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Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 2)

Darienne

By Darienne
in Kitchen Consumer

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted

While Griswold skillets from the "teens, twenties and thirties" made with the old "Good Iron" are considered the pinnacle of skillet desirability, there are a few made by other foundries that are great for the cook who likes a great skillet that can be found at bargain prices. 

Volrath began as a foundry making farm equipment and added housewares, including kitchen ranges and cookware/skillets, about the time of WWI.

The production of skillets was not huge and very few carry the Volrath name but they have one distinctive feature.  The number size, which indicates the diameter of the bottom of the skillet is arranged sideways near the center of the bottom, instead of vertical as in all other makers.  The number also appears on the top of the handle and is large.

So if you hold the handle with the body of the pan facing away from you, the number appears to be laying on its side.  

All the Volrath skillets I have seen and owned have a finely milled interior surface which takes seasoning readily and become virtually non-stick with very little effort.  

They also made some with enameled exteriors and interiors (bare bottoms) during the 1920s.  

The #3, #4, #5, #7 and #8 are fairly common usually listed as "unmarked" and reasonably priced.

The #10 is scarce and there is usually lively bidding for them.

Also the deep chicken fryer with lid goes for more.

 

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Porthos

Porthos

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A fine-shred disk for my Cuisinart for $1.00. Should make for faster incorporation of cheese into cheese sauces than what I get when using my coarse grater disk.

 

Shredding Disk.jpg

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Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

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Kerry Beal

Kerry Beal

Posted
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36 minutes ago, Porthos said:

A fine-shred disk for my Cuisinart for $1.00. Should make for faster incorporation of cheese into cheese sauces than what I get when using my coarse grater disk.

 

Shredding Disk.jpg

That's a beauty - I love the julienne blades for my cuisinarts - perfect for little potato strings. I have several sizes.

 

 

the Chocolate Doctor
www.thechocolatedoctor.ca

www.eztemper.com

 

Confectionary Course • Confectionary Course Q&A
eGullet foodblog 2006 • eGullet Foodblog 2012

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Lisa Shock

Lisa Shock

Posted
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So, I see cake combs all the time at thrift shops and antique malls. I was wondering if anyone has an opinion about using them? Obviously, they used to be popular. I don't think I have ever seen one for sale new. (I am referring to the tool that is a handle with a series of ~4" spikes on it -used to cut slices of cake, not the decorating tool that is generally a flat sheet of metal or plastic with ridges used to texture the sides of cakes) I have even seen them with their boxes, which proclaim them to be a better, safer way to cut cake...

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Have you read eGullet's Kitchen Scale manifesto?

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted
50 minutes ago, Lisa Shock said:

So, I see cake combs all the time at thrift shops and antique malls. I was wondering if anyone has an opinion about using them? Obviously, they used to be popular. I don't think I have ever seen one for sale new. (I am referring to the tool that is a handle with a series of ~4" spikes on it -used to cut slices of cake, not the decorating tool that is generally a flat sheet of metal or plastic with ridges used to texture the sides of cakes) I have even seen them with their boxes, which proclaim them to be a better, safer way to cut cake...

I bought some new back in the '60s.  I still have three or four - sold a couple of the more colorful "bakelite" handles with some bakelite flatware a while back.

They work great on cakes baked in tube pans - sponge cakes, angel-food and even on some of the not-so-dense Bundt cakes and are excellent for loaf cakes - including pound cakes, but they are pretty much useless for regular round cakes.

 

They were developed to keep from "crushing" the lighter sponge cakes when using a traditional knife.  They sort of bridged the gap until knives with serrated edges came along.  

 

I have one, which was my grandmother's and she used it for angel food cakes - and then in the late '40s for the newly introduced ORANGE CHIFFON cake, which became a family favorite.  (Made with Softasilk Cake flour).

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Porthos

Porthos

Posted
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This is about something I didn't buy at a thrift store today. As some of you know I have a love affair with Revereware Copper-bottom pans. today I found a 2 qt stubby (same diameter as the classic 3 qt) and a 3 qt pan. In all of the time I have been buying them I have never found any with severely-pitted inside bottoms. Both of these were beyond restoration. I found a 1 1/2 qt pan a couple of minutes later. Same problem. I don't care that it was a "half off everything" day. They shouldn't be offered for sale.

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Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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I agree, Porthos.  I have seen some really filthy stuff offered for sale in one local thrift shop lately.  It's as if they don't even look at it.

A couple of weeks ago they were offering a Corning visions sauce pan that still had food stuck in the bottom and a big chip in the edge of the lid.  I pointed it out to one of the volunteers and she just shrugged and said, "we don't wash dishes or pots and pans."  

And they had the thing priced at $8.00.  The church thrift shop on the other side of town puts out nice, clean stuff and for much less. I have never seen any Visions piece there for more than 5.00 and that was the roasting pan with lid in perfect condition. 

 

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted (edited)

$1.00 at local neighborhood garage sale.  Book looks new ... definitely used

carefully and very little.  I like Kamman's work, so this was a real treat for me.

 

 

Madeline Kamman Making of a Cook.jpg

Edited by Shel_B (log)
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 ... Shel


 

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rustwood

rustwood

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Good scores at a community book sale this morning... Keller's  French Laundry &  Ad Hoc at Home plus  McGee's Keys to Good Cooking - all for $1 each!  The one I am most excited about is Meathooked: The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Year Obsession with Meat by Marta Zaraska.  I was surprised to see it was published just this year.  I am really looking forward to reading it.  I may have to go back to the sale tomorrow just to be sure I didn't miss anything.

 

Meathooked.jpg

 

 

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, rustwood said:

Good scores at a community book sale this morning... Keller's  French Laundry &  Ad Hoc at Home plus  McGee's Keys to Good Cooking - all for $1 each!  The one I am most excited about is Meathooked: The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Year Obsession with Meat by Marta Zaraska.  I was surprised to see it was published just this year.  I am really looking forward to reading it.  I may have to go back to the sale tomorrow just to be sure I didn't miss anything.

 

Wow!  Great score - I'd go back, too!

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rustwood

rustwood

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Posted (edited)

Thanks.  I went back to the sale and picked up Eric Ripert's On the Line.  I am not sure how much of it I will read, but it will certainly be well worth $1.  First I really want to finish Peter Kaminsky''s Pig Perfect before I dig into Meathooked.

 

 

Host's note: the next installation of this topic may be found here: Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 3).

Edited by Smithy
Added host's note (log)
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