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Saturday, August 7, 2010

The cast iron scotch bowl

This is a cast iron scotch bowl. They came in various sizes, and are no longer made.

Scotch bowls were hung over a fire to cook scotch broth* or porridge; both dishes need to be stirred constantly, hence the rounded bottom and no lid.

*Scotch broth is a thick soup containing barley, lamb, carrots, turnips, leeks, and cabbage. The recipe originated in Scotland, of course.

If you're lucky enough to get one, you can use it for food prep, or on the stovetop as a wok or soup pot, or as a serving bowl.

You could even use it in the oven for something. Use your imagination.

There's a video demonstration of cooking stir fry in a scotch bowl here.

Now, if you don't have one, you can still make scotch broth in a cast iron pot. When I decide to make some, I'll post the recipe.

11 comments:

  1. Thanks. I had no idea what this pot I just found was. Don't you just love cooking with cast iron! Dolores

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  2. Is $30 a good price for a Scotch bowl?

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  3. sorry it took so long to answer, yes that is a good price

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  5. Thank you so much for your blog!! I just found one of these last weekend at a local flea market for $10!! It's an Erie 781, but I had no idea because it was so gunked up when I got it. I had been looking for a small-medium 'pot' for so long, I just grabbed it. After the gunk came off and I realized what I had, I started googling and found you. Thank you so much for the info, I'm so excited, it's my first really vintage piece and now that it's cleaned and seasoned, I'm going to make soup in it, maybe scotch broth, I'll let you know! :)

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  6. Yay!! I'm so glad I found this post. I was on a cast iron cooking Facebook group and asked what this was because I just found one at a garage sale & bought it for $4. Now I have a recipe to go along with the identification! I love you, man (in my best cheesy dude voice)! Thank you!!

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  7. I have a very early scotch bowl with a heat ring and two raised numbers on the bottom: a 1 and a 3, but they're an inch and a half apart so I don't know if that means 13... or something else. The bowl is 9" across at the brim. Thanks for any thoughts.

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  8. I just came across your blog and was wondering if you knew the brand of the bowl in the photo above?

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  9. Do you know what a swell pot is? Tks.

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