Anyone do true Dutch Oven cooking over coals?

It can be a lot of fun. LIke Que, It takes practice to get any good at it. I don;t have any links, but i am sure there is some great info out there. I learned by watching others and eating a LOT of burned/Raw food (sometimes the same piece of food was both burned and raw!) You will need a few essential tools though. Get a good pair of thick leather gloves, a dutch oven lid lifter (my wife got me a good one from lodge), a pair of dutch oven pliers (the boy scouts make these, they are aluminum and come in very handy)

THe first thing you need to do is season your dutch ovens. Even if they say they are pre seasoned, do it again anyway. Heat your oven(home oven) to 350, coat the ovens inside and out with a little oil or no-salt shortening. Place the oven and lid in the pre=heated oven upside down (this will prevent the oil from pooling and geting sticky) Let it cook for an hour and turn of oven, letting it cool for a while. There are tons of web sites out there talking about how to season a dutch oven.

As far as the actual cooking, a recommend you start with charcoal briquettes. They may not be traditional, but they make figuring the temperature of the oven MUCH easier when you are starting out. When you are using normal, sized briquettes, not the huge ones you see so often now, count on 15 degrees of heat per briquette. You need to prelight more than you will need, using a chimney starter, then place one third of the briquettes on the ground in a grid. Place the oven on top of this, put the lid on it and place the remaining two thirds on top. You will need to rotate the oven and lid every fifteen minutes to avoid any hot spots. I always turn the oven 1/4 turn counterclockwise, and the lid 1/4 turn clockwise. THis just helps me be sure i get good movement. If you are using lump charcoal, it is harder to figure the temeratures, and it burns hotter, so you will need less charcoal, but it also burns faster.

There are several cook books out there specifically for dutch oven cooking. MOst of them are available through the boy scout catalog.

practice, practice,Practice. You can always find a local boy scout troop and see if they are doing a demonstration anytime soon. I am teaching a class the week after christmas at our local camp. Good luck. It is cool to know someone else is jumping into this. I don;t see many people doing it anymore.

Its been a LONG time, but we used to use them in the Boyscouts. If I recall we would dig a hole, put hot coals on the bottom and then place the dutch oven on top of the coals and spread some around the sides and then cover with dirt. Couple to a few hours later your stew, or cobbler was ready to eat. Don't remember how we kept the dirt out of the food when removing the oven from the ground though. Then again back then I probably didn't care about a little dirt in the food!

Brian in SoCal does.

Here is a temperature chart from Lodge that I use It should help get you started and this Yahoo group is great full of info and friendly folk
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dutchovencooking/

I do some Dutch Oven cooking here and there. Started just before BBQ comp season so didn't get into real heavy. Did some things at comps for Friday dinner and the like and did a few things at the KC bash a few weeks ago. Am hoping life slows down a bit this winter to work on it some more. It is fun, it is challenging.. Just like BBQ your goal is fire management. Keep the temps right and you will do ok.

Here's a good website with lots of information and recipes about DO cooking.

http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/dutch-oven-recipes.htm

1. Pre-season it--even if already done!!!!...but don't do it in your house fire up your gasser or crank up the temp on your pit. You will not be a happy camper if you do it in your house.

2. I would assume you already own a "chimney starter" if not get one. The dutch is all about coal management.

3. Get a Heavy pair of tongs.

4. Be smart about using parchment paper and foil. It helps.

5. Maybe consider getting a Metal oil pan for putting hot coals in.

http://www.scoutorama.com/recipe/
what I hate about this site is most recipes don't have # of coals needed on top or bottom.

We D.O. cooked all the time in Boy Scouts. There are few things to remember -
1) make sure your DO has "legs" and is not flat on the bottom. Make sure the lid has a "lip" to hold the coals (several on the market have niether).
2) Dig a "shallow" spot just smaller than the diameter of the legs so that when you put your coals down you have about an inch between the coals and the bottom of the D.O. I've always found that food can, and will, burn much easier on the bottom, than on the top.
2) And whatever you do.. NO PEEKING!

one of the best and easiest D.O. treats is peach cobbler made with canned peaches and bisquick (bisquit version), it's easy and delicious!

Monty, yep that sounds like the way we use to do it. For some reason I was thinking we buried it. Guess not. And thats what we use to make cobbler, hard to beat when out camping! Guess my memories gone after 27 years!

http://www.mydutchoven.com/

try this one

I had been wanting to try it for a long time so my wife bought me DO last Christmas and I picked up the lid lifter and tripod. Got the DO all seasoned up and have never used it. I still want to try and now yo've got me thinking about it again. Thanks...

It can be pretty farkin' fun and there are tons of recipe's out there.
You can do some pretty mean desserts.

My former supervisor does it all the time and even teaches classes on it during the Summer. He came in with some killer grub on Monday mornings...

I believe "Cowgirl" does this on occasion too...

Never done things like dessert or breads, but I do like to use them over a live fire to make soups, stews, and chili, or just some simple beans.

That Byron's DO site is awesome. That site made me buy my two DO's and my dad quickly followed with one of his own.

Interesting thread. I have a good sized Lodge Dutch Oven with a lip but no legs. I have always used it on the stove top for chilies and stews. Is there any reason I couldn't use it on my Green Egg or Weber charcoal grill?

I have an old cast iron dutch oven without legs I use on my weber and smoker all the time. It's the bomb for pit beans, etc.

You can also find 3-4 rocks the same size and put them under the oven instead of legs. Works fine.

jim

I love cooking on camp ovens, no way to do a better chili.
Cornbread, breads and stews always turn out delicious, and
one of my favourite sides to feed a group are au gratin potatoes.

I have a 12" lodge and 10" camp chef.
I made myself a small fireplace out of stainless steel for it so i wont burn any lawn, concrete or whatever.
A windshield would be nice sometimes.








:biggrin:

DM

I would love to try it. On the average how long would a kettle of chilie take

From browning the meat to serving..........not long at all. Maybe 1.5 -2 hours if you like to let it simmer and the flavors to develop. Could be as little as 1 hour depending on the meat you are using.