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Seeking info on an antique cooking pan
May. 3rd, 2008 12:21 pmI mentioned, just after Christmas, that my mom had given me a box full of stuff from my great-grandmother (things she had intended me to have). There are some really cool things in there (especially neat, because I had no clue we had any family heirlooms further back than about three generations), and my great-grandmother was wonderful about writing notes for every item, detailing what she knew of its history and often mentioning why she wanted me to have it. Reading through it all with my mom was really a treat, because it was almost like having my great-grandmother there with us again (she had a very acerbic wit). Among the items was a bonnet that had belonged to my great-great-great-grandmother. It's in beautiful shape... hand stitched with what we think may be whale bone or baleen sewn into it around the front fringe to help it stay a bit more rigid (so it wouldn't be falling in her eyes, I'm guessing). I'm currently working on finding a way to display it and still preserve it.
Anyway, the real reason I'm writing this is to see if anyone might know the name of a particular type of cast iron pan. This one was supposedly brought over from Ireland by my great-grandmother's great-grandmother, but the name she has listed isn't familiar, isn't showing up when googled and her handwriting there is a bit tough to decipher.
( More description and a photo, under the cut )
I realized Livejournal might be a good place to ask after watching the most recent episode of Good Eats ("Honey, I Shrunk the Cake"), where Alton Brown was going through the history of cupcakes and pulled up a pan that looked remarkably like the one I have and called it a "Gin Pan" (no idea on spelling). I literally leaped out of my chair, because it was so close to the "gern" or "jern" or "genn" or "jenn" that my great-grandmother had written. But I've still had no luck tracking it down online.
The one interesting tidbit I've run across is that "jern" is actually Norwegian for "iron." No clue if there's any relation between that and the pan (or "iron" as my great-grandmother called it).
So, anyone have any ideas? I figure with all the folks on my flist, there has to be someone who is either into antiques or cooking or lives in a region where the term is more commonly used who will know exactly what it is!
Anyway, the real reason I'm writing this is to see if anyone might know the name of a particular type of cast iron pan. This one was supposedly brought over from Ireland by my great-grandmother's great-grandmother, but the name she has listed isn't familiar, isn't showing up when googled and her handwriting there is a bit tough to decipher.
( More description and a photo, under the cut )
I realized Livejournal might be a good place to ask after watching the most recent episode of Good Eats ("Honey, I Shrunk the Cake"), where Alton Brown was going through the history of cupcakes and pulled up a pan that looked remarkably like the one I have and called it a "Gin Pan" (no idea on spelling). I literally leaped out of my chair, because it was so close to the "gern" or "jern" or "genn" or "jenn" that my great-grandmother had written. But I've still had no luck tracking it down online.
The one interesting tidbit I've run across is that "jern" is actually Norwegian for "iron." No clue if there's any relation between that and the pan (or "iron" as my great-grandmother called it).
So, anyone have any ideas? I figure with all the folks on my flist, there has to be someone who is either into antiques or cooking or lives in a region where the term is more commonly used who will know exactly what it is!
