Dutch oven cooking

[robertn]

Been to a couple Boy Scout camp outs with my son recently. One of the things they did, was use a dutch oven to cook blackberry cobbler. For the Adult leader dinner, we had a pot roast, and for breakfast an egg/potatoe/bacon/cheese "Coronary Special" done in the dutch oven.

For all the tons and tons of camping my family did when I was growing up, we never cooked like that. We always did stove top stuff, on the trusty 3 burner Coleman stove that I still use, even after 40 years...

We did use a dutch oven in the kitchen, or on stove top. But, it was mostly stews. My Mom's dutch oven did not have legs, and the lid was not made to hold coals.

At the two recent campouts, they used briquettes to do the cooking. The dutch oven had legs; they set the oven on top of some briquettes, and then placed som on the lid too.

Does anyone cook with coals from a campfire? Seems like it should work; I can't imagine briquettes have always been used. Seems like campfire coals may be a little less predictable to cook with though.

Anyone have some recipes? The blackberry cobbler was REALLY good. I need to contact the leader who made it, and get the recipe...

[BabblinBrookie]

Did that a lot down in Arizona, mostly with pinion or mesquite, the harder the better and lots of it. Oh if I had a nickel for evertime I had to scrounge the cold desert at night for wood cuz we ran out. LOL [img]/forums/images/icons/ooo.gif[/img]

[RobS]

Found an interesting discussion on the topic here [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[brownmule]

we camp alot. i have a dutch oven with out legs my lid wont hold coals either.. humm think i need to go shoping for one, we bike ride the trails and fish alot, i make a pork roast in my oven before we leave camp. pull the logs close , and hot ashes and lots of water. by the time we get back the pork is nice and tender, and ready to add potatoes and stoke up fire..its so nice to come back to camp and smell somthing cooking expecialy since im the camp cook LOL Rose [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[gager2002]

Dutch oven cooking is great. Depending on the size of the oven - you add 3 charcoal bricketts to the top and subtract 3 for the bottom. Example: 14" pot will have 17 pieces on top and 11 on bottom. You will need to use pot with legs and a deep dish lid. Dy doing this you will create 350 Deg. inside. Make sure you pre-heat.

Here is something for you to try.
2 boxes of yellow cake mix.
2 Cans of any fruit ( I like peaches)
1 Whole stick of butter

1. Line the pot with foil
2. Pre-heat with the coals for about 8-10 minutes
3. Pour one whole can in the pot and drain half the second can and pour it in.
4. Pour the two boxes of cake mix on top of that
5. cut the butter in teaspoon sizes and spread around top.
6. Put the lid on and cook for the time on the cake mix or until golden tan on top.
7. Replace coals as they burn out.

[pawclaws]

The Dutch ovens with legs and rims around the lid were designed specifically for cooking on the fireplace hearth or out of doors over an open fire or using hot coals from the fire pit. The originals; "Spiders" were named for their long gangly 8 or 9 inch legs and "unbalancing" long handles. Naturaly the handles were long to keep them cool and the legs were tall to proved more control over temperatures. Most of the ovens dating over a hundred and fifty or so years old being found today have the legs reduced to mere nubs. I suspect this was done to make cooking on or in the modern iron/steel wood stoves of the late 1600s to the early 1800s more practical. Pretty hard to get the pot hot when it is sitting 8 or 9 inches above the heated iron surface you know. Today's modern Dutch ovens have with a few exceptions (Potjie pronounced Pochie) are a mere shadow of the historic pieces. They have lost the long pan handles having been replaced by a wire bail or short loop on top of the lid. When you get a chance and see your next Dutch oven with a rim around the top, lift it up and flip it over. Notice the smooth almost wok appearance? This was intentional and fortunately has carried over from the original historic pieces. It is made to be used as a griddle or fry pan for frying bacon, eggs, hotcakes or baking world famous fry breads or bannock. For more information on Dutch ovesn, camp cooking, or historic cooking methods or just a tasty recipe or two come visit us at

www.ohiocampcooks.org

Be glad to chat for a spell and maybe share some coffee too! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Paws
or CPL Kass Irons, CSA
Quartermaster and Company Cook Mosby's Raiders
aka
Phil Foreman

[Adron]

Running a little late with my $.02 worth, but here is a real good link on dutch oven cooking.
MacScouter Dutch oven cooking

I've used several of them. Enjoy!!

[pawclaws]

Great site there Adron. The recipes are simple enough for about anyone. Dutch oven advice is on target. When you get there, nose around the rest of the site. This "Scout" has put a lot of work into this project and is invaluable to the outdoor enthusiast! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[robertn]

I made this recipe a couple nights ago. This is some of the best cornbead I have ever had. Part of that may be because of the volume of butter and sugar; we tend to cook leaner than this generally...

Byron's Cornbread

One thing I have noted, is most recipes I have found on the
web tend to be "hearty" recipes, that I tend to lean down if I try them. All that thick rich cooking tastes really good, but don't do much for the waist line and cholesterol count [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[pawclaws]

I'm diabetic and a lot of the folk on my web site are too. We kind of pay attention to the carbohydrate content (especially w\"white" carobohydrate content) of our foods. That corn bread spread over a dozen servings looks fairly healthy. One change I would suggest is to pre-heat your oven before jpouring in the batter. lOther than that the recipe looks excellent! [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
http://www.ohiocampcooks.org