Dutch Oven newbie

[skamper75]

I got a Lodge 12" d.o. for Christmas and have been reading some of yalls great tips and recipes. Its been rainy all weekend so I set up a metal table under the garage overhang, put a pan on some bricks and gave it a trial burn. Last night I made beef stew like we make in the crock pot, turned out great; only needed bigger potato chuncks. Tonight I made "Headquarters Chilli Pie with Cornmeal Crust" from the Marlboro "Fifty From The Trail" book. Kids found it a bit hot, I could have used some more HEAT. It was great.  Next weekend maybe I'll get into a cobbler or something. Cant wait till camping season to cook in camp instead of the garage.

[oldmoose]

Congrats on your new oven. We got our son a DO table and a 12" deep for Xmas and his wife gave him a 14" deep.
 
Moose

[cruising usa]

I got a Lodge 12" d.o. for Christmas and have been reading some of yalls great tips and recipes. Its been rainy all weekend so I set up a metal table under the garage overhang, put a pan on some bricks and gave it a trial burn. Last night I made beef stew like we make in the crock pot, turned out great; only needed bigger potato chuncks. Tonight I made "Headquarters Chilli Pie with Cornmeal Crust" from the Marlboro "Fifty From The Trail" book. Kids found it a bit hot, I could have used some more HEAT. It was great.  Next weekend maybe I'll get into a cobbler or something. Cant wait till camping season to cook in camp instead of the garage.

Keep up the good work a DO meal always taste better.  Good luck

[brainpause]

Make sure it is seasoned well.

For anyone who has bought one, and is hunting the seasoning method, here is what worked very well for us:

1. Clean any rust or gunk (price tag glue, etc.) off the outside. You may use soap for this first step only. Another option is to put a cast iron DO through a cleaning cycle in your oven (self cleaning cycle).

2. Coat the inside and outside of the DO and lid COMPLETELY, using Crisco or some other type of cooking oil. I recently read NOT to use vegetable oil, and I'm not sure why. We did, and it worked fine.

3. Put the DO upside down in the oven, along with the lid, separated from one another. You may put aluminum foil under it to catch any drippings.

4. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees, and "cook" for one hour.

5. Turn the oven off, and allow the DO to cool inside the oven. We left ours overnight.

6. Repeat until satisfactory coating is attained. We probably did ours 5 or 6 nights in a row, and it is now like Teflon. That was about 3 years ago.

7. Never use soap again on it, unless you are cleaning for re-seasoning. We have not used soap since we seasoned it, because it cleans so easily.

8. After cooking in it, wipe it clean (and you can also rinse with water).

9. Dry carefully with paper towels, and reapply oil/shortening on the outside. Always store with a coat of oil on it. We bought a DO carrying case, and it is WORTH IT. It allows me to put a generous coat of oil on it, and put it in the case, zip it up, and it never causes any grease problems with anything around it.

Hope this helps someone.

Larry

[AustinBoston]

6. Repeat until satisfactory coating is attained. We probably did ours 5 or 6 nights in a row, and it is now like Teflon.

Except for two things - First, when Teflon wears out, it can not be re-surfaced, and second, Teflon (including Silverstone) is extremely poisonous when overheated.

Austin (only uses cast iron frying pans any more)