Cast Iron Dutch Oven Cooking

Whether over a campfire in the woods or in the backyard using modern conveniences, cast iron cooking with dutch ovens goes hand-in-hand with low and slow barbecue techniques.

I have two cast iron dutch ovens.  One is a Lodge #10 and the second is a #12 purchased at a local sporting goods retailer that imported it from a Chinese manufacturer (I don't recall the brand). I wish I'd held out for another Lodge, but I was in a hurry and needed a larger oven for a backyard event at the in-laws the next weekend. The price was attractive, so I purchased it.

Tonight I decided to cook supper on them.  I pulled out the dutch oven recipe book and prepared two cornish hens in the #12 and a delicious casserole made from potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, and sevreral strips of bacon.

I don't use Kingsford charcoal much anymore,
but it works well for dutch oven cooking.

After combining the casserole ingredients in the #10 dutch oven.

This was one of the best dutch oven dishes I've ever cooked.

I should have used a little more top heat to brown the chicken toward the end of cook.

I forgot how much I enjoy campfire cooking with the cowboy version of a microwave.  I hope to add dutch oven cooking segments to the bbq blog on a regular basis going forward. Now I need to find some more receipes.

For the casserole I started by browning 1 pound of bacon and saving the drippings. Then I sliced 12 small potatoes, cut two large onions into rings, added 1 pound of baby carrots, sliced two large bell peppers into rings, and added a packaged of sliced mushrooms. The mixture was combined and cooked for 1 hour with 10 briquettes for bottom heat and 12 briquettes for top heat.

The cornish hens were cooked for 1 hour in two cups of water and 2 tablespoons of chicken broth using a trivet. I cooked them with 12 briquettes of bottom heat for 1 hour. I added 12 briquettes for top heat during the last 30 minutes of the cook.  The hens were basted with a vinegar and butter mixture every 15 minutes. The end result was a moist chicken that paired very well with the potato casserole.

These two recipes and several others are available from the American West Dutch Oven Cooking cook book.