Petromax Wrought Iron Frying Pan
Cast iron is awesome, it lasts forever, and it is the ultimate prepper gear. But it is really heavy! I have quite a bit of cast iron gear, but I find it impractical for trips. Instead, I bought a Petromax wrought iron frying pan. It is one kilo lighter than a cast iron pan of the same size.
I bought the pan with a diameter of 24 cm. The weight difference compared to the 20 cm pan is minimal (which surprised me a lot), but the larger size gives you enough room for, e.g., 2 steaks.
To prepare the pan, I coated it with a thin layer of rapeseed oil and baked it for 1 hour at 220°C in the oven. I repeated this 3 times before taking it over the fire.
I have now used it pretty much all summer, and I am a huge fan. Most of the time, I use Palmin as the cooking fat. It does not burn like other fats and butter. It also does not go rancid, so it is pretty much perfect to bring on a trip. My Palmin is wrapped in baking paper and kept in my German butter dish (a brilliant piece of gear).
In the morning, I am hungry and impatient, so there has not been much cooking on the pan over embers – it has been full blast on the flames. Despite that, I have not managed to burn anything even once, so the pan seems to work perfectly.
Cleaning is done by scraping it clean with a wooden spatula and maybe wiping it over with a wet wipe. When I have returned home after trips, it has simply been given a thin layer of rapeseed oil with a cloth.
So, I can definitely give this pan a huge recommendation. A completely brilliant piece of gear.
Naturally, I have upgraded the pan. I have never burned myself, because I have simply been wearing gloves. Still, I wanted to make a handle for the pan. A beech branch split into two halves, and then I carved a recess into it so it fits over the metal handle. I had to drill off the Petromax logo, which was held on with a couple of pop rivets.
I had some magnets left over from a mosquito net project. Thin, long magnets. So I carved a hole in the handle and pressed the magnets into it. They fit pretty tightly, but I still gave them a bit of epoxy to make sure they stayed firmly in place.
The patterns in the handle were burned in with a metal barbecue skewer over the fire, so that took quite a while. I gave it the burned look with a gas burner at home.
The handle works perfectly, and it is no longer necessary to use a glove when working with the pan. When the pan is attached to my backpack, the handle is simply removed and kept in a pocket.
The pan is actually so nice that I have also used it quite a bit in the kitchen indoors and on the wood-burning stove in the living room. It is just great to cook with.
Is there any reason to take cast iron over wrought iron? Other than longevity?
Source: Rosentjoern International Blogspot (also to be found on YouTube)