Going to give it a try for the first timr.What basic cookware do I need to see if this is what i want to do and where would you suggest to buy.Also need the process for cooking bisquits in dutch oven.I think I can use my own recipe.Tks
Posted 2008-11-03 11:13 AM (#94141 - in reply to #94107) Subject: RE: Dutch Oven Cooking Help.
Elite Veteran
Posts: 681 Location: Corpus Christi, Texas
don't forget to season your cookware before using it the first time.. This can be done with shortening or cooking oil..wiping the insides of your cookware down and placing it in a low temp (I think @ 250) oven for a short while.. The cookware itself should have instructions with it.. I have an old cast iron griddle that makes the best biscuits and pancakes..Good luck!!
Posted 2008-11-03 11:22 AM (#94144 - in reply to #94107) Subject: RE: Dutch Oven Cooking Help.
Elite Veteran
Posts: 690 Location: missouri
cooking with cast iron is great!! If you are new to it..get the book "Cast Iron Cooking for Dummies" It will help you alot! It tells you how to season, clean, and care for cast iron. Sometimes, you can find cast iron cheap at garage sales... Wagner and many of the old brands are the best. I got several great pieces and a couple of dutch ovens at Bass Pro shop.. they have some that is pre-seasoned...
Posted 2008-11-03 11:37 AM (#94145 - in reply to #94107) Subject: RE: Dutch Oven Cooking Help.
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 522 Location: Tucumcari NM
You can cook anything in cast iron over a fire that you could cook in your home. One major consideration is the quality of the cookware. The cheap chinese and taiwan cookware looks attractive at first, but they are so porous that they won't hold water! Make sure you buy good stuff. Wagoner and Lodge are the ones I prefer. You can go online to Lodge. They offer a wide range of cookware and utensils. A long pair of metal tongs makes handling the coals easy. Make sure you buy camp style dutch ovens. They have flat lids with a rim that will hold coals and three short legs to stand over coals. A small fireplace shovel is also helpful. A lid lifter is nice but not essential, as is a pair of welding gloves.
To cook bisquits, preheat your dutch oven just as you would your oven at home. When you are ready to cook, place a few coals under the dutch, place the lid on, and use roughly twice the number of coals on top of the lid. If using briquetts, I use about 7 or 8 briquetts under a twelve inch oven. Use more or less depending on the size of your oven. About halfway through the baking process, lift the oven and turn it about a quarter turn. Do the same with the lid. it should take 15 to 20 minutes to have hot, golden brown bisquits!
Posted 2008-11-05 5:19 PM (#94337 - in reply to #94107) Subject: RE: Dutch Oven Cooking Help.
Member
Posts: 30 Location: mt. vernon,ar 72111
Appreciate everyones help.Keep it coming.I went to Academy Sports and got a Legend 10 in dutch oven with the little legs ,lid lifter and a long pair of tongs.We are going to J D campgrounds in Ok the 22 thru the 26 of November so i will give it a try..
Posted 2008-11-05 9:24 PM (#94354 - in reply to #94337) Subject: RE: Dutch Oven Cooking Help.
Veteran
Posts: 216 Location: Chillicothe, Ohio
We use a dutch oven a lot when camping. Almost always biscuits in the mornings. Cinnamon rolls are easy also. Either the canned ones or you can make homemade. YOu can make a great pinapple upside down cake that won't go to waste. You can cook roasts with potato and carrots etc.
For heat you can use coals from a fire or use charcoal. We usually always have a fire when camping so thats easy. The type of wood really does make a difference. You need wood that will keep a good hot coal. Something like Oak, Hickory, locust is good thats what we have here in the east. Charcoal can work also, you can use the matchlight stuff or the normal. One tool you cant be without if you use a real wood fire is a small shovel with an extended handle for scooping your coals out from your fire and situating them under and on the top of your oven. The shovel I use is a small sheet metal type used to clean ashes out of a wood stove. YOu can cut a wood broom handle or get a dowel to use for an extended handle. I installed a hardware hook inthe the other end of my wood handle and you can use that to lift your oven and the lid. You should be able to find the shovel at a good old fashoned type hardware store. For the charcoal, use a small set of tongs like you would use turning steaks on a grill. YOu can pick up individual coals and place them were you need them. If you have a fire going, you can preheat your oven top and bottom over the fire. Sit your pan over the fire and take you lid and set over the fire. The smoke/heat wont hurt the bottom of your lid. While your mixing up you dough, let it preheat. Then put our dough in and put the lid on then place a small amount of coals around the bottom of the oven and heap a good pile on the top. Remove the lid using your hook to check them every so often. One common mistake novices usually put too many coals on the bottom and burn their biscuits the first couple times. You'll learn fast what is about right by trial by fire..ha. For Pinapple upside down cake, melt a stick of butter, cover the bottom of the pan with brown sugar, line the bottom with pinapple rings, add a cherry in the center of each one if you like, then pour in a yellow cake batter. Let it bake until a knife comes out clean from the center. Your need quite a bit of heat around the bottom sides for this recipe and on the top. Dont burn your top (bottom of cake). If your pan is well seasoned, your can remove your lid and set a metal plate on the bottom of your oven, using mitts, invert the oven pan and the cake will end up on your metal plate looking perfect. Serve with some ice cream if you have a freezer and you can invite over some new friends that will then be friends for life. Cheers.
Posted 2008-11-06 4:49 PM (#94413 - in reply to #94107) Subject: RE: Dutch Oven Cooking Help.
Regular
Posts: 73 Location: rochelle va.
Here's a link with tons of recipes and hints http://www.macscouter.com/Cooking/DutchOven.asp. As for biscuits, use an inverted pie pan to get them off the bottom of the oven. After about 2/3 of the cooking time has elapsed, take the oven off the bottom coals so the biscuit bottoms don't burn. I have been cooking in a DO for a long time now and learned lessons the hard way. Don't forget to rotate the oven and lid so you don't get hot spots.
Posted 2008-11-08 11:03 AM (#94513 - in reply to #94107) Subject: RE: Dutch Oven Cooking Help.
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 317 Location: Barnesville, Ga.
Does anyone know of an actual cookbook that has really good camp recipes for Dutch Oven cooking? I saw the links posted earlier, but would like an actual book to keep in the trailer that had lots of recipes and really good directions. Thanks.
Posted 2008-11-08 2:04 PM (#94525 - in reply to #94107) Subject: RE: Dutch Oven Cooking Help.
Elite Veteran
Posts: 681 Location: Corpus Christi, Texas
try looking at cabela's online.. they might have something.. also check out the cookware's website.. If someone makes their living selling cast iron cookware, it stands to reason that they'd want to promote it by publishing a cookbook.
Dutch Oven Cooking Help.
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