Outdoor Adventure USA

Since this area has been dormant for awhile, I thought I would throw something out there. Can you identify this piece of equipment? Another photo and a recipe to follow.

As a non-cook, I can only guess...

An open-fire cast iron style waffle/sandwich maker ?

It looks like cast iron cookware of some sort. Pie iron maybe??

Very cool find. We used to have a set of those when dad took us camping. We cooked sandwiches in them just like posted. Ours had longer handles for an open fire so I am wondering if these are intended for being placed on a grill rack over a fire instead of right into the hot coals?

Everyone was partially correct. It is a Griswold American No. 8 waffle iron made of cast iron. It has a patent date cast into it of July 11, 1922. It was designed to be used over a wood burning stove, but works well on a gas or camp stove. Two paddles rest in the cast iron base which rests on the stove. The base holds the paddles above the flame and contains the heat under the paddles somewhat. The paddles have a ball hinge which fits in a socket on the base. The paddles can be lifted by the handles and flipped over without removing the ball from the socket, for cooking the other side. The paddles will stay open for pouring the batter or removing the finished waffle.

This type of waffle iron was made from the mid 1800's until the 1920's or 1930's when the electric waffle iron was invented by General Electric. The two most common manufacturers were Griswold and Wagner. The designs varied somewhat in handle design, some being made of wood and some the coiled wire as mine has. The base height on mine is about 1.5", but some had about a 3 or 4" high base. My base has a bail type handle for carrying the whole thing, but some bases had a skillet style handle cast into the base. You can see what is available by doing a search on Ebay for "waffle iron cast".

The design is well thought out and pretty cool. The paddles come apart as soon as they are removed from the socket, but are locked together within the socket. The base has a trough at the bottom, completely around the base, to catch any excess batter that oozes out of the iron. The batter oozes over the gap between the iron and the base, keeping if off the stove. The socket itself has a notch in the back side to drain any excess oil (from oiling the paddles) into the trough. The bail handle is fairly balanced for carrying when the paddles are installed.

The photo was deceptive as it didn't give a size reference. The diameter of the paddles is 7.5". The handles are 6" long.

When I bought it about two months ago, I tried the recipe for waffles on the Bisquick box. Nothing special. Then I found a recipe posted by Joanne on http://www.camp-cook.com that she said was included with a Toastmaster waffle iron in the early 70's. It is a little more involved than simple stirring up ingredients as with Bisquick, but the result is worth it. These are very light and crispy and melt in your mouth. This can be made in camp without an electric mixer if you have a hand mixer. I made them for a club breakfast pot luck on Father's Day in Big Bear. I will try to post photos of the iron in use soon.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup. . flour
2 tsp. . . . . baking powder
1/2 tsp . . . salt
1 tbl . . . . . sugar
3 . . . . . . . . eggs
7 tbl . . . . . vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups . milk

Procedure:

Preheat the waffle iron. I use about 350°F, measured with a small laser non-contact thermometer from Harbor Freight

Separate the eggs, putting the egg whites in a small bowl. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff with a hand mixer.

Sift the dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl.

Add the egg yolks, oil and milk all at one time to the dry ingredients.

Mix until there are no lumps in the batter.

Fold the egg whites into the batter using a spatula or other flat utensil.

I oil the iron every other waffle with a basting brush. Don't use Pam, as they can stick. Put a 1/2 cup of batter in the waffle iron to make a 9-inch round waffle.


This recipe makes about eight 9 inch waffles.

While is is somewhat slow, the waffles can be placed in a single layer in a 200°F oven for warming and crisping. If you are out camping, eat immediately. Enjoy.

Man sweet find! it's these sorts of items that just get passed on in the family and freinds, because ya cant improve upon em, and these days it's too expensive to produce the same quality as back then.

taugust wrote:Everyone was partially correct. It is a Griswold American No. 8 waffle iron made of cast iron. It has a patent date cast into it of July 11, 1922. It was designed to be used over a wood burning stove, but works well on a gas or camp stove. Two paddles rest in the cast iron base which rests on the stove. The base holds the paddles above the flame and contains the heat under the paddles somewhat. The paddles have a ball hinge which fits in a socket on the base. The paddles can be lifted by the handles and flipped over without removing the ball from the socket, for cooking the other side. The paddles will stay open for pouring the batter or removing the finished waffle.

This type of waffle iron was made from the mid 1800's until the 1920's or 1930's when the electric waffle iron was invented by General Electric. The two most common manufacturers were Griswold and Wagner. The designs varied somewhat in handle design, some being made of wood and some the coiled wire as mine has. The base height on mine is about 1.5", but some had about a 3 or 4" high base. My base has a bail type handle for carrying the whole thing, but some bases had a skillet style handle cast into the base. You can see what is available by doing a search on Ebay for "waffle iron cast".

The design is well thought out and pretty cool. The paddles come apart as soon as they are removed from the socket, but are locked together within the socket. The base has a trough at the bottom, completely around the base, to catch any excess batter that oozes out of the iron. The batter oozes over the gap between the iron and the base, keeping if off the stove. The socket itself has a notch in the back side to drain any excess oil (from oiling the paddles) into the trough. The bail handle is fairly balanced for carrying when the paddles are installed.

The photo was deceptive as it didn't give a size reference. The diameter of the paddles is 7.5". The handles are 6" long.

When I bought it about two months ago, I tried the recipe for waffles on the Bisquick box. Nothing special. Then I found a recipe posted by Joanne on http://www.camp-cook.com that she said was included with a Toastmaster waffle iron in the early 70's. It is a little more involved than simple stirring up ingredients as with Bisquick, but the result is worth it. These are very light and crispy and melt in your mouth. This can be made in camp without an electric mixer if you have a hand mixer. I made them for a club breakfast pot luck on Father's Day in Big Bear. I will try to post photos of the iron in use soon.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup. . flour
2 tsp. . . . . baking powder
1/2 tsp . . . salt
1 tbl . . . . . sugar
3 . . . . . . . . eggs
7 tbl . . . . . vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups . milk

Procedure:

Preheat the waffle iron. I use about 350°F, measured with a small laser non-contact thermometer from Harbor Freight

Separate the eggs, putting the egg whites in a small bowl. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff with a hand mixer.

Sift the dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl.

Add the egg yolks, oil and milk all at one time to the dry ingredients.

Mix until there are no lumps in the batter.

Fold the egg whites into the batter using a spatula or other flat utensil.

I oil the iron every other waffle with a basting brush. Don't use Pam, as they can stick. Put a 1/2 cup of batter in the waffle iron to make a 9-inch round waffle.


This recipe makes about eight 9 inch waffles.

While is is somewhat slow, the waffles can be placed in a single layer in a 200°F oven for warming and crisping. If you are out camping, eat immediately. Enjoy.

Great write up and recipe find.

If anyone is interested in buying one of these there is an antique shop on Route 66 (National Trails Hwy) in Oro Grande. They had several of these waffle irons when we stopped in last month and they have a plethora of other antique cast iron cooking gear. Also antique tools, furniture, clothing, dishes, jewelry, the works. This place is definitely worth a stop.

Antique Station
19176 National Trails Hwy
Oro Grande, CA 92368-9603
Phone: (760) 951-2421

Great write up Tim. My grandmother and grandfather still have a boat load of these kinds of things. They are/were (grandma passed a few years ago) antique collectors. I can dig through their antiques for days and never get bored.

FunJunkie wrote:Man sweet find! it's these sorts of items that just get passed on in the family and freinds, because ya cant improve upon em, and these days it's too expensive to produce the same quality as back then.

Not to mention probably illegal by today's standards due to some of the materials used in the iron. You know... the materials that actually made it good quality iron.

OLLIE wrote:Great write up Tim. My grandmother and grandfather still have a boat load of these kinds of things. They are/were (grandma passed a few years ago) antique collectors. I can dig through their antiques for days and never get bored.

Sounds like you should look through what they have and "borrow" some interesting items.

taugust wrote:

OLLIE wrote:Great write up Tim. My grandmother and grandfather still have a boat load of these kinds of things. They are/were (grandma passed a few years ago) antique collectors. I can dig through their antiques for days and never get bored.

Sounds like you should look through what they have and "borrow" some interesting items.

Would love to and I will. Problem I have is that it's all back in Nebraska. I plan on driving my FJ back there in the next year or so and I'll have to load it down.