Friday, May 31, 2013

What the ? Friday: The World's Largest Fry Pan; Sizzle and Contention

Welcome to WTF,  an occasional Friday blog where I ramble on about some of the amusing, amazing, awe inspiring, or just plain crazy things in the world.

Here in the US of A, we're big on biggering. We super size everything from our colas to our mattresses to the stores we buy them in. So it's no wonder that there are lots of claims of 'worlds largest' in a lot of towns big and small around this great big land of ours. There's the world's largest ball of string, the world's largest pizza, the world's largest boll weevil.  Think of about anything you can imagine and I'll bet you a super size order of fries there's a big one out there somewhere.
The cast iron beauty in Brandon Iowa is one of six contenders. Photo courtesy of Wikemedia

All this biggering can led to contention, as is the case for the title of "World's Largest Fry Pan." In the case of the humble skillet on steriods, there are no less than six contenders for the title. Here, in no particular order, are the candidates.

*Long Beach, Washington  Can easily hold the title of "oldest largest fry pan". This portentous pan was built back in 1941 for the town's Clam Festival. It's no longer operational, but sits as a monument perfect for photo ops. As an extra plus, you can also grab a photo of the kids with alligator man, housed just across the street at Marsh's free museum.

*Rose Hill, South Carolina For form and function, you can't beat Rose Hill's largest FP. It's deep enough to hold 200 gallons of cooking oil. Built in 1963 as a tribute to area's poultry industry, it's still used to cook chickens at various festivals and fairs. And cook chickens it can--this supreme skillet holds up to 365 birds.

*Brandon, Iowa Lovingly crafted by volunteers, this cast iron colossus weighs in at 1020 pounds. It's the big sizzle at Brandon's Cowboy Breakfast--it holds up to 88 pounds of bacon and can fry up 44 dozen eggs.

* Pittsfield, Maine  This titan of teflon holds the distinction of being non stick. You'll have to come to the Pittsfield Egg Festival in July to see it in action. The town stores it in the public works garage when it's not in use. What's up with that?

* London, Kentucky  This phantasm of fry has been used at the World Chicken Festival for nearly two decades. London takes its chicken seriously, it's near the home of Colonel Sanders of KFC fame. Aficionados may scoff at this contender, as it's actually more a deep fryer.  So perhaps we'll title it the  Diva of the Deep, instead.

*Wilmington Delaware The Wilmington Whopper is so cherished by the people of this fair city that they have given it its own museum display. This pharaoh of fry pans was retired back in 1998 after an illustrious 48 years at the DelMarVa Chicken Festival. An artifact of astronomic proportions, it's been bolted to the wall at the museum of the Historical Society of Delaware. 


Which would you chose for the title of "World's Largest?"
Feel free to tell me in a comment. Though I must warn you, voting here doesn't count.

2 comments:

  1. That is a huge pan, and just so happens to match a small cast iron my MC is using against a break in guy. LOL
    ~Summer
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