Dutch Oven / Campfire Cooking

[woodeye]

After I posted the picture of my backyard stick cooker yesterday, I decided to break it out and clean it up if necessary. Sounded like a good plan at the time, but there was a caveat, I couldn't find it! Well I fretted about the loss of my stick cooker all day long today, but was baking cakes to take to the cookout tomorrow and had to get some flour that was in a container on a shelf under the kitchen work table. Much to my surprise, there sat my outdoor cooker! Jubilation and much fanfare ensued, crisis has now ended. Well, maybe just a postponed crisis, I'll most likely lose it again...

[heavyhitterokra]

Won't be much longer until it cools down enough outside to be really fun to cook a meal on that thing. Hopefully, you won't have to keep up with its whereabouts for much longer before it's time to put it to good use.   That puts me in the mood for a pot of campfire coffee!

[woodeye]

Boy yeah, I've got no less than 3 Lodge cast iron dutch ovens, & an abundance of sticks. There's always something down in the freezer that needs to come out and be thrown in a pot of stew. 

Might even make a loaf of ciabatta bread in one of them, never made one outside, have always made it in the oven in the house. I'll try it!

[hmoosek]

A big pot of bean hole beans!

[amyinowasso]

My husband has a cast iron addiction. Can't leave Atwoods without checking the Lodge display. He was a boy scout leader and is an excellent campfire cooker. We have the big Dutch oven with feet and the flat lid to put coals on. The kids gave him an extra large pan that covers 2 burners on the gas grill, every size fry pan, small Dutch oven with rounded lid, square grill pan (the one he has now has the ridges in it that leave grill marks. He's still lookingfor one like it with no ridges. He had one that cracked.) We also have an enameled Dutch oven and there's a little pot, maybe for melting butter or bacon grease. He has a dozen cookbooks for cast iron, so let me know if you're looking for a specific recipe.
I'm not bragging when I say he's a good outdoor cook. We came home from Christmas eve service one year and found the stove had been fried by a power surge. Please understand, I am not a good cook. He always did the "company" cooking. He made Christmas dinner for a crowd with an electric roaster (ham) crock pot and the outdoor gas grill and maybe the charcoaler.
Ron, was it you who said albuteral made your heart beat too fast? There is an alternative called Levalbuteral that doesn't have as bad an effect. It's expensive, my local hospital didn't even stock it and the insurance company didn't pay for it. Albuteral puts my heart rate up to where it scares me.
I'm a cold weather wuss. No snow camping. I sit by the fire and watch it and worry about people driving in it.

[heavyhitterokra]

Amyinowasso.

Your husband sounds like a man after my own heart. I rescue old cast iron from garage sales, junk stores, etc. Who knows how many old skillets and Dutch Ovens I have? I roast the old iron in a slow-burning fire until it's a dull cherry-red color, then, I let the fire die down with the cast iron in place. I usually do this in the Fall of the year when a fire feels good, but not so cold that I risk cracking the cast iron.

I'll build a campfire early in the morning and place my skillet or whatever in the fire, as if I was about to cook something. Then after the iron gets blazing hot, I slowly pile dead wood on top of it and monitor it until the iron just begins to barely glow red. As soon as it begins glowing, I poke it around to make sure it is heating evenly, then leave the fire alone to begin dying down. I leave the cast iron in the fire until it is so dead that I can pick the skillet up without a pot holder. (This sometimes means overnight) if it is not going to rain.

Once the skillet or whatever is cool, I wash it really good with hot water and soap, being careful to scrub away any remaining ash from the pours. After washing it and drying it over a low flame, the cast iron looks brand new again, so new that your husband would think it was it was a brand new Lodge product. The intense heat and slow cooling process causes the iron to turn a slightly gray-color, not at all black anymore.

Once the skillet is dried over a low flame, I wipe every surface with a generous coating of shortening.

At that point, you can either put it in the oven at 200° to 250° for about 6 hours, or you can place it over low heat on the stovetop and slow cook it (Being careful not to let the grease get hot enough to smoke). This can also be done over a campfire. The thing you are trying to accomplish at that point is to bake the grease into wax, without burning it. Once the grease is baked into wax, it is 'seasoned' or 'cured' for life. Once a skillet is seasoned properly, no amount of washing it in hot soapy water will hurt it.  At that point it is 'dishwasher safe'.  Just make sure to dry it over a low flame each time you wash it and then while it is still hot, apply a thin coating of fresh grease, using a paper towel to absorb any excess grease before storing it away for next time.

The question was put forth asking if I was the one who uses Albuterol and if it makes my heart beat scary fast.  "Yes, that was me."  Albuterol makes my heart beat so fast that sometimes it's going 125 at rest, in a sitting position.  I take a breathing treatment every 6-hours around the clock, making it very tough to get a good night's sleep.  I'll have to ask about that Levalbuterol, the fast heartbeat gives me almost continual migraine headache. 

[amyinowasso]

I'm so sorry about the migraines! I won't say levalbuteral won't speed up your heart, but it doesn't seem to bother me like albuteral.

[macmex]

We still use the old Griswold Dutch oven I purchased when I was 17 years old. I had just gotten my driver's license and decided on an early Saturday morning adventure, since my family's Volkswagen would be available. Before dawn I drove out to a very large flea market about 25 miles from home. Only had $5 in my pocket, but the idea that I could go by myself was exhilarating. I parked and started walking into the market as the sun cracked the horizon. As I came upon some of the first tables, on the outer edge of the market, I spotted a table with a beautiful 1 gallon size Dutch oven (the Griswold). Walking up to the vendor I nonchalantly asked "How much for the Dutch oven?" He looked at me and snapped, "$5, take it or leave it!" Concentrating, so as not to show my excitement, I pulled out my $5 and purchased it. Then I turned right around and drove home with it. I was done for that trip!

Back in the 70s cast iron wasn't in vogue. I knew about it from Scouting and had used a Dutch oven with the Scouts. My parents appreciated it, though. We cured that Dutch oven and I carried it with me when I left home for college, took it to the mission field and... brought it back to the USA with me.

Ron, I'm so happy when I hear how you cure cast iron. I did a video on it for Homesteading Edu and got roasted by some cast iron aficionados who accused me of giving bad information. They said one should use electrolysis to clean cast iron, and that I'd ruin it if I used a camp fire. In all my years I've only lost one piece when curing on a fire, and that was the time I dropped a cast iron frying pan into a wood stove to burn it off. Apparently the wood stove was too aggressive and not even in its heating.

I hope the alternative medication works for you. That albuteral can be brutal yet there are times that it's the only choice.

[heavyhitterokra]

George,

I wonder what that person was thinking who gigged you for using fire to clean cast iron? Our grandparents and their grandparents before them cleaned cast iron with fire their whole lives. They didn't have electrolysis available to them. Using fire to clean cast iron has probably existed since the time cast iron was invented.

I've cleaned several skillets inside my woodstove with no loss.  I usually did that sort of thing either on a Spring day, or on an Autumn day, when it feels good to have a small fire in the morning, but not in the afternoon.  I'd kindle a small fire, set the skillet on top of it, close the door and let it burn on low damper until it went out later in the day.  (By small, I mean a fire consisting of three or four sticks of wood, only meant to burn for a few hours).  When the fire was dead cold, I'd remove the skillet and clean it up.

The only skillet I've ever lost was one cleaned in a brushfire that was taken out too hot and set on the frozen ground by some people who were in a hurry to leave and were tired of waiting for the fire to die down.  (Patience is a virtue).

[macmex]

The pan I destroyed was ruined because I dropped it in a wood stove with a BLAZING fire going. 
Live and learn.

You're right though, until about 80 or 90 years ago, most of our forefathers didn't have electricity!

[hmoosek]

My newest Alcohol stove. This one is called the Starlyte. I put the quarter next to it, so you could see how tiny it is. This was purchased from Zelph. He’s semi-retired, but occasionally makes a few and I always try to grab one or two. 

The first time I fired it up, I just squirted some denatured alcohol in and lit it. I didn’t measure. I had about a cup of water in the mug. It boiled quickly. 

Then I decided I needed to get a bit more scientific. I poured a bottle of water in the mug. The 16.9 ounce water bottle. I measured an ounce (30ml) alcohol in and lit the stove. 

It boiled the water in 9 minutes 6 seconds. After boiling, the stove continued burning for 17 minutes and 7 seconds. 

This was done inside with optimal conditions. If outside, you would definitely need a wind screen.

Final thoughts.
I think this stove would be great for making a cup or two of coffee or tea. Maybe some Ramen Noodles. It doesn’t have a means of simmering, although it does boil for a lengthy amount of time.

If I were doing coffee or tea, I’d just squirt 1/2 ounce of alcohol in as it doesn’t need much to boil water.