Introduction to Dutch Ovens
"The Dutch Oven was the most important piece of equipment we had." Lewis & Clark
What makes a good Dutch Oven?
- Material -Cast Iron is preferred over Aluminum
- Legs -3 legs required
- Bail -stands up when tipped to one side
- Lid -requires: lip, seal, & loop
- Fuel -briquets preferred over fire
- sizes available:
- 8, 10, 12, 14, & 16 diameters
- depths of 4-6"
- groups of 6-8 use a 12" for dinner
- groups of 6-8 use a 10" for dessert
How Do you Use?
- Uses
- Oven -for baking
- Griddle -for frying
- Open Pot -for stewing or frying
- Accessories
- vice grips -for lifting lid and moving baking dishes
- trenching tool -for moving coals
- gloves -for heat protection
- fire starter -chimney or starting fluid?
- baking dish -to prevent burning during baking
- 3 stones, or rack, or metal tent pegs -to seperate baking dish from oven
- tongs -for moving coals and food
- Pit Layout
- 3 areas: fire, cooking zone, lid holder
- 1/4" air space
- dutch oven stacking?
- Cleaning
- new
- wash w/sudsy water, then season
- seasoning
- coat w/ oil (quick)
- cook in salt-free shortening, like Crisco (better)
- leave uncovered as it cools down
- further cleaning
- no soap, no steel wool or metal
- boil water
- plastic scubber
- air dry
- season
- storing
- use newspaper to keep lid ajar
Garrett's "Rules-of-Thumb" for cooking with a Dutch Oven
- "PRE-HEAT", "PRE-HEAT", "PRE-HEAT"
- controlling baking temperature:
- 200 degrees F: use (oven_size x 1) number of Briquets
- 325 degrees F: use (oven_size x 2) number of Briquets
- 450 degrees F: use (oven_size x 3) number of Briquets
or
- (125/oven_size)= degrees F of one (1) briquet either added/subtracted, meaning:
- for a 8"oven, 2 briquets = 30 degrees
- for a 10"oven, 2 briquets = 25 degrees
- for a 12"oven, 2 briquets = 20 degrees
- for a 14"oven, 2 briquets = 18 degrees
- for a 16"oven, 2 briquets = 15 degrees
- Briquet distribution for baking:
- distribute briquets: 2/3 of briquets on top, 1/3 briquets on bottom
- or alternatively: remove 2-3 briquets from bottom, put them on top
- if baking directly on pot bottom, remove bottom coals
- Checking
- at cooking_time*1/3 check food, rotate pot CCW 1/3 turn, rotate lid CW 1/3 turn
- at cooking_time*2/3 check food, rotate pot CCW 1/3 turn, rotate lid CW 1/3 turn
Uselful conversions for Dutch Oven sizes (regular depth, not deep dish)
Dutch oven size |
Capacity (in qts.) |
Floor area (in sq. in.) |
8 |
2 |
50.3 |
10 |
4 |
78.5 |
12 |
6 |
113.1 |
14 |
8 |
153.9 |
16 |
10 |
201.1 |