After months of agonizing about how to fix the handle on our cool orange Descoware cast iron pan that we use ALL THE TIME, Elizabeth made a suggestion that was simple, cheap and best of all, it works.

The handle is a cool feature of the pan because it unscrews and, presto! You now have a casserole pan that can go right into the oven.  However, this pan, inherited from Grandma, has seen many a chicken soup and many a tuna fish casserole in its day and the threads on the handle were worn down to the point that it would basically slip out whenever you tried to use it.  So I’ve been poring over the internet for suggestions, searching EBay obsessively for descoware handles (apparently you can order new plastic handles — but, honestly, who wants a plastic handle?!) and imagining the handle slipping out at a crucial juncture — like when there’s a load of boiling soup in the pan and all of a sudden you have a crushed and scalded toe because 5 pounds of cast iron and bubbling water have just tumbled from your grasp.

In walks Elizabeth to our kitchen a few days back, and she makes the off-hand suggestion to see if a broom-handle fits.  As it happens, we have an unused broom handle in the basement (it’s been there for at least 3 years) and sure enough — it fits!  One slice with the circular saw and one piece of sandpaper later, voila!  A new handle!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 10:37 am and is filed under food, home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.