Dutch Oven Cooking
 

Over the holiday weekend, we took a trip over to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and before leaving I finally ordered a Lodge dutch oven. If you have ever cooked anything in a dutch oven you know, it is hard to beat as I have many fond memories of meals as a kid. It is hard to describe my wife and kids faces as I prepped the pineapple upside down cake. My eight-year-old, of course, had a million questions and assisted in every way he could imagine. When it was done, I flipped it out of the oven, and it was incredible. The next morning my wife said well what else can you make it that thing and I decided on a ranchers breakfast. A rancher's breakfast from what I remembered was sausage and bacon cooked and drained. Then using the grease from the sausage pour in 4-6 cups (depending on oven size) of smashed up tater tots, cover with 6-8 eggs and as much cheese as you like then cover and cook for 20 minutes. It is important to mention that I have always used the method to place eight coals under and 16 coals on top of the lid moving the oven a quarter turn every 10 minutes. The rancher's breakfast came out perfectly.

So what are your favorite recipes?

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Re: Dutch Oven Cooking
 

I like this beef stew recipe. Pretty simple to make changes based on what's looking good at the grocery store.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/...ven-beef-stew/

Re: Dutch Oven Cooking
 

My father didn’t know how to cook so his version of a Dutch Oven was slightly different

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Apple Crumble with apples from the family trees...

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My three favorite things to do in mine are lamb shanks, short ribs, and braised country ribs.

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I think I saw a Good Eats where he did Johnny Cakes that looked amazing, might be worth googling. Peter Griffen used to like to Dutch Oven Lois but that's something entirely different.

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That’s awesome we were looking for something to make this weekend and my kids want an apple dish!

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I would love to get that lamb recipe, it’s definitely my sons favorite food.

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The base recipe I use is this: https://www.themediterraneandish.com...ks-vegetables/

I make a few changes: omit the potatoes (I have to watch my carbs and since I serve it with rice the potatoes have to go), use only one cinnamon stick, and add 1/2 tsp smoked paprika to the spice mixture.

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Here’s what we do in a Dutch oven

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Re: Dutch Oven Cooking
 

Potjie. Although I've only made it with the traditional design pot, which is fairly similar to a dutch oven, just a bit different shaped and has legs cast into it.

Kent Rollins has a number of very interesting dutch oven recipes on his site. Nothing I would want to eat every day, but the ones I've tried are definitely crowd pleasers.

Re: Dutch Oven Cooking
 

Easy to just do short ribs with a few tablespoons of wine and spices/herbs of your choice at 250F. Once soft, take out of dutch oven and run through broiler to get some color. Cook down the juice in the dutch oven with a touch of butter and flour...

Re: Dutch Oven Cooking
 

Anyone besides me use them mostly only over coals?

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I use them on coals I find it’s easier for me to control temperature

Re: Dutch Oven Cooking
 

I have a friend who does a large amount of his cooking over coals with cast iron. He is part of a group that does camping with tepees. But at his house he does a lot of cooking over coals as well.

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That's what I found too, especially at the low temps and long times needed for some things.

That's cool. I don't use the potjie or dutch oven that often because it's hard to cook small for one with them, but I prefer coals when I do use them.

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Here is another amazing recipe. The family loved it!

https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/dut...n-braised-beef

Re: Dutch Oven Cooking
 

So I decided to make a stew for my family last weekend and everything turned out absolutely amazing. Except for the fact that whenever you’re using a charcoal chimney on concrete you should take a mental note of where that place was instead of finding it with your bare foot. Needless to say a couple third-degree burns mainly 2nd° burns followed quickly after stepping on the hotplate of concrete death the only thing that saved me is my ridiculously callused feet from a decade in military boots. Some people say there’s common sense I say common sense is not always so common.