Cooking Nice

Cooking over an open fire doesn’t mean you have to give up your favorite baked and roasted foods. You might even find that your old favorites are greatly enhanced when cooked in a Dutch oven. A rimmed lid and feet on the bottom are characteristics of the Dutch oven made for open fire cooking.

DON’T USE METAL UTENSILS
Metal spoons shouldn’t be used on the inside of a seasoned cast iron pot. Heavy duty wood or should be used in place of the metal utensils which will mar the seasoned coating.

A COOK’S FIRE
An hour before you wish to begin cooking, build a hot fire using hard wood. Avoid commercial charcoal or resinous (soft) wood as a fuel. Resinous woods are soft, tend to burn cooler than hard woods, and produce much black soot. Not only is this residue bad for humans, it leaves a flammable coating on chimneys, and coats your cookware with soot. Because chemical additives and binders are used in the manufacturing process of charcoal, I don’t use commercial briquettes in my cook fire. Avoid both of these problems by learning to build a good cook fire from hardwood. Make sure a good bed of red coals has been laid. An oven mitt or heat resistant cloth can serve to protect your hands from the heat while a curved piece of iron can serve as your lid-lifter.

PRE-HEAT YOUR DUTCH OVEN
Use a paper towel or clean cloth to wipe the inside of the lid and pot. While you prepare your ingredients, place the lid on your Dutch oven and set it near the fire to warm. This is similar to pre-heating your standard oven. A warmed pot will cook more evenly and allows the oil to penetrate the iron. The lid keeps ashes from flying into the pot. While your pot is warming, you may wish place any onions or peppers that your recipe calls for into the container where they can gently simmer and provide a flavorful layer beneath the rest of the ingredients.

PLACING FOOD INTO YOUR OVEN
Assemble the ingredients for your recipe. Seasonings are important; don’t forget them. The pre-heated oven should be moved away from the heat of the fire. The hot lid is best removed by using a curved metal rod.

Add layers of your other ingredients. This is the time when you would add any broth or water and grains, like rice. Add any additional vegetables. The meat rests on top of any vegetables, rice or potatoes so that it may flavor them as it cooks. Be mindful of the depth of your pot at this point as you don’t want your food to touch the underside of your pot’s lid. If you are baking bread or a desert, place the batter/dough/ingredients into the pot just as you would before placing it into a regular kitchen oven. Cover the pot with the lid.

PLACING THE OVEN TO THE COALS
Using a shovel, scoop some hot coals to the edge of the fire and make a small mound. I find that this makes things much more manageable than trying to place the Dutch oven into the fire. Rest the Dutch oven on this small pile and then shovel more hot coals onto the lid. After you’ve gotten a good even coating of hot coals beneath and on top of your oven shovel some ash around the base and sprinkle it over the top. This is called banking your fire. By covering the coals, they are ‘banked’ or shielded from oxygen, allowing them to burn slowly and steadily.

Your cooking time should be similar to the time used in a modern kitchen oven or a little longer if your coals are cool. Use your shovel to remove the live coals from the top when finished. Use a fire-resistant brush to remove any remaining debris. Using a pad, lift the pot by the handle, protecting your hand from the heat. Move the vessel off of the live coals and set it away from the fire. Use a piece of curved iron to lift the lid and set it aside. Examine your food for doneness. If done, serve with a wooden serving spoon. If not, replace the lid, return the pot to the small bed of coals it sat on previously, replacing more coals onto the lid. When a few more minutes have passed, you can repeat the process, checking for doneness.

If your first try results in a bit of burned crust, that’s fine. You will soon get the hang of it. Any scorched surfaces will be ignored by those that have been inhaling the aroma of the fire-baked meal. Leftovers seldom remain. You should have some eager diners.

CLEAN UP & STORAGE
Wipe the interior of your pot clean with a wash cloth, soft sided scrub pad or wooden spoon. Eventually, you’ll likely find that a clean towel will easily do the job. Reheating your pot by sitting it next to the fire will help remove any stubborn bits of glued on food. Dutch ovens should not be run through dishwashers or submerged in dishwater. Detergents and hot water soaks will strip your cast iron of its protective coating. Wipe your cleaned pot with oil to recoat it between uses. When you are able to see your reflection in the bottom of the oven, you’ve gotten a nicely seasoned piece of cast iron. Cover the pot with its lid for storage.

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