This is a membership forum. As a guest, you can click around a bit. View 5 pages for free. If you are a member you must log in now. If you would like to participate, please join.
Going to purchase one today. Looking at 5qt and 8qt deep version. Says 5" deep on both, one 10" round the other 12". Question is, for those of you that use these, for the wife and I or for general cooking which size would you recommend? I envision, corn bread, chili, beans maybe a stew. Is one size better for most recipes?
Thanks Rick
Last edited by gardenfish; September 7, 2015, 08:39 AM.
smarkley I just measured some of my sauce pans and took your advice. I ordered the L10DCO3. Its a 5 qt - 10" pound and 5" deep w/legs. Last week I got the lid stand and lid lifter so by next week should be ready to try it out.
Now to figure out what to cook it on. Somewhere I have a pizza stone. Do you think that would hold the coals and cooker ok sitting on the ground? I do not have any roll away grass like Meathead
you could use your kettle... take the top grill out... SnS out... put something on the grill like a pizza pan or stone to hold the coals and use that... or get an old wash tub... that works too. Also... if you have a lid stand... build the fire set the lid stand in the fire and the dutch oven lid upside down on the stand... instant pizza stone LOL
I stumbled onto this site about a week ago. Might have alotta good ideas / recipes / techniques. Don't know as I haven't ventured into this arena yet. Looks pretty cool!
ya Medusa ... dutchovendude has a lot recipes... they are all simpler things, but good stuff! He also has some good info on sizing and hitting different temps with charcoal... useful!
If you like more involved recipes... I find this site to be really good:
Karon Adams Consort of the Flame Cooking is a Sacred Endeavour
Big Poppa's Drum conversion
Maverick wireless meat & grill thermometers
Thermopen Instant Read Thermometer
Pit IQ blower
I'm a Cast Iron devotee. Might have something to do with the Lodge Factory being just up the road. but, I think it mostly has to do with Cast Iron being the least expensive & most versatile, long lasting piece of kitchen equipment in the world! Seriously, you will need to decide who gets it in your will...
Anyway, Cast is the best of the best for what it does best. and terrific at everything else. Some people don't get decent results for Cast. think it just isn't a good way to cook anything. these are the people who sell or toss Cast and supply the garage sales, thrift stores and junk yards. very sad, cause with a few simple bits of info, you can get the very most out of Cast Iron.
First things first. season. this is the one and ONLY time you should put soap on this metal. scrub it down to remover the wax coating the factory uses to protect the metal.
then, slather the entire piece, inside, out, handle, top bottom, everything, with a thick layer of lard. Crank up one of your smaller grills to around 400 degrees. put the cast onto the grilling surface and close the lid. then step back because you are going to have smoke rolling off that thing for a while. and not the yummy tasty smoke that makes you hungry.
that is what you want. burning that fat off at high temp is going to leave a beautiful, smooth, slick carbon coating on your cast iron. one that will build and refine itself over time.
in general useage, don't use it for anything acidic (You Sunday Pasta Gravy is out, here) those acids will damage your non stick surface. NEVER wash the piece with soap and water. if you must 'clean' the piece, put a few tablespoons of table salt on the piece and scrub with the salt and some hot water. Rinse in hot water, then place the piece on a low fire on the stove until completely dry. then, redress the piece, especially the cooking surface, with oil. just a light coating, all over.
I have recently seen some way cool chain mail wash 'cloths' designed specifically for cast iron. absolutely BRILLIANT idea and I will be making one of those for myself, soon.
most of the time, though, when you are finished with it, just wipe out most of the oil with some paper, leaving a thin coat, and set aside. using it regularly keeps it in shape.
A Dutch Oven Specifically is incredibly useful and diverse in it's uses. the feet and the lid with the rim are part of the design that makes it the perfct way to cook dinner while camping. put your meal inside the oven, settle the closed oven into the coals of your campfire, throw some hot coals on the lid, as well and you have, literally, and oven. good for everything from soups and stews to breads and desserts.
My cast Dutch Oven is a roasting oven for stove top and oven. no feat, no rim on the lid. the underside of the lid looks like something from a medieval torture chamber. it is a great want to braise meat, put together an entire roasted anything meal and have it all perfect when finished. on the stove top, sear off your meat inside the cast iron, then put everything in, close the lid and pop it into the oven. the spikes on the lid means that the moisture from the meal gathers on the lid, then follows the spikes to evenly drip back down onto the food.
sorry for the long wind. I hope you can find something useful in it. I love Cast iron and have been using it most of my life. once you are used to it, it is the very best piece available for what it does. just be aware of care, and the strengths and weaknesses. work within the parameters and you will fall in love with Cast Iron.
Pop over to the Lodge Website and grab a few of the Cast Iron books. I lean more towards the HOW RO USE cast iron books rather than the recipe collection books. but I do that in any cooking choice.
a few cast iron pieces, a couple of non stick skillets (cause once in a while you just NEED a crepe) and some great stainless steel sauce pans and you can cook ANYTHING!!
I have named my beast 9 QT. The Iron Maiden. Because of the underside of the lid as you say. (After the medieval torture device you mentioned) Karon Adams
Karon Adams Consort of the Flame Cooking is a Sacred Endeavour
Big Poppa's Drum conversion
Maverick wireless meat & grill thermometers
Thermopen Instant Read Thermometer
Pit IQ blower
I have made chili in it but you want to reseason after. I wouldn't make an Italian Sunday gravy, but a Chili would do. just the amount of acid involved and the reseason after. Non stick isn't quite as big a deal in a dutch oven as would be in a skillet. so while I would NEVER cook anything at ALL with tomatoes or other acidic elements in my cast iron skillets, I am OK doing so in the Dutch oven. it ruins the non stick finish but you don't really need that for stews and roasts.
Interesting historical tip, in people who use cast iron, vs other types of pots, the women typically had a statistically significant less occurrence of anemia. the explanations that in using the cast iron, especially when using it to cook some things that are a bit acidic, like sauce with tomatoes, a tiny but dietetically beneficial amount of iron is leached into the food and acts as an iron supplement. Interesting little tidbit I read while learning about my own anemia.
Karon Adams Consort of the Flame Cooking is a Sacred Endeavour
Big Poppa's Drum conversion
Maverick wireless meat & grill thermometers
Thermopen Instant Read Thermometer
Pit IQ blower
Lid lifter? that is generally the nearest heavy spoon or turned about ladle. occasionally tongs... ;-) but DO remember, when you are cooking soups and stews and roasts in that, be EXTREMELY careful when opening. NOTHING burns so badly as a Steam Burn and while it looks low tech, a cast iron Dutch Oven builds a small amount of gentle pressure that will burn you if you open the pot wrong.
Amen, an' Hallelujah, on th' Steam Burns!!!! BTDT!!! Don't be that Guy/Gal!!!!
(Unless yer jus' fond of dermabrasion, silver sulfadiazene, agonizin' pain, an' huge scars!!!
I just bought a 15 yesterday because I needed to saute some onions for BBQ beans at an offsite cook, so I put her right in the new big charcoal grill over the coals, and before long, voila! I had a hot skillet.
...
Comment