POWNAL – The usually tranquil Bradbury Mountain State Park will ring with the clanging of cast-iron pans when it hosts its first-ever Cast Iron Cook-off on Saturday, Sept. 13.

Louisa Picard of Freeport will give a demonstration on cast-iron cooking over an open fire early in the afternoon, and then people will start throwing the heavy pans around – some, literally. The contest, with judging, will follow.

Fritz Appleby, manager at the Pownal park, advises contestants in the cook-off to arrange at least one night of overnight camping, to get to know each other and the setup. There are 35 camping sites available at the park. Maine residents pay $10.80 a night for a site, and nonresidents pay $19.44.

Appleby invites people, whether they cook or not, to enjoy the early fall weather and get in touch with the “booming popularity,” as he put it, of cast iron cookery. Prizes will be awarded in the cook-off, and for the winner of a cast-iron skillet toss, as well.

Contestants will compete in entre?e, bread and dessert categories. Local Girl Scouts will be cooking to earn merit badges.

Picard started cooking with cast-iron pots and skillets when she was a little girl growing up in Madawaska.

“When Dad would go hunting and get a deer or a moose, we always cooked in cast iron,” she said.

Her great-grandmother used to cook the French Canadian holiday delight tourtiere, or meat pie, in a cast-iron kettle. That kettle is now part of Picard’s collection, which includes the brazier, which, Picard said, is a replica of one made for George Washington.

Four to six members of Pownal Fire & Rescue will judge the cook-off, where all the food will be cooked over open fires. Picard will give her demonstration at 12:30 p.m. Appleby will show people how to clean and take care of their cast-iron pans at 1:40. The skillet toss, to be held separately for men, women and children, goes off at 2:40, and the cook-off itself commences at 4.

Picard recalled a conversation she had with Appleby earlier this year.

“He came to my yard sale and he asked me for cast iron,” she said. “I told him I wouldn’t sell what I had, so that’s how we got into the conversation of the cook-off. We’ll cook over an open fire with the ironware, and I’ll bring the brazier. It’s a pretty nifty little rig.”

The brazier holds cast-iron skillets, and Picard can hang a pot over it. She also has a setup to use her flat-bottom kettle and her Dutch oven over an open fire.

“The Dutch oven has a concave top so you can set burning wood on top of it, like in bean-hole beans,” she said. “This is Dutch oven cooking traditionally.”

Picard said she can use both setups at her demonstration because she can sit down while using the fry pans on the brazier.

“The beauty of this is,” she said, sitting by the brazier, “you see how I’m sitting? I’m comfortable.”

Picard said that she cooks breakfast in the fry pans, while casseroles, soups, breads and pies can go in the pots.

She no longer uses her cast-iron cookware every day – it’s too heavy and needs maintenance, she says.

“You can’t use soap cleaning it,” she said. “You have to seal it with oils and bake it. Normally, wipe it out with paper towels. No soap or water. When it gets so food is adhering, you have to bake it. It’s when the eggs don’t slide anymore. The oil seals the pits in the metal.”

Picard said she hopes that people who go to the cook-off will get an appreciation of cooking history. She appears at primitive camps for the National Muzzle Loader and Rifle Association, and the Living History Foundation, and is accustomed to cooking in the midst of dozens of teepees.

“It’s a great way to cook,” she said. “When your pan’s hot, it’s hot.”

Picard said she had no idea what food she will use in her demonstration, but she might go the convenience route.

“I might use popup turnovers, or maybe canned beans, because it’s easier for people,” she said. “I don’t want cast-iron cooking to look harder than it is, because it’s not difficult. I’m winging it. Completely winging it. I might dress up in Native American leathers.”

Appleby said that judging for the cook-off will be done at the park’s group shelter, across Route 9 from the park. Spectators will be able to “mill around” the campground, he said.

“I’ve got a love for cast iron,” Appleby said. “We use it at home daily. Everybody’s scrambling to find the old cast iron.”

Appleby said that he likes the feel of cast iron, and that it’s non-stick when it’s broken in.

“It cooks good at medium heat,” he said. “I don’t like using Teflon. It wears off after some time. Where does it go? It goes in you somewhere.”

Doug and Rhoda Dillman, owners of Casco Bay Cutlery & Kitchenware on Depot Street in Freeport, sell the Lodge brand of cast-iron cookware, which ranges in price from $20-$30.

“We sell a steady amount,” Doug Dillman said. “Lodge has been pretty steady. I’d say it has increased in the past 15 years. It’s heavy. People have to really want it. Food that’s prepared in cast iron cooks pretty evenly. The only problem is, it can get rusty.”

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A CLOSER LOOK

Bradbury Mountain State Park’s Cast Iron Cook-off is Saturday, Sept. 13. Louisa Picard will demonstrate cast-iron cooking at 12:30 p.m. Fritz Appleby, park manager, will show how to clean and take care of cast-iron cookery at 1:40. A skillet toss, to be held separately for men, women and children, is at 2:40, and the cook-off starts at 4. Contestants will compete in entre?e, bread and dessert categories. To register for the Cast Iron Cook-off, call 688-4712.

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In the back yard of her Freeport home, Louisa Picard shows off her cast-iron cooking implements and antique brazier, just part of what she will bring to Bradbury Mountain State Park on Sept. 13 for the inaugural Cast Iron Cook-off.