1. By MATT BYRNE
Staff Writer
Fritz Appleby tilted his head, turned
sideways, and descended the narrow
wooden staircase into a stone-walled
cellar, his personal laboratory, the
ceiling too low for him to stand up-
right.
In a corner, a barrel of murky liquid
was hooked up to a couple of elec-
trodes, buzzing away. Before him sat
the product of an addiction four years
in the making.
On racks against the walls and nested in stacks
10 deep, scores of ancient-looking cast iron cook-
ware, unrecognizable with corrosion, awaited
his skilled hands.
Right now, he said, “it’s a pile of iron,” but
under the decades of rust and neglect are
sought-after skillets, Dutch ovens and bread
pans, some destined to fetch eye-popping prices.
Which ones will be winners and which will
be duds, Appleby doesn’t quite know. “It’s a
gamble,” he said. “But I haven’t been burned too
bad.”
Appleby, of Pownal, is part of a wave of home
cooks and collectors who are rediscovering the
satisfaction of cooking in cast-iron skillets, often
ones that predate them by decades. Pieces like
those that pack Appleby’s basement are be-
coming sought-after kitchen additions for a new
generation of home cooks, Appleby said.
In the last 10 years, collectors say they’ve seen
new interest in old pans in good condition. On
social media, one group devoted to cast-iron
cooking and collecting is gaining a few thousand
followers each day.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third and last in a se-
ries in which we chatted with Mainers who are semi-
finalists for a 2015 James Beard Foundation award.
The finalists will be announced on March 24 and the
winners on May 4.
By Peggy Grodinsky
Food Editor
Savvy restaurant-going Mainers could not have been
surprised that Mike Wiley and Andrew Taylor were
nominated for a James Beard award as Best Chefs:
Northeast this year. If anything, we wondered what
took the Beard Foundation so long. In partnership with
general manager Arlin Smith, the pair owns Portland’s
beloved Eventide Oyster Company and the adjacent
Hugo’s restaurant on Middle Street. As locals who have
waited for a coveted seat know all too well, even in the
dead of winter, even on a Sunday night, even at an odd,
sleepy hour of the afternoon, Eventide will be jumping.
Then there’s Hugo’s (previously owned by Rob Evans),
where the space and service are simultaneously posh
and relaxed, the cooking intricate, elegant and assured.
Hugo’s, an admiring chef friend of mine said after a
recent meal, “is the real deal.” Both restaurants regu-
larly make national and regional Best of and Where to
Eat lists. And within the next few weeks, Wiley, Taylor
A funny thing happened on the way to other lives
Law and academia lost out to oysters and fine
dining for Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley of
Hugo’s, Eventide and soon, Honey Paw.
FOOD & dining SECTION CPortland Press HeraldWednesday, March 18, 2015
Joe Appel/C2
Vegetarian Kitchen/C2
Dispatches/C3
THE SPLATTERED PAGE
FINE COOKING’S latest
“100 Best” book offers
cake and cupcake
challenges for a variety
of skill levels. C2
Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer
Andrew Taylor and Mike Wiley of Eventide Oyster Company and Hugo’s.
Photos by Gabe Souza/Staff Photographer
Cleaned and prepped cast-iron skillets sit on a shelf in the home of Pownal resident Fritz Appleby. Top: An Appleby favorite, a cast-iron Dutch oven.
HARDC RE
Appleby dunks a find into an electrolysis tub in his basement to
remove rust.
Cast-iron collector Fritz Appleby
explains the magnetic pull of the pans.
Please see FUNNY, Page C3
Please see CAST IRON, Page C4
CHOP-CHOP
BRIEF CONVERSATIONS WITH PEOPLE IN FOOD
YOU TASTE IT THE MOMENT YOU BITE INTO ANY OF OUR PERFECTLY RIPENED,
MOUTHWATERING TOMATOES; A COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE THAT'S HARD TO FIND. backyardfarms.com