitted with the paddle attachment on high and cream this for about four minutes.

♪♪ ♪♪ Okay, so my butter and sugar are creamed.

And what I'm looking for here is for them to have lightened in color and almost doubled in volume.

So now I'm gonna add two eggs, one at a time, making sure that each egg is incorporated before I add the next one.

And right after that I'm gonna tap in my cornmeal.

And I can add that early because it doesn't build up gluten in the way that flour does.

So we're not gonna end up with a tough cake.

♪♪ ♪♪ In the mixer, I have my creamed butter and sugar, my eggs and my cornmeal.

And now I'm gonna mix the rest of my dry ingredients together.

So, I have whole wheat flour.

I like the flavor that this whole wheat flour gives it.

It's like a little chewier, a little heartier.

Baking powder, salt and baking soda.

And I'm just gonna sift these together with my magic sifter called a fork.

It works just fine.

And then I'm gonna combine my wet ingredients.

So, I have buttermilk.

You can see how I'm combining a cobbler and corn bread.

I'm very pleased with myself right now, so I need you to point that out to you.

So buttermilk, vanilla and a little bit of apple cider I'm gonna whisk that together.

Okay, so now we're gonna add the wet and the dry to my cake mixture, but alternately, making sure everything's incorporated after each pass.

♪♪ And at this point you do have to think about over mixing because flour builds gluten and gives you a tough cake.

♪♪ Alright, so the rest of my work I'm gonna do without the motor running.

So I'm gonna scrape down my cake mixture.

♪♪ Okay, so I've got my cake batter in here, and now I'm just gonna stir in the sour cream which, you know, the buttermilk before made me think of corn bread, and sour cream makes me think of coffee cake.

And anytime I'm making a cake, I always consider putting some sour cream in there 'cause I think it makes it really moist and lightens it at the same time, which I don't quite understand.

And then half of my blueberries I'm gonna stir in.

Okay, so now I have my carbon steel skillet that I have rubbed with butter, and we're gonna build our coffee cake.

So I'm gonna put about half of my cake mixture on the bottom here.

♪♪ And then I'm gonna make a little cake sandwich if you will, with this walnut streusel.

So this is butter, oats, walnuts, cinnamon, light brown sugar and a little bit of salt.

You know, generally pecans are the nut of my kitchen.

But because I'm not making corn bread and I'm not making cobbler, I'm making something completely different, I thought I'd use a different nut.

I'm a nut.

I know.

[ Chuckles ] Okay.

So now I'm gonna put the top layer on here.

These carbon steel skillets, I love them, you know.

They're the gift that I give to the people I love the most.

They will be things that I hand down to my children, and I hope my children hand them down to their children.

And, you know, I'm not the only one.

You know, I would say in the last decade to 15 years, a lot of Americans have been looking to cast-iron skillets to connect themselves to some part of their past or even their future.

So I'm not as crazy as I seem.

Finish the top with some more streusel and the rest of my blueberries.

And, you know, I'm using blueberries here, but you could use really any fruit you want.

Peaches, figs, apples, strawberries, anything works.

Now, I'm gonna put this in a 375-degree oven for about 45 minutes on the middle rack, and I'm gonna hold my breath till it's ready 'cause it smells amazing.

♪♪ ♪♪ You can't smell this, but it smells amazing -- my corn bread and coffee cake baby, here with some blueberries.

I'm gonna cut into it.

And, you know, I think you could bake this in a casserole dish, in a cake pan.

Really, you could bake it in anything, but it looks most appropriate and most beautiful in here.

It's where you belong.

I got a little bit of whipped cream.

♪♪ Mmm.

So, I love this because it's a little sweet, but it's also toothsome and complex.

You know, the whole wheat flour and the cornmeal and the streusel, it's just, like, giving so much.

I sound like my 13-year-olds.

But, yes, this is giving so much.

Look at the rizz of this cake.

♪♪ I'm gonna be alone now.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Major funding for "Kitchen Curious with Vivian Howard" is provided... the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, the proud partner of South Carolina ETV and South Carolina Public Radio.

With the generosity of individuals, corporations, and foundations, the ETV Endowment of South Carolina is committed to sharing entertaining and uplifting stories and series like "Kitchen Curious."

And by Penny Kay Cooper.

Additional funding provided by... the Bea and Ray Norwood Foundation -- building community in Florence, South Carolina.

And First Citizens Bank.

♪♪ ♪♪