Tips and Tricks for purchasing, maintaining, and cooking temperatures for a Dutch Oven

1. Purchasing a Dutch Oven

   1. Only buy Dutch Ovens with legs are preferable. Some are manufactured with flat bottoms and are far more difficult to use. The three legs should be cleanly attached to the bottom of the oven, never cracked, bent, or broken off. However we have had great success with the new square no leg Dutch Oven. Dutch oven legs cam be purchased seperatly.

2. Check the fit of the lid. It should lie flush with the lip of the oven all the way around, with no significant gaps.
3. Check the casting, or thickness, of the metal, especially around the rim. There will be some inconsistencies. However, areas that are 15% (or more) thicker or thinner than the remaining areas will produce hot or cold spots during cooking and cooling. This variance in thickness will also make the oven much more likely to crack or warp.
4. Make sure the lid has a loop handle, cleanly attached to its center.
5. Check the wire handle attached to the oven itself. It should be easily movable and strong enough to use for carrying or hanging a heavy pot full of stew without difficulty.

If all this checks out you will have many happy days on the river Cooking.

Dutch Oven How to Cure

For aluminum, your pretreatment is simply washing well with soap and water. Some aluminum ovens are shipped with a protective coating and a simple washing will remove it. Since aluminum does not rust, no further protection is required, however, I have found that if you treat the aluminum like the cast iron oven, food will not stick near as often as the untreated oven.
Cast iron ovens, if properly cared for, will last many a generation. The treatment and care instructions are applicable to any cast iron skillet, griddle etc.. The secret of cast iron\'s long life is really no secret at all. Constant and proper care beginning with the day it is purchased will keep the oven in service for many years. All quality ovens are shipped with a protective coating that must be removed. This will require a good scrubbing with steel wool and some elbow grease. Once removed, the oven needs to be rinsed well, towel dried and let air dry. While it is drying, this would be a good time to pre-heat your kitchen oven to 350 degrees. After it is dry, place the dutch oven on the center rack with it\'s lid ajar. Allow the dutch oven to warm slowly so it is just barely too hot to handle with bare hands. This pre-heating does two things, it drives any remaining moisture out of the metal and opens the pores of the metal.
Now, using a clean rag or preferably a paper towel, apply a thin layer of saltfree cooking oil. Oils such as peanut, olive or plain vegatible oil will be fine. Tallow or lard will do also but these animal fats tend to break down during the storage. Make sure the oil covers every inch of the oven, inside and out and replace the oven onto the center shelf, again with the lid ajar. Bake it for about an hour or so at 350 degrees. This baking hardens the oil into a protective coating over the metal After baking, allow the oven to cool slowly. When it is cool enough to be handled, apply another thin coating of oil. Repeat the baking and cooling process. Again reapply a thin coating of oil when it can be handled again. Allow the oven to cool completely now. It should have three layers of oil, two baked on and one applied when it was warm. The oven is now ready to use or store.
This pre-treatment procedure only needs to be done once, unless rust forms or the coating is damaged in storage or use. This baked on coating will darken and eventually turn black with age. This darkening is a sign of a well kept oven and of it\'s use. The pre-treatment coating\'s purpose is two fold, first and most important, it forms a barrier between moisture in the air and the surface of the metal. This effectivly prevents the metal from rusting. The second purpose is to provide a non-stick coating on the inside of the oven. When properly maintained, this coating is as non-stick as most of the commercially applied coatings.

Never Do to your Dutch Oven - Never!

• Never, and I repeat, NEVER allow cast iron to sit in water or allow water to stand in or on it. It will rust despite a good coating.
• Never use soap on cast iron. The soap will get into the pores of the metal and won\'t come out very easy, but will return to taint your next meal, though. If soap is used accidentally, the oven should be put through the pretreatment procedure, including removal of the present coating.
• Do not place an empty cast iron pan or oven over a hot fire. Aluminum and many other metals can tolerate it better but cast iron will crack or warp, ruining it.
• Do not get in a hurry to heat cast iron, you will end up with your food burn or a damaged oven or pan.
• Never put cold liquid into a very hot cast iron pan or oven. They will crack on the spot.
• Clean your own Dutch Oven do not assume others know how.

Rust from a old or un-used Dutch Oven

1. If rust is not too bad, scrub with a scouring pad and rinse well. Put over a heat source to dry out all the moisture. Lightly re-season.
2. The way the pioneers did it was to place the pot in a larger container and stuff with hay. Dry or moist makes no difference. Add enough water to cover and 1 to 2 cups of cider vinegar. Just let is sit for about 1 hour, then check to see if all the rust is gone. If not, scrub a little and let it sit for 1 more hour; and all the rust should be gone. Scrub with a scouring pad, rinse, and re-season the pot. Remember to use the proper tools and hot pads to do the seasoning since the pans hold their heat . Never touch a hot Dutch Oven without good hot pads. This also works on tools!!!
3. If your Dutch Oven is extremely rusty, this could take 12 to 24 hours of sitting in the solution before you are down to the raw iron.

Tempertures for a Dutch Oven

Generally speaking each briquette will produce about 10 to 15 degrees F. The general rule of thumb to produce about a 350 degrees heat is to take the size of the Dutch oven in inches, double the number, and use that many total briquettes. This is rule of thumb and will not work on all Dutch Ovens. For 350 degrees on a mild day with no wind I use 14 on the top and 10 on the bottom in a 12 " Anodized Aluminum Dutch Oven. I save the extra over to the side for later and start a few more coals at this time. To reduce your oven temperature, reduce the number of coals 1 bottom and 2 top for every 25 degrees. Cold and wind can change the heat produced and the amount of briquettes used so a screen or protection is advised on throes days. Your coals will last about an hour. Be sure to spread the coals out evenly on the top and bottom, best if they do not ouch each other.

Place a teaspoonful of flour in a small pie pan and put the pan inside a hot dutch oven. Place the lid on the oven and leave it for 5 minutes.

• If the flour has not turned brown the oven is less than 300 degrees.
• If the flour is light brown, the oven is about 350 degrees.
• If the flour is dark brown, the oven is about 450 degrees.

Temperature Starting Point

Dutch Oven Cooking Tips

1. BAKING - If you are using a baking pan, use an oven rack or some small metal items (washers) under the pan to allow a hot air space between the oven and the pan.
2. TOP BROWNING - If you need to brown something, concentrate the top coals in the center of the lid.
3. STACKING - If you are cooking in more than one oven, you can stack them. If you stack two 12 inch ovens, place 12 coals under the bottom oven, 12 coals on top of the bottom oven, and 24 coals on top of the top oven. You can stack several ovens. Remember that only the top oven gets the double coal amount on top. This technique saves coals. Place the items that you do not need to open during cooking on the bottom. This is to product 400 degrees.
4. FRYING - You can turn the lid upside down and use it as a griddle for eggs, toasted cheese sandwiches, French toast, etc. Suspend the lid over the coals using rocks, logs, or a lid rack.

So now you are on your way to mighty fine cook \'in on the River.