Dutch Oven Cooking

One Method of Cooking without electricity is cooking with a Dutch Oven. I used to think of Dutch Oven cooking as a camping ritual or something tied to cobbler type desserts. 

When I was asked to participate in a cooking without electricity class and realized how very wrong I was......These tips helped me look at the recipes I use regularly and realize.........Anything you can cook on your stovetop or in your oven can be made in a Dutch Oven. Please consider the following:

One of the problems I had when I started dutch oven cooking was figuring out what size od dutch oven to use.. I had a hard time converting from standard pan size to dutch oven size. Sometimes I'd have my 10 inch dutch oven so full that it would overflow as it cooked and other times I wouldn't have nearly enough food in my larger oven so it made a mess. The following are great tips for sizing your recipe to a dutch oven.

8 x 8 baking pan = 8 or 10 inch dutch oven

11 x 7 baking pan = 10 inch dutch oven

9 x 13 baking pan = 12 inch dutch oven

10 x 15 baking pan = 14 inch dutch oven

If you still aren't sure what size to use, go with the bigger pot. It's easier to keep from burning an under filled pot than it is to clean up an overflowing

 The following chart allows you to bake in your dutch oven without burning the bottom of your food.

BAKING TEMPERATURE CHART

FOR DUTCH OVEN COOKING

Oven Size

Top/bottom 325°    350°    375°    400°    425°    450°

8"            15       16        17        18       19        20

*****      10/5      11/5    11/6     12/6     13/6     14/6

10"         19        21        23        25        27       29

*****      13/6     14/7     16/7     17/8     18/9    19/10

12"         23        25        27        29        31        33

*****      16/7     17/8     18/9    19/10    21/10   22/11

14"         30        32        34        36        38         40

*****     20/10    21/11   22/12   24/12   25/13    26/14

Baking temperatures taken from regular cookbooks, sometimes refer to

Slow, Moderate, Hot or Very Hot ovens. Those terms normally reflect the

following temperatures: Slow: 250°-350°; Moderate: 350°-400°; Hot:

400°-450°

And finally a link to a great BSA web site with tips and recipes ....ENJOY

Please leave a comment if you have anything to add or that would be useful to others on this subject:)

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