Dutch Oven's

[Scoutmaster Ron]

How did Dutch oven cooking become so popular with the BSA? , maybe I'v been sheltered, but before my son joined Cub's way back when I didnt even know about this phenominon, now when I go camping it's got to be with a D.O. What about you?

[dsteele]

I've been in Scouting for over 30 years and dutch ovens were always part of Scouting. It's tough to make a decent cobbler on a backpacking stove!

 

We used to do bean hole beans (cooking in a hole while away on a hike) and even cooked pizza and cakes in a dutch oven. If weight isn't an issue and someone knows how to use one, they're great. Kind of like having a real oven out in the woods.

 

Unc.

[dsteele]

Post script to the above.

 

When we were Scouts, we loved the dutch oven. It was cast iron and it was the one pot that not only did you not HAVE to wash it, you COULD NOT wash it. Just wipe it out real good with a paper towel and you were done.

 

Unc.

[acco40]

This past month I was in the process of trying to expand the cooking horizons of some of the boys and adults. After a few goof-ups (they sure DON'T listen to the SM) like putting the Dutch oven on top of a vast bed of coals trying to make pizza (burnt on the bottom, soup on top) they made a great pizza and peach cobler on our most recent outing. The box ovens were in use too! (garlic bread, brownies, etc.).

[fotoscout]

Can one of you guys tell me if the manufacturer of the Dutch oven makes a difference? Some of these things can be expensive, but some are available at a reasonable price. Lodge seems to make the expensive ones, and then there are a number of other cheaper ones. Does it matter?

 

foto

[Scoutmaster Ron]

fotoscout..Walmart sells Lodge D.O.'s for a resonable price I believe around $25.00

[KoreaScouter]

I've got a Texsport 12" I paid $15 for brand new. Nobody's ever thrown out anything I cooked in it because it wasn't expensive...

 

KS

[LPC_Thumper]

The differnce between a "cheap" and an "expensive" DO has to do with 2 things. First "cheaper" ones may be thinner, and MAY (notice I stressed that?) not deliver as uniform a heat as a thicker one. Now if you have a good solid DO that is about as thick as a Lodge, and is half the price remember the ninth point of the Scout Law (A Scout is THRIFTY). I use only Lodge ovens, and have always been VERY happy with them. Also if you're having trouble with heat, remember charcol needs to be good too. I always use Kingston, and not the match light stuff. I have a scouting buddy that runs a great site, check it out

 

http://www.laughingoak.com/

 

Yummy!!

[willysjeep]

I got a stovetop model lodge dutch oven for x-mas many years ago. It is all iron, but not really perfect for campfire cooking.It has a lid which is sloped with only a small flat on top. The thing doesn't have legs either. Still, even with these handicaps it can turn out some good stuff. If you have an all iron oven (no plastic or wood handled cooking pots) you can still put coals on a domed lid either by turning it upside down or by putting a ring cut from a coffee can or other sheet metal on top to hold more coals on.

[Big_Dog]

Something else to look for on some of the less expensive DO's is the bail. (sp?) I received a huge DO for Christmas, but the bail is not big enough to let the lid slide out easily. It was not a Lodge oven but another brand. Lodge is probably not the only manufacturer of quality cast iron, but I've never had a complaint with my gear.

 

bd

[kenk]

Sorry for the shift in this thread, but I just purchased a DO (Lodge - $35 from Amazon.com) and I've got to ask this:

 

Do you tend to cook directly in the seasoned "pot"? or do you tend to insert a raised round cake pan and then cook inside that cake pan??

 

I've heard discussions at my roundtable that people would have to be nuts to cook directly on the cast iron. That it make for a tough cleanup. But it sounds like many (most?) others cook directly on the seasoned cast iron.

 

Also, do many of you use cast iron fry pans (obviously only when car camping)? It seems a big cast iron fry pan would be a nice addition to the cook gear.

 

[dan]

Dutch Ovens do need to be cleaned. Put about 2 inches of water in them, boil them, with lid on, scrap if needed with a brass brush, dump out water, wipe out with a clean towel, reboil if still dirty, (if you burnt your meal or dessert) place back on coals or fire, re coat inside with oil, best to do this when the oven is warm, to allow the oil to soak into the pores, remove from heat and let cool.

The only time I use a raised cake pan, is if I am baking biscuits or bread.

Not sure how you could do most meals in a raised cake pan, when I cook in a dutch oven it is usually full to the top with food!

I just use the Dutch Oven as a frying pan, usually brown the meat in it, drain a little of the grease and add the rest of the ingredients

into the dutch oven.

[Eagle69]

I totally agree with the posts about Lodge Dutch Ovens as opposed to other brands. The bottom line is you get what you pay for. I think the Lodge being made out of better quality iron stands up to rough treatment a lot better.

 

On the question of using a pan in the bottom to raise what you are cooking, I only do that for something like pizza, biscuits, bread, etc.

 

I think cast iron skillets are an excellent addition to a troops gear. My troop has 3-4 of them and we use them to cook breakfast and for things like browing ground beef for spaghetti or tacos. They are far better to use and clean up than the aluminum skillets that come with the trial chef kits.

 

Most of the evening meals for adults on campouts are cooked in a dutch oven. I even did one campout where every meal involved a dutch oven and needless to say we were stuffed when the weekend was done.

[KoreaScouter]

Whether or not you put your food directly on the bottom of the oven or elevate it in a pan (suspended by 3 good sized hex nuts) depends on whether you are baking as opposed to boiling, stewing, etc. If you're baking (bread, biscuits, cookies), by all means elevate. Think of your oven in the kitchen at home. Would you put your bread directly on the coil or gas flame? Of course not; it'll burn. Same thing for a DO.

 

Regarding brands, I've had Lodges, both cast iron and aluminum, and find them to produce no better results than the Texsport I use now. One of my Lodges (a 14") had a hopelessly warped bail from mistreatment and you couldn't get a lid on or off of that thing without a sideshow. I won't comment on the Lodge aluminum one, because you can't treat it like a cast iron DO, but someone before me did, and the results were predictable.

 

To anyone who uses the "you get what you pay for" argument as a universal truth, all I can say is: wear a pair of new official BSA pants for 6 months, then tell me that "YGWYPF" is still a universal truth. We're not talking about a wristwatch or an automobile here, folks, it's just a hunk of iron. Individual results are a lot more dependent on operator care and operator skill than on the metallurgy...

 

KS

[Big_Dog]

If I'm baking, sometimes I'll line the oven with foil. One good example is the pineapple upside-down cake. With heavy duty foil, it was easy to lift the cake out of the oven and flip it onto a plate. I hate to think of trying to flip the DO! Cake pans are ok, but then you still have to clean them. Foil, you just throw away. I guess you can tell I like to cook, but hate to clean. I cooked a bananna pudding in one without the foil and it cleaned up easily. Of course, I bargained with one of the ASM's - a bowl of puddin' if he'd clean up.

 

bd