Throwing the Skillet in Brooks County This Weekend

This Saturday, Brooks County, Georgia, celebrates the South’s tradition of cast iron cooking at the town of Quitman’s annual Skillet Festival. Started last year as a way to showcase the county’s agricultural and food offerings, the festival is part farmer’s market, part antiques show, part crafts fair and part culinary exhibition. Vendors selling everything from heirloom quilts to homemade cane syrup will be set up on the courthouse square, but it’s a 1 p.m. event that really gets this festival cookin’. The Skillet Toss tests participants’ prowess outside the kitchen, and last year Gov. Nathan Deal was on hand to throw out the inaugural skillet. Special guests at this year’s event include “Southern My Way” cookbook author Gena Knox, who’ll be signing books and giving a cooking demonstration at 11:30 a.m. Cast iron will also be showcased in an “Iron Chef”-style cooking competition that morning and from 6-9 p.m., when the Kinchafoonee Cowboys take the gazebo stage for The Skillet Stomp. To find out more about the Brooks County Skillet Festival, click here.