Camping with Corningware - 4 cup Stove Top Percolator (P-124)

I love to camp and fish.  Not necessarily both at the same time (cause fishing can happen at any time), though I am not opposed to it (As was evident when I took off to the snake river for a week).  I am not, however, a big fan of the usual "camp" coffee.  Nope.  I usually grab my French press and pack it extremely carefully, or my stainless steel Moka Pot, or my Nepolitano or some other variation of coffee extraction.  It's not just me...  My dad has this awesome Coleman Drip Coffee Maker that sits on the burner of a Coleman and literally functions like an Auto-Drip, sans electricity.  Which, to me, is just about the niftiest coffee brewing gizmo I have seen since the Handpresso hand pump espresso machine.

Let's face it, I am just not a Percolator fan.  I'm Sorry...  I keep trying, but I just don't like perked coffee.

This is where the insanity irony comes in.  Yesterday, I rescued YET another Percolator from the Thrift Store.  (It looked SO depressed sitting on the shelf and being ignored by everybody)  It's the very small, and if I may say it, very cute, 4 cup P-124.  It's so tiny!   The best part, though, is that it has the pyroceram spout on it, like the teapots, and not the chrome one.  This means that it was never part of the recall because the handle is "clamped" on instead of being epoxy'ed.

It looked OK, from the "front" side, but turn it around and it appears that someone has used it for camping, cause it's burnt up the sides and all over the bottom.

It IS an excellent size for camping, I must admit, but tsk tsk. Obviously someone was in desperate need of morning caffeination, cause the flame on this was WAY too high.
It had some coffee staining on the inside, but I have seen a lot worse on other pots I have rescued.

Luckily, a little Barkeepers friend cleaned everything up like a charm.

Now, this beautiful pot is going to be repurposed.  And while I am not a big fan of percolated coffee....

I will simply store the perking siphon in a box somewhere, although it really is cool the way the lid clamps onto it.

Because this 4 cup Percolator (P-124) is the PERFECT size for making Hot Chocolate (not hot cocoa)....  The glass perk knob simply twists, and can be removed, leaving the perfect size hole to insert a moulinet (molinillo).......

and make some deliciously rich, frothy and satisfying Hot Chocolate.

Simply remove the molinillo (moulinet) and replace the glass knob to serve.  And what is the best time to serve hot chocolate?  Around the campfire...!  So I guess this little dude is still going to be roughing it in the wilderness from time to time.   I promise to keep the flames on the low side.

Where is your Corningware??
~~

What's Old is New - Corning Ware's Pyroceram StoveTop Line

So, as I mentioned way back in my very first post, in 2009, World Kitchen brought back the original Pyroceramic cookware to the United States market under the guise of the "Stove Top" line.

It should be noted that Corningware has been in production in Europe this whole time.  So WHY it wasn't available in the United States for 10 + years, I have no idea. 

Currently, there are 4 patterns available...  These photos came from the World Kitchen website....

Cornflower is BACK!

Simple Lines

Just White

"Just White" also comes in Saucepan shapes with handles, like Rangetoppers (but without the bonded aluminum bottom)

 

Shadow Iris

(mom will be happy about that)

 

When I originally looked at their site 3 years ago, they offered a 6 patterns, but it seems to have been discontinued already.  The only reason I know about it was because I was seriously contemplating purchasing some..  But it's really hard for me to part with all my Cornflower memories... (Even though I really am not a fan of the color blue) So I didn't purchase any.... 

The pattern was called European Herbs....

It's still available on the UK site.  (That is another Post)

The other pattern was a limited release called "Enhancements" that came in a different shape... It was called White Swirl and came in round 3.5 & 4.5 liter casserole/dutch oven shapes.  The swirl reminded me of some of the Corelle plates that have the swirl rim on them.

It is no longer available.  :(

Sadly, though World Kitchen has returned Pyroceram cookware to the American Market, the "Stove Top" line is only available ON-Line at the moment, so you can't just run down to Macy's or Target and buy a new piece during an emergency..... (That is how I ended up with my stoneware boat anchor back in 2006 that started this whole mess, culminating in this blog)

Where is your Corningware??
~~

A Starburst Is Born - 9-cup Black Starburst Stove Top Percolator

So, once again, I found a "find".  Though, considering that I wasn't foraging for a "find", I guess, in essence, the "find" found me.

I was at the large Salvation Army Family store on 82nd Avenue looking for an interesting (and cheap) cocktail glass for an alcoholic beverage post I was preparing for Culinary Alchemy.  It's true, none of my cocktail glasses match.  But I look at it this way, they're .99 cents and nobody will get their drinks confused at a party.  I'm just sayin'

So there I was, glancing over the goblets, studying the stemware and browsing the beakers when I saw it.  Quite out of place amongst it's clear crystalline brethren.  A Corningware stove top percolator.  Not just any stove top percolator, mind you.  Oh no.

A Black Starburst percolator!  Oh yeah!

That, oh so, rare (1959-1963) "pattern d'homage" to the "Space Race" sat before my very eyes in all it's stellar beauty. (similar patterns are found all over Pyrex percolators and coffee carafes from this time period as well)  And all this time, I thought astronauts only drank Tang, go figure.

Needless to say, cocktail forgotten, I snatched it up before anyone else could abscond with this heavenly object of galactic importance to my collection and blasted off towards the check out.

The best part was the price.... It just happened to be 1/2 price day (Wednesday) which completely sent me over the moon.

So my $4.99 became $2.50; which made me an extremely happy camper, or rather, an astronaut in orbit, as the case may be.

Luckily, the condition of this pot was significantly better than the Electromatic one I purchased a couple weeks ago.  Though I will say that it is obvious it has been used on a coil burner, since the coils burned their impression into the bottom.  But on the whole, much better and easier to clean up.

All it really took this time, was some Weiman Glass Cook Top Cleaner and some "Barkeeper's Friend".....

There is one significant fault with the pot.  The Bakelite handle has a small chip out of the top left corner.  But the rest of the handle is quite shiny, when compared to some of my teapot handles.

I want to say that it actually dates from about 1960 (P-119), since the original pots from 1959 (P-108) didn't have chrome spouts and the starburst design was done in shiny platinum enamel.  Originally the stove top percolators were designed just like the teapots, but being bigger and slightly bulkier, they were hard to manipulate when washing and the spouts got chipped rather frequently.

Corning changed the pot in 1960, so those original pots are extremely rare.....

(original P-108 percolator design, discontinued in 1960)

Mine isn't made from 1 piece of Pyroceram with a clamped handle (like the teapots) But even though this one has the chrome spout, the the handle is weird.  It attaches differently than the ones I normally see ...

(Handle with hidden screw design)

Mine bolts from the outside instead of from underneath (which seems to be the more common handle design)  Maybe there was a piece of Bakelite that slid over the bolts to cover them up, and now it's missing.  Maybe that is why they changed the handle later to a 1 piece with a hidden screw underneath.  I don't know, and there isn't any information out there.  Argh!!!!

As you can see, even though the chrome spout is glued on, there is a secondary piece that clamps around the body of the pot, near the rim.  I'm assuming this percolator was not part of the recall, and is completely usable. (since it's both glued AND clamped)

Update 1/1/20:  Please read the newer post "Separation Anxiety" for information on recalled percolators...  (and yes, this is a recalled pot) 
You can also follow this link for a pictorial guide to every known safe percolator.

That makes me even more happy, or orbitty, than before....  I don't know what year(s) this particular handle design was being used.  It's kind of like a hybrid between the original and the final version.  I can tell you that once the chrome spout pots were released, the Platinum version (shiny metal enamel) of this design was discontinued and replaced by the Black colored Starburst.  Which is what I have here.

In other words... If it has a chrome spout, it's a Black Starburst..... not a Platinum Starburst. 

And while the Platinum Starburst would still be the ULTIMATE "find" for me, this one is pretty darned special and shall hold a prominent place in both my Corningware Collection AND my Coffee Brewing collection. (Methinks I have too many collections)

10-cup Cornflower Electromatic Percolator, 8-cup Cornflower Drip Coffee Maker, 9-cup Black Starburst Stove top Percolator

In Back....  8 cup Chemex, Cory 8 cup Glass Stove top Vacuum Pot (with hot plate), Cory 8 cup Stainless Steel Electric Vacuum pot (still has glass filter rod)
In Front....  2 cup "Flip-Drip" Napolitano Coffee Maker, Bialetti Mukka Express (Moka Pot)

Copper ibrik with miscellaneous accoutrements, Bodum 6-cup Copper French Press

This is really only part of my coffee brewing paraphernalia, but it is all I could photograph at the moment without beginning a major undertaking. I still have stuff in boxes because I just don't have room for it all in my kitchen right now.   Let's not even talk about the Corningware Collection. Between the Cornflower, the French White, the Grab-it line and the Wheat, not to mention miscellaneous pieces of microwave browning, I am swimming in it.  Thus, a lot of it is boxed up as well.  Someday, when I have the time, I shall have to dig it ALL out and take a big family picture.  LOL

Where is your Corning Ware??
~~