Dutch oven help

[PattiPatti]

Two questions -

Ok, this is fairly broad, but how do you guys cook with your DO? I tried once last year, just sort of sticking it in the fire with a dump cake recipe inside and well, that didn't work. It was a charred lump of coal in about 15-20 min. So do you bring charcoal brickettes (?sp)? I don't quite "get it."

And second, is there a way to make biscuits in a DO? I want to do biscuits next week with the bacon and eggs, but really don't feel like using the oven inside, i like being outside. Thoughts?

[BENTE]

was kinda new to the whole DO/ cast iron thing then i ran across this website and i left a better cooker.

http://http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/

there is a lot of info there to help you with your biscuits/ briquette's question i

[chevy02]

lot of people shovel a scoop or two of hot coals from the fire pit in a pile sit your DO on that pile and put a scoop of hot coals on top of DO

[Bama Rambler]

The site Bente linked to is a good one. It requires a little practice but once you get the hang of it you can cook anything you want in one.

I prefer charcoal briquettes simply because they're cleaner to use. They don't smut up your DO's. I have used coals from the campfire and it works well too. The trick to good cooking is to know how to regulate the temperature (another reason I like charcoal) Let's assume that you'll be using charcoal. You need to separate about a dozen burning briquettes from the pile and spread them out in a kind of circular pattern. Put whatever you're cooking it the DO and place it on the briquettes. Place the lid on the DO and place briquettes on the lid. I usually completely cover the lid with briquettes to begin with. Cook till done. Don't be afraid to look in on it once in a while and adjust the coals as needed. Periodically rotate the DO one direction and the lid the other during cooking.

Biscuits are actually easy to cook in a DO. Most important thing when baking, is that your DO MUST be seasoned correctly. If you need to know the proper way to season one let me know and I'll post the proper procedure. Having that done, spray the bottom of the DO with PAM (or your fav cooking spray) then place the biscuits in there with the edges almost touching. Follow the procedure above but use less briquettes on the bottom and fill the lid with them and remember that biscuits only take about 15 to 20 minutes to cook.

Now a few hints: I use a long pair of metal tongs to handle the briquettes. I also have a pair of welders gloves handy to use to handle the hot DO's in case I need to. Get yourself a good lid lifter (a pair of channellock pliers work in a pinch). Get a small whisk broom to brush the ashes off the edges of the lid before removing (that keeps you from dropping ashes in what you're cooking).

One more thing, I hang my DO's on an "A" frame we made over the coals while cooking. This allows better control over the temp than sitting directly on the coals. I can take pics and post them if anyone's interested.

[Prepilot_3ck]

I'm fairly new to the DO cooking as well but I've been successful in most of my endeavors. Like other people have said, I use charcoal. It's easier to regulate the temperature, cleaner and most recipies are setup to use them. There are tons on the internet, but I wanted to show you one thing I really like on this site
http://www.dutchovendude.com/campfire-cooking.shtml

About 1/3 of the way down the page you'll see this a box labeled "Dutch Oven Temperature". This guy has added a "calculator" app to his website to help you set the temperature. You just pick your DO size, the temp you want and what type of cooking you want. It tells you how many coals to put on top, and how many on the bottom. Done. The stuff I've done has been pretty simple. Chicken (whole), ham (whole), cobbler, chili, pork roast, baked potatoes, fries, meat loaf, etc...

The key to meat (for me at least) is using my digital oven thermometer so I can monitor the inside temp of the meat in real time. Don't want to over cook it. Anyway, that site was SUPER helpfull for me and took a lot of the guess work out of it.

Brian

[tmmar]

Father in law almost always made a whole turkey in a DO when camping. Can't tell you how he did it because he has since passed away, but always got a lot of attention from other campers when the aroma of turkey permeated the campground. No one could believe that he was making a whole turkey. (he was tent camping at the time as well)

[Bob and Teresa]

Here is a link to a pretty good DO website. It has recipies as well as care and cleaning instructions. I found it pretty helpful when I was starting out.

Hope it all works out for you.

[flyrotor]

Originally Posted by Bob and Teresa

Here is a link to a pretty good DO website. It has recipies as well as care and cleaning instructions. I found it pretty helpful when I was starting out.

Hope it all works out for you.

Where's the link?

[Bob and Teresa]

Sorry forgot the link. Here it is:
http://www.macscouter.com/Cooking/DutchOven.asp

[Santaclause]

we used ours last season made french fries just placed it on camp stove for that and we made hobo stew in it and used the fireplace worked really well...