Do any of you know where you can get cast iron Dutch Ovens in the UK? Also, do any of you use these, they look quite good?
Thanks
ranger
Thanks
ranger
Cast Iron Dutch Ovens
- Thread starter ranger
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ChrisKavanaugh
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They're called dutch because the 'pennsylvania dutch' were the biggest buyers. The first were imported from England and the 3 legs and rimmed lid to hold coals devised by Paul Revere. Sizes are 10", 12", 14" and hard to find 16" If you only get one, get the 14". You can always make smaller meals, but this is the standard for most dishes and most versatile. A new oven will have a protective seal that needs removing. NEVER use a scouring pad or soap on a oven. It's the same idea of simply rinsing a teapot. Heat the oven and scour with a paper towel. You will remove a brown scum. Once removed you will need to 'season' your oven with a quality vegetable based cooking oil. Heat the oven to @ 350 degrees and then pour in a small quantity of oil and rub the entire oven, inside and out with a THIN film. Any good one will do, but avoid oils with strong flavour like olive oil. You are sealing the porous iron and creating a nonstick surface. Excess Oil will make a thick glaze prone to rancidity. Everytime you cook the oven will be reheated and a thin layer of oil applied. After cooking AGAIN, never scrub or burn it out, but vigorously scrape the crumbs out with a non metal spoon or spatula ( another carving project) and reapply a thin oil coat. The more you use a oven the better the food tastes and cooks over time. I have older ovens I wouldn't trade for their new equal. If by chance rancidity does set in, a bath with natural cider vinegar helps set things fresh and some people do this periodically. You will need tongs and/or small shovel to manuever your coals, a small wisk broom to clean off the lid prior to removal and whats known as a 'gonch hook' to move the oven by the bale and lift the lid. It's merely a bit of roundstock with a curved hook end or the billhook like tool in old fireplace sets. All the ovens except the huge 16" cook the same, @ 350 degrees. You can determine this by holding your hand @ 6" above the coals. If you can last @ 15 seconds it's 350. Various foods determine if the majority of coals are on top or underneath. A fruit cobbler for example has cake on top that bakes, or heats slower than the liquid fruit compote below. A trick to avoid scorching breads or cakes when starting out is to put a mexican tortilla on the bottom until you get a feel for cooking. The beauty of the Dutch Oven is time. With care you can set it up and do other chores. The cooking time is very forgiving. The various tripods and other setups are popular, but I use the Apache method. dig a small trench with a shallow and deep end and lay two lengths of pipe or REBAR across the shallow section to support the oven. Build the fire in the deeper part and shovel or tong the coals onto the oven as needed. If your in a sensitive area the horsepacker fireblankets or even an old dustbin lid keeps things under control. There are countless websites and several books on cooking with Dutch Ovens. Finally and most important- never mix a hot oven with cold water. You will crack it! Aluminum ovens are anathema. They don't heat evenly or hold heat which is the whole idea. The best USA ovens are by LODGE and WAGNER. Lots of chinese junk out there with poorly fitting lids.
I bought one from a car boot sale the other weekend for £5. Did as Chris says, scrubbed off all the factory coating, heated it up, oiled it, heated it up oiled it......got a nice glaze on it.
Tried it out in the fire a couple of days ago.Put a bit of oil in the bottom, a layer of lamd chop sprinkled with fresh rosemary and garlic, then a generous layer of per-boiled potatoes for roasting. Reduced the fire to nice glowing embers, cleared a space in the middle, sat the oven in it, and burried it in ash and coals. Left it there for 1 1/2 hours. We heaved it out with a piece of hooked bar, flicked the coals back into the fire,and bushed the ash off with a handful of grass, mouths watering we opened the lid.
We peered into the black mess in the bottom. We ok I it was my bright idea afterall had sucessfully created charcoal - completely inedible (even the dog was sick !) and smoking.
I think i have alot more to learn on the dutch oven front.
Cheers
Rich
Tried it out in the fire a couple of days ago.Put a bit of oil in the bottom, a layer of lamd chop sprinkled with fresh rosemary and garlic, then a generous layer of per-boiled potatoes for roasting. Reduced the fire to nice glowing embers, cleared a space in the middle, sat the oven in it, and burried it in ash and coals. Left it there for 1 1/2 hours. We heaved it out with a piece of hooked bar, flicked the coals back into the fire,and bushed the ash off with a handful of grass, mouths watering we opened the lid.
We peered into the black mess in the bottom. We ok I it was my bright idea afterall had sucessfully created charcoal - completely inedible (even the dog was sick !) and smoking.
I think i have alot more to learn on the dutch oven front.
Cheers
Rich
Roving Rich said:I bought one from a car boot sale the other weekend for £5. Did as Chris says, scrubbed off all the factory coating, heated it up, oiled it, heated it up oiled it......got a nice glaze on it.
Tried it out in the fire a couple of days ago.Put a bit of oil in the bottom, a layer of lamd chop sprinkled with fresh rosemary and garlic, then a generous layer of per-boiled potatoes for roasting. Reduced the fire to nice glowing embers, cleared a space in the middle, sat the oven in it, and burried it in ash and coals. Left it there for 1 1/2 hours. We heaved it out with a piece of hooked bar, flicked the coals back into the fire,and bushed the ash off with a handful of grass, mouths watering we opened the lid.
We peered into the black mess in the bottom. We ok I it was my bright idea afterall had sucessfully created charcoal - completely inedible (even the dog was sick !) and smoking.
I think i have alot more to learn on the dutch oven front.
Cheers
Rich
Only way to learn. Shame they don/t give open fire ratings for recipes like they give Gas Mark 5 and 180C I am sure you will be turning out haute cuisine in no time
Or maybe you can actually make some charcoal in it and use it for a BBQ!tomtom said:
I got mine from Unbeaten tracks too - excellent service and a good honest price for genuine cast iron ones too
Paganwolf
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
You had me hungry till the last bit! lolRoving Rich said:I bought one from a car boot sale the other weekend for £5. Did as Chris says, scrubbed off all the factory coating, heated it up, oiled it, heated it up oiled it......got a nice glaze on it.
Tried it out in the fire a couple of days ago.Put a bit of oil in the bottom, a layer of lamd chop sprinkled with fresh rosemary and garlic, then a generous layer of per-boiled potatoes for roasting. Reduced the fire to nice glowing embers, cleared a space in the middle, sat the oven in it, and burried it in ash and coals. Left it there for 1 1/2 hours. We heaved it out with a piece of hooked bar, flicked the coals back into the fire,and bushed the ash off with a handful of grass, mouths watering we opened the lid.
We peered into the black mess in the bottom. We ok I it was my bright idea afterall had sucessfully created charcoal - completely inedible (even the dog was sick !) and smoking.
I think i have alot more to learn on the dutch oven front.
Cheers
Rich
try and try again matey Moonraker said:
I am sure you will be turning out haute cuisine in no time
MR THERE IS A RULE OF THUMB VERY SIMILAR RO THE GAS MARK - i did an article for BCUK back when it first started and its on there somewhere - I am sure someone (nonludites) can find it for everyone!!
No need to SHOUT GaryGary said:
OK, found it at last. I was searching all your posts until I re-read you post where it says 'articles' DOH!
Not so tough to find on the BCUK.co.uk web site:
COOKING TIMES
Top Tip Gary, or should I say, the Jamie Oliver of bushcraft
Moonraker said:No need to SHOUT Gary
OK, found it at last. I was searching all your posts until I re-read you post where it says 'articles' DOH!
Not so tough to find on the BCUK.co.uk web site:
COOKING TIMES
Top Tip Gary, or should I say, the Jamie Oliver of bushcraft
Gord blimey mate you'll ave me ponassing salmon for the ankle biters soon!
The chart need expalining though as the titles are missing - left column is time in seconds you can hold you hand about 8" above the embers (not the flame) - next to are temp's - last (right) is equivelant gas mark - bare in mind wind and other such external factors will vary these results!
Oh and sorry for shouting lol!!
Gary said:
Ah! I was a bit stumped on that little detail. Now thoroughly enlightened, cheers
NP
My wife tells me shouting is very liberating and releases all sorts of tensions. I always feel better for knowing that ChrisKavanaugh
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As a guess I'd hazard you needed to add some water to your lamb and potatoes. A dutch oven should be carefully heated with a single layer of coals on top and bottom, again with the exact number dictated by the dish. It's not a side of ox buried in a firepit with gamelon music in the background You may want to try some simple dishes to get familiar with your oven. Even a can of baked beans tossed in to heat is a usefull exercise. A good starter recipe is to gather some wild fruit. With berries a bit of cornstarch helps balance the liquid and cohesion. Take a cake premix and add extra water and forget the milk. Cakes rise higher in a dutch oven with milk and you'll only scorch it. Toss in your fruit and then batter in the cake mix evenly. You don't need a whole lot. Enough to evenly cover the fruit a few inches is plenty. Put some good red coals under the oven. A 14" will require maybe 18. Then with tongs put coals on top, @ 24-30. All dishes are helped along if the oven is preheated to reduce sticking and uneven cooking as it fully heats. You will see a thin steam of liquid escaping from many dishes. This is a sign the oven is at optimum temperature. With meat dishes braising the meat first helps to keep in all the natural moisture and flavour. Get good at this and it turns into a cooking show the envy of T.V. hosts. I watched a Grand Canyon cook stack four 14" stoves next to a huge enameled coffeepot. She produced beans, cornbread, roast beef and a pineapple upside down cake
You may want to try some simple dishes to get familiar with your oven. Even a can of baked beans tossed in to heat is a usefull exercise. A good starter recipe is to gather some wild fruit. With berries a bit of cornstarch helps balance the liquid and cohesion. Take a cake premix and add extra water and forget the milk. Cakes rise higher in a dutch oven with milk and you'll only scorch it. Toss in your fruit and then batter in the cake mix evenly. You don't need a whole lot. Enough to evenly cover the fruit a few inches is plenty. Put some good red coals under the oven. A 14" will require maybe 18. Then with tongs put coals on top, @ 24-30. All dishes are helped along if the oven is preheated to reduce sticking and uneven cooking as it fully heats. You will see a thin steam of liquid escaping from many dishes. This is a sign the oven is at optimum temperature. With meat dishes braising the meat first helps to keep in all the natural moisture and flavour. Get good at this and it turns into a cooking show the envy of T.V. hosts. I watched a Grand Canyon cook stack four 14" stoves next to a huge enameled coffeepot. She produced beans, cornbread, roast beef and a pineapple upside down cake 
I've just had a look at Unbeaten Tracks prices for their dutch ovens and I'm staggered!!tomtom said:
We buy these and sell them where I work for ritual use as cauldrons as we know they are safe in a fire.
I cannot buy these from our wholesaler for as little as Unbeaten Tracks are selling them
I don't know how they're doing it, but I wish I knew who their supplier was!!! Their prices really are a bargain folks
I found this site really good...
I'm giving the link directly to banana crumble because... hey... banana crumble!!!
http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/dutch-oven-recipe-bananacrumble.htm
I hope this helps a little
Joe
I'm giving the link directly to banana crumble because... hey... banana crumble!!!
http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/dutch-oven-recipe-bananacrumble.htm
I hope this helps a little
Joe
Motorbike Man said:
The pots do look good, one of the big ones is tempting
http://www.unbeatentracks.com/pots.htm
