By Ed Wall
A lot has changed over the years for folks who enjoy the outdoors.
Rocket ships masquerading as bass boats have taken the place of the juniper skiffs Grandpa and his buddies used to fish from.
Buckskin clothing has been replaced by Gore-Tex, and the only place you’ll see split bamboo fishing rods these days is in old paintings and museums.
However, one thing hasn’t changed over the years—the allure of eating outdoors.
Pre-packaged, freeze-dried food certainly has its place, especially among backpackers, but it can’t compare to a meal prepared over a campfire the old-fashioned way.
Fresh air, the smell of wood smoke, an osprey circling overhead – all of this adds flavor and character to what can be a rather mundane chore when done indoors.
Throw in the aroma of bacon frying or bread baking and it doesn’t get much better.
And while some things associated with campfire cookery have evolved through time, others have stayed the same.
One of the best implements for cooking outdoors is still the Dutch oven, which is the same today as when it kept broth hot on colonial hearths or baked sourdough bread on 19th century cattle drives.
For the unfamiliar, a Dutch oven is a cast iron pot, 10 inches or more in diameter, with a close-fitting lid also made of cast iron.
Three or four short legs on the bottom support it among a bed of coals, while a flange around the lid holds coals on top for baking, braising, stewing or roasting. Without the lid, the oven is used as a kettle for boiling, deep-fat frying or simmering any number of dishes.
According to experienced outdoor cooks, anything you can prepare on your stove or in your oven can be cooked outdoors in a Dutch oven. It does require a certain amount of practice and a little forethought, though.
One thing to be considered by novice campfire chefs is what size or type of pot to buy.
Although they come as big as 24 quarts, the most useful Dutch ovens for most folks are 6 to 8 quarts. Ovens of that size will produce meals for 8 to 10 people and, weighing at around 20 pounds or so, can be handled easily.
If weight is a major factor, aluminum Dutch ovens are available, but have certain drawbacks. One is that they don’t retain or distribute heat as well as cast iron models.
Another is that they seem to give food a different (some say “chalky”) taste than the smoky characteristic of cast iron ovens. Perhaps most worrisome is they can melt if they get too hot.
In any case, serious outdoor cooks usually won’t consider anything but traditional cast iron Dutch ovens.
Of course, one feature of cast iron is that it will rust quickly if not cared for properly. For Dutch ovens, that means being properly cured.
The common practice is to wash a new oven with hot water (NO SOAP) and heat it with the lid on to about 200 degrees in your home’s oven or in a campfire.
While the Dutch oven is hot, pour in a small amount of cooking oil or shortening and coat the metal liberally inside and out with a clean cloth.
Then, leave it in at about 350 degrees for an hour or so, then let it cool slowly.
Some Dutch ovens are sold “pre-cured,” but it still may be a good idea to redo it the old-fashioned way.
A properly cured Dutch oven won’t rust while stored. Equally important, food cooked in it will be much less likely to stick and burn.
After each use, the oven should be cleaned (remember NO SOAP), dried, and given a light coating of oil, shortening or lard to strengthen and maintain the curing.
After a number of uses, it will develop a dark, slick patina that will protect its finish and give food a distinctive, smoky flavor.
Now, the real art to cooking in a Dutch oven comes with the placement of the coals underneath and on top. Some traditionalists use nothing but campfire wood coals, while others appreciate the convenience and consistency of commercial charcoal briquettes.
Whichever is used, their number and placement can be an important factor.
One old rule of thumb is to use two coals per inch of oven diameter as your point of reference. Place two more than the diameter on top and two less than the oven size underneath. For example, for a 6-quart oven with a 10-inch diameter, you would evenly distribute 12 coals on the lid and 8 underneath.
That will produce about 350 degrees of heat, sufficient to cook nearly anything. If a higher temperature is desired for some reason, just add another coal or two on the top and bottom.
There are a number of “tricks of the trade” that make it easy to produce delicious meals in a Dutch oven too.
One is to brown or sear any meat you’re going to use in a little oil or bacon fat first, then drain off drippings, add your other ingredients, and cook 30 to 35 minutes per pound for beef or pork, or 25 to 30 minutes for poultry. The result will be a color, flavor, and aroma that is unique and delectable.
Delicious baked goods can be made in Dutch ovens as well, but require more heat coming from the top than the bottom. Some people recommend placing coals on the lid and under the oven in a ratio of 3 to 1.
By comparison, when frying or boiling, all of the heat should come from the bottom.
Folks wanting to try their hands at Dutch oven cookery can find cookbooks for these “old iron pots” at nearly any bookstore.
Once you’ve prepared a few basic dishes, you’ll probably want to do a little experimenting, maybe with some wild game. That’s fine too – and fun.
And even though some Dutch oven meals are better than others, it’s actually pretty hard to fix any that aren’t good—which was just as true for our ancestors of the wild frontier.