FAQ's

Learn the answers to many Frequently Asked Questions.

(1) How do you control the heat in a Dutch Oven?

(2) What can be cooked in a Dutch Oven?

(3) How do I clean my Dutch Oven?

(4) How do I Season my Dutch Oven?

5) Where Do I Get Good Dutch Oven Recipes?


(1) How do you control the heat in a Dutch Oven?
There are several ways to test the temperature of your Dutch Oven. One is to just lift the lid. If the food is cooking to slowly, add more charcoal. If it's cooking too fast remove a few. Remember, it's much easier to raise the temperature of cast iron than to lower it.

Here is another way to check the temperature:

1. Place a teaspoonful of flour in a small pie pan and put the pan inside a hot Dutch     oven.
2. Place the lid on the oven and leave it for 5 minutes.
3. If the flour has not turned brown the oven is less than 300 degrees.
4. If the flour is light brown, the oven is about 350 degrees.
5. If the flour is dark brown, the oven is about 450 degrees.

Note: If the flour is dark brown after 3 minutes, reduce the heat, the oven is too hot to cook with.

The way I cook and work with temperature, is by using what some, call the 2-3 briquette rule. Using this rule, you take the size of the oven and place that amount of briquettes on the lid and place that amount under the oven.

Then take 2-3 briquettes from the bottom and move them to the top. This technique will maintain a temperature of 325 to 350 degrees.

Refer to the table below for common oven sizes. For every 2 briquettes added or subtracted to/from this the net change is about 25 degrees.

These temperature changes are for the Rocky Mountain area, where the cooking altitude is about 4000-6000 ft. If you live in a lower or higher area, check these settings with an oven thermometer to make sure they are OK. Temperatures inside a Dutch Oven are effected by altitude.

When cooking try and get in the habit of rotating your oven a third of a turn every ten to fifteen minutes, and rotate the lid a third of a turn the other direction.

If you are baking bread, rolls, or cakes remove the bottom heat after two thirds of the cooking time. It will finish cooking from the top heat, keep it from burning on the bottom and help brown what your are baking.

(2) What can be cooked in a Dutch Oven?
Well, this is really an easy question to answer. Anything that can be cooked in your kitchen at home can be cooked in a Dutch Oven. And, food cooked in a Dutch Oven will taste much better. This is the "Magic" of Dutch Oven Cooking.
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(3) How do I clean my Dutch Oven?
Many think you can just scrape it out and turn it upside down in the fire.
Well, that is how the early pioneers and mountain men cleaned their ovens, but
a Dutch Oven cleaned like that will burn out all of it's seasoning.

Scrape the oven out, and boil an inch or two of water in the oven to steam it out.
After the oven has steamed a while, scrub it with a pad or a soft wire kitchen brush and pour out the water. Wipe it dry and coat lightly with a high temperature vegetable oil while the oven is still hot. Place a couple of paper towels inside the oven so they hang out a little, and place the lid on the oven and put it away. The paper helps keep the lid slightly ajar for air movement. It also collects moisture to keep the oven dry.
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(4) How do I Season my Dutch Oven?
Remove the protective coating placed on the cast iron by the manufacture to protect it from rusting. The best way to remove this is with hot soapy water and a wire scrubber. After the cleaning, rinse with hot water to clean off the soap.

Next, it needs to be dried until there is no moisture left on the oven. The easiest way dry a Dutch Oven is to put it in your kitchen oven at about 160 degrees for 30 minutes.

Using a paper towel, apply vegetable oil, shortening or lard to the inside and outside of the oven and to the lid. Put both in your kitchen oven and bake for one hour at 425 degrees. Remove from the oven and lightly oil the oven and lid again using paper towels and tongs. Place it back in the oven and bake at 425 to 500 degrees for 30 minutes more. If you like, lightly oil it again and place it back in the oven a third time at the same temperature for another 30 minutes, and you'll be ready to start cooking.
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(5) Where Do I Get Good Dutch Oven Recipes?
Why not try a favorite recipe you already have, or take one out of your favorite cookbook. Once you learn how to control the temperature, you can cook anything.

You can get a "free" recipe a week by registering at dutchovenmagic.com, and we also include recipes in our monthly newsletter.
Check the Dutch Oven Links on our webpage and visit various forums and chat boards on the Internet. Try and find someone in your area who uses a Dutch Oven, such as a scout leader. Have them show you how to cook something simple. Then, practice that dish. Once you can cook it move on to something else.

Here is a very simple recipe offered by the IDOS site for those just starting to learn Dutch Oven Cooking. Take a 12 inch Dutch Oven and put 10-12 charcoals under it.
Fill the oven with beef or pork ribs, or cut up chicken (whatever pieces you like). Pour enough barbeque sauce over the meat to cover, mustard to taste, and a cup of honey. Put the lid on and throw on about 14 to 20 briquettes on top.
Let it boil until the meat just starts to fall off the bone, probably about the time the coals give out. Try it, you'll like it!
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