The Amazing Dutch Oven

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Top to Bottom: ... The ""tools of the trade"" for Dutch oven cookery include a pair of curved pliers (for removing the lid and lifting the pot), a wooden spoon (for stirring), and a shovel (for digging the pit and moving coals) ... Dig a hole large enough to hold the iron utensil for slow underground cooking ...Several small stones, placed in the bottom of the oven, will make an even baking platform ... For a delicious dessert, sliced apples are placed in the oven ... topped with a mixture of cinnamon, flour and raisins ... and baked quickly, once the utensil's lid is heaped with coals ... You can make stew in the versatile cooker.

With the autumn leaves—in many parts of the United States—showing off their most dramatic colors (and with midsummer's insects and crowds already things of the past) a good many folks will be heading to the great outdoors for camping or hunting trips. Now there are few better ways to work up a hearty appetite than tramping around in the fresh fall air, but all too often the hungry outdoorsman or -woman can expect no more enticing fare than the usual pan-warmed, freeze-dried backpacker's foods.

Imagine, instead, walking into a campsite that's filled with the savory odors of a tasty slow-cooked supper! Well, such a scenario is actually quite possible . . . if you take a Dutch oven along on your next wilderness excursion. Since the hefty kettles warm slowly and then retain the heat in their thick walls, they can cook food steadily and evenly all day long (while you're out in the woods). Your meal will simmer unattended for hours . . . and—when dinnertime rolls around—you'll have only to lift the lid and dish out a steaming trailside feast!

The sturdy iron utensils are practically maintenance-free, easy to work with, and amazingly versatile, too. You can use a Dutch oven—with only a few alterations in cooking procedures—to fry fish, make soups and stews, broil meat, or bake bread. And—depending on the kind of dish you're preparing—the pot may be hung over an open fire, set on top a bed of hot coals, or buried in an ember-bottomed pit.

ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES

The Dutch oven's adaptability is due mainly to its simplicity of design. In fact, when choosing such a kettle, your only real concern will be that you select a "wild" (or outdoor) rather than a "tame" (or indoor) model. Although it's easy to confuse the sturdier trail units with the home versions (which are designed for kitchen range cooking only), several details distinguish the two types.

The "real thing"—or outdoor cooker—is a heavy, cast-iron pot with a flat bottom and three stubby legs . . . which save the vessel from being scorched by the fire and anchor it steadily among the coals. The camping Dutch oven's almost flat lid has a raised lip around the edge (which helps contain the coals that are sometimes heaped on top of it) and a small, curved handle in the center. The utensil will also be fitted with a bail handle, so you can easily lift the whole assembly.

You'll find that the kettles are available in a wide range of sizes, measuring from 8 to 16 inches in diameter and weighing anywhere from 7 to 30 pounds. The Dutch oven's bulky weight—which makes the utensil an awkward item to carry for any distance in a backpack—seems to be its only disadvantage. The hefty pots can be conveniently used, however, on outings that involve driving to a "base" campsite . . . on horse or mule pack trips . . . for backyard cooking . . . or even in your fireplace (or on your woodstove ) at home.