Dutch oven cooking

[David LaPell]

I was wondering if anyone here does any dutch oven cooking. I have been thinking about getting into this and wonder if anyone has any preferences on what they use and what they cook this way.

 

[jrd1976]

I have been Camp Dutch Oven cooking for about 2 years, using the Lodge cast iron ovens, and found it to be a lot of fun. You can get them at Academy and Bass Pro. I started with a couple of receipes that come with the ovens. You can do a search for Dutch Oven Receipes and have hundreds in seconds.

Not far from here a group meets monthly to cook and share ideas. There are state and national organizations too. Mostly I cook for family and at the hunting camp.

 

[NE450No2]

I assume you mean a "real" Dutch Oven, the ones with feet on the bottom and a lid with a lip for retaining the hot coals and ash, from falling in the pot when you open up the lid...

I have done some Dutch Oven Cooking. I use Lodge Dutch ovens.

What a Dutch Oven does for you, is let you cook with an "oven" in the woods, using wood.
You can use charcoal briquets, they are easier to use, but I mostly use real wood coals when deep in the woods.

The "secret" is to use twice as many coals on the oven lid as you have underneath the oven.

I also recommend you get a trivet for the lid and the Lodge "handle" that allows you to remove the lid, keeping it level so you do not spill ash or the coals into the pot.

The easiest thing to first cook in a Dutch oven is a pot roast.

Cornish game hens are very good in them as well.

Buy the preseasoned Lodge Dutch Ovens.

 

[jkc]

I have one, but don't use it much. It's useful for fixing dishes that you would otherwise bake in a convection oven, or a "crock pot". They're heavy, demand a fair amount of quality fuel (hardwood for long-lasting coals, or charcoal) and attention for successful results --- not my favorite camp cooking utensil. River rafters favor lighter weight aluminum versions vs. traditional cast iron. These days, you have lots of options that I think make the Dutch oven pretty much an anachronism --- very high quality and nutritious freeze-dried foods, super-insulated ice chests (Yeti brand or etc.) that permit taking pre-prepared frozen food on fairly long trips, and super-efficient lightweight stoves such as the JetBoil, which creates coffee and boiling H20 in short order. If you don't care about the physical volume of the equipment, the nearly miraculous Irish "Kelly kettle" uses any combustible **** to boil water in mere minutes... I'm a sucker for all of this stuff, but use my Dutch oven more infrequently than any of my other options...

 

[keith44spl]

Oh, I've slung the irons fer a spell...Cooked jest bout every
kinda meat & son-of-a gun stews ya can think of, to bakin sour dough bread and cathead biscuits.

I generally dig a pit and place a shovel of coals from my fire in first, set my oven(s) in, place my coals on the lid(s).
Cover the pit over with a piece of tin or the like.

Have also, cooked indoors on the fireplace hearth by pullin coals out on the brick hearth puttin oven on the coals and loadin the lid with coals...

The time it takes different vittles to cook depends on a lot of variables...Lots of practice/experience makes for a good camp cook.

Which I ain't quite made one jest yet!

Su Amigo,
Dave

 

[NE450No2]

jkc does make some valid points, a cast iron dutch oven is not a light weight piece of gear.

But I can say, that if I have cooked a pot roast, or some grouse, in a Dutch Oven, and I have "cooked" some freeze dried "stuff' guess which one you will like the best, by a wide margin...

Dutch Ovens are for those trips where weight and some bulk is not a problem and there is plenty of wood or you can pack some charcoal.

Also once you get the Dutch Oven "fired up" [and you have had some experience with it ] it cooks without much fussing about. Just like your oven at home.

Also with one you can bake bread, cobbler and a lot of other things, that in the "woods" you cannot cook in any other way.

 

[silentflyer]

I use one on top of my slow burn wood stove, stews,soups,pot roast,chili,dried beans, chicken and dumplings, all that good stuff I remember my mother and grandmother used to fix when I was a kid. Let the pot slow cook all day, make up a pan of corn bread and I am good to go.[

 

[Grayfox]

Anything you can cook in the oven at home can be cooked in a dutch oven. I've done everything from biscuits to pizza, most meats and that big old pot also makes for some dandy stews. The only difference may be in the size of the portions which is dependent on the size of the oven.
I highly recommend the book "Dutch Oven Cooking". You can get it on line from the Boy Scouts of America.
It does take a little time and experience, but once you get the hang of it, you'll never leave it at home.

 

[kennyb]

i must agree...have used a cast dutch oven for some mighty tasty outdoor meals

 

[jlrhiner]

Been cooking with a Dutch oven 30+ years. If you can drag it in, I can cook it. Gooey butter cake, apple or any other fruit cobbler, stews, fried chicken, heck, even did a turkey in the big one. Bacon and eggs, pancakes, pizza (gettin' hungry yet?) all of them together weigh around 50lbs, so their not back packable. But they go whenever we drive in.

 

[Maddog 521]

Buy a good quality cast iron dutch oven. IMO the older Griswold, Wagner, ect. are the best. If you look hard enough you will find them and they are lighter and cheaper then the imported ones. There is a web sight for dutch oven cooking. Google will find it. Have fun.

 

[Iggy]

Itchy use to cook some durn fine doin's at ronyvoos back in our tipi creepin' years.

Ya ever eat lobster or enchiladas sittin' next to a tipi?

Dessert was pine apple upside down cake.

 

[OFT II]

You'll also need some tool to lift the top off when it's hot. I keep a couple of hay hooks handy. They work just fine.

 

[gunlovingirl]

Where's gizamo? I bet he's used one a time or two!

 

[Road Rat]

With video and sound:

Cee Dubs Dutch Oven Cookbooks supplies and More

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Been cooking with a Dutch oven 30+ years. If you can drag it in, I can cook it. Gooey butter cake, apple or any other fruit cobbler, stews, fried chicken, heck, even did a turkey in the big one. Bacon and eggs, pancakes, pizza (gettin' hungry yet?) all of them together weigh around 50lbs, so their not back packable. But they go whenever we drive in.

Speak for yourself girlie-man

 

[jrd1976]

To name a few I cook regularly:
Venison or beef stew
Jambalya
Red Beans
Rice
Stuffed Chicken
Cornish Hen
Pot roast
Chili
Green beans and sausage
Gumbo
Biscuits
Cornbread
Fresh Apple Pie
Pecan Pie
Apple Cobbler
Blackberry Cobbler
Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

It is another form of outside cooking. You just have a different means of applying heat to cook the food. Get a charcoal starter with the cone shaped interior. Use metal pet food pans to keep the coals and ashes easy to control and move. Lid lifters, lid stands, long gloves, and long tongs are great accessories. So is a metal cooking table so you don't have to cook on the ground. Lodge is the only brand Made in USA. If your pot says "Made in China" consider that a warning label.

 

[pineappleshooter]

I can't believe we have come this far with no "dutch oven" jokes! I make chili in mine which makes the other kind of dutch oven possible.

 

[jlrhiner]

Speak for yourself girlie-man

Now that hurt

 

[sipowicz]

I had chicken with olives, onions and potatoes cooked in in one tonight on the stove top....