Dutch Oven recipes for summer and winter

[miss_thenorth]

Way back when we lived up north, we had our off grid cottage, and in the summer, it was way too hot to cook in the house. We had an outdoor cookstove that I used almost exclusively to cook on in the summer. I used to make a whole bunch of one pot meals, like throw a roast of whatever variety, (ham, beef, deer, moose etc) plus some onions carrots and potatoe--with some water. You would get th fire going good and hot to bring everything to a boil right away, and then throw on a log and come back to it every once in a while to stoke the fire. If you wanted water to boil, fry bacon and eggs, etc., you would need very small kindling pieces to keep the fire good and hot. In the winter, I used to do the same but on tip of the woodstove inside the cabin. You could do basically anything you wanted with a cast iron pot, but if you want to cook outside, you don;t need to limit yourself to just that pot.

If you are wanting to cook on a a woodstove, what you need to do is get a thermometer that can gauge the temp of your stove, then play around with fire . find out what it takes to maintain 300F and what it takes to get 500F. then you are set. You can now use your dutch oven for virtually anything, but also your cast iron frying pans. Enjoy!! I loved cooking on my wood cookstove.

 

[Boogity]

savingdogs - your new Dutch oven will bring you many years of great service. Since it's a size that is convenient you will find yourself using it more and more. That big bath tub thing we have hardly ever gets used.

 

[savingdogs]

I'm anxious to get rolling, I bought the thing after I finished my grocery shop so I didn't buy stuff I'd like to make in it, I'm champing at the bit!

 

[Kingsfarm]

Marianne, how do you make skillet bread...I don't have a cooking stove (wood) per say but have a cast iron skillet and an electric stove....our wood burning stove is in the living room...only a little one...has two burners on top (can only use it in winter if cold enough in Louisiana) thank you for the receipe......G

 

[Homemaker]

Thanks all for the info about keeping the lid off during storage. I always put mine away with the lid on. I'll have to quit doing that.
I also have a tendency to burn things on occasion and sometime I cook gooey stuff. If there are still bits stuck to the bottom of the pan and placing it directly into the fire is not an option you can dry clean it with some salt. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt on the bottom of the pan and use a rag to wipe it out. It should come right up. The salt just gives the rag a little extra grit. I've heard old coffee grounds work for this too. Though I have yet to try it. Normally if the food isn't baked on I use dried corn cobs to scrub out the bottom of our cast iron. Then I can just toss it in the compost or if we are camping to goes in the fire.