Cooking with a Dutch Oven is fun and easy. Any meal can be cooked in a Dutch Oven that would normally be prepared indoors. The Dutch Oven is a great addition to camping and can be very handy in a power outage. In many parts of the country you can even join club that is designed for fun, cooking, sharing recipes, teaching Dutch Oven cooking, and Dutch Oven Cook offs.
Cooking is simple and easy to master. All you need is a good oven, charcoal, and practice. Dutch Ovens can be purchased in most any sporting goods store and most ovens come with a complete instruction book, a small book of recipes, and a guide for oven temperatures when using charcoal briquettes. Many accessories are available but not necessary to get started cooking. Choose a Dutch Oven with legs that will stand up over the charcoal and a lid that has a lip to hold the charcoal on the lids surface. Several brands of ovens are available and vary in quality. When purchasing your oven you should check for smooth texture inside the oven, a lid that fits. A cast iron oven is the best choice but will weigh the most.
The most common size used for most recipes is a 12 inch oven. The 12 oven will cook a small chicken or a large family sized side dish.
When you get home with your oven the enclosed instructions will tell you how to cure, clean, and cook with your oven. Most kitchen tools will work when cooking with the oven but you remember not to use tools that will scratch and remove the cured surface. I will add that a lid lifter and a lid stand is a great help when cooking with the ovens. Lifting the lid and picking up the oven when hot much is easier when using a lifter. If cooking with campfires coals the lifter will also protect you from the heat as you the oven from the fire. When removing the lid to check the meal the oven lid stand is a handy tool. The stand will protect your lid from dirt and your table from heat.
Once you get started you will find that cooking outdoors has never tasted so good! |
