Dutch Oven Cooking
An Important Skill to Learn!
If you like to cook, even as a beginner, you will enjoy Dutch oven cooking! It is fun! Stack three Dutch ovens, and you can have a full meal cooking without relying on electricity. To top it all, you can enjoy good company, a campfire, and good scenery all at the same time!
Have What You Need in Readiness
- Fireplace shovel, if you are using coals from a fire
Cleaning the Cast Iron Dutch Oven
Remove any stuck food from the oven. Put some clean warm water in the oven and heat until about to boil. Use a coarse sponge and gently remove the food. Do not use the sponge for anything else but cleaning the Dutch oven. Do not use soap. It will break down your protective coat and get into the metal pores of the oven. This will affect the flavor of your foods. Rinse with warm water and allow to air dry. Heat in the kitchen oven until just hot to the touch. Apply a thin layer of Canola oil inside and outside of the oven and the lid's underside. Aluminum cast Dutch ovens can be washed like ordinary pots and pans.
Storing the Dutch Oven
Make it your practice to leave the lid ajar during storage. Roll some paper towels and place them between the lid and the oven for air circulation. This is very important. Lack of circulation can break down the oil protection you gave your oven when you seasoned it. You are looking then at two possibilities: the oil turning rancid, or causing the metal to rust. Use a protective dust cover.
Reminder
- Do not let a cast iron Dutch oven in water.
- Never use soap. Although soap can easily get into the metal pores, it is not easy to remove it. You will need to strip and re-season your Dutch oven.
- Do not place a cast iron Dutch oven over hot fire without anything in it. You will damage the metal.
- Do not pour cold liquid in a hot cast iron Dutch oven. It will damage the metal.
- When stacking ovens to preserve heat and space, make sure that the foods in there have the same top and bottom heat requirements. Otherwise, you will just be wasting your food. For example, you do not put a cake on top of an oven with a lot of coals on its top.
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