Rome featured on the TODAY show

We were excited to see Kathie Lee and Hoda feature Rome s'more maker and dog'n brat cooker on the TODAY show this morning. They were doing a segment on "glamping" which is basically camping with all the creature comforts of home. The term first appeared a few years ago in the UK where people attending large rock festivals such as Glastonbury would bring everything but the kitchen sink to their campsite. Glamorous Camping or 'glamping' was born.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Recipe Contest Winner - Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuit

Congratulations to Dan from Monee, IL. He's our latest winner of the Rome Pie Iron recipe contest with his take on a morning breakfest sandwich classic.

Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuit - for the Pie Iron
Just Like McDonalds! Well, not quite, but close enough when your in the middle of a forest.

We have been refining this to make it as easy as possible. And while these options might sacrifice gourmet quality, they make up for it with simplicity and clean-up (essential while out in the woods). Here are some tips for simplicity:
Use the precooked, heat and serve, ready to eat bacon. Buy it pre-made, and you don't have to worry about all the bacon grease and a pan to clean out at the campsite. Plus the box of precooked bacon needs no refrigeration until opened, freeing up some room in the always crowded cooler. ( we started by making bacon at camp, then made bacon at home, then settled on the pre-made stuff)

Eggs: this is a great general eggs tip: Usually, all eggs prepared in camp are scrambled anyway, so start at home. Use a squeezy type sports bottle and, while at home, crack all the eggs you want to take with you into it and add a splash of milk. Shake the heck out of the bottle (make sure the cap is screwed on nice and tight and that the spout is pushed closed!) and you have scrambled eggs in a convenient, unbreakable, waterproof, more compact container that fits more easily in the cooler and allows for quick and easy dispensing!


2 Buttermilk GRANDS refrigerator biscuits*
2 slices bacon
1 slice of American cheese
1 squirt of scrambled egg (about 2 table spoons or so)

Use a can of soda or beer to roll 1 biscuit of dough nice and thin and large enough to cover the one side of the pie iron well. Squeeze closed any holes that appear. and press into well to conform to iron.

squirt in egg, place bacon on egg (trim bacon with pocket knife if necessary so it fits) and cheese on top of bacon. Roll out other biscuit dough and place on top of the biscuit egg bacon cheese. Clamp other pie iron well on and cook for several minutes on each side until biscuit is golden.

This sandwich takes some practice and tweaking to get right, biscuit dough and eggs usually squirt out the side into the fire, but once you get it right, you get it RIGHT! Enjoy!

Dan - Monee, IL

*Most of the other recipes I saw say use buttered bread. We used to do that, but, as my bacon egg cheese sandwich calls for biscuit dough, we use non-stick cooking spray. It is easier than butter, does a more thorough job of greasing it, and packs and travels more conveniently. Just spray the inside of both sides instead of using butter.

Sandwich - Bildung

Our friends at Eisenbams (aka Sandwiches On Fire) just let us know about the double cast iron pie iron being featured in the new issue of Men's Health Germany. Very cool!

Wild Boar Burgers

Qvist , our Dutch distributor just hosted an outdoor cooking course called Hunters & Gatherers. Their last class was based around wild mushroom gathering, while this one involved cooking a wild boar. They practice snout to tail cooking and spent the day cooking stews, smoking and grilling meats all over an open fire. They also made wild boar burgers that were cooked using Rome's wilderness burger grillers. I hear they tasted great.

Smakelijk eten!

Pie Iron Recipe Contest Winner - Chesapeake Mountain Pie

Congrats to Dave from Baltimore for his winning pie iron recipe. He won us over with his creative twist on a crab cake.

Chesapeake Mountain Pie Recipe

Butter the outside of 2 slices of white bread
Place one piece of bread in cooker buttered side out
Mix cooked crabmeat with appropriate amount of mayonaise to create a creamy but dry mixture
Place 1 tbs cooked crabmeat mix in center of bread
Sprinkle "old bay" seafood seasoning on crabmeat
Place 2 stips cooked bacon over crabmeat
Cover with the 2nd piece of bread buttered side out
Cook til golden brown... enjoy

We pick a new contest winner every month, so keep sending in your recipes to contest@pieiron.com. If you win we'll send you a free pie iron & recipe book. Also your recipe may be featured in a future printing of one of our recipe books.

How To Season Rome Pie Irons

Here's a fantastic video that takes you step by step on how to season Rome cast iron pie irons. Your host and seasoning guru is Jon Riemann and he really takes the process to an art form. By repeating the process several times, he gets the iron seasoned to a level that would make a professional chef smile.

There are two versions of the video - 10 minute full process video and a shorter video that comes in at just under 4 minutes and covers the key steps.

FULL VIDEO

SHORT VIDEO

New Pie Iron video From 2 Brothers Adventures

Celebrating 100 years of Peninsula State Park

Peninsula State Park located in Wisconsin's beautiful Door County celebrated their 100th anniversary this year and Rome was happy to help out by sponsoring a celebratory marshmallow roast. the event took place during the WI State Park system's annual Campground Host and Volunteer Jamboree. Over 160 people were able to make it to the event.

Congrats to the State of Wisconsin for prioritizing the funding of the park system. In the era of ever tightening budgets, it's wonderful to be able to celebrate the 100th anniversary of a state park such as Peninsula.

* photo taken at Jamboree
Peninsula State Park

Recipe Contest Winner

Here's a new winning recipe from our long running pie iron contest.

My teeth are still aching from this one:

Dessert To Pie For, from Diane in Botkins, OH

Butter one side of torilla shell with butter and the other side with peanut butter. Lay on waxed paper while filling. Lay 2 marshmallows,large ones slightly to right of center, and then to left of marshmallows lay two bite size candy bars.(Snickers, milky way, 100 grand bars, butterfingers, heath etc) of your choice. Wrap tortilla shell enclosing filling . Place in pie iron over fire for 5 minutes and turn and cook for 5 minutes more.....to pie for......much better than smores truely try em.......

Pie Iron feature in the Everett, WA Herald

From Saturday's Herald newspaper:

Camp cooking doesn't have to be just hot dogs and toasted marshmallows. With a pie iron you can build anything from a simple grilled-cheese sandwich to a three-course meal complete with apple pie for dessert.

read the whole article

photo: Justin Best

Keep up with Rome pie irons on facebook

Follow us on Facebook - share your favorite recipes, stories, upload pics, become a fan and get in on the mountain pie love. While you're there you can also send friends Campfire Treats with our new gift application.
Rome Pie Irons

Find A Pie Iron

We've recently added a new way to find Rome pie irons in your area using google maps. By clicking on the link below you'll be transported to an interactive map that you can use to zoom in/out & pan to the part of the country you're interested in. In addition to store address & phone numbers, most of the stores have links to their website.

While we'd love the map to be totally accurate, this is a people powered endeavor and we're going to miss stores that should be on the map and we'll probably even have stores that have closed/moved or stopped selling our line. Help us out by dropping us a line with suggested changes (michael at pieiron.com). You can also leave comments on the map regarding your experience or thoughts on an individual store.

CommunityWalk Map - Find A Pie Iron

Buying Pie Irons In Europe

Interest from across the pond for Rome pie irons have been building year over year and as we get closer to the holidays I thought an update would be in order.

Online European Orders Available From:

UK & Ireland: Pie-Iron.co.uk

Netherlands, Belgium & Luxembourg: Qvist Outdoor Cooking

Germany: Sandwiches On Fire

Denmark: Udeliv

S'more Maker Update

If you haven't had the opportunity to check out our S'more Maker, don't worry - this summer's coolest firepit & picnic tool is making it's way to a town near you.

In addition to the stores listed in a prior post, you can now find them in all Bass Pro Shop stores, Dunham's, Dick's Sporting Goods and a ton of independent retailers including celebrity chef Paula Deen's shop in Savannah.

If you live in Los Angeles, you may have even caught Camping Life editor Stuart Bourdon cooking with the s'more maker on ABC 7 news. Watch the video.

Is this as close as we'll get to International Pie Iron Day?

Today is 3.14 aka national Pi day. Yes - the symbol Pi that represents the relationship between a circle's diameter and its circumference (thank you PiDay.org.) This is a time when math freaks from around the world celebrate by eating fruit Pi until numbness in the extremities sets in. Here at Pi_Iron.com, we get into it in our own obvious way.

Rome takes on America's favorite campfire treat

When Punxsutawney Phil says we've got six more weeks of winter, the cabin fever can start elevating from minor climbing the walls to full on hallucinations. Do the snow piles look like shifting sand dunes? Does the cold wind whistling at night sound like Beach Boys harmonies?

If you're in that winter funk then it's time to get jazzed up about campfire fun and I think I've got just the item. We're super excited to introduce the S'more Maker. This cool basket style cooking device is an easy way to toast 3 s'mores at a time over a campfire, firepit or bbq.

Rome's S'more Maker is just breaking out nationally, but is already available at the following retailers:

Alabama:
Harrison Brothers Hardware, Huntsville AL

California:
Placerville Hdwe, Placerville CA

Colorado:
Jax Outdoor Gear, Fort Collins CO

Georgia:
Decked Out, Hiawassee GA
Lodge Factory Store, Commerce GA

Illinois:
Big R Of Springfield IL
Ehrhardt's Trailer Sales, Des Plaines IL
Hearthside Grill/Fireplace, Peoria IL
Heritage Prairie Market, Elburn IL
Homespun, Washington IL
Presley's Outdoors, Peoria IL
Wannamaker's Garden Center, Downers Grove

Indiana:
Indy RV Center, Greenwood IN
O'Malia's Fireplace Shop, Carmel IN
Patterson Hdwe, New Haven IN
Patoka Lake Campstore, Ferdinand IN

Iowa:
Herold Trailer Sales, Indianola IA
K&K True Value, Bettendorf IA
Scheels, Des Moines IA
Stravers true Value, Pella IA

Michigan:
Delongs Sport Shop, Baldwin MI
Lewiston Hdwe, Lewiston MI
Northwoods Wholesale, Piconning MI

Massachusetts:
Thayer Nursery, Milton MA

Minnesota:
Gerten Greenhouse, Inver Grove Heights, MN
Scheels River Hills, Mankato MN

Missouri:
Saint Louis Ace Hdwe, Manchester road ST Louis
Silver Dollar City

Montana:
Big R Stores

Nebraska:
Canfields Sports, Omaha NE
Westfield Hallmark & Floral, North Platte NE

New Jersey:
Haines Garden Center, Cinnaminson NJ

North Carolina:
Bloom, Chapel Hill NC
Christmas 365, Burlington NC
Logan Trading Co., Raleigh NC
NOFO, Raleigh NC
Sprig, Raleigh NC

Ohio:
Jim's Trailer Sales
LB Brunk & Son, Salem OH
Keim's Lumber, Charm OH
Kames Sports Center, North Canton OH

Oregon:
Farrs True Value, Coquille OR
Swain's General Store, Port Angeles WA

Pennsylvania:
Bob's Army Navy, Clearfield PA
Bomberger's Store, Lititz PA
Country Harvest Family Market, Palmerton PA
Holod's True Value, Lafayette Hill PA
Lyon Camping & Supply, Montoursville PA
Tom Schaeffer RV, Shoemakersville PA

South Carolina:
Zone 7, Seneca SC

Tennessee:
Lodge Company Store, Seviersville TN

Wisconsin:
Bruce Company, Madison WI
Hawks Nursery, Wauwatosa WI
Nelson True Value, Fish Creek WI
RVing Outpost, Abbotsford WI
VanBoxtel RV, Green Bay WI

Online at:
Amazon
Best Nest
Firepies
RVupgrades

Coming Soon to:
Bass Pro Shops (in stores late Feb)
Dick's Sporting Goods (in stores March)
Most Scheels Locations (Feb/March)
Big bear Sports
Northern Safari
Erie Sports
Goschinski's Fin Feather Fur
Jay's Sporting Goods
Sherpers
Joe's Army Navy
Bob Ward Sports
Ramsey Outdoor
Natick Outdoor
Sabos Outdoors
Pioneer General Store
Ely Surplus
and more....

Jamaican Jaffle Recipe

Found a wonderfully refreshing pie iron recipe today from the British tv show, Great Food Live on the UKtv Food network.

The recipe is for Jamaican baked bean and sausage toasted sandwiches.

What at first seems like a simple baked beans on toast a la pie iron (or in this case, the jaffle) adds a delightful twist with the addition of a cracked egg in the center. Keeping flavors distinct, Chef Emma Sharp presents two variations on the jaffles. One with baked beans as the primary ingredient and one with a jar of vienna sausages. Served with a little mango habanero hot sauce and I think she's got a delicious savory summer dish.

Links -
UKtv Food
Great Food Live
Jaffle Toasted Sandwich Recipe

Cooking Contest & the Birth of the Pie Iron Man!

Here at Rome central, we love to hear about the fun people have using our pie irons. Last year I began corresponding with a group of campers from southern Wisconsin who were going to hold a Pie Iron cooking contest during their annual campout. Wow did they get into it. Going as far as creating a Pie Iron superhero! I'll let the ringleader of the group, Kathy explain futher -

"We have a group of campers that get together every August for the Persied Meteor Showers. We call ourselves S.P.A.M. - Special People Admiring Meteors. Meteor watching at night, cooking contests during the day!

2006 was the year of PIE IRON MAN! Inspired by Rome Pie Irons, of course. We even had shirts made up with our favorite Rome Super Hero on it! There were 12 contestants and 3 very lucky judges. Campers made a variety of pies using everything from tortillas to doughnuts and fillings of pineapple to shrimp. Our judges tell us they were delicious. Our champions, Kurt and Liz won a fabulous trophy and other useless prizes. But their big award was bragging rights for eternity!!

First Prize: Pie Iron Pizza Pockets by Kurt & Liz K of Burlington, WI
Ingredients:
Flour Tortillas
Sauce
Sliced Pepperoni
Ground Italian Sausage
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Italian Seasoning

For the Sauce:
Your favorite Marinara or Pizza Sauce
Italian Seasoning
Dash of Worchester Sauce
Dash of hearty Red Wine
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper

Preparation:
Add wine, Worchester, and seasonings to taste to the sauce and cook down to the consistency of tomato paste. Brown the Italian sausage and pepperoni slices, drain on paper towels. Lightly butter insides of pie iron. Place tortilla in bottom half of iron. Spread 2 Tablespoons sauce on tortilla. Add a layer of sausage, pepperoni, and cheese. Cover with additional sauce. Place second tortilla over the top, close the iron and trim off the excess. Brown the pie evenly on both sides. Remove from iron and let rest a couple of minutes. Cut into wedges and top with additional cheese and a sprinkle of Italian seasoning. Use any leftover sauce for dipping.

Marinade chef with any leftover wine.

2nd place: Caramel Apple Pudgy Pie by Stephanie D of Brookfield, WI:
2 slices of cinnamon bread
4 caramels
3 tbsp. apple filling
2 tbsp. butter

Unwrap the caramels. Butter the hot pie iron and the bread. Put one slice of bread butter side down on the pie iron. Scoop the pie filling onto the bread. Evenly space the caramels on the pie filling. Add the top piece of bread butter side up and close the pie iron. Toast the pie in campfire hot coals until the bread is golden brown, and the caramel is melted. Now make 10 more, because everyone wants one!

Third place: Ummmmm - Shrimp Pie by Doug J of Palmyra, WI
1/4c. cooked shrimps
4 cloves of roasted garlic
2 T. alfredo pasta sauce
Put in between two tortillas and slow roast in hot coals.


The Judges

The classic Wisconsin Beer Tap Trophy

I have a pie iron and I know how to use it!

Kathy I hope the casting wasn't hot when you put your hand that close

Kit pulls out his antique toas-tite

The battle's on!

Pies waiting to be tested by the judges

foccacia with a dash of culinary art garnish

Our 1st place winners - Kurt & Liz

2nd place - Caramel Apple Pudgy Pie

Doug comes in 3rd place for Ummmmmm - Shirmp Pie

Check out the Apron!

PIE IRON MAN

Smokehouse Pies

The Toas-tite was an early brand of sandwich cooker that was popular in the 40s and 50s. Round in design, the cooker had ridges which gave it a UFO look to the sandwich and was quite in keeping with mid-century modern design.

photo of a an original toas-tite circa 1940s (credit mere.mortal)

Salon.com has a fun story about Toas-tites here.

On a related note, I recently I received a letter from John in Groveville New Jersey who told me about growing up eating the tasty pies that his grandma would cook in her "Toast-rite" (I've never heard of the Toast-Rite, so given the similarity in name and the time period, I'm guessing that he's describing the Toas-tite.) which includes the secret recipe to "Smokehouse Pies"

"Michael,

I don't know where you got your idea, but your pie irons take me way back. My Grandmother had a similar cooking device (which I still have and use) called a Toast-Rite. Same principle as your pie iron.

So I couldn't resist myself, I bought one of your through Cabela's, along with your cookbook. Love both. I'm glad I got one.

As I said, I still use my Grandmother's Toast-Rite to make pies. My favorite, which is not in your cookbook, uses fresh blackberries. Grandma used to clean the blackberries, sprinkle a good bit of sugar on them. Then the next day she would take two pieces of bread, butter side out, and fill one with some blackberries, cook over the stove top (gas flame) and they made the best pies. I'd take them in my lunch to school during berries season, and always had kids trying to trade me something for my pie.

Grandma also did this with fresh peaches, apricots, and strawberries. Each one was great, but the blackberries were always my favorite. There was only one better, it was made with Indian Blood Peaches - we had one tree, and they were the best peaches ever. Grandma used to can 20-30 quarts each year, so we had a good supply for pies all year long.

My wife never met my Grandma, so I showed her this Toast-Rite one day and told her about the pies. Well, she went out and got some blackberries and now has to have some every berry season. She calls them smokehouse pies. Our story was simple. Today, it is hard to find bread slices that are large enough to make a fully sealed pie. There is always a small spot that leaks. One day we were making some pies, and the berry juice leaked onto the burner - started smoking - set off the smoke detector - hence Smokehouse Pies. Oh, the pies were even better after that.

Well thanks again for bringing back old memories, keep making pie irons, and we'll keep eating pies.

John T
Groveville, New Jersey"

reflection reflecting

Being a manufacturer in 2007 involves constantly looking over your shoulder as it seems everyone wants to tap into your market. Sadly this doesn't mean that the competition has developed a new innovation and raised the bar in the product category. No that would be what we call the good ole days of competition. In today's world manufacturers respond to the success of someone else's product by copying the product design as closely as possible. Legal or illegal, moral or not it happens to everyone that tries to design and sell quality, original products. We deal with knockoffs of our products all the time, but rather than dwelling on the followers we just keep doing our best at designing fun products for the open fire.

Funny enough it doesn't stop with products. I just found out the other day that a website dedicated to recipes had taken a bunch of our pie iron recipes and posted them on their site as their own. They even grabbed an introductory paragraph from our catalog. It was thanks to Rome pie iron fan, Shannon from Cincinnati who clued me in -

"...while looking online for some recipes (cause I’m having a hard time finding YOUR Pie Iron Recipe cookbook…) I came across this website, http://recipesource.tripod.com/rvrecipes/id10.html and while looking over the site something looked VERY familiar to me. As I mentioned, I’ve looked thoroughly over your website and I really liked the first paragraph of this page, http://www.pieiron.com/designs.htm#cookbook (the campfire snack/memory paragraph). When I was looking on the above recipe site I realized that they have the same paragraph on their site. I didn’t know if that passage was written by someone at your company and thought I would bring it to your attention…just in case."

Now of course I don't think this is a huge deal, but it's more of an issue of principal. If you're going to print my writing verbatim then just have the courtesy of crediting and linking. Actually I'm only bringing this up on the blog as my emails to the webmaster have all bounced back as undeliverable. Just having one of those "gotta get it off my chest" moments.