Campfire Cooking

[oldbay]

I've discovered the magic of Dutch Oven cooking. You can almost make any meal in one that you cook at home in the oven. This week I made a baked chicken and an eye of round roast in mine and they came out marvelous. For the chicken I tossed some carrots and celery around the chicken and added about 1/4 cup of chicken broth for moisture. For the roast, I seasoned it with some pepper, and tossed some carrots and potatoes around the roast and added 1/4 cup of water.

Both meals cooked fine in about 1 hour with 6 charcoal briquets on the bottom and 14 briquets on top. If it's breezy, you have to protect the dutch oven from the wind or the charcoal will get too hot and burn too fast which will cause burnt raw food.

I got my dutch oven from Lodge Manufacturing in Tennessee. I ordered a 12" cast iron skillet too! Both came pre-seasoned and have cleaned up easily after cooking in them. They're not as non-stick as T-Fal though, and need a little elbow grease to clean in spots.

[Mama Mangia]

oldbay - it's like mine - except mine is well used!! LOL

there is so much you can do with one of these - I absolutely love mine!

[oldbay]

Mama -
I think my father had one of the Lodge standard dutch ovens but I can't remember him ever cooking with it. The pictures on their site looks like what I remember as a kid.

I'm impressed with my little bit of cooking with the dutch oven and plan on cooking with it a lot, especially when the weather heats up.

[Mama Mangia]

I've made stews, roasts, chicken, ribs, potatoes - all sorts of goodies with mine! I think you will really enjoy having it!

[oldbay]

Have you ever made breads in yours? I'm okay with roast chicken and beef but am not sure that I'd make a good bunch of rolls in one. I've watch Cee-Dub make rolls on RFD-TV and it doesn't look hard except for the part where 'if it smells done it is done'. I think breads smell done before they are done and you only have a few minutes between uncooked and burnt bread. I suppose I ought to venture into rolls and have a backup plan like store bought rolls on hand.

[Mama Mangia]

how about experimenting till you get the hang of it?

Baking Powder Biscuits
4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup Crisco
2 Tbs. baking powder 2 cups cold milk
2 tsp. salt

To a mixing bowl add flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir together using a fork. Cut in the Crisco until the mixture is like coarse meal with no lumps larger than a green pea. Add milk to the mixture and stir it with a fork until there are no areas of dry flour. You want the dough to be sticky and moist. This is what makes baking powder biscuits so tender and flaky.

Generously flour a large cutting board or smooth countertop making sure to coat your hands in flour too. Scoop the dough out of the bowl and put it on the floured surface. With the palm of one (or both) hands, press down on the dough and push it away from you. The dough will stretch into the shape of an oval. Next, lift the far end of the oval and bring it towards you, so it resembles a thick taco shell with the opening facing towards you. Then, rotate the dough a quarter turn and repeat the process, gently pushing, folding and turning, about 10 times. If dough begins to stick to your hand, it is fine to use a little more flour to cut the stickiness. Pat the dough into a circular shape about 1/2" thick.

Using a 2" cookie or biscuit cutter cut out biscuits by pressing cutter into the dough and then lifting it straight out. Make sure not to twist the cutter as this releases air in the dough causing the biscuits to turn out flat. Place biscuits in a greased 14" Dutch oven leaving 1/2" space between.

Place lid on Dutch oven and let raise for 10 minutes then bake using 12-14 briquettes bottom and 18-20 briquettes top (400° F.) for 15-20 minutes.

NOTE: For even browning make sure to turn the oven and lid 1/4 turn in opposite directions every 5-10 minutes.

Serve warm.

Yield: About 18 biscuits


this is a make-ahead for camping:

Southern Cornbread

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 cup oil or melted shortening
2 eggs
1 cup of milk or water

Dump dry ingredients in a gallon zip-lock bag and mix. At the camp site add wet ingredients and mix in the bag. Do not mix too much or the cornbread will be tough. Grease oven. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

BAKING BREAD IN A DUTCH OVEN TOP

If you have a flat bottomed Dutch Oven you can place it on top of a wood stove but the bread must be baked in a separate pan raised above the bottom of the Dutch Oven or else the bottom of the bread will burn. Raise the bread pan at approximately 1 inch up by placing stones or river rock under the bread pan inside the Dutch Oven. Just make sure the Dutch Oven is deep enough so that when the loaf rises it does not touch the domed lid of the Dutch Oven. If you have the outdoor type Dutch Oven with the 3 legs and the reverse lid do your cooking out on the back porch, our in the yard. Dig a small shallow hole - scoop hot coals from the woodstove and place in the hole and then on top of the reverse lid of the Dutch Oven. For the back porch obtain an old cast iron skillet (no longer used for cooking) just larger than the bottom of the Dutch Oven and us it to hold the coals under the bottom - still use the reverse lid for heat from the top. Be sure to place the pan and Dutch Oven combination on a big brick or patio block else you may set your porch on fire. Place the bread pan in this Dutch Oven just like you would have in the Dutch Oven on top of the woodstove. Also with a round cake pan you can make really great biscuits. Remember using the Dutch Oven this way is just like a regular oven on your stove. An "Oven" is a large container that holds heat at a fairly constant temperature. You bake by suspending your pan holding food to be baked within this container - thus oven racks. So likewise you must suspend you food within the Dutch Oven so hot air can circulate around the food and heat it evenly. Use your imaginations and practice.


Some have baked bread by placing a baking pan inside (elevated on a rack so as not to touch the bottom of the dutch oven).

BAKING BREAD IN A DUTCH OVEN TOP

If you have a flat bottomed Dutch Oven you can place it on top of a wood stove but the bread must be baked in a separate pan raised above the bottom of the Dutch Oven or else the bottom of the bread will burn. Raise the bread pan at approximately 1 inch up by placing stones or river rock under the bread pan inside the Dutch Oven. Just make sure the Dutch Oven is deep enough so that when the loaf rises it does not touch the domed lid of the Dutch Oven. If you have the outdoor type Dutch Oven with the 3 legs and the reverse lid do your cooking out on the back porch, our in the yard. Dig a small shallow hole - scoop hot coals from the woodstove and place in the hole and then on top of the reverse lid of the Dutch Oven. For the back porch obtain an old cast iron skillet (no longer used for cooking) just larger than the bottom of the Dutch Oven and us it to hold the coals under the bottom - still use the reverse lid for heat from the top. Be sure to place the pan and Dutch Oven combination on a big brick or patio block else you may set your porch on fire. Place the bread pan in this Dutch Oven just like you would have in the Dutch Oven on top of the woodstove. Also with a round cake pan you can make really great biscuits. Remember using the Dutch Oven this way is just like a regular oven on your stove. An "Oven" is a large container that holds heat at a fairly constant temperature. You bake by suspending your pan holding food to be baked within this container - thus oven racks. So likewise you must suspend you food within the Dutch Oven so hot air can circulate around the food and heat it evenly. Use your imaginations and practice.


I have plenty of Dutch oven bread recipes done using charcoal/campfire etc. if you wold like.

[loubear]

I believe in cooking in coffee cans, and cast iron skillets. We just went camping over Memorial weekend here in Michigan and we had pancakes, sausage, bacon, barbecue chicken first boiled over the campfire in a galvanized bucket then basted with barbecue sauce and finished over the grate we purchased at menards that goes just over the hot coals in the fire pit. I then made carmel sauce in a coffee can and made a marshmallow graham cracker dessert with melted chocolate. I also made fried potatoes with onions and green beans.

[medako]

My mom was a girlscout and when they'd go camping they always made "hobo dinners". On a large sheet of foil, place a fairly thin hamburger patty, sliced potatoes, and canned veggies (like green beans, corn, etc) and season with salt & pepper. Wrap it up tight and bury it in the hot coals for about 1 1/2 hrs. (until potatoes are soft).

I make this at home in the oven quite a bit because hubby isn't one for camping. I also do them with a chicken breast, lemon pepper seasoning and broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots piled on top.