Traditional Hanging Girdle

[kiltedpict]

Hi All.

i was wondering if anyone could recommend an online retailer who sells the cast iron girdles- I'm really after the old Scottish style with the arm for hanging once a fire- there are loads of other styles, but really like the old look.

Cheers in advance,

KP

[Toddy]

I have one I had two but the hugest one has gone to a very good home with three children

The old style girdles don't fit most modern cookers
Be a bit aware of modern copies; they aren't usually cast if they have the fold down hanging ring; they're cut out of steel plate and they don't all stay flat when heated up, and they can curve like a saucer.

I bought a new flat one to use at home, like this one,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cast-Black-S...9911809&sr=8-1
and though I was kind of when I saw how coarse it looked at first, I have to say that it's really very, very good indeed. It's used at least several times a week, and tucks away neatly on one of the oven shelves when not in use.

Your best bet on a good old fashioned girdle is just to put the word out that you want one. Sellers at reenactors markets and the like will charge you £30, but car boots and so on, between £5 and £10 depending on how much you haggle.

This company sell modern copies, and have a good reputation,
http://antiquekitchenalia.com/scottish-bakestone-girdle/

atb,
Mary

[kiltedpict]

Cheers Mary.

I knew you'd be the first to respond!

The second link looks nice but a bit too pricey for me- think I'll settle for the first one!

Cheers, much appreciated.

Stuart

[Toddy]

Put the word out that you're looking for one, and that you'll not mind some elbow grease (or a handy wire brush on the end of a drill), and sooner or later one'll turn up for you

Tom Bear found a company that posted the big one from here to the Midlands for under a fiver, so let folks know the kind of figure you'd be prepared to cover for one.
I'd say £5 to £8 for one needing a lot of scouring, and £15 upwards for one in good clean nick. Those are both in sound, physically useable condition incidentally, no missing or broken bits.
Antique shops will double or treble those prices, but I'm never quite sure if they've painted them with something or not

cheers,
M

[JohnC]

I got the ones we use at a junk yard and from ebay. The junkyard one is, I think the modern one, but cleaned up ok and is fine. the ebay one is used most and was covered in paint when I bought it as a potstand, so it was a bit of a gamble, but it turned out ok as the paint layers had protected it to a degree. still needed a lot of cleaning and work though.

[dean4442]

I found one at a farm I was working on but it is curved, is there anything I can do to flatten it? I'm too chicken to just wallop it with a hammer!
Colin

[Toddy]

You mean the flat girdle plate is curved ? It's not the inner lid for a cauldron ?


cheers,
M

[xylaria]

We have a local[ish] shop that sell them as welsh cake pans. we are going to buy one friday as I have just got into making staffordshire oakcakes and need a griddle.

I am amazed at the variation in the british isles of stodge that is cooked on griddles.

http://decuisine.co.uk/cookshop/bakeware/heavy-duty-griddle.html?id=dc555b30af3c30 13f6277135e530b533.1329932194& &referal=/items/hard_anodised_griddle.php"]they look like this but half the price[/URL]

Some welsh cake pans are slightly domed, it would suit dry recipes like welsh cake or potato scones but not recipes that are liquid to start with. The heat transfer on an open fire would be more even in a domed one I suppose.

[dean4442]

Hi Toddy, it's domed and has a folding handle just like the one in your bottom link. To be honest I had just assumed it was supposed to be like that but your post started me wondering.
Colin

[Toddy]

Colin that sounds like a steel one that's been heated too hot and buckled.........I could be totally wrong though, sorry I just don't know

Fiona I know exactly what you mean When my sons were both at home the girdle was rarely off the cooker. It baked everything from bread to tattie scones. There are masses of British regional recipes for cooking on these girdles/griddle/bakestones. Lots of the Asian breads cook well on it too, and so do the South American ones like tortillas.

I'm really pleased with the new wee modern flat one I bought; it's maybe not so big as the old ones but it bakes evenly, fits my cooker and for the smaller portions of a household without growing children, it's just fine

I know that if I'm camping, and I'm not carrying masses of stuff any great distance, I take the hanging girdle along. It's just really useful.

cheers,
Toddy

[grumit]

They look cool could you do pizza on them

[Toddy]

We tried that at the Moot one year....we came to the conclusion that only if covered with an upside down dutch oven covered in hot coals.
If you don't mind messy pizza though you could just turn it over and roast the cheese that way

cheers,
M

[Passer]

I found one at a farm I was working on but it is curved, is there anything I can do to flatten it? I'm too chicken to just wallop it with a hammer!
Colin

Forgive me if I am stating the obvious. If it is cast iron, hitting it will smash it. Better to heat it up slowly and when really hot, place a heavy weight on it and allow to cool.
Hope that helps.

[bilmo-p5]

We tried that at the Moot one year....we came to the conclusion that only if covered with an upside down dutch oven covered in hot coals.

The problem with doing pizzas on a griddle, particularly a large round pizza on a round griddle is that the blanket slab of insulation which is the pizza, prevents heat getting to the top of the pizza even if you use a lid. If you'd made mini-pizzas or oval or pitta pizzas a foil pie dish might well have done the trick ie, heat coming off the griddle between and around the pizzas would reflect downwards off the foil to cook the pizza from the top simultaneously.

I'm reminded of a dinner we had a year or two since. The taters were cooking quicker than the duck breasts so I utilised the foil trays they had come in to form a couple of temporary griddle top ovens which solved the problem nicely.

[Toddy]

Neat idea
I might invest in couple of those big, round, foil roasting trays. Especially since they're reduced to pennies now the roasting season is by.

cheers,
M

[Elines]

....and I was so looking forward to seeing what a hanging girdle might look like .........