Posted: 1/31/2009 8:26:12 PM EDT
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OK, our church had it's annual chilli cook-off today, and I won a neat sized dutch oven as a door prize. Anyone have a good website or any input/help as to how to effectively use one of these things? I have not done much cooking over an open fire, but would love to start.
Doc |
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International Dutch Oven Society
Their cookbooks are excellent. |
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Check out the episode of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" on Dutch ovens. It is a good 30 minute primer on these babies. If you can do some basic grilling/BBQ and some Dutch camp oven goodness, you will be the most popular guy at camp-outs and family cook-outs.
Desserts out of a D.O. are the best, and it is hard to over cook food in these things. Dutch ovens should be in everyones Bug-in or car camping inventory. Congrats on the win. |
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sweet man!!
Here are some of my dads classic recipes. Stack em high!! 
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Fellow DO. Welcome and happy eating. I started a few years back and now I have a half ton of the stuff (smoker, DO, skillets, muffin tins, ect).... its addicting.
A great learner site I found is Byrons site A good amount of recipes and knowledge. Usually I would agree with anything Alton Brown related, but his chilli is not really all that, it taste salty and chipy since he used corn chips to thicken the chilli. His cast iron fried chicken however...... god I could get fat eating that all the time. |
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The KOA campgrounds web site has a bunch of recipes. Many of these came from a series of TV shows that RFD-TV did in conjunction with KOA.
http://www.koa.com/recipes/ Click on the links at right by type of meal, i.e. "breakfast", "dessert" etc.) I can personally vouch for the "Mountain Man Breakfast". |
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After seasoning it, avoid cooking high-acid dishes like something with lots of tomatoes. Once you've used it for a while and built up a nice 'non-stick' layer, you can pretty much cook anything as long as you properly care for the oven.
You're gonna LOVE cooking with it once you get into it. 
Can ye smell it? 
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| If you happen to be anywhere near northern Arkansas around July, they have a Dutch oven cooking contest at the annual Elk Festival in Jasper, Arkansas. The competition has evolved now to where you have to pretty much cook a gourmet 5-course meal to even be considered a serious competitor. |