Camp Dutch Oven Cooking

[Okraman]

Camp Dutch Ovens allow you to still have the food you want, especially while camping!

 

[Boatman53]

Never thought of using it upside down. Nice, looks delicious.
Jim

 

[ppine]

I learned from mule packers back in the 1970s.
I use an aluminum Dutch on river trips. Baked a cake for my 65th birthday.
Now I mostly cook in the back yard and on truck camping trips. Sometimes I camp near home and invite friends for dinner. I have a good fire going and dinner made by the time they get there.
I have had lots of winter tents parties and cooked for up to 45 people at a time.
Now that seems like a lot of work and I have small get togethers.

 

[Okraman]

Never thought of using it upside down. Nice, looks delicious.
Jim

I read somewhere about inverting the DO and decided to try it. It makes it easier to get the pizza when it’s finished baking. The main problem is not having a raised rim to help contain the ashes.

 

[Okraman]

When camping I still like using my Coleman stove. The smell of bacon and potatoes cooking outside is a great way to start a new day. This stove was one of our first pieces of camp gear, purchased about 1980. Most of the camp stoves you see these days are propane

 

[Robin]

I have one like yours, classic.

 

[Gamma1214]

I have a white gas camp stove and a dutch oven. I take neither on trips these days but I DO like the upside-down idea. I've never thought to do that but definitely will now.

 

[LanceR]

You can mix and match Lodge skillets and camp oven lids. A 12" skillet and 12" DO lid fit together.

We're camping on the Outer Banks at Oregon Inlet for 8-9 days. I'll post pics when we're back home. I'm only going to be home for one day before leaving on a 4 day climbing trip so it may be a while before I can post pics. We have both regular and deep 14", 12" and 10" camp ovens and a couple of the 8" size. I'll get pics of as many skillet/DO lids combos as I can.

This is a 12" Boboli pizza shell pizza in a Lodge 15" skillet with the lid from a 14" Lodge camp oven. The skillet is on three chunks of a broken fire brick I had laying around to keep it level and elevated.The pizza was made while camping with my bride a few years ago. The size mismatch seen here doesn't happen if the skillet and lid are the same diameter. The slightly smaller lid let a few ashes into the skillet.









I have an old "spider skillet" too. I'll try to get some action pics with it. These are pre-restoration photos.

 

[MJones]

I've always been impressed with what can be cooked in a Dutch oven, but have never taken one with me due to the weight. Instead, I have an Outback Oven. It too cooks a great pizza.

 

[yknpdlr]

When I was active as an adult in scouting, one fellow adult ("VIto") was quite the expert in Dutch oven cooking. At camporees he would often have a demo stack of up to 8 ovens piled high, all cooking with a different food content.

When I volunteered at one of the resident camps, Wednesdays were "Iron Chef" dinner days. Each troop was given a basket of the same basic food, along with one Mystery Ingredient. They had to do their best to come up with a Dutch oven cooked dinner to feed everyone in their troop. The staff would then visit each cook site with a checklist to score the meal in a number of rated criteria, including best tasting, of course, and use of the mystery ingredient. Some were very interesting; others were even better and quite creative.

 

[Okraman]

I've always been impressed with what can be cooked in a Dutch oven, but have never taken one with me due to the weight. Instead, I have an Outback Oven. It too cooks a great pizza.

Check out a GSI Anodized Aluminum DO. Considerably less weight and won’t rust. Should be great for canoe tripping.

 

[LanceR]

Instead, I have an Outback Oven. It too cooks a great pizza.

After years of looking for an Outback Oven I recently got my hands on a complete 10" one. I meant to bring it on this trip with a backpacking stove to try it out but managed to leave it sitting on the dining room table. Ahh, well. We have at least six more trips already scheduled this year. I'll get to it sooner or later.

Check out a GSI Anodized Aluminum DO. Considerably less weight and won’t rust. Should be great for canoe tripping.

I'm pretty sure they come in 10", 12" and 14" sizes. I had a 12" one for years that I rarely used. My oldest son has it now. At least I hope he still has it. The older ones had three legs like the Lodge cast iron ones. I think all the newer ones all have a flat bottom. EDIT: I looked at the GSI website. They show the 10" oven without legs and the 12" and 14" with legs. The trade-off for the 10" oven is that you'll need something for a stand when cooking with coals but it's easier to use on a stove or in a regular oven. My memory says the aluminum oven was harder to keep seasoned than an iron one but it was also being used around a bunch of Boy Scouts.

Lance

 

[scoutergriz]

After years of looking for an Outback Oven I recently got my hands on a complete 10" one. I meant to bring it on this trip with a backpacking stove to try it out but managed to leave it sitting on the dining room table. Ahh, well. We have at least six more trips already scheduled this year. I'll get to it sooner or later.


I'm pretty sure they come in 10", 12" and 14" sizes. I had a 12" one for years that I rarely used. My oldest son has it now. At least I hope he still has it. The older ones had three legs like the Lodge cast iron ones. I think all the newer ones all have a flat bottom. EDIT: I looked at the GSI website. They show the 10" oven without legs and the 12" and 14" with legs. The trade-off for the 10" oven is that you'll need something for a stand when cooking with coals but it's easier to use on a stove or in a regular oven. My memory says the aluminum oven was harder to keep seasoned than an iron one but it was also being used around a bunch of Boy Scouts.

Lance

Why are you seasoning it??? if it's anodized cast aluminium there are no pores for food to collect in, and no reason to even try it. in almost 30 years and hundreds of uses, I've never seasoned mine while cooking everything from birthday cakes to roasts and turkey rolls with never a problem. If you never damage the coating(hard to do) and only use plastic utensils it should remain almost non-stick for decades. Even burned- on food comes off easily with a soak with warm soapy water overnight, the lack of pores and no issues with rust means you CAN do this, unlike cast iron
right from their website- "This Dutch oven’s non-porous anodized surface means food won’t stick and the pot cleans up beautifully after you’re done. Best of all, there’s no need for time-consuming pre-seasoning." https://gsioutdoors.com/products/ha...1&_sid=739b81f16&_ss=r&variant=43788004720872

 

[LanceR]

Why are you seasoning it???

Griz,

Thinking back, mine was a bare aluminum version, not an anodized one. I can't remember clearly when we got it but we had it before my then 10 year old son crossed over from a Cub Scout pack to his Boy Scout Troop and he's 45 now. I'm not even sure it was made by GSI as a couple of companies were making aluminum Dutch ovens at the time. I don't know if GSI still makes a bare aluminum oven as they don't seem to list them on their website but a few places still show them online.... Whether they are in stock or old dead end listings I don't know. I pulled this image off one of the ads. I had the 12" one with legs. They advertise that the 10" one without legs nests in the 12" one.



Lance