OMG - my husband's grandmother's iron skillet just literally

[MrsBrady]

cracked almost in two...
I just put on the stove.

was moments away from putting oil in it.

My husband will be devastated.
I hope I don't get in trouble.

I have never seen anything like that in my life.

He's going to be crushed. He adored his grandmother.
And this was hers OMG.

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Oh! I'd be upset if that happened to my grandmother's frying pan.

It's older than the hills but it's been in three generations of kitchens already.

[MrsBrady]

17. too bad, really.

Breakfast turned out great, but man this just sux.

Hubby is ok now, but it's just hard...

I think it's more about her memory than the skillet.
But still, I get it. I miss my own grandmother too.

[siligut]

2. I have heard of that happening.

It can occur if one pours cold water into a hot skillet, however, that doesn’t seem to be what happened in your case.

I don’t know what to say about it to your husband. Men who love their grandmothers are dears usually. You didn’t do it on purpose or anything.

Glad you weren't hurt, good thing you hadn't poured the oil in yet, could have been a fire!

[MrsBrady]

4. yep

he's upset.

i think he'll be fine after a while.

I was going to make a big breakfast, cuz I don't get to cook much now that i'm in college.
Maybe that will make him feel better.

Damn it.

[siligut]

5. Maybe make muffins or biscuits!

My husband loves them and you don’t need a skillet. Hot buttery biscuits are comfort food.

[MrsBrady]

6. we have another deep skillet of hers

that i was able to use.

I make some mean drop biscuits...so I had already planned to do that.

Fried taters in her skillet, biscuits, gravy, sausage, scrambled eggs!!!

that will fix him up

[siligut]

8. Sounds so good!

Yes, I say that should fix him right up.

[MajorChode]

10. Perhaps the skillet was cold when it was put into the oven

BTW, I loved both my grandmothers and I'm an asshole. Go figure.

[MrsBrady]

15. it was room temperature and put on the stove....

I think it was just old.


You are an ass hole? Impossible.

[siligut]

23. I have been told.

That if someone tells you they are an asshole, you need to believe them. However, my belief is that the biggest assholes actually lack any self-awareness, so they wouldn’t even know they were assholes.

[MajorChode]

25. So I'm an asshole, just a small one

[susanna]

49. This has been my experience as well. n/t

[Archae]

3. My Mom had an iron skillet break in two on her stove.

Iron can get brittle with age.

The one my Mom had was about 50 years old when it broke.

My Dad took it to work, and they welded it back together, my Mom still uses it 30+ years later.
(It was my job to file down the raised weld inside it so my Mom could use it.)

[MrsBrady]

16. I think this one has to be at least 50 years old...

but it might be closer to 80, now that I think about it.

Damn. I don't think I can get anything to last that long now.

[Maine-ah]

46. but you might be able to get it welded back together

like Archie's Dad did with theirs.

Do you know anyone who does that?

[supernova]

7. AWww, so sad

I also have my grandmothers CI skillet and use it everyday for breakfast at least.

I would be heartbroken if it ever broke.

[MrsBrady]

18. we are heartbroken that is for sure.

We are just glad I hadn't put oil in it yet.

Thanks for the hug.

[trof]

9. Miz t. cracked granny's cut glass pitcher.

It was early in our marriage and she wasn't near the experienced kitchen hand she is now.

Grandpa had died and granny was going to live with her son.
In breaking up housekeeping she kindly doled out many of the family heirlooms. We got several big pieces of crystal and cut glass.

Miz t. was making iced tea and poured the boiling hot tea into the cool pitcher.
POW!
The pitcher had been handed down from granny's grandmother.
I was really upset, but got over it soon.
But I told Miz t. we could never EVER tell granny.
And we didn't.

This too shall pass.

[MrsBrady]

19. yea...

losing "grandma stuff" is hard.

Thanks!

[Deja Q]

11. Entropy. It's inevitable.

At least it wasn't bought by your granddaughter; made in that country known for selling cheap junk that breaks when an eyelash falls onto it.

[MrsBrady]

21. right...

I don't thing a new iron skillet from China is something I'm going to want to get.

Maybe I can find some used somewhere.

I have a stainless steel pan I can use in the mean time. *sigh*

[GoneOffShore]

22. You can get a Lodge Logic - Made in the US and preseasoned.

Very good stuff.

I just made tarte tatin in my mom's old cast iron skillet, put it in the oven and then read your thread. I'm afraid to go look in the oven now.

[MrsBrady]

27. well, unless you hear a loud

pop/bang/clang sound....

you should be ok!

[GoneOffShore]

48. There was no loud pop or banging sound

The tatin looks good and is now in the fridge. Tomorrow that crust goes on top, gets browned and will be served late afternoon.

As I type there are two Le Creuset pots full of cassoulet in the oven - It's going to be a big party tomorrow afternoon.

[MrsBrady]

52. sounds yummy

[hippywife]

24. Lodge cast iron skillets

are still made here.

[MrsBrady]

ok, i'll look into that

[MrsBrady]

28. delete weird dupe

[MajorChode]

12. They CAN be repaired

You can have it welded and repaired. They are not easy to weld so you'd need to find someone who knows what they are doing.

[MrsBrady]

20. my husband

could do that kind of thing...

but I think we are just going to retire it, and hang it up.

[MajorChode]

26. That's probably the best idea

If it cracked once for no apparent reason, it could certainly do so again.

Nothing is forever, although cast iron skillets do come close.

[blogslut]

13. Solder it together and hang it on the wall

Maybe decoupage a few recipes in the well of the pan. Just because it's no longer serviceable cookware, that doesn't mean it has to be thrown away.

[MrsBrady]

14. it didn't break to the handle....

just from the top rim through 2/3rds down the middle, perpendicular to the handle.

Now that it's cooled, the crack is not as noticeable... I think I will just hang it on the wall. I have a spot.

I think we are going to have to retire the other one too...just in case.

[dgibby]

51. That's a great idea.

Use some of grandma's recipes, printed in sepia tones, alone with a sepia pic of her. What a great memento and decorative, as well!

[PfcHammer]

29. Prolly thermal shock

get the to the metal shop

[HopeHoops]

30. If it was an electric stove, there is an obvious reason - blasphemy.

If it was a gas stove, you obviously aren't using the right brand of cooking oil.

On Edit:

Thou shalt NEVER, EVER put cast iron on an electric stove. It is an abomination, EVEN unto God. I'm sure that's in Leviticus SOMEWHERE!

[MrsBrady]

34. well,

our housing addition wasn't built with gas at all.

so it's electric or we live like cave people.

What's in Leviticus never stopped me before, so I guess I'm going to hell.

[HopeHoops]

36. I guessed it then - electric stoves are the only way to kill cast iron.

And since I'm vegetarian and straight, I can't really achieve my goal of violating every last damn thing in Leviticus. Yet ANOTHER impossible life objective!!!!

[Rabrrrrrr]

42. Dude, when Leviticus was written, the middle east was just entering the iron age

so the rules against cast iron on electric stoves wouldn't show up until Ezekiel.

As well the rule that so obviously proclaims the electric stove itself as an abomination unto God.

[MrsBrady]

43. I guess Fox and Jacobs

are servants of the Devil.

'cuz they didn't have gas lines run for this neighborhood when they built it in the mid-70's.

We don't get a choice. Just the evil electric.

[suninvited]

31. a black skillet?

I have one I dont use. I could send it to you if you needed it.

[MrsBrady]

32. aww

that is sweet.

we'll do ok. thanks, though.

[old mark]

33. Just use it as a wall hanger. There was probably a flaw in the casting

process that hung on for all this time, and you wre just the person around when it broke. Nothing you can do about it, and no way you could tell....
mark

[graywarrior]

35. You would not believe the family war that took place over my MIL's iron skillet

after she died......actually it started way before she died. Unfuckingbelievable! People STILL have resentments over that thing.

[MrsBrady]

37. i know, family stuff is crap sometimes

I was kind of surprised he ended up with them.

he was unmarried at the time he acquired them. not sure how he ended up with them instead of some of his married female cousins.

maybe they thought he could use them. i'll have to ask. never thought of that.

[graywarrior]

38. No one knows what happened to my MIL's skillet

Someone in the family has it but they ain't talkin'

[MrsBrady]

39. probably the republican in the family

it's always the one that acts like they are above it all

any suspects?

[graywarrior]

40. The dead sister

[Shell Beau]

41. Those old skillets are the best too! But all good things do

come to an end.

I had fairly new skillet with a glass lid, and I had the glass lid on it simmering some stuff. The lid exploded. Thankfully we were not in the kitchen when it happened. Glass everywhere. Freaky.

Maybe you can get a new skillet and make many new memorable meals in it! That grandma stuff is hard to come by. I have a pot that was passed down from my grandma, to my mom, to me. They don't make stuff the way they used to.

[MrsBrady]

44. cute kiddo

how do you stand the cuteness????

[Shell Beau]

45. I take pictures like a mad lady! She really does melt my heart.

[elleng]

47. Haven't heard of that,

but something similar happened to me a few years ago.

Pyrex baking/roasting dish in oven with dinner (chix/toms/pots, etc.) heard HUGE cracking sound. You know the rest! I assume 'too old' pyrex pan, from my mother.

We all survive. Its 'nature.'

[susanna]

50. It does happen.

My husband's g-gma's cast iron skillet broke just after we married. He adored her, but he's also an engineer. So I was lucky that way. He knew cast iron has its own breaking point. (Whew.)

I know how you're feeling. I'm just glad it broke before the oil, because I daresay you would have had a real bad fire on the horizon, because you know that stuff does not cool down easy.

Peace to you MrsBrady and I hope everything works out.

[whistler162]

53. LUCY you got some 'splain to do! ;0

Of course you might be banned from the kitchen at family gatherings for awhile!

[MrsBrady]

54. no, i'm the best cook