Descoware, Enameled Cast Iron in General, and Crazing in Particular

[weinoo]

A friend recently (okay, yesterday) gifted me (okay, she asked if i wanted them and I said yes) two of her mother's (okay, deceased (RIP) mother's) Descoware pans.

 

Here are pictures of bottoms and insides...

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of thoughts/questions. I'm wondering if these were made specifically for the American market, as they show measurements in inches.

 

They are both pretty beat up; the larger one more so than the smaller one. The large one is crazy with crazing.

 

Are they safe to use, or should they be repurposed? I read somewhere that crazing can cause chips to fall off into food.

 

Maybe @andiesenji has a few ideas?

[rotuts]

@weinoo 

 

a simple way to look at your situation is :

 

do you need to use them ?

 

if not , re-purpose.

[weinoo]

11 minutes ago, rotuts said:

do you need to use them ?

I mean, do any of us need all the shit we have.

Some of us possibly have more than one CSO even.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by weinoo (log)

[rotuts]

they are called ' spares '

 

now also called collector items.

 

keep those pans as ' antiques '

 

hang them on the wall

[Katie Meadow]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

@weinoo 

 

a simple way to look at your situation is :

 

do you need to use them ?

 

if not , re-purpose.

Exactly how would you repurpose them? 

[rotuts]

Wall Art .

[palo]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

they are called ' spares '

 

now also called collector items.

Not if you live up north: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B075V2S1K2/ref=olp_aod_redir#aod

 

$265.97 CDN or $195.58 CDN (used - very good)

 

Some times it's good to shop in Canada, but not often.

 

p

[gfweb]

3 hours ago, rotuts said:

 

hang them on the wall

@weinoohas no room on his walls

[CentralMA]

6 hours ago, gfweb said:

@weinoohas no room on his walls

 

He's in NYC. Walls are no more than 5' high. 

[weinoo]

12 hours ago, CentralMA said:

He's in NYC. Walls are no more than 5' high. 

Being John Malkovich?

 

Actually, and I hope you're all sitting, the ceilings are normal height for many apartments in the city. It's the floors that are too high.

 

I'm still hoping to hear from @andiesenji - to see if these were perhaps a cheaper version of the good stuff, meant for the US market. The only way they're getting repurposed is if someone else buys them after I donate them to Housing Works or somewhere similar.

 

 

[jimb0]

Wikipedia suggests that all descoware was made explicitly for the US market.  The US rights to the bruxelles ware process were purchased, the pans cast in Japan and porcelainized in in Belgium, then sold in the US under a new name. Was this an inferior process to the pans made in france? Perhaps but also probably not really. They’ve probably had a hard, useful life. 

[weinoo]

51 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

They’ve probably had a hard, useful life. 

 

No doubt, and if my friend's mom was anything like my mom, she may have let them boil dry a few times!

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, weinoo said:

The only way they're getting repurposed is if someone else buys them after I donate them to Housing Works or somewhere similar.

 

Or you could plant some Thai basil in them. That would make @KennethThappy.

[jimb0]

13 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Or you could plant some Thai basil in them. That would make @KennethThappy.

fancy planters was my first thought too, though with no drainage holes you’d need to be careful. 

[weinoo]

46 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Or you could plant some Thai basil in them. That would make @KennethThappy.

 

Believe me, I was thinking of that...

 

32 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

fancy planters was my first thought too, though with no drainage holes you’d need to be careful. 

 

But they're quite shallow.

[jimb0]

yeah in that case your roots would be wet pretty much constantly.

 

but they might be nice for plants that grow in such boggy climes?

[KennethT]

52 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

fancy planters was my first thought too, though with no drainage holes you’d need to be careful. 

@Anna N , @jimb0 beat me to it....

[KennethT]

18 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

yeah in that case your roots would be wet pretty much constantly.

 

but they might be nice for plants that grow in such boggy climes?

That's true. @weinoo that might be really good for planting some morning glory (aka kang kung, aka ong choy, aka pak boong)

Edited January 26, 2021 by KennethT (log)

[jimb0]

extremely small rice paddy

[Katie Meadow]

Ideas for a crazed old ugly enamel coated cast iron frying pan:

 

Buy a baby turtle at the circus and make a cute pond environment for it. Just don't keep it on the stove.

Make a mini rice paddy and grow rice for home consumption or artisanal gifts.

Make some crazed marbles in it and then arrange them inside it for an art project.

Hang it on the inside of the front door in case of intruders if you don't have a baseball bat. Although statistics say that heavy frying pans are most often used by the intruders against you.

Put the pans  out on the street in a box that says FREE.

Learn to say no, so you can use that empty wall space (which we all agree doesn't exist in @weinoo's kitchen) to hang the turnips you got in your latest box because there's no way they will fit in the fridge.

 

OMG I just saw the @jimb0post! How could two people come up with such an inane idea at the same time?

Edited January 26, 2021 by Katie Meadow (log)

[chromedome]

21 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

OMG I just saw the @jimb0post! How could two people come up with such an inane idea at the same time?

Clearly it's in the zeitgeist...

[jimb0]

in fairness i'd argue that when it comes to thinking of waterlogged crops most people in western culture probably think of rice first and foremost