Dutch Oven Cookin'....
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flagman1776
Member
giz... nice set up... We have done the "Original NE" for many years. (We may be hard pressed this year, son's wedding the weekend before & daughter's Master's graduation the weekend of 'vous.)
We used to do a lot of it at rendezvous... camp Dutch ovens have legs & a lip on the top for coals. One of the best set-ups is a key hole fire pit so you can add coals underneath. Actually the top needs more heat because heat rises so heat on the lid tends to drift away, while heat under rises into the kettle. We like to use a trivet to keep the pie plate off the bottom & allow air circulation.
Our teen girls cooking. The Dutch oven is off the main fire giving a source of needed coals. A lot of the skill is in learning to judge temperature by feel... holding a open hand in the mouth of the kettle & sensing how hot it is.
Anything you can cook at home... we've done pies... or simple rolls (I think that's what's in this picture). (Don't be confuse by the potatoes they have in a pan on the main fire.)
Cover on the Dutch oven
Cover off checking for doneness... our blacksmith makes iron lid lifters (in use). Also pie plate lifters are essencial, to get the fininshed item out of the hot oven, without spilling or burning yourself.
We used to do a lot of it at rendezvous... camp Dutch ovens have legs & a lip on the top for coals. One of the best set-ups is a key hole fire pit so you can add coals underneath. Actually the top needs more heat because heat rises so heat on the lid tends to drift away, while heat under rises into the kettle. We like to use a trivet to keep the pie plate off the bottom & allow air circulation.
Our teen girls cooking. The Dutch oven is off the main fire giving a source of needed coals. A lot of the skill is in learning to judge temperature by feel... holding a open hand in the mouth of the kettle & sensing how hot it is.
Anything you can cook at home... we've done pies... or simple rolls (I think that's what's in this picture). (Don't be confuse by the potatoes they have in a pan on the main fire.)
Cover on the Dutch oven
Cover off checking for doneness... our blacksmith makes iron lid lifters (in use). Also pie plate lifters are essencial, to get the fininshed item out of the hot oven, without spilling or burning yourself.
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sipowicz
Member
Here ya go Giz....I'd give you the recipe but it's a family secret....all I can say is it tastes as good as it looks!
jrm53
Member
If you have Dish Network or Direct TV you can get RFD tv and they have a couple of cooking shows that do Dutch Oven cooking usually doing a whole meal per show, its also on some cable neworks if you do get RFD just go to their website and look at their schedule. Note there may be just one show now doing this but it is an outdoor cowboy type cooking show. Jeff
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Wayne02
Member
I like dutch oven cooking, but sometimes I get to drinking and visiting too much and forget to tend the pot... resulting in some really crisp Apple Crisp. 
m657
Member
here's last weeks pot
Show off them iron tools a bit more, eh?
I'll get some better ones posted in a few days.
Show off them iron tools a bit more, eh?
I'll get some better ones posted in a few days.
SWID
SWCA Memebr
So I Googled Dutch Oven Cooking (I Google everything) and of course found enough stuff to keep a person busy for weeks.
Maybe you guys will find some of this interesting
Seven secrets of Dutch oven cooking by Roger L. Beattie Issue #47
Maybe you guys will find some of this interesting
Seven secrets of Dutch oven cooking by Roger L. Beattie Issue #47
rpbcab
US Veteran
We spend most of the summer in our 5th wheel at the campground and do most of our cooking in "Lodge" (made in Tennessee) dutch ovens... Great fun and really, really great food....
2000Z-71
Member
Any body do their Dutch oven cookin' outside...? I'm lookin' for pics of folks that do it traditionally in a firepit, or buried n the ground.... Wouldn't mind some more recipe's, either...
giz
I do mine inside, the wife doesn't think it's nearly as much fun as I do.
flagman1776
Member
Cooking in a pit... lay out your spot. Cut sod with a spade... cut 3 sides & hinge the last, slip spade under & flip sod over green side to green side. "Brown dirt does not burn." If done right, most of pit can be returned back to original postion, refilling the hole & restoring the grass. There's usually some scraping to be done to finish the bottom of the pit & I use the dirt to fill corners in the sod barrier. On the main fire & also the key hole often a gap is left in the barrier to feed the fires.
I should not have to say but never leave a fire unattended for even a second... that means you need 2 people to allow for pit stops. Our events are very strict & require a water bucket at each fire & have a constant fire watch but over 20 years in this I've seen fires get away a couple of times.
The modern made camp Dutch ovens are quite useable... cooking pans the antique cast iron is far superior... we have collectible antique iron in daily use.
Pot & pan lifters are usually made to order by the village blacksmith. Lifting the HOT lid with it's fire of coals is essencial. Have a clean place, like a couple of hunks of fire wood to sit the lid on... any dirt the lid picks up can (& likely will) drop into your cooking when you go to put the lid back on. My friend & long time re-enactor "Ducky" Dave Duckworth... made my fire ironware... [email protected]
We have used tin pie plates for cooking, as well as commercial pottery & redware pottery custom thrown by our friends Eric & Janis Steinhagen. Link> Home
Russ
I should not have to say but never leave a fire unattended for even a second... that means you need 2 people to allow for pit stops. Our events are very strict & require a water bucket at each fire & have a constant fire watch but over 20 years in this I've seen fires get away a couple of times.
The modern made camp Dutch ovens are quite useable... cooking pans the antique cast iron is far superior... we have collectible antique iron in daily use.
Pot & pan lifters are usually made to order by the village blacksmith. Lifting the HOT lid with it's fire of coals is essencial. Have a clean place, like a couple of hunks of fire wood to sit the lid on... any dirt the lid picks up can (& likely will) drop into your cooking when you go to put the lid back on. My friend & long time re-enactor "Ducky" Dave Duckworth... made my fire ironware... [email protected]
We have used tin pie plates for cooking, as well as commercial pottery & redware pottery custom thrown by our friends Eric & Janis Steinhagen. Link> Home
Russ
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Ohio Outdoorsman
Absent Comrade
RFD TV has a show called Cowboy Flavor that does dutch oven cooking and they make some yummy stuff. We have tried some of their recipes and it comes out great. Good eatin'.
Charlene and Steve
Charlene and Steve
Wayne02
Member
I need to make one of the long lid lifters as the one I have is a stubby and all that bending over gets old real fast.
CAJUNLAWYER
Member
I tried to dig a cookin' pit one time-ain't very easy to do out in the marsh 
All those pctures of honest to goodness REAL dirt are neat however . One day if I'm lucky I'll take a trip up nawth and dig a real hole that doesn't fill up with water after about 15 minutes
All those pctures of honest to goodness REAL dirt are neat however . One day if I'm lucky I'll take a trip up nawth and dig a real hole that doesn't fill up with water after about 15 minutes
flagman1776
Member
NOT a Dutch oven... inlaws rotissery beef...
The drive.
Hint the off end needs lubrication... put away your grease gun! Use vegatable oil. Sheet metal heat shield prevents the thermal protect from kicking out on the motor!
Hint the off end needs lubrication... put away your grease gun! Use vegatable oil. Sheet metal heat shield prevents the thermal protect from kicking out on the motor!
flagman1776
Member
Yup, my buddy has a nice reflector oven... maybe the twin to that one. I could not find a picture...
Thanks!
Russ
Thanks!
Russ
