Flounder's Peach Cobbler Recipe OJ Spring Issue 2013

[Corey]

SPR13-131 Article Classic Kit Christophe Noel Dutch Ovens

In the spring 2013 issue is a Dutch oven article from member Flounder.
When I got all of my Lodge cast iron cookware several years back I never got around to testing out my 10" and 8" Dutch ovens to see how a peach cobbler would turn out by cooking on either a home stove top or a camp stove.

His article calls for using coals underneath the pot and on top of the lid to achieve replicating a 350 ° oven.
Can one successfully cook a cobbler on top of the stove for 40 minutes like he does in his article, or do you have to do it inside of an oven or with the coals top and bottom?

Not his picture below.

 

[taugust]

You can try it, but I wouldn't recommend it. The dutch oven works by using the coals top and bottom to evenly add heat to the cast iron, which radiates inside. More coals on top are needed to force the heat downward. When baking, I always place the bottom coals in a ring under the outside edge of the pot. The heat wraps around and up the sides and spreads toward the center. Combined with the top coals, you have oven temps evenly spread throughout the pot for baking. If you have coals in or near the center underneath, it creates a heat concentration that will burn your food. Using a stove with the flame near the center will create the same heat concentration that will likely burn the underside, and undercook the top, as no heat comes down from the lid. You can use a dutch oven in a kitchen oven, but it just becomes a covered pot.

Good luck.

 

[Black Dog]

http://oces.okstate.edu/pittsburg/family-and-consumer-sciences/recipe-books/LodgeBakingTempChart.pdf

That is the chart I go by for deciding how many coals to use on top and bottom to get a target temperature.

 

[mandingo]

Thanks for posting the Lodge chart Black Dog. Just what I needed.

 

[Joanne]

taugust gave some good advice. Heat migrates towards the center of the oven causing a hot spot. Additional heat in the center generally causes burning. The only time I use a full set of coals under the oven is if I am using it as a frying pan to fry chicken breasts, sausage, hamburger, and such. I use a single ring slightly larger than the diameter of the base of the oven for all other baking.

Heat migrates to the center of the oven.

In my experience, this is where more beginners go wrong than any other issue. The have immediate success as soon as they get the coals set correctly.

Hope this helps

Joanne

You can try it, but I wouldn't recommend it. The dutch oven works by using the coals top and bottom to evenly add heat to the cast iron, which radiates inside. More coals on top are needed to force the heat downward. When baking, I always place the bottom coals in a ring under the outside edge of the pot. The heat wraps around and up the sides and spreads toward the center. Combined with the top coals, you have oven temps evenly spread throughout the pot for baking. If you have coals in or near the center underneath, it creates a heat concentration that will burn your food. Using a stove with the flame near the center will create the same heat concentration that will likely burn the underside, and undercook the top, as no heat comes down from the lid. You can use a dutch oven in a kitchen oven, but it just becomes a covered pot.

Good luck.