Thursday, May 16, 2024
If you want an upscale, state-of-the-art cast iron skillet, go to Fredericksburg.
“It’s an interesting market and is actually significantly more interesting than I thought coming into it,” says Jay Mallinckrodt, who thirty-five years ago started a company named Heartland Enterprises that makes parts for jet engines. Two years ago, he started making skillets under the name Fredericksburg Cast Iron. “I knew there was a lot of passion about cast iron; there’s a lot of family heirlooms that were handed down from somebody’s grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, uncle or parents. Since starting this business, we’ve talked to people who love cast iron skillets. Feelings for them are so significant and deeper than we ever imagined.”
He started making skillets during the pandemic.
“We had the relationships or capabilities here already to take it on.”
The skillets come in three sizes.
“We have our number ten, a ten-inch cast iron skilled, that was our first product then we launched a number fourteen cast iron griddle, which is a fourteen-inch diameter round griddle that is great for all sorts of things like warming tortillas or cooking pancakes, eggs, or steaks. Our most recent product that we launched is our number twelve cast iron skillet. So, we have a ten and twelve-inch skillet and a fourteen-inch griddle.
He put his skillets on social media, and they quickly caught on with the public.
“We immediately had lots and lots of followers and lots and lots of interest. When we first launched our products had limited releases, maybe thirty, fifty, seventy-five skillets at a time, and they would sell out in ten minutes or less. We have sold probably thirty-five percent outside the state of Texas. Recently, we’ve been placed in all of HEB’s Central Markets across Texas. There are ten locations of those stores in major markets. That has been good for us also.”
He is shocked at the response. The insides of the skillets are shiny.
“We machine and polish the cooking surface so that it’s very smooth. That smoothness makes it virtually non-stick on day one. The flat outer bottom makes it fit snugly on the stove or countertop. There’s no wobble. It’s also easy to maintain.”
He says his products have come a long way from the old-fashioned cowboy, chuck wagon, blacksmith style of cast iron skillet.
“But we have certainly kept the weight, which is a big factor in heat retention. In fact, our skillets weigh a little more than those early ones.”
Jay took me through his factory where a man was working on a machine that softens some of the roughness and gives the skillets a smooth finish.
