…… Any Dutch Oven Masters out there?

KKC

KKC

Veteran Member
I have dusted off and re-seasoned my 12" D.O.. Over the years I have made a lot of cobbler and have collected a lot of recipes. But... I have not fostered the skill in which to cook these recipes in my D.O.

I wish to become a master D.O. cooker. I want to be the guy at the campgrounds with 4 or 5 D.O.s stacked on top of one another cooking a several course meal. Including the bread and desert.

Anyone here ever accomplished this level of D.O. Cooking? If not please join in anyway and we can learn together. If you have then please share your knowledge and experiences with us.
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
there are forums dedicated to DO's and if you're not put off by facebook there are quite a few groups dedicated to DO cooking and using DO's over a camp fire.
 
C

Chicken Mama

Veteran Member
It doesn't take a lot of skill to cook in a DO. Grab a couple DO recipes and go for it. It's the best way to learn.
I'm sure you've read a book or two about DO cooking, and once you've figured out the number of briquettes to oven size, you'll be off and running.
 
KKC

KKC

Veteran Member
I had done a search Publius and found nothing. Do you by chance have the link to the thread?
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Publius said:
Thats the one. :D
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There were several pages of threads where dutch ovens and recipes were being discussed. My best advice is to join the group over at FB, those people live and die for D.O. cooking. I only own five, so not nearly as dedicated as those folks. :D
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
packyderms_wife said:
There were several pages of threads where dutch ovens and recipes were being discussed. My best advice is to join the group over at FB, those people live and die for D.O. cooking. I only own five, so not nearly as dedicated as those folks. :D
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We're evenly matched with 5 ovens each, I have two Lodge 14" one standard depth and the other deep, one 13 Maca and two regular Lodge 12" Dutch Ovens.
I can cook a banquet for 30 people, last year for July 4. I bought out my dutch ovens for a gathering of 15 we attend every year. This was planed out many months in advance and I volunteered for that one and I offered it as a change in the menu, all were pleased and impressed with the food that came out of them black pots. The main item was pile Country Pork Ribs slow cooked (2 hour) in the 14" deep and lots of it for everone. There was left overs too.
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Publius said:
We're evenly matched with 5 ovens each, I have two Lodge 14" one standard depth and the other deep, one 13 Maca and two regular Lodge 12" Dutch Ovens.
I can cook a banquet for 30 people, last year for July 4. I bought out my dutch ovens for a gathering of 15 we attend every year. This was planed out many months in advance and I volunteered for that one and I offered it as a change in the menu, all were pleased and impressed with the food that came out of them black pots. The main item was pile Country Pork Ribs slow cooked (2 hour) in the 14" deep and lots of it for everone. There was left overs too.
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What is a MACA D.O.?

I have two standard deep DO's (one is really old and light weight the other one is a Lodge my mother bought me for xmas one year), and one really large one that has gone missing I think we cleaned it up and put it into deep storage as I rarely used it. And we have two enamel units, a 6qt DO and a 7 qt brassier which has been a boon for me as it allows me to cook larger roasts in that DO. I'd love to have a 10 qt enamel DO. Cast iron skillets, at last count we had 21 of those. I'd also love to have a 4 qt DO for deserts and the like.
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
packyderms_wife said:
What is a MACA D.O.?

I have two standard deep DO's (one is really old and light weight the other one is a Lodge my mother bought me for xmas one year), and one really large one that has gone missing I think we cleaned it up and put it into deep storage as I rarely used it. And we have two enamel units, a 6qt DO and a 7 qt brassier which has been a boon for me as it allows me to cook larger roasts in that DO. I'd love to have a 10 qt enamel DO. Cast iron skillets, at last count we had 21 of those. I'd also love to have a 4 qt DO for deserts and the like.
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The MACA is a Dutch Oven made by a foundry out of Utah and sometime in 2013 they said they were stopping production of the Dutch Ovens. There are people that have them new for sale and somehow getting new production from the company. Now the MACA dutch ovens are made in the in between sizes that Lodge makes and all MACA dutch ovens are extra deep, so they make a 9", 11", 13", 15" and all the way up to 22" inch and the big one is not for the fait of heart its heavy.
 
KKC

KKC

Veteran Member
Makes my single 12" Lodge seem kinda small... But I gotta start somewhere. 5 ovens huh? Can you keep them all going at once? The temp control would have to be tough. I'm still burning most of my stuff in the one DO. I've admired how Wishbone can cook sour dough bread and puma stew in his on Rawhide. I really wanna try bread. Don't know why. Maybe because that seems the hardest to cook properly so if I can master that I'm good to go. I don't know.

So where is the best place to get these "other" ovens. Seems the 12" is the most common. But seems too big for desserts and too small for bread. Plus I gather I need a deep DO for bread. I've been to Gander Mountain and they want some serious doe ray me for their DO.... Maybe I just gotta pay to play but man... They don't give these things away. I've been looking on Craig's List and Garage sales but coming up bust.

I do have almost one of every sized CI skillet. With the exception of the really big ones. Too heavy.
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
Cooking with more than one Dutch Oven at a time is not that hard, but using the hot coals from a wood fire has a learning curve to it but not to much harder than using charcoal.

There are a few places online where one can buy cast Iron cookware and be warned the shipping will be on the high side due to the weight.

As brand name manufactures there is Lodge, MACA, Camp Chef and a bunch of others and where they are made like Camp Chef I can't say but they keep the price down having them made over seas.
A 12" inch as a first dutch over is a good all around dutch oven and hard to go worng with 12".
The two 14" inch Lodge dutch ovens I have a bought them a long time ago and prices have gone way up over the years as I remember the $85+ I paid for them was not cheep then.

Heres a few links to start off with they carry a number of brands and other supplies and cook books too.

http://www.ahappycamper.com


http://www.chuckwagonsupply.com
 
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packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
KKC said:
Makes my single 12" Lodge seem kinda small... But I gotta start somewhere. 5 ovens huh? Can you keep them all going at once? The temp control would have to be tough. I'm still burning most of my stuff in the one DO. I've admired how Wishbone can cook sour dough bread and puma stew in his on Rawhide. I really wanna try bread. Don't know why. Maybe because that seems the hardest to cook properly so if I can master that I'm good to go. I don't know.

So where is the best place to get these "other" ovens. Seems the 12" is the most common. But seems too big for desserts and too small for bread. Plus I gather I need a deep DO for bread. I've been to Gander Mountain and they want some serious doe ray me for their DO.... Maybe I just gotta pay to play but man... They don't give these things away. I've been looking on Craig's List and Garage sales but coming up bust.

I do have almost one of every sized CI skillet. With the exception of the really big ones. Too heavy.
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amazon prime!
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
KKC said:
Because shipping is free?
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I have never signed on with Amazon for what I see as a membership and last I heard it was about $75 per-year and you get free shipping on every order.
Now if your willing to just go for it (wife willing) and shop on their site looking for the best deals you can rack up $400 or $500 or more (dutch oven cook table$) in a years time buying all the goodies and save a good deal on shipping costs.
With cast Iron cookware buying three or more dutch ovens and dutch oven cook tables. lid holders/stand, lid lifters and anything else you think would be good to have you can blow right past $200 in shipping costs.

My wife does bauk at some of the stuff I have bought over the years but the cooking stuff she backs off and lets me have at it
 
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KKC

KKC

Veteran Member
I can see how prime could save you some serious money on shipping Publius.

I have found a fun little forum at http://www.camp-cook.com

Kinda quiet but a lot of information on Cast Iron. Tons of recipes.
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
KKC said:
I can see how prime could save you some serious money on shipping Publius.

I have found a fun little forum at http://www.camp-cook.com

Kinda quiet but a lot of information on Cast Iron. Tons of recipes.
Click to expand...

We signed up last November and I'm thinking we've saved about $500 on shipping so far. I get things from Prime that I cannot get here locally like the KT Tape braces for my knees, certain art supplies, digital equipment, etc. For many of these things the shipping is almost as much as the item itself. Be careful though when shopping at Amazon, not everything qualifies for Prime so you need to be a savvy shopper, that said if I were to purchase a dutch oven online I'd go through Amazon or Walmart both of which have free shipping options.
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
Went and checked out Amazon and I see!

A Lodge 12" deep selling for $45 with Prime shipping.

A Lodge L8DOT3 Meat Trivet selling for $9.26 Prime not available.

A Camp Chef 16" Dutch Oven selling for $87.99 with Prime shipping

Sandbroil Cast Iron Dutch Oven Lid Stand for $10 with Prime Shipping, these are nice I have a few, well made and they fold up for storage or transporting.

I have looked at the Camp Chef line of Dutch Ovens and they offer two styles! One has a pot that looks some thing a long the lines of a cake-bunt pan with a pertrusion in the center of the pot.
The other style the pot is more the classic dutch oven more like what Lodge offers, but the lid is a little diffrent in design.

That Camp Chef 16" $87.99 is a really good price for a quality dutch oven that size and keep in mind this is a big pot and will feed a lot of people. Its the upper limit with being portable that you can pick it up and carry it. Looking around elsewhere on the Internet I see 14" Lodge dutch ovens selling for $135. to $150 Plus shipping and unlike the Camp Chef they are 100% USA made.
 
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KKC

KKC

Veteran Member
Good stuff Publius... Thanks.... I tried looking at the lid stands but amazon said there were none available. What search words did you use?
 
Pebbles

Pebbles

Veteran Member
Hi KKC, just saw your post. I LOVE cooking in my DO's outside every chance I get. I have about 10 ovens of various sizes. Makes the best pizza in the world. I was a beginner about two years ago. I gained an amazing amount of knowledge from the camp-cook.com site you found. It was really busy when I first joined but a main posted pasted away and the forum admin has a chronic health problem so it has really dropped off. It is a wealth of information. On FB Cast Iron Cooking is a good forum sometimes, if you can wade through pictures of people cooking on their cast iron skillets on their kitchen stove :-)

I also like http://roguedutchovencookers.blogspot.com/ , and http://www.marksblackpot.com/. I learned most of what I know from the cook books sold on http://www.marksblackpot.com/ and from the camp-cook.com site. My last big DO cook was for 30 people. I cooked everything outside in my DOs. I cooked beef short ribs, yeast rolls, two kinds of cowboy beans and corn on the cob.

I used the briquet counting method and everything has turned out pretty good. Biggest piece of advise....better to take longer to cook and have it eventually get done then burn it up with too many briquets.

Have fun I LOVE IT!!!!
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
KKC said:
Good stuff Publius... Thanks.... I tried looking at the lid stands but amazon said there were none available. What search words did you use?
Click to expand...


Just enter into their search engine! "Stanbroil Dutch Oven Stand" and it should come up with it.
Also "Dutch Oven" and "Dutch Oven Accessories" it will give or show you different items.
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
Pebbles said:
Hi KKC, just saw your post. I LOVE cooking in my DO's outside every chance I get. I have about 10 ovens of various sizes. Makes the best pizza in the world. I was a beginner about two years ago. I gained an amazing amount of knowledge from the camp-cook.com site you found. It was really busy when I first joined but a main posted pasted away and the forum admin has a chronic health problem so it has really dropped off. It is a wealth of information. On FB Cast Iron Cooking is a good forum sometimes, if you can wade through pictures of people cooking on their cast iron skillets on their kitchen stove :-)

I also like http://roguedutchovencookers.blogspot.com/ , and http://www.marksblackpot.com/. I learned most of what I know from the cook books sold on http://www.marksblackpot.com/ and from the camp-cook.com site. My last big DO cook was for 30 people. I cooked everything outside in my DOs. I cooked beef short ribs, yeast rolls, two kinds of cowboy beans and corn on the cob.

I used the briquet counting method and everything has turned out pretty good. Biggest piece of advise....better to take longer to cook and have it eventually get done then burn it up with too many briquets.

Have fun I LOVE IT!!!!
Click to expand...




Many watching someone cook food in one of these ovens are surprised at how easy it looks as you go about it and don't understand why the so few charcoal briquets rather than just drop it into a raging hot bonfire.
SO yeah there is a short learning curve to controlling the heat.
I have a few cook books and wife has ordered a few for me as gifts, the thing is many are filled with recipes derived from dutch oven cook off competition's and most of it is completely over the top gourmet cooking, but don't let that stop you from trying any that appeal to you.

You can cook most anything you like in them, and Packey's post N0 #8 above has a link! I posted a fair number of recipes that are easy to do and can even be done car or truck camping.
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=138107&stc=1&d=1496971782
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=138108&stc=1&d=1496971862
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=138109&stc=1&d=1496971912
 

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KKC

KKC

Veteran Member
Welp... We're headed to a fishing resort on a Minnesota Lake this Saturday and as we were planning the meals I was able to sell the family on Mountain Man Breakfast (a family favorite), Pizza (this will be new), Lasagna (new), Bread (this will be new), Pineapple Upside Down Cake (another new one). So there will be a lot of learning and experimenting next week. Wish me luck!!!
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
I see your back and how did the dutch oven cooking turn out?

I have been wanting to get a few smaller dutch ovens like a 8" two quart and 10" four quart to fit my needs cooking for just two or three people. It does not make sense to put a quart of home canned green beans into a six quart pot and not that it can't be done, but it would free up the bigger pot for the main part of the meal.


Seeing how we have a small number of members here that have a interest in this rustic style of cooking, any think we should start a deacated thread?
We don't need to start a new room on the topic, but a just thread that can be called up.
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Publius said:
I see your back and how did the dutch oven cooking turn out?

I have been wanting to get a few smaller dutch ovens like a 8" two quart and 10" four quart to fit my needs cooking for just two or three people. It does not make sense to put a quart of home canned green beans into a six quart pot and not that it can't be done, but it would free up the bigger pot for the main part of the meal.


Seeing how we have a small number of members here that have a interest in this rustic style of cooking, any think we should start a dedicated thread?
We don't need to start a new room on the topic, but a just thread that can be called up.
Click to expand...

I'd start a new thread in the homesteading sub-forum or granny's kitchen sub-forum. make sure you link to this one.
 
KKC

KKC

Veteran Member
We had a great time Publius!!! I learned a lot. Had a blast and ate good.. that's the magic right?

Here's some pics. Pineapple Upside Down Cake. This was DELISH!!!
 

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KKC

KKC

Veteran Member
Then we tried Pizza. Didn't like this so much... Gonna have to tweak the recipe I think.
 

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KKC

KKC

Veteran Member
Next was Lasagna w/ Garlic Rolls... This was tasty...
 

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KKC

KKC

Veteran Member
This is what I had to sit around and watch every evening... True heaven...
 

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KKC

KKC

Veteran Member
packyderms_wife said:
I'd start a new thread in the homesteading sub-forum or granny's kitchen sub-forum. make sure you link to this one.
Click to expand...

Has anyone created this new thread? I think we could link the other DO and CI threads to it as well... Just a thought.
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
KKC said:
Has anyone created this new thread? I think we could link the other DO and CI threads to it as well... Just a thought.
Click to expand...


I'm thinking this out and yes we can show hot links to previous threads started on the subject and include topics on cast Iron fry pan too.

I or we have an engagement every year on July fourth and by popular demand I'm cooking again, so I can provide a few photos.
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
Some wonder what the fascination with dutch ovens is all about, it once they try some foods cooked in one you have their attention.

There is something majical about how food cooked in a dutch oven turns out, and if you like cooking it's a fun hobbie much like BBQ is.

Doing Pizza in the dutch oven has been around for some time, but never tired it my self and in the last two or so years I see dutch oven Pizza is gaining popularty. I have done a few things that did not turn out as expected and tweeking was in order even ajusting the heat (like more top heat) and or time cooked to get it right.
 
Pebbles

Pebbles

Veteran Member
Pizza is the DO is just wonderful The downside being now we can never just pick-up a pizza because my husband will only eat my DO pizza.
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
Well the July 4, cookout turned out great, everyone had a good time and enjoyed the food I cooked. With all that was going on I did not think to take a few photos to show a steep by steep of putting it tougher and cooking it, but I have a few to show.
The first thing was getting the pork ribs going so the 14" deep is seen here and I had 10+ pounds of ribs in it. It takes time to heat up that much meat and getting it up to a simmer and then start timing it to cook for two hours and 15 Min.
The one shot of what looks like an empty pot is still holding meat in there and boy was it good.
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/atta...nt.php?attachmentid=138698&stc=1&d=1499265072
 

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