The Dutch Oven - A Holiday Cooking Solution

Re-post courtesy Riverwalker's Stealth Survival

If you are planning a holiday and are stuck with the cooking duty, you may be able to solve your cooking problems quite easily. You may want to consider a little outdoor cooking with a Dutch oven. Instead of standing over a hot stove all day, you can spend your day visiting with friends and family while preparing a delicious meal for your guests.

A Dutch oven is a cooking pot made of metal with a thick wall. It is usually made of cast iron and has a lid that fits tightly to ensure the retention of your food’s nutrients and flavors.

It is believed that early Dutch trader’s cast iron pots gave rise to the name “Dutch Oven”. Since the early days of the American frontier, people have been using Dutch ovens as a method for preparing a variety of foods. This method of preparing food was extremely effective for cooking a large number of food items.

Dutch ovens can be made of aluminum, steel or cast iron. In Australia, a “bedourie” camp oven is a steel cookpot shaped and used like a dutch oven. Named after Bedourie, Queensland, the Bedourie ovens were developed as a more robust (non-breakable) alternative to the more fragile cast iron dutch ovens. It also made them more convenient to carry due to their lighter weight.

One of the best ways to plan your holiday cooking is to prepare it in a Dutch oven outdoors. A Dutch oven is an easy way to cook up something special for your family and friends, while giving the cook a much needed break. Unlike standing over a hot fire at the stove or being smoked out by a BBQ grill or smoker, this is a lot easier and requires less cleanup time.

Cooking in a Dutch oven will allow you to prepare meals that do not take all your holiday time away from your family and guests. Dutch ovens are best suited for slow or long cooking, such as preparing roasts, casseroles, soups or stews. They’re excellent for cooking beans and cornbread. You can also stack Dutch ovens on top of each other to utilize the heat from you fire to a greater extent. Using charcoal is the best and simplest way of cooking food with a Dutch oven. Nothing compares to the versatility and ease of use of the Dutch oven. Dutch oven cooking will also impress your family and friends with the opportunity for a really great meal this holiday season they probably couldn’t get anywhere else.

Many of us have been taught to prepare our meals using electricity or natural gas. There is always a chance of not having the gas or electricity to cook our food. In today’s uncertain and ever-changing world, learning to prepare meals with a Dutch oven may bring a little practical cooking experience to your life, as well as great tasting food!

This year make your holiday meal a unique experience! Go Dutch!

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker