Dutch oven table question

I thought that that was part of the charm of Dutch oven cookery: burning your fingers, dropping the lid in the fire, getting ashes in the food. :D)

That's just during the learning curve. Once you get good at it, it's like anything else, you want better equipment. And once you mess up dinner by doing the things you mentioned, and have to go hungry or eat grit, your taste and requirements change.

I bookmarked your site for the powdercoat oven. Very interesting, thanks. Do you know a lot about powdercoating? If yes, I'll start another thread, and we'll talk about my questions.

Steve

I know a *little* about powdercoating. Willing to talk about what I know.

As far as Dutch ovens, I have two of the stovetop kind. Great for Cajun jambalaya, cornbread, etc. I love 'em, my wife hates 'em. She thinks that once they get good and black that I should sandblast them to clean them!

"Gary Brady" wrote

They ARE different. Martha Washington (ex-first lady) was asked once what her most prized personal possessions were. She said her cast iron cookware.

I, too, have problems with my SO. So, I just told her that I will be responsible for cleaning the ovens, and since she already does so much for me that's one less thing she has to do. She likes that idea, maybe because of the way I said it. I didn't want to tell her what I was really thinking after seeing her going at them with scrapers and scrubbers.

Will start that powdercoating thread in a bit after I go back to your website and read about your oven.

Steve

I'm with Gary on this one - however, think Fish fry burner.

You know - the one that a pot of 25 gallons of oil is bubbling and you start dropping in bear batter sandies or such! - as they float, dish out.

Burner is in a leg system. Normally a ring. Pot might just fit.

But then I thought they were for campfires and a bed of coals!

Martin Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net TSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Endowment Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot"s Medal. NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.

Gary Brady wrote:

Most of the Dutch oven helps that I have seen amount to lid-lifters with three "fingers" at right angles to the length of the tool. The outside fingers rest against the lid surface and the center one inserts into tab hole in the middle of the lid. The D.O. is loaded on an ordinary work surface before placement over coals. A hook or a pair of pliers on the bail is used to move it around after it's hot.

If you want to bring the fire up to the pot, a steel firebox on a post, similar to what's available in public campgrounds, should raise it sufficiently. It's just heavy, so hopefully portability is not required. Gotta be able to put coals on the lid.

Tom

oh! Like a menudo cooker!!

Yummmm!!

Gunner

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Interesting thread...

I really didn't know much of anything about Dutch ovens (but boy do I love my cast iron skillets), and decided to search a little, Check these:

Erik

Don't buy anything but Lodge. If you cook outside with charcoal, you want the one with three short legs on the bottom, and a lip around the top to hold the charcoal. A 12 qt. will be about $35 at Wally World, or your favorite supplier. If you are going to cook on a cooktop, buy one with the flat bottom, and dome lid. There is a huge difference in the two, and one is difficult to nearly impossible to use in the other's cooking situation. I like the outdoor cooking. Roasts, chicken, Cornish hens, cobblers, breakfast rolls, biscuits, bread, you name it, it's like baking at 350 degrees.

Cover your new pot in cooking oil, and bake at 350 for a hour. If you have an outside BBQ, better there, because it will smoke a lot. This will start the "seasoning" process of sealing up the pores in the steel. When "seasoned" right, it will be as stick free as Teflon. Don't wash it with anything but a soft cloth or you will be taking the coating off.

Check Lodge's website for lots of recipes. Whether for cooking at home, camping, or during emergency power outages, Dutch ovens ROCK!

Enjoy. When you get going, post here, and I'll post the most killer cobbler recipe in all the world.

Steve

I think the Red pot in the first one is a 'want to be'. Notice the plastic knob. That would never do well in a fire. In an oven maybe. Stove top is where it is designed for.

Real cooking folk have cornbread cast iron pans, bread pans but it is a different dutch oven.

Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net TSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Endowment Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot"s Medal. NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.

Erik wrote:

Thanks Steve... I think it'll probably first be a stove top model, as I just don't often have the time go whip up a fire.

Lodge it will be. Sounds like maybe I'll be able to dump my (up to now beloved) crock pot, as I did the Teflon a few years ago.

Thinking about one of these....

Erik

You can think of Le Cruset as either cast iron for people who don't like cast iron, or just as well made conventional cookware. It isn't like regular cast iron since it is enameled inside and out. That being said, it works very well for stovetop cooking (as you surmised) since all the mass distributes heat well. It's a great stock pot for soups, stews, chilis, corned beef or pot roast, making applesauce, or making the filling for chicken pot pie, but it's not what I would call a dutch oven. One advantage I can see is it can be used for things which one might hesitate to cook in a well seasoned cast iron for fear of eating away at your seasoning (tomato sauce, perhaps?).

Ideally, you'd have both! --Glenn Lyford

If you have or can watch RFD-TV there is a show called "DUTCH OVEN AND CAMP COOKING" Neat show and Cee Dub gives some great recipes and tips. Some of them sound nuts UNTIL you try them.

I have a lot of Lodge stuff. I have the large griddle on the grill, makes it easy to cook eggs, burgers, pancakes and anything that you want a large area cooked fast. Also use the legged Dutch with charcoal a lot. If you don't think you have the time for a charcoal fire. Get a GOOD chimney starter and you will be shocked at how fast you can have good coals going.