CATERING

Tips for Cooking With A Dutch Oven

You needn’t forsake your favorite roasted or baked foods when cooking over an open fire. Recipes that you didn’t think could get any better are sometimes improved with this method. When cooking over an open fire, use a Dutch oven with a lipped lid and three feet on the bottom.

DON’T USE METAL UTENSILS
Metal spoons shouldn’t be used on the inside of a seasoned cast iron pot. Metal will damage the seasoned coating, so use wood instead.

A COOK’S FIRE
An hour before you wish to begin cooking, build a hot fire using hard wood. Avoid commercial charcoal or resinous (soft) wood as a fuel. Pine is an example of resinous, cool-burning, soft wood that produces a quantity of black soot when burned. Not only is this residue bad for humans, it leaves a flammable coating on chimneys, and coats your cookware with soot. Because commercial charcoal is often filled with chemicals and additives that bind them into uniform lumps and increase their flammability, I don’t use them for my cook fire. Avoid both of these problems by learning to build a good cook fire from hardwood. Check to be sure you’ve gotten a good bed of red hot coals laid. Use a sturdy piece of curved iron as a lid lifter and have a thick cloth or potholder available to protect your hands from the heat.

PRE-HEAT YOUR DUTCH OVEN
Use a clean cloth or paper towel to coat the inside of your pot and lid with olive oil. Place the covered Dutch oven near the fire to warm while you prepare the ingredients. Just as a modern kitchen oven would require pre-heating, the Dutch oven will need to be warmed also. Pre-heating your pot will allow the oil to penetrate as the iron warms and allows the food to properly cook. Ash is kept out of the pot by the well-seated lid. While your pot is warming, you may wish place any onions or peppers that your recipe calls for into the container where they can gently simmer and provide a flavorful layer beneath the rest of the ingredients.

ADDING THE FOOD
Prepare your ingredients to be added to the pot. Don’t forget your seasonings. Move your heated Dutch oven a comfortable distance from your fire. The hot lid is best removed by using a curved metal rod.

Add layers of your other ingredients. If rice is part of your recipe, add it and the water or broth at this point. Add any additional vegetables. The meat rests on top of any vegetables, rice or potatoes so that it may flavor them as it cooks. Take care that the pot is not overfilled so that the food touches the underside of the lid. If cooking a bread or desert, layer the ingredients in the same way you would if using a conventional oven. Place the lid back onto the pot.

SETTING THE OVEN IN THE COALS
Shovel a small pile of hot coals to the edge of the fire. This is safer than trying to arrange the oven directly over or in the fire. Rest the Dutch oven on this small pile and then shovel more hot coals onto the lid. Once you’ve evenly covered the lid with hot coals, and made sure there is a good bed beneath, shovel a bit of ash over the live coals. You are banking the fire. It allows the coals to retain their heat as they burn slowly because they aren’t exposed to too much oxygen.

The length of your cooking time should be comparable to the time recommended for a conventional oven. Use your shovel to remove the live coals from the top when finished. A whisk broom can remove any ash dust. Use a potholder to lift the pot by its handle. Carefully lift the pot off of the hot coals and move it away from the heat. Raise the lid and set it aside using a heavy piece of curved metal. Check your food. If done, serve with a wooden serving spoon. Should the food require more cooking, replace the lid, return the pot to the little pile of hot coals and scoop more coals onto the lid. When a few more minutes have passed, you can repeat the process, checking for doneness.

It’s okay if your first effort results in a few burnt edges. You will soon get the hang of it. Any scorched surfaces will be ignored by those that have been inhaling the aroma of the fire-baked meal. There aren’t often leftovers. They are ready to eat!

CLEANUP
After removing the food from your Dutch oven, wipe residue from the inside using a soft sided scrub pad, paper towel or wooden spoon. As your pot becomes better seasoned, you’ll find that a paper towel will likely be enough to remove any bits of food. Reheating your pot by sitting it next to the fire will help remove any stubborn bits of glued on food. Never put your Dutch oven through a dishwasher or immerse it in soapy water. Detergents and hot water soaks will strip your cast iron of its protective coating. Re-apply a protective coating of oil to your oven after each use. When you are able to see your reflection in the bottom of the oven, you’ve gotten a nicely seasoned piece of cast iron. Replace the lid for storage.

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