I am getting ready to venture into the world of cast iron cooking. Just recently recieved a skillet set and am looking at getting a set of dutch ovens. I have always wanted to start but living in a 5th wheel trailer the past 8 years made it hard (didnt want to haul the extra weight or have it take up space) Well now that I have a house and plenty of outside area (and a great love of food & cooking) I am going to give'er a go. Any others here use dutch ovens? Will be great for camping, hunting or heck anytime for me!
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I go through spells were I use mine a lot and spells where I don't. I have 4 dutch ovens from 4-12 qt. There is pretty much nothing that doesn't cook well in them.
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I use one all the time. I love making Charcroute in it, as well yard birds. A tip is to heat on the on the stove before putting into a pre-heated oven so the cast iron does not have to "catch up".
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My new set of DO's, the one on the left back I have had at a friends for awhile. The front left was given to me the other day I just had to get a lid for it.

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These were also given to me the other day, I hope to reseason them tomorrow!

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With all my cooking stuff I could cook for an army.
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I don't use them as often as I did when I was a scout leader, but still use several times a year.

Check out this web site (International Dutch Oven Society): www.idos.com

Great resource and recipes.
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I found that site and they have a chapter here in Vegas. There are a couple good sites I have found so far, now I just need to start cooking :-)
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I use a cast iron skillet to cook B-fast at the Firehouse quite often. Could also use the DO.
Fry up some bacon and/or sausage or goetta then fry up some taters with onions till brown. Mix together some eggs, cheese a splash of milk and sour cream or cream of somethun. You want it a bit on the thick side so the eggs don't get too dry. Pour everything into the pan and cover with a little cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. I find a pound of meat and 8 eggs will fill a 13" pan.
Might sound like alot of work but alot of the time I'll use leftover potatoes and meat. Use your imagination.
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I'm using my dutch oven right now to make family chili. I call it "family chili" because it's a different recipe when my wife and 5 year old daughter are going to be eating it.

1 lbs pinto beans socked over night
3 lbs chuck stew beef
3 carrots (chopped)
1 green pepper (chopped)
3 stalks celery (chopped)
1 big or 2 medium onions (chopped)
1 32 oz can tomatoes
3 to 4 T of chili powder
1.5 T fresh ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp garlic powder (not salt)
1 tsp thyme
1 - 2 tsp smoked paprika
1 favorite beer or any leftover wine that you have
1 qt beef or chicken stock
3 heaping T corn starch

Brown the meat in your dutch oven with a little salt. Don't add pepper or chili powder as those burn. Just brown the eat for flavor. It will cook later and I usually do 3 batches in my 7.5 quart dutch oven.

Saute all the veggies (except the canned tomatoes) on high heat. If they get a little brown then that's good.

Push the veggies aside so there's room in the middle. Add 1T of oil in the cleared center then add your cumin and other spices. Let cook for a minute then add the meat and the soaked beans and stir.

Add your beer or leftover wine (red or white) and let it cook down a couple of minutes. Then add the stock - do NOT add the tomatoes yet (the acid will keep the beans from softening). Bring everything to a simmer and put it in the over at 275 degrees.

Cook for 2 or 3 hours stirring every 60 to 90 minutes. When it's almost down, mix the corn starch with a cup of water and add it the chili along with the tomatoes. Let it cook for another 15 to 60 minutes and serve.
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Here is a quick recipe that my kids (and my scouts) always went nuts over!

Pizza Hot Dish


Ingredients:
2 packages crescent rolls
8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
1 jar pizza sauce
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1½ pounds ground beef

Preparation:
Brown ground beef, drain. Line Dutch oven with 1 package of crescent rolls.

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What size oven works best for this recipe?
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I use one of my 12 inch ovens. Of course, my 6 inch oven works great for the recipe cut in half, for one person, maybe two if not big guys like me!
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Cast Iron is great!
I've had my 5 quart dutch oven and 10 inch skillet for 33 years.
I also have an 8 inch and 12 inch skillet, and a 10 inch griddle. I cook in at least one of these just about every day.

I also have eight of these individual serving size cast iron baking dishes. 4 are square and 4 are oval shaped this are great for making individual size cornbreads and I've even made a cobbler like dessert in them.

When I do a roast, I preheat the oven to 325 degrees. I season and flour the roast and then I brown it in the dutch oven on top of the stove. I take the roast out and cover the bottom of the dutch oven with onion slices and then put the roast back in. Put the lid on the pot, slide it in the oven and forget about it for about an hour. After an hour I usually quarter some red potatoes and use a 16 oz. bag of baby peeled carrots. These I put in on top and around the roast, sprinkle with some seasoning, put the lid back on and
put it back in the oven for about another hour. I do all this quickly and the cast iron doesn't lose much heat.

My roast always comes out moist and tender.
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My Wife has decided she hates cleaning them (the weight). But I am begining to love to cook in them! The other day we made some upside down pineapple cake and last night I made some apple crisp. I usually use them outside therefore my charcoal consumption is way up (great practice for camping) and most people cant believe you can bake that way. Today I used the skillet to fry some bacon and make corned beef hash. The bacon came out perfect! And since the first pics I have added a 10" deep and a reg. 8" oven.
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I love cooking with cast iron. I used to cook a lot with my dutch oven when camping. As of late, I've mainly just used my dutch oven and skillet on the stove. Honestly, for some things, you just can't beat it. I love my DO for everything from gumbos and stews to baking breads. I think people are really missing out on some great cookware, and it's inexpensive (considering it's probably going to outlast me).
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Sorry..could not help it...

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I've got a Griswold Number 10 (ten inch) skillet that was handed down to me by my grandma some 40 years ago, which I use all the time. Not sure how old it is but I think Griswold stopped manufacturing them back in 1957. What a great piece of cookware:-)
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cast iron is great, used the dutch ovens a lot in boy scouts
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what does farting and holding someones head under the covers have anything to do with food?





















sorry....
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