How many of us bring dutch oven along?

[6x6pinz]

I have been using these http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/used-us-military-surplus-aluminum-storage-case.aspx?a=1100995 to carry my DO's. seems the offroading has been hard on my carry bags over the years. They fit the 12" oven nicely and the 10" with room for some cooking/cleaning items. considering the cost of the bags, not a bad deal really.

 

[Joanne]

Breaking an oven sucks but does occasionally happen. I lost a 10" deep when I opened the back door of my Trooper and it fell out raking down the front of my shin, smacking the top of my foot, and to add insult to injury, landed on the side cracking the oven. I limped around for the rest of the day angry for ruining one of my favorite ovens.

Lesson learned though. Pack the ovens so they don't move around.

I tend to pack them smaller ovens stacked into larger ovens (no more than 3 deep) with a doubled layer of dish towel between them. I'm not hard core offroading though.

Joanne

 

[Black Dog]

it fell out raking down the front of my shin, smacking the top of my foot

I chipped a tooth with the lid of an oven once. I was a short little runt in the scouts and the oven was up on top of the plywood chuck box, I was reaching up to pull it off and the lid slid off and smacked me on one of my top front teeth. It hit my tooth only and missed my lip, and I'm especially lucky it missed my nose.

 

[LifeRemotely]

Would not leave home without one.

It took us 9 months to find a Dutch oven on our trip down the Americas, eventually we had Jessica fly back from the U.S with a Lodge 5 quart.

Now it is a permanent fixture in our vehicle. Heavy yes, but so worth it. I mean how can you beat deep dish pizza or cinnamon rolls?

 

[Honu]

Learning dutch oven cooking

Have a cast iron but decided to pick up the GSI anodized aluminum and have to say very impressed
Hilldwilder ? Forgot his spelling was a large part why I tried one and am very happy so thanks to ya !
And a couple others here also who liked them

Made some focacia bread with fresh parm cheese and clean up was a paper towel
Pizza clean up paper towel cinamon rolls a paper towel
So far have not had to use any muscle etc...
Easier than my cast iron to clean so far

Love the low weight and nesting 10 and 12 weighing less than my single 10 or it feels less

Also trying that camp chef dome but having a issue with the top not getting as done as I want ? Using my magma grill as heat source new to me so learning it lots of burn bans here so want that option
Going to try my home camp chef stove ? Thinking not enough heat goes past up into the dome ?

 

[Joanne]

I've been thinking about the GSI aluminum ovens but just haven't pulled the trigger on one yet. Every report I have heard about them has been positive. One day I'll grab one just so I can see how I like them.

I purchased one of the Camp Chef domes for the exact same reason as you. Although the dome is a great idea, I don't think we can duplicate the top heat (and browning) that we get with coals on the lid. I have tried two different techniques with varying success. First, I removed the lid and used the dome with an open oven. My thinking is that if there are no coals to provide direct top heat, then remove the barrier between the food and the heat captured by the dome. Second, I preheated the lid on my camp stove before placing it on the oven so it would radiate heat down onto the food. Neither method was completely satisfactory, but they did work better than just throwing the dome over the oven.

Please let us know if you come up with any other techniques to improve browning when we are forced to cook over gas. :chef:

Also, preheating the lid will help improve "oven spring" any time you are baking breads, biscuits, or cakes. Depending on what I'm baking, I will preheat the entire oven then place the dough in the preheated oven. It will improve the crust on breads.

Gratuitous food pics to follow:

Joanne

Learning dutch oven cooking

Have a cast iron but decided to pick up the GSI anodized aluminum and have to say very impressed
Hilldwilder ? Forgot his spelling was a large part why I tried one and am very happy so thanks to ya !
And a couple others here also who liked them

Made some focacia bread with fresh parm cheese and clean up was a paper towel
Pizza clean up paper towel cinamon rolls a paper towel
So far have not had to use any muscle etc...
Easier than my cast iron to clean so far

Love the low weight and nesting 10 and 12 weighing less than my single 10 or it feels less

Also trying that camp chef dome but having a issue with the top not getting as done as I want ? Using my magma grill as heat source new to me so learning it lots of burn bans here so want that option
Going to try my home camp chef stove ? Thinking not enough heat goes past up into the dome ?

 

[Honu]

been reading the camp-cook forum some lots of info
good tips on the pre heat then was not sure about that !

have to say so far the aluminum is doing a great job on the crusts nice even brown ! though it would be really hot spoty and not having issues yet ? but I am new to this

yeah going to try the preheat the lid thing with the dome ! downside might be the aluminum hahaha all the heat I get I think I lost cause it cools so quick might work with steel though ?

I even tried my torch on top to blow down heat on the food direct ? made the cheese nice on the last pizza but that was it
a bit afraid to try the torch on the aluminum lid since the torch gets so hot !
now cast iron ? might be OK and had thought to try the torch thing and super heat the lid at the beginning and start out with a cold pan so the heat is on the top longer
did try one with the lid off also but did not seem to change to much

I do think something to be said about burner size my partner steel stove and my magma grill are smaller heat sources so maybe the huge ring burner from my home camp chef burner might throw more heat to the outside ?
going to try to do something tomorrow and test ! will post back ! I really want to get this dome down cause are AZ burn bans are here !

 

[6x6pinz]

I made my own dutch oven cover out of a metal pail. I shortened it down to fit over my 10" ovens and made a butterfly valve to adjust the release of heat out the top. I also made a heat diffuser plate. I need to make the diffuser plate adjustable so I can control the heat to the bottom of the oven. currently it is too open does not force enough heat around the oven to brown the food completely. I am sure that once that is done it will work fine. I am using a fish fryer that I modified to fit into the metal pail for storage and travel. The system works very well for those times when you can not have open fires/coals. I also use the burner as a heat source for my wok (made from an old disc left over from a disc harrow. The wok makes a great compliment to the dutch ovens.

 

[Honu]

Joanne found a couple posts on your camp cook forum
one member said use two diffusers
going to pick up a second one this week
did some monkey bread tonight and lowered my BBQ heat and left the lid off the aluminum 10 inch and got a bit closer to being done ? but still needed to finish it off in the oven ! but was closer the issue the bottom started going to quick so will report back when I put dual discs under it

now cleanup from the brown sugar and cinnamon sugar cause I know they say line your pan or use a liner well it wiped right out no mess at all used my nail on two or 3 little pieces and that was it !

 

[Honu]

I made my own dutch oven cover out of a metal pail. I shortened it down to fit over my 10" ovens and made a butterfly valve to adjust the release of heat out the top. I also made a heat diffuser plate. I need to make the diffuser plate adjustable so I can control the heat to the bottom of the oven. currently it is too open does not force enough heat around the oven to brown the food completely. I am sure that once that is done it will work fine. I am using a fish fryer that I modified to fit into the metal pail for storage and travel. The system works very well for those times when you can not have open fires/coals. I also use the burner as a heat source for my wok (made from an old disc left over from a disc harrow. The wok makes a great compliment to the dutch ovens.

sounds cool any pics ?

 

[Hilldweller]

Learning dutch oven cooking

Have a cast iron but decided to pick up the GSI anodized aluminum and have to say very impressed
Hilldwilder ? Forgot his spelling was a large part why I tried one and am very happy so thanks to ya !
And a couple others here also who liked them

So much easier, isn't it?

I leave the cast iron at home now all the time.

Browns great...

 

[6x6pinz]

Here are some photos of the dutch oven burner I made along with some other options I use with the burner. The red pressure tank is used for hot water showers, works pretty well as long as you let the water heat up slowly or it gets to hot to shower with (probably should add a thermometer)

 

[Sirocco]

Not only do we pack the DO but we brought our Portable Wood Burner along from the UK to the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan!

Hopefully it will last all the way to Siberia so with plenty of wood we can cook on it daily



Camel Stew 500km from the nearest town...

 

[Joanne]

Since we have transitioned into home built cooking accessories, here's one that I use a LOT. Based on a plow disk, black pipe, and roof flashing. The legs unscrew and the wind screen his held on with wing nuts for a quick breakdown.

For something a bit lighter weight. You can find a dish on almost any of your neighbor's roof...

Sometimes I have too much free time on my hands....

Joanne

 

[Hilldweller]

Those are great, Joanne.