Sandra Gutiérrez’s Cast-Iron Skillet

Between 1985 and 2016

Chef and author Sandra Gutiérrez’s cast-iron skillet carries the logo for Cracker Barrel, a restaurant chain known for its homestyle Southern cooking. According to Gutiérrez, “Every Southern chef needs a cast-iron skillet and biscuit cutter.” Along with a tortilla press, Gutiérrez uses these essential kitchen tools to serve up Southern-Latino cuisine, a fusion of foods and flavors stemming from the late twentieth-century growth of the Latinx population in the southeastern United States. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Guatemala City, Gutiérrez blends ingredients, traditions, and cooking techniques that tell stories of American migration in her cookbook, The New Southern Latino Table. Along with her biscuit cutters (2017.14.2a-c) and tortilla press (2017.14.3), Gutiérrez’s cast-iron skillet was on display at the Anacostia Community Museum’s exhibition, Gateways/Portales, from December 2016 to January 2018.