Dutch oven cooking

RobertN · Apr 25, 2005

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 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...

slapshot · Apr 26, 2005

Dont know if you have RFD-TV its on both Dish Network (9409) & DirecTV (379) and some cable providers. There is a program called "Campfire Cafe". The guy is amazing. Its obviously all campfire cooking mostly with Dutch Ovens. I'm not normally into cooking shows, but the guy who hosts it is a trip and I'm amazed at what he comes up with.

-dave

Junkman · Apr 26, 2005

Charcoal briquettes have been around for over 50 years, with Henry Ford being the reason. He started to market charcoal briquettes as a by product of his automobile enterprise, under the name Kingford .....

RobS · Apr 26, 2005

I love dutch oven cooking and know the dishes you mentioned well. We cooked in them when I was a boy scout and I'm now doing the same with my own boys.

You can use coals from the fire or briquets. The pros all use briquets and you can adjust the temp fairly precisely by varying the quantity of briquets. Usually it's more on top than on the bottom to get the oven effect.

The cobbler you mentioned is super easy. We call it dump cake and the recipe is as easy as 3-2-1. Three cans of pie filling dumped in then two boxes of Jiffy cake mix dumped on top then one stick of butter cut up on top. As it cooks, it all mixes just right. Bake at about 350 for about 1/2 hour.

The breakfast you had sounds like "Mountain Man". Sausage or bacon, onion, hash browns, eggs and cheese. It's delicious.

I see you posted on CBN too, here is an earlier thread on the subject Dutch Oven Cooking .

There are a lot of good books out there and if you do a search on Dutch Oven Recipes you'll come up with a lot of sites. Check the Lodge Cast Iron site too /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Golfgar4 · Apr 26, 2005

When I was a Scout Master a few years back, the only cooking that we allowed the boys to do was with dutch ovens over a wood fire. We always had briquettes with us "just in case", but very seldom used them. It definitely is a learning process on how to cook with coals from the wood fire. It's amazing what a temperature difference different types of wood will make.

I can truthfully say that there was nothing that could be cooked in a kitchen that we couldn't cook over a fire in a dutch oven. We made spagehtti, pizza, all kinds of cakes and pies, roasts, stews and just about anything else that you can think of. One my favorite deserts was Dump cake. I see Rob just posted the recipe too, so I won't bother giving it again. It's so good, that one time after we hosted some cub scouts on an overnighter, I got a call from one of the mothers of one of the cubs. She was very confused and was hoping I could explain what her son was talking about. She went on to say that she had asked him what kind of birthday cake he wanted for his birthday, and he kept telling her he wanted a dumb cake like he had on the campout! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif When I finally figured out what she was talking about, I explained what it was which made her feel a whole lot better.

If you want some really good recipes, stop by your closest Boy Scout service center. They'll have all kinds of cook books you can purchase.

I miss eating some of those great campout meals so much, that I've decided we're going to take a couple of dutch ovens with us when we start traveling in our motorhome. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

RobS · Apr 26, 2005

I miss eating some of those great campout meals so much, that I've decided we're going to take a couple of dutch ovens with us when we start traveling in our motorhome 

My DO lives in our RV Garry, nothing like it as you said. It is time consuming though, which is why it's in the camper. That's when I have the time to spend with it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Golfgar4 · Apr 26, 2005

( It is time consuming though, which is why it's in the camper. That's when I have the time to spend with it )

Yup Rob, it certainly does take a bit more time to "whip" up a meal. But oh what meals! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

The thing that really got me going on dutch oven cooking was when I attended a leader training weekend. I sat in on a cooking demo, and this lady from another troop cooked up a batch of pineapple upside down cake. It was absolutely this side of heaven! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I never got as good as some of the guys who cooked with dutch ovens, but I can hold my own. I even won a cooking contest one time with a corn chowder that I made. It's a lot of fun, but it is also a bit of extra work. Ever have someone trying to help clean up who didn't know what they were doing and have them wash the dutch oven with soap and water? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif Definitely puts a damper on your day, huh? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Spiffy · Apr 26, 2005

When you run out of Boy Scout recipes to try [if that's possible], see if you can track down any Historical Reenactors in your area or at a Rendezvous [where they trade everything from hand-crafted goods to cast iron wares; and camping and cooking tips]. Most are "typical" weekend campers [they have great recipes too], but a few are retired or semi retired traveling all over the country to redezvous and eat most of their meals from cast-iron cooking, so you can get some real variety. And, the era they're reliving was well before Kingsford!

Golfgar; I'll empathize the soap /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif; even indoors on the gas stove, I use a dutch oven and cast iron skillets and it took me a year to keep my wife from putting any of it in the soapy dish water!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

RobS · Apr 26, 2005

it took me a year to keep my wife from putting any of it in the soapy dish water 

Good to hear I'm not the only one who's been through this. I finally broke down and got a wooden handled scrubbie just for the cast iron. No soap and it's just rough enough on the hand that she doesn't like to use it. I'm happy to be the official cast iron cleaner in the family /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif