Breaking in the new Dutch Oven

johnspark

johnspark

Joined
Dec 26, 2008
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It's off to South Carolina for Thanksgiving this year. Our neighbors have invited us to their place near the upper, upper end of Lake Marion. They are going to take us into the swamp for a few days of camping and fishing. We've been gathering our gear and getting ready for the trip and part of that process was getting the cooking items together and practicing up a bit.

Last night we built up a mock site in the yard and set up the dutch oven with some cowboy beans. I had the grill going on the deck also. A pan seared ribeye and a couple of lamb tenderloins, oh yeah. The beans were awesome. I mixed up some steakhouse recipe beans with black, pinto and kidney beans, then added some browned hamburger meat. I put a bell pepper, red onion, some celery, garlic, jalapeño peppers and other spices in there too.

Anyway, I haven't replaced my dead camera yet so the only shot I got was from a crappy Blackberry camera. We had a great time just hanging out and sampling the beans. A couple of Amstel Lights may have been downed in the process as well.

Hopefully some of you more experienced Dutch Oven aficionados can post up some of your creations and set ups. I have really gotten into the cast iron cooking bit and would love to hear your experiences.

Thanks for looking.

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If you are just starting out, get the Camp Dutch Oven Cooking 101 from the Lodgemfg.com site (It should come with the oven if you bought a Lodge oven, which I recommend). It has good guidance on managing the temperature with charcoal briquets, which is a lot easier than with regular coals from the fire. It also has a few decent recipes (try the pineapple upside down cake). Another good starter book is John Ragsdale's book Dutch Oven Cooking Get it from someone like Amazon).

Once you get into it you will be impressed with how well it does with whole chickens & potatoes & carrots, BBQ ribs, among other things. One I like is to make regular chili - your own recipe - brown the meat, add beans, diced tomatoes, seasoning, etc. Once this is heated up, pour cornbread batter on top (I used cornbread muffin mix) and then bake.

I don't use much of a setup - just the oven set directly over coals, then more placed on the lid.
 
Very nice. :thumbup: It looks as though the two of you had a great time. This is getting to be the perfect time of year for a bit of outdoor Dutch Oven cooking. Here's a pot-o-chili simmering in an outdoor fireplace at a local park.

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Jeff
 
Oh man - i'm SOOOO JEALOUS! "Fall" at "home"..... maybe one of these years.

Is that a CS Trailmaster i spy in pic #2?
 
I don't have any pics, but I love my dutch oven, and my CI skillets.

Also check out Karen Hood's CC2 cave cooking video, it has a good bit on dutch ovens.
 
fmajor007 said:
Oh man - i'm SOOOO JEALOUS! "Fall" at "home"..... maybe one of these years.

Is that a CS Trailmaster i spy in pic #2?
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That is a Ka-Bar that I had for years. I gave it to my son sometime ago, and he uses it all the time.
 
Flame under the kettle, coals under the dutch oven:
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Chicken, broccoli, and rice, just after adding shredded cheese:
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Frying eggs on the lid:
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Breakfast sausage, spanish rice, peppers:
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Hot sausage and green peppers:
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I love dutch oven cooking! :thumbup::)
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That looks great! What's the story on the Lid in that 1st picture? I have a Boy Scout commemorative edition 12 quart that I use for the big stuff.

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The food looks really good! I can almost smell it. Looks like you've got it figured out.

The key for me is to watch temperature control. I started cooking on the ground using a large metal pan to put the coals on after thaty were good and hot. I've never hung mine from a tripod. I've used charcoal and coals from a fire, and find the charcoal is easier to control and more consistent. The first picture shows a stand made by Camp Chef made to use with DOs. You put the coals right on the table. I keep spare coals in the chimney, that way I can keep the temp right throughout the cooking.

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I also discovered a liner for my 10" and 12" DOs, you can see in this picture. It comes in especially handy when you are cooking something with a tomato base, because the acid in the tomatos will take the seasoning off of the cast iron. . I like to use them when I'm going to cook for several nights in a row, to make clean-up easier. This is potatoes with onions, and peppers, real easy.

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This is polish sausage and sauerkraut. Just like a crockpot.

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I have baked bannock, biscuits and bread in them also.
 
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I bought a couple of metal oil drain pans for the times there are no fire pits around. Put one upside-down on the ground, the other right side-up on top of it. Start the charcoal in the top one, once they are ready put what you need on top, arrange the ones you want in the center and move any extras to the side.

Bruceter
 
johnspark said:
That looks great! What's the story on the Lid in that 1st picture? I have a Boy Scout commemorative edition 12 quart that I use for the big stuff.
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The lid on my oven depicts Sacagewea and her baby Jean-Baptiste, as its the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery commemorative edition. Plus the lid has three feet so you can flip it and cook on the inside. :cool:
 
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