Dutch Oven Cooking Basics
Pioneer Cooking When you think of a cast iron Dutch oven, what comes to your mind? Pioneer cooking? Stews over the open fire? Of coarse both are true, but they are still very much in use today and as for the Dutch oven, the possibilities are endless. Dutch ovens can be used for frying, baking, boiling, and steaming as well. Purchasing Your Dutch Oven When purchasing your Dutch oven, make sure the lid has a raised ridge.
This is to hold your heat source, which will be briquettes. This will help you to reach the proper temperature needed for whatever cooking you are wanting to do , with the exception of boiling or frying. In which case you would want all the heat on the bottom. Heating Fundimentals If you are planning on baking, you need more heat on the top than on the bottom. Put one briquette on the bottom for every 3 on the top of the lid. For preparing stews, use one on the top for every 4 on the bottom. When roasting, put briquettes on the top and bottom evenly. Best Temperature To understand the temperature and number of briquettes needed takes a little math. Each briquette adds about 25 degrees of heat. A good starting temperature is 350 degrees F. To figure out how many briquettes to use, take the size of the oven in inches, and subract three to get the number of briquettes for under it, and add three to get the number of briquettes for the top. Preparing To Cure Your Dutch Oven Now that you understand the basics of using your Dutch oven you need to prepare or cure your oven before using it. Some cast iron ovens have a protective covering which you will need to remove . You will need to do some scrubbing with a non-abrasive scubber. Once the covering is removed, rinse and dry the oven and then let it air dry. Curing It To cure your oven, pre-heat your kitchen stove to 350 degrees. Place the Dutch oven on the center rack, with the lid open slightly. Allow it to heat slowly until it is too hot to handle. Apply a thin layer of salt free cooking oil with a clean cloth to the Dutch oven inside and out. Place your oven back inside the stove with the lid slightly open. Bake your oven for about an hour. Repeat After baking, allow the Dutch oven to cool slowly. When it is cool enough to handle, repeat the oil again the same as before and bake again. When cool enough apply a third layer of oil, but this time it is ready for use. Preparing your Dutch oven in this way prevents rust and makes for much easier cleaning as well Cleaning To clean your oven after use, scrape it out, add warm water, without soap, and heat it in the oven until the water is almost boiling. For any food that sticks a little, use a non-abrasive scrubber. Protect your Dutch oven again by warming it in the stove, applying a thin coating of oil and letting it cool. Its now ready for storage. Val and Robin Shortt are experienced campers and own three outdoor websites. For more tips like these and to register for their Free newsletter visit:
Good Night Camping Equipment
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Understanding Baking: How Yeast Works
Did you ever wonder why flour tastes like sawdust but a French or Italian bread made with that same flour and little else has a pleasant, sweet taste?
Unique Cake Decorating With Flowers
Flowers as a Cake Decoration, unique and easy to place on every one of your cake creations.
Make-up or Mixing Methods for Muffins
When muffins aren't perfect, the first reaction is to change the ingredients in the recipe. Rather than changing the recipe, try a different mixing method.
What Are Scoville Units?
To understand what a Scoville Unit is, one must understand what they measure. All hot peppers contain capsaicinoids, natural substances that produce a burning sensation in the mouth, causing the eyes to water and the nose to run, and even induce perspiration. The primary capsaicinoid, capsaicin, is so hot that a single drop diluted in 100,000 drops of water will produce a blistering of the tongue.
Eating Healthy with a Meat Grinder
While it may be surprising, owning your own meat grinder can help you in your pursuit to live a healthier life. According to the USDA, the average American in 2000 consumed 300 more calories than the average American in 1985, a 12% increase, including a 24% increase of fat calories. The average daily fat intake was 81.4 grams and saturated fat intake was 27.9 grams in 2000 (ers.usda.gov/briefing/consumption). Americans are consuming too much fat, especially saturated fat.
Picnic Checklist
In the previous article, we suggested that you start a picnic checklist, improve it over time, and keep it handy for picnic prep. Here's a list to get you started. Scratch out the items you don't need and add others until you have the perfect list for your family. If you keep the list on your computer, you can print out a new copy whenever you need it.
Two for One Dinners: Pork
If you find leftovers boring, uninviting or downright "yuck," then here are some ideas to put the "zing" back into mealtime. With a little creativity your home-cooked meal can easily become a delicious meal another night. There are a six articles in this series, today we are going to look at what you can do with pork.
Two for One Dinners: Ham
If you find leftovers boring, uninviting or downright "yuck," then here are some ideas to put the "zing" back into mealtime. With a little creativity your home-cooked meal can easily become a delicious meal another night. There are a six articles in this series, today we are going to look at what you can do with ham.
Emergency Bread: Can you Bake Bread Without an Oven?
What would you eat if you were stranded without power? It could happen; it does happen. A natural disaster, a breakdown in the delivery system as the Northeast experienced recently, or a terrorist strike against the infrastructure could leave you without power. Don't despair. You probably have a source of heat-a camp stove, a barbeque grill, a fireplace, or a place to build a fire to cook with. (Never use a grill or camp stove in an enclosed room.) In most cases, you can find a way to eat your daily bread--even without an oven.
ServSafe Food Program in Montana a Success
Montana has a great program for restaurant employees. Each preparer of foods to the public must go through a special program where they learn at what temperatures food must be served and how to keep the place clean. It is through this program that MT ranks among the lowest in the country for food poisoning. E. coli bacteria is very unlikely in MT because as part of this program they learn all the other important food preparation rules. The signature program? It is called ServSafe. And each employee must complete this program.
Gourmet Sauces, Rubs and Marinades - Give Your BBQ a Gourmet Kick
Many individuals agree that the sauce on barbecued meat is like the icing on a cake. Gourmet barbecue sauces, rubs and marinades are commonly served on (or on the side of) the finished dish. Barbecue sauces are used to add flavor and sweeten the meat for a better tasting meal. The types of barbecue sauces available throughout the world are endless. Barbecue sauces, rubs and marinades are the three basic methods of seasoning and each brings its own unique element into the barbecuing experience.
Dutch Oven Cooking Basics
Pioneer Cooking
Two for One Dinners: Beans
If you find leftovers boring, uninviting or downright "yuck," then here are some ideas to put the "zing" back into mealtime. With a little creativity your home-cooked meal can easily become a delicious meal another night. There are a six articles in this series, today we are going to look at what you can do with beans.
50% Less Cooking
50% Less Cooking
Perfect Picnics - Frugal Food Safety Tips
Summer is finally here and for a lot of us that means heading out to the lake or to the park for a picnic with friends or family.
Moms Easy Cooking - Fast Meal Ideas For Busy Moms
Every busy mom worries about how to prepare fast, nutritious meals for her family. Working moms often find they have very little time for meal planning and preparation. After a long day at work, the last thing on your mind is spending an hour or more cooking and cleaning up afterwards. A little advance preparation and some creative menus are all you need to make mealtime less stressful. You will save a lot of time and energy if you plan an entire week's meals in advance, and do your shopping all in one trip instead of making several trips to the grocery store each week.
Secrets of Great Breads
Often we field questions about making great bread. Great bread is a matter of using the right ingredients and the right techniques-there's no single secret that will make perfect bread. But really great bread is readily attainable. We've compiled our list of what goes into great bread.
Vegetarian Cooking - Three Basics
For any of the many reasons people choose to eat
vegetarian food - religion, politics, finances, or health -
one thing in common is that everyone prefers food that
tastes delicious and provides good nutrition. There are
some basic techniques to vegetarian cooking which will
accomplish that.
Caring For Your Wooden Cutting Board
Researchers have found that bacteria have a tougher time surviving on wood cutting boards. However, plastic cutting boards are less porous than wood, making it less likely to harbor bacteria over a long period of time, but only if it is immediately cleaned. Here are a few tips to caring for your cutting board.
Do you own an AGA or RAYBURN cooker ?
The Cooker-rail....
|
