Holly had the immediate problem.

It was afternoon change-of-attention time, which meant the Day Staff had not quite disappeared, the Watch was beginning to turn over, and Kit had discovered that an internship conducted anywhere near the Galley came with certain nutritional and potential resume advantages.

Deirdre looked at the available protein, vegetables and people.

Italian sausage. Peppers. Onion. Garlic. Spinach. Rice. Cheese.

One savory pot. Happy crowd.

Except it wasn’t a pot.

It was the big 15-inch Lodge cast-iron skillet.

Holly’s Sausage & Rice
Holly browned the sausage first, giving it enough room to actually brown rather than steam. Onion and peppers went into the drippings, followed by garlic. Rice and liquid turned it from a fry-up into supper. Spinach disappeared into the hot mixture at the end, followed by mozzarella and Parmesan.

It wasn’t fancy.

It was hot, colorful, cheesy and substantial—and could sit in the middle of the Conference Room while people came and went through the afternoon turnover.

Which raised the more interesting question.

Why That Enormous Frying Pan?
Because the pan is part of the recipe.

We had been thinking about cookware backward.

Deirdre wasn’t assembling a kitchen full of pots and pans. She was acquiring and arraying instruments of preparationfor a Galley scattered through several floors, a garage and the south patio.

One 15-inch Lodge handles a small Watch.

We bought two, because we have two countertop heating elements. That means parallel production: two batches, two recipes, or meat and vegetarian versions running simultaneously.

Below them are the deeper 3- and 5-quart pre-seasoned iron for the occasions when three people mysteriously become twelve. Crock-Pots can hold what is already finished. The convection oven provides another direction of travel. The rolling carts get everything outside to the Russell and Weber—or bring the finished food back.

The idea isn’t:

What pan does this recipe require?

It is:

How many people showed up, and what part of the iron array do we light off?

That is Cooking for the Crowd.

Miles Looks It Over
Miles arrived late enough to miss most of the preparation and early enough to acquire a bowl.

He surveyed Holly’s skillet, Deirdre’s logistics operation, Rocket contemplating future applications of smoke, Splash defending the chicken portfolio, Vic hovering around the seafood end of the protein selector, and Kit discovering that cleaning cast iron apparently counted as practical education.

Miles nodded.

There were people eating. The Watch was changing. Nobody had required a meeting to accomplish either one.

The big Lodge was nearly empty.

“Looks operational,” Miles said.

Around Socotra House, that constitutes enthusiastic approval.

Copyright 2026 Vic Soocotra
www.vicsocotra.com