Electric Skillet Joy!, Somewhere, USA, 1963
As if attempting to awaken from a dream, this bug-eyed lady grasps her chin with one hand as she clutches her brand new, bright and shiny electric skillet in the other. The man passing by doesn’t notice a thing. But ladies are completely engaged in the electrified moment. Few things say “Happy Birthday” like a good ‘ol electric skillet.
We have the fine folks at Sunbeam to thank for first mass-producing electric skillets in 1953, calling them automatic fry pans. A ‘fry-guide” came each one. The company began in Chicago in the 1890s manufacturing sheep sheering tools. Pan fried lamb anyone???
Growing up we certainly had our fair share of delectable and delicious dinners cooked in an electric skillet. But…does anyone use an electric skillet anymore?
Here’s to the joy of electric skillets, Sunbeam and YOU!!!
Charles Phoenix
Los Angeles
July 27, 2010
I actually do use an electric skillet! It’s great for cooking smelly things (like fish) on the back porch, rather than doing it inside the house where the fragrance lingers forever. Just attach a heavy duty extension cord, and you can cook outdoors. Also helpful in keeping cooking heat outside during the summer.
Love your food things!
Great pic. Looks as if they’re in an apartment complex and having that party in a common courtyard. Love the electric fry pan; my mom, my grandma and my aunt all had them and used them all the time, yet I’ve never used one. When my frying days began, it was straight back to a cast iron skillet on a gas stove, and it still is to this day. I guess that a cast iron skillet, like breast feeding, was just one of those things that was momentarily too primitive for the space age folks of the mid-century.
Oh yes! That newfangled contraption was quite an exciting addition to my kitchen! Today I have a newer version with a high lid so I can use it instead of the oven in the hot weather. The magic continues
Sukiyaki! Electric skillets are great for table-side cooking. I have an incredible recipe, but no electric skillet…takes up too much storage space. Great photo.
We used to make pancakes every Saturday in our electric skillet! I’ve been wanting to add one to my appliance collection for a while now.
My Grandma used to make the best fried chicken in her electric skillet! I think it held more than a stove top frying pan. Also, notice the cancer stick in hat lady’s fingers?
Jeepers, yes! It’s perfect for pancakes, maintaining a nice even temperature from start to finish. And did somebody say caramelizing onions for a classic California dip? I DID!
My mom got a West Bend electric skillet in 1955. She’s gone now, but that skillet is still turning out golden fried chicken and light-as-a-feather pancakes.
I still have my mother-in-law’s original electric skillet that I use from time to time – and my favorite thing to make in it is braised lamb chops! I’ll have to check to see if it’s a Sunbeam pan. Great photo!
We lived in Japan in the Fifties: at the club on base Sukiyaki was made in a skillet
at your table. My Mom always had hers: returning to the States she’d make
Sukiyaki at our table. The electric skillet was a mainstay of her kitchen. When I
bought my first home we didn’t have a stove for awhile, so, we used an electric skillet.
Going to estate sales one sees electric skillets often. Very common in bygone fifties,
sixties, seventies.
I guess the birthday lady is smiling because she will no longer need to use the two barbecues by the stairs. Not having to wait for the charcoal to to get its’ grey coating before it was ready for cooking must have been an improvement in her life.
You mentioned Sunbeam as the first to make and sell electric skillets. However, I recall putting on lay-a-way when I was just a lad a Westinghouse electric skillet that I bought for my mom one Christmas because of Betty Furness advertising them on T.V. AND because Westinghouse was (I believe) the first to offer a ‘square’ design just like the one the lady in the picture is holding! Mom did use it but, not as much as her Tappen gas range however.
My mother always uses her electric skillet for fried chicken. You can control the temperature better. Hers is the best fried chicken in the world!!!
Funny, a couple of u mentioned SUKIYAKI. thats the #1 dish that I remember my mom making in her electric skillet. When she made it I thought we were so international!
I love it, and we have one and use it. And it’s a Sunbeam. We collect
Sunbeam appliances, and have all the cook books that came with them.
Frank
I use an electric skillet all the time! In fact, I have several vintage skillets to choose from. We make skillet breakfasts often in our 50′s themed kitchen, which is completely outfitted with 100% vintage small and large appliances. It’s like living a Donna Reed dream every day…
Hi! Yes, they are still in use, along with crock pots. I use them in the garage during hot weather, overnight, then put it in the fridge so as not to heat up the house. Also, then when it’s 6:30 and too hot to think about going into that hot kitchen, dinner is ready to pull out, take to the cool back yard, and eat!
LOVE you, charles!
my mom made the best pancakes in ours too! but, have to say, the best story I ever heard was my friend’s mom (whose stove was on the blink) who BAKED a pie in hers! she just put the pie in its pan right inside, put the lid on it, and used it like an oven!
My father used ours for fish, in the kitchen, and it didn’t smell bad afterward for some reason. The clear plastic control dial had sharp serrations around the circumference, and it was cracked– as if any rough handling would break it in two and possibly make the appliance useless. But I still loved to feel the serrations…
I saw an article in the Paducah Sun about people who still use their old vacuum cleaners and appliances. I’ll have to see if there is a link.