cast iron Dutch oven cooking
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 171
cast iron Dutch oven cooking
Anyone whom has ever tried cooking in a true cast iron camp dutch oven knows it takes some doing it to learn how to maintain the correct heat on top and bottom to not burn your food...somewhere I read a basic formula using charcoal briquettes as the heat source...does anyone know where to find that in print?
it went something like for 350 degrees take the diameter of your dutch oven, ie. 14" and double it, ie 28 and that's the amount of briquettes you need in total..then you split those 28 coals ..so many on top so many under...that is the part I need
* I do know that 1 coal is about 50 degrees in temp when added to the formula, ie 350 degrees @28 coals then add 2 more coals to bring temp up to 450
it went something like for 350 degrees take the diameter of your dutch oven, ie. 14" and double it, ie 28 and that's the amount of briquettes you need in total..then you split those 28 coals ..so many on top so many under...that is the part I need
* I do know that 1 coal is about 50 degrees in temp when added to the formula, ie 350 degrees @28 coals then add 2 more coals to bring temp up to 450
#2
Spike
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: in a tree stand/ duck blind
Posts: 1
There are alot of good cookbooks out there. Check the local bookstore. "Cooking the dutch oven way" and "Texas treasury dutch oven cooking" are the books I use alot but you just have to jump in and do it and try different recipes. As far at the heat I tend to go light on the heat so I don't burn anythign. I can't bake bread but everything else I can do. Betty Crocker is a great book. You can use any recipe in the dutch oven that you use a kitchen oven for. Here is a good website http://www.idos.com/. Good luck and have fun
Brian
Brian
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Rifle, Colorado
Posts: 2,012
for a 350 oven, you take your diameter and times by 2. So, for a 12" over you need 24 coals. Then you put 2/3 on top, and 1/3 on bottom. That is how I learned anyway. That is my starting point, Wind and weather play alot into it.
I cook on a dutch oven atleast once a month camping. The biggest mistake I see with most people is putting to many coals on the bottom.
I cook on a dutch oven atleast once a month camping. The biggest mistake I see with most people is putting to many coals on the bottom.