Cast iron dutch oven and recipes...

[mcbrew]

I'm assuming that there are a lot of you guys/gals using cast iron dutch camp ovens. I have a 10" and 12" Lodge dutch ovens. I'll be taking the 10" with me this weekend to make a chicken pot pie. I am basing it on the recipe on Byron's Dutch Oven page. There are a lot of good reciped on that site!

The Teardrop adn Tiny Travel Trailer site devotes a specific area of their forum to dutch oven cooking. Lots of good info there, too. Also, my in-laws gave me some more cast iron and a cast iton cookbook for Christmas last year... I have yet to read through that book, just because I've been so busy this year (what with having a baby in March...).

Are there many cast iron and/or dutch oven fanatics here?

[HerseyBA]

Check out " IDOS.com" if you haven't done so yet. I have been doing the Chuck Wagon Cooking circuit for the past 15 years which makes me a fanatic not an expert. The IDOS has great information.
With a bit of experimenting, anything you can cook at home you can cook in a Dutch Oven.
I'll look up some down loadable pdf files that have some great recipes and post them. I even have a cook book from South Africa.

[Cyndi B.]

I love my dutch oven if I don't have to lift it. I line it with foil so clean up is easy.

[HerseyBA]

Hopefully, I have uploaded a couple of files that you might find interesting.

[Cyndi B.]

What's a waterblommetjie? Can we substitute?

[HerseyBA]

There are some references to local South African plants. It is a flower like plant high in vitamin C. This is what Wikepedia says:
Waterblommetjiebredie is a stew. The name comes from the Afrikaans language and literally means 'small water flower stew'. It is made of meat, typically lamb, stewed together with Aponogeton distachyos flowers (commonly known as Cape pondweed, Cape hawthorn or Cape asparagus), which is found in the dams and marshes of the Western Cape, South Africa. The buds (waterblommetjies) are usually ready to be picked in the southern midwinter months of July and August.
The taste of the stew has been described as much like stewed green beans with a hint of pumpkin.[citation needed] Waterblommetjiebredie is a well-respected local delicacy in South Africa and popular with foreign tourists.[citation needed]

Maybe a substitute would be green beans with some small chunks of pumpkin or butternut squash. Fiddleheads maybe, not the same taste but a similar type of plant.
I'll see if I can contact the author in another forum and see what they suggest.

[Cyndi B.]

I got some nice duck floating off the front yard. They are in season and they would look good in a dutch oven.

[Linda R002]

Try searching dutch oven and I believe that you will find dutch oven cookbooks, photos and events here on the website. We usually have 10 to 13 dutch ovens at most of our events here on the west coast.
Here are some:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f58/2010-oregon-gathering-dutch-oven-recipe-book-42935.html
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f84/dutch-oven-workshop-a15-42285.html
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f73/lake-san-antonio-rally-41115.html
Towards the end of the last two are photos of the DO cooking events. There are many more threads relating to DO cooking.

[Deb & Chuck]

Originally Posted by Linda&Dale

Try searching dutch oven and I believe that you will find dutch oven cookbooks, photos and events here on the website. We usually have 10 to 13 dutch ovens at most of our events here on the west coast.
Here are some:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f58/2010-oregon-gathering-dutch-oven-recipe-book-42935.html
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f84/dutch-oven-workshop-a15-42285.html
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f73/lake-san-antonio-rally-41115.html
Towards the end of the last two are photos of the DO cooking events. There are many more threads relating to DO cooking.

I have to say that Linda and Dale's DO cooking classes at Bandon are always the highlight of my camping trip every July.
Deb

[BruceG]

Originally Posted by mcbrew

...Are there many cast iron and/or dutch oven fanatics here?

I've posted this previously - a good resource -

Dutch Oven Cookbook
http://www.macscouter.com/cooking/docs/DOCookbk.pdf

[Jim_B]

I helped put together the cook book on the T&TTT website. Here's a link to it.

http://www.mikenchell.com/images/TnTTTCookbook1.pdf

Another one of my teardrop friends has a website for dutch oven cooking.

www.camp-cook.com :: Index

[mcbrew]

Originally Posted by Cyndi B.

I line it with foil so clean up is easy.

CHEATER!!!!

I love cooking with cast iron... and my clean-up procedure is considerd a no-no by many people. While the piece is still nice and hot, I run just a bit of HOT water into it. The instant boiling and steaming removes almost any residue on the pot. Then I use a plastic dish brush (no soap, of course) to brush away anything else. Then a quick rinse with HOT water, dry with a paper towel, oil, and wipe with another paper towel.

My cast iron keeps a nice season on it like this, and remains very easy to clean. My wife and I have settled on a good way to keep the cast iron looking and working good -- she doesn't touch it.

By the way, I have never cracked a pot or pan with my cleaning method. I realize that they will crack if the pan is hot enough and the water is cold enough (or if too much water is used). I am careful with this procedure and only use a small amount of HOT water. If I am frying something in cast iron and it is VERY hot, then I will let it cool a bit before cleaning it.

[Cyndi B.]

I learned the foil thing from when we were in Scouts. Now just to keep the ash from mixing with the food. My grandmother used nothing but cast iron and her pans were never dirty. Probably all the grease she used.

[BruceG]

I have a cast iron frying pan that I use for frying fish on the side burner of our outdoor gas grill. After the last fish fry I cleaned the oil out of the pan, wiped it with paper towels and then filled it with water and put it on the burner to boil out some of the remaining oil. I got side tracked doing something else and soon heard a loud - CRACK! - and immediately realized that I had boiled out all of the water and cracked my favorite cast iron skillet. Oops. I'll be careful not to do that with the dutch oven.

[Cyndi B.]

If you search Goodwill and the second hand stores sometimes you find these things for pratically nothing. We had this really good one when we lived in Iowa City. We got a whole set of Chicago Cutlery knives in a butcher block for $5.

[mcbrew]

We cooked up a chicken pot pie from Byron's Dutch Oven page. I cut the recipe in half for a 10" DO, and it made three servings. It was delicious! We will be making this recipe again and again... I can assure you.

Lunch today was burgers on the hibachi and fries in the Dutch oven.

[Cyndi B.]

How do you make fries in a duth oven other then with a lot of grease?

[mcbrew]

Originally Posted by Cyndi B.

How do you make fries in a duth oven other then with a lot of grease?

A lot of grease would have been helpful! I Put in about 1/8" of oil and ride them in that. I turned them after a few minutes. It worked well and didn't use too much oil.

On a side note, I just had the leftover chicken pot pie for dinner... yum!

[Dave Bese]

I love my CI!! I'm always on the lookout for additions to my collection. While I haven't found an 'old' DO; I do have a 60 year old 4-in-1 that I can use as a DO. Maybe next NOG, I'll break out the waffle iron at breakfast and grind up the coffee with the cast iron grinder too.