Easy Dutch Oven Cooking

1. Never wash with soap!!   Never wash with soap!!   Never wash with soap!!   Never wash with soap!!   Never wash with soap!!
   
2. Never allow your well-meaning friends or husband to wash your Dutch Oven with soap!   OK, you won't know how important this is until the seasoning has been washed off. It is like removing half of the silverstone coating from a skillet and then laboring to make perfect eggs on that skillet again. Take my word for it. No need for soap.
   
3. Always plan ahead and get a good hot fire with lots of coals. Only after you have a great bed of coals is when you should begin to cook. If you are in a hurry and have only a few coals, it will be a frustrating experience trying to get enough coals at the right time.
   
4. Never let water stand in your Dutch Oven. They are made of cast iron and will rust.
   
5. Never hang your Dutch Oven over a roaring fire in Cowboy Movie fashion. It can warp.
   
6. Never pour cold water in a hot Dutch Oven, or visa versa. It will warp or crack.
   

New Dutch Ovens can be purchased, seasoned and work well. I have some myself. However, I would suggest taking a little time and hunting through antique stores or flea markets and getting an older Dutch Oven that has a smoother texture, that has already been "through the mill"

Ovens are made in Cast Iron or Aluminum. Aluminum of course is lighter if you are camping or packing them around. They don't hold heat quite as well. Either work fine.

1. Wash it in hot water. If you bought a brand new oven, this will be the only time you get to wash it with soap to get all the wax coating off of it.
   
2. Dry it.
   
3. Remove any rust from an old Oven with steel wool
   
4. Heat the Dutch Oven in your regular oven just enough you can still work with it.
   
5. Coat the inside and outside with shortening. This is just a coating, not a thick smeary mess.
   
6. Heat in the oven at 425 degrees until the shortening becomes a hard-like glaze. Do this on a day you can open the windows. Your house will be smoky and your smoke alarm will no doubt go off. Put foil on the bottom of the oven to catch any drips. It might take an hour or so.
   
7. Re-season when needed. Some ovens will never need to be seasoned again unless abused. If food becomes burned on, put in your oven at about 500 degrees until the food turns to ash. Use steel wool to remove the ash and season again.

Anything!!! If you can cook it inside the house with a heat source, why couldn't you cook it outside the house with a heat source? Cook stews and cornbread. Bake yeast bread. Bake a cake or cobbler. Make Lasagna. Bake biscuits. Use the lid to make pancakes. Bake a pie in it.

Without soap! Dutch ovens clean up easily. If there is a bit of sticky cobbler on the side of the oven, scrape what you can off with a NYLON spatula. If it is too sticky, just put some water in the oven, put coals under the oven and heat it up. The food will come off.

Rinse with clear water.

Dry by putting coals underneath the oven and heating it.

Store with a paper sack in between the lid and pot to allow the Oven to breathe.

Put Online:   11/22/04