From: dadams@cray.com (David Adams)
Subject: Dutch Ovens  (was: Say "Bo-Deen"!)
Reply-To: dadams@cray.com
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 5 Nov 92 15:08:05 CST


In article Hp4@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca, molnar@Bisco.CAnet.CA (Tom Molnar) writes:
|In article <1992Nov5.093912.25091@hemlock.cray.com> dadams@cray.com writes:

|# Try letting the loaf rise and bake in a Dutch oven.  I find that my
|# Dutch oven traps steam in and hence imitates a steam oven and makes
|# a really nice crust.  
|
|You know, that makes sense.
|
|So what kind of a Dutch oven do you have David?  Does it have tripod legs?
|How big is it?  Cast iron or aluminum?  Is this the kind of cooking pot
|that is meant to be buried in live coals?  Where does one get that sort
|of thing?
|
|Tom

Oh Wow!  I get to resurect the Dutch oven discussion.  I like cast iron
because it spreads the heat more evenly.  I like the kind with three legs
because I can cook outdoors or indoors.  Sourdough bread has become a 
standard on my camping expeditions etc.  I use live coals or charcol
briquets when I cook outside.  I set it on the oven rack when I cook
inside.  I have one 10" Dutch oven and one 12".  I use them both for
bread, or I may make a loaf in one and rolls in the other.  I got the
12" at a sporting goods store here in the Minneapolis area.  Not very 
many stores carry them here.  You might have to special order it.  Out
west they are more popular, especially in Utah.  I include below some
information that I have saved on the subject from the archives.


---
--David C. Adams  Statistician  Cray Research Inc.  dadams@cray.com
___________________________________________________________________
       Old Sourdoughs never die.  They just ferment away.


#	From david adams  dadams@cray.com


        In answer to your question:  A Dutch oven is a cast iron pot with a lid.
        There are several varieties.  The kind made for outside use have three legs.
        The kind made for use inside, in the oven, have no legs.  I prefer the leged
        variety.  It helps me get outdoors, and I still use it inside in the oven.
        Cast iron must be seasoned before use.  This is a process of cooking on a thin
        layer of oil, which will fill the pours in the cast iron, and eventually turn
        into a layer of carbon, and give the cast iron a semi no stick coating.  This
        is a very nice way to cook if you get used to it.  Cleaning becomes easy, but
        you have to free yourself from the mentality that you have to scrub that black
        stuff off with steel wool.  You want that black stuff to stay put.  It is your
        friend.  Never scrub the cast iron with anything harsher than those plastic
        scrubbies  (like I often use a rolled up mesh bag, the kind the onions or
        oranges often come in.)  When I cook outdoors, I will put a few coals below
        the Dutch oven  (I will often place some bricks in a square to support it.)
        and more on top of the lid.  It is a very fun way to cook.  I like to cook
        bread because it improves the seasoning, some acidic soups or dishes tear the
        seasoning down sometimes, so I like to cook bread between other dishes.

        I have a 12" and a 10" (diameter) oven.  I highly recomend the Lodge brand.
        I think that the 10" size makes a nice sized loaf.

        I have heard recently that 75% of all cast iron cookware sold in the United
        States is sold in the state of Utah.  Can anyone out there verify that?  I
        know that it is MUCH easier to find out there.  I have seen several brands
        and all kinds of variety of cast iron cookware there.  I have had the dickens
        of a time trying to find any cast iron cookware in Minnesota.  If I find a
        place, there is never enough variety to allow me to choose what I want.
        People here don't even know what it is or what it's good for.  Out in the
        west it is common and popular.  It seems to be a cultural thing.

        In colonial times Dutch ovens were widly used right in the fireplace.  As
        the fronteer pushed west people took the dutch oven with them, often hanging
        it below the axle on the wagon.  It made camp cooking much more convenient.
        Sheep herders and cattle men have long found them useful.



#       From: gt3930b@prism.gatech.edu (NICHOLS,STEVEN MALCOLM)


Dutch Oven Tricks
=================

If you got the cast iron one, I'd suggest "seasoning" it - wipe down the
inside with peanut oil, leave a little in the bottom of the dutch oven,
and then place it in a warm oven for a while to let the iron soak up the
oil - makes it easier to clean later.

Regardless of which type you've bought, lining it with aluminum foil makes
the darn things easier to clean - usually don't use it myself though,
especially on canoe trips.

Other than that, I guess the things I usually find are:
        - The top (of a cast iron one - the aluminum one warped) works fine
          for a griddle for pancakes, eggs, burgers, etc - leave the fry pan at
          home.

        - I find that the following sequence of events works best for my
          baking endevours (pies, cakes, cobblers):
                - build a fire with the goal of having a warm ground & some
                  good coals after the flames have died down
                - clear the ground where the fire was and set the dutch oven
                  on that.  It should stay hot enough for quite a while
                - place some coals on top of the cover - not too many as it is
                  suprisingly easy to burn the tops of things
                - keep some coals/logs close to the sides to keep the heat even

I've used dutch ovens for 10+ years - we basically figure if you can cook it in
a stove with out much difficulty, you should be able to do it in a dutch oven.
We've done pies, cookies, brownies, cakes, cobblers, turnovers, breads -
usually just borrow mom's Fanny Farmer cookbook and see what looks good.

You may want to check out "Camper Kitchen's" for long distance things.  The
dutch ovens are a bit much for a long haul - the CK is sort of like a miny
version of a dutch oven - local Boy Scouts / High Adventure should be able to
tell you where to take a look at them.



#	From david adams  dadams@cray.com

        There is a relationship between seasoning a Dutch oven and
        baking bread in it.  I suppose that there are as many
        techniques for seasoning a Dutch oven as there are Dutch
        oven cooks, but one common technique is basically to
        grease it thinly like you were preparing to bake a loaf
        of bread, and then bake the loaf, except that you forget
        to put the dough in the oven.  You bake the empty or null
        loaf.  ;^)  Seasoning is a process of burning or baking
        onto the cast iron a shellack like layer of cooking oil.
        In this process the oil seeps into the microscopic poors
        in the surface of the cast iron and seals them.  Eventually
        this surface of oily shellack becomes carbon.  Don't scrape
        it off, leave it on.  It is not harmful to your health at
        all.  It becomes a no stick coating.

        When you cook an acidic soup or stew it may break down the
        seasoning a bit.  When you bake a loaf of bread it builds
        up the seasoning.  Hence I like to bake bread in between
        other dishes, and I like to bake bread often in the Dutch
        oven.  It is good for the oven.

        I have my own technique for seasoning a Dutch oven.  I
        like the way this works.  I wipe on the thinest layer of oil
        I can.  I like peanut oil because it has a high flash point.
        I wipe off any I can to make sure it is a THIN layer.  I have
        found that thick layers pool up or bead giving an uneaven
        surface.  Then I put the cast iron (this will work for
        skillets as well etc.) in the heat or fire until the oil
        starts to smoke.  Then I pull it out immediately and let
        it cool.  When it has cooled I repeat the entire process
        with a new coat of oil.  I try to build up a thick coat.
        This technique prevents beads or areas where the seasoning
        is thick and areas where it is thin.  It gives me one smooth
        coating.  I like to do the seasoning when I am out camping,
        since when I do it at home the smoke from the oil hurts my
        eyes and irritates my lungs.

later ...

        I have to say the Dutch Oven is much more popular out west
        than it is elsewhere.  Here in Minnesota few people have
        ever heard of one.  I brought it in to work one day and
        cooked lunch for the group.  A roast chicken stuffed with
        stuffing and surrounded with potatoes, carrots, and onions.
        And of course I served some sourdough bread.  Everyone
        wondered what that pot was and how I managed to cook with
        it outside.

        I bought one from Burger Brothers here in the Mpls area,
        but it wasn't any special deal.  Several of the sporting
        good stores offered to special order one, but hardly
        anyone carried them.

        The local Boy Scout store carries them, but you will pay
        a couple of $ extra there.

        I have heard that 75% of all cast iron cookware sold in the
        US is sold in Utah.  At least people out there know what a
        Dutch Oven is.

        Last time I was in Utah I stoped at Allied in SLC.  The were
        having a cast iron sale.  These were factory seconds.  I have
        heard that the if Lodge Brand cast iron is not in a box it will
        be seconds.  These pieces are more likely to be on sale.  You need
        to look such pieces over very carefully.  Find the defects.  If it
        is just that one of the legs is slightly bent, no big problem.  If
        it has large pits in the cooking surface big problem.  Small pits
        in the cooking surface are no real problem since the seasoning will
        seal these.  You migh reject anything larger than a pin hole in the
        cooking surface.  I suppose that such pits may affect how the heat
        is conveyed, so there may or may not be a problem.  The point is,
        you must look them over and decide if you are getting a deal considering
        the defect.

        The same probably goes for some other big name brands.  Century is
        one well recognizeable name.  Cast Iron which is imported from
        the orient has a bad reputation for being poorly molded, and as
        a consequence having been ground to shape.  This grinding process
        destroys the surface which would otherwise hold the seasoning.
        (The proper surface is a fractal with pits and very small holes
        which the seasoning *clings* to.  It will feel rough to the touch
        like fine sand paper.)  When looking over cast iron try to make sure
        that the sides of the piece are evenly cast.  An even thickness in
        the walls will help to ensure that heat will be spread evenly. Avoid
        markings of grinding on the cooking surfaces.

        I do recomend the Lodge name.