RE: Dinner for 10

[AustinBoston]

 DD#2 s graduation from HS was Thursday, and friends & family from all over were scheduled to converge on the house Wednesday for supper.  I think the plan everybody else had was to go out to dinner, which is the easiest way to feed ten hungry people.
 
 Yes, there were ten of us.  Me & PJay, DD#1, DD#2, and DS, PJay s Sis & her hubby (drove up from Florida), PJay s Mom (Travler77) & Stepdad (drove out from Rochester, NY area), and a friend of Trav s from New Zealand named Sally (flew from New Zealand & has been travelling with Trav for a spell).  SIL & her hubby are newlyweds, so they really wanted a private place to sleep, but Trav, Mr. Trav, & Sally are staying in the Taj MaHaul.
 
 It seemed obvious (to everyone else) that we would go out to dinner.  Especially when you realized that PJay and I both worked a full day.  But PJay can be full of surprises.
 
 When she & I first talked about dinner plans, we had both already thought of doing a Dutch Oven dinner for the crew.  I suggested several things I wanted to try to do to help, but it became quite clear that I had only three tasks.  1) Keep her supplied with hot briquettes 2) Lift anything heavy that needed lifting and 3) Don t interfere.  That s what I planned on doing.  PJay is an excellent cook.
 
 When I got home, it was damp and slightly drizzly, but the DO feast was on.  Pam wanted me to set up a dining fly so she could cook without getting rained on.  After a few minutes, I found the tarp, but couldn t find the poles.  I seemed to recall tossing them because we don t use the dining flys any more with the pop-up.  I never did find the poles.
 
 But being the resourceful New Englander that I am I soon had several people helping me set up the canopy on the Taj MaHaul.
 
 I had to rush off for a quick appointment, and when I got home 20 minutes later PJay had already set up her brand new DO table and started the charcoal.  It was just a few minutes after that (just as the charcoal was starting to ash over) that the first oven came out.  It was the 14"  one, our largest.  I set my watch to beep every ten minutes.  From that point on, I would turn the ovens every time the watch beeped.  PJay asked me to turn and shift the contents periodically and at some point add some secret liquid to it.  I turned the contents every time I turned the ovens.
 
 It was just me and sFIL for a while, but we could see a great deal of activity in the kitchen.  (Note to men: When you are outside relaxing, and women are inside preparing food, all is right with the world.  DO NOT go into the kitchen.  If they need you, they will let you know.  DO NOT risk anything that might be interpreted as interfering.  I learned this fact years ago and it has kept us happily married for 21 years.  It has also kept me well fed, as my 50-75 extra pounds indicate.  A chaotic kitchen full of related women [DW, MIL, SIL, DD#1, DD#2, oh, and Sally] is no place for a man.  The newlywed BIL hasn t got this quite figured out but eventually found a corner of the living room with his newspapers.)
 
 After about 30 minutes, Trav brought the 12"  oven out, and she told me " 350ø for 45 minutes, 2/3 timing."   I don t think PJay explained to her what 2/3 timing was.  I asked her if it was supposed to be mostly top heat (I thought so, most everything that cooks on 2/3 timing gets mostly top heat), and she said yes. I got that one set up on separate coals because the coals on the 14"  lid would have been too hot, and because the 14"  oven needed to be opened frequently.
 
 That was almost immediately followed by DD#2 with the 8"  oven and I was told " 325ø for 25-35 minutes, check at 25 minutes" .  I then asked if it needed 2/3 timing (I thought it did) and she said, " yes, I forgot about that" .  I didn t even ask if it was mostly top heat.  It went on top of the 12"  oven.  I had arranged the coals on the 12"  oven so that most of them were near the edge, with just enough in the center to give me the heat needed in the 8"  oven.
 
 Almost immediately, I poured more charcoal in the chimney, because by the time it was ready, the big oven would need more.  Just as I was ready to sit down, my watch beeped.  Turn the big oven, turn and shift the contents, then turn the two smaller ovens.  I didn t need to turn them at that point, but I wanted them to all need turning at the same time.
 
 Just as I finished and was ready to sit down, PJay came down, and we started adding heat to the 14"  oven.  It was clear that it wasn t cooking quite as fast as needed.  I would have been concerned about scorching, but the secret ingredient (some sort of lemon/water/oil mixture, and I m not sure about the oil) had enough liquid in it that it wouldn t be a problem.
 
 Soon, everyone was gone, and sFIL and I were left on our own for a bit.  I added more charcoal to the chimney because I knew the 12"  would need it.  A few more beeps of the watch and it was time to get the heat out from under the two smaller ovens.  I scraped the coals to one side and put the 12"  tight in the corner of the table, then put the 8"  in the center near the front edge.  It was a tight fit.  I added a few coals to the tops of all three ovens and re-arranged the coals that were there to try to spread the heat evenly.
 
 Just as I sat down, PJay came down to check the contents.  The two smaller ovens were nearly done. (It was the first time they had been opened.)  She had me bring the 8"  oven up and put it on the table.  First, I found a hot pad to put under it, then put a towel over it to keep it warm.  By the time I got back to the cooking area, Trav and one of the DD s were carrying two platters back with the primary contents of the 14"  oven.
 
 PJay had me remove the 14"  oven (it was 1/4 full of liquid, which I nearly spilled).  Then she said " I want as much heat as you can give me, right there,"  and pointed to where the oven had been.  She needed to boil the contents of the oven.  I dumped a bunch of hot coals from the chimney onto the table and she said that would be enough.  Then she had me carry the 12"  oven with contents up to the kitchen.  This was for desert, so I was not supposed to put it on the table.  I put it on the kitchen stove and draped two clean dish towels over it to keep it warm.
 
 About a minute after returning to the cooking area, she had me pour the liquid contents of the 14"  oven into a pitcher.  I made sure the area was safe (making sure nothing was going to fall over or catch fire), and we headed up to the house.
 
 The 14"  oven had a bunch of chicken pieces cooked in a lemon/pepper sauce, and the 8"  oven had some Mexican Spoon Bread (a type of corn corn bread that you can t slice so you serve it with a spoon).  That would never have made a meal for 10, so the stovetop was used to prepare a big pot of rice and cook up some fresh veggies (carrots and broccoli).  For desert, we had a perfect Blueberry cake, still warm from the 12"  DO.
 
 There were glasses of ice water and sweet tea, and DD#1 (who is into loose leaf teas) brewed several cups of Lady Gray tea for herself and Sally.  It was all we could do to finish desert, and, in fact, our 12 YO DS didn t, leaving part of his cake on his plate.
 
 The spoken agreement between PJay and I is if we cook with the DO s, I clean them up.  I feel like I get the better side of the bargain.
 
 After dinner, I went to town with those DO s.  I had filled the 14"  with hot water before we sat down, so all it needed was a light scrubbing and a rinse-out.  I dried it, and spread Crisco all over the inside.  It was just hot enough to melt the Crisco.  I then used a paper towel to remove all of the excess Crisco, leaving only a very thin coat.  I repeated the process with the other two ovens.  The lids had been left outside while we ate because they still had coals on them, and so were too hot to wash.  When I had finished washing the pots, the lids were cool enough and I went to work on them.
 
 We only use Crisco on the ovens because we always have it handy and we know how it works.  I will normally only coat the inside, but will coat the outside of the lid every third or fourth use, depending on how it looks.  After the initial seasoning, I coated the outside of the DO s themselves only once, after the first time they were used.  Since then, they haven t needed to be touched.  I think the seasoning on the outsides of the ovens last longer because they are not normally in direct contact with the coals or with food.  The lids, on the other hand, have the coals placed directly on them, so it sort of burns the coating off.  Eventually, even the lids will be well seasoned and will only rarely need to be coated with Crisco.
 
 The two newer ovens (the 8"  and 14" ) have only been used a half dozen or so times, so they are not quite as black and well-seasoned as the 12" , which has been in more than 20 states with us camping.
 
 I thought we had enough DO s, but now I m wondering if adding a 10"  and a deep 12"  might not be a bad idea.  After all, we had to cook rice and vegetables on the stove!  Of course, this would mean needing another DO table as well, and possibly another charcoal chimney.  And all of those things will need carrying cases.
 
 I guess we ve been bit by another bug...the Dutch Oven bug.
 
 Austin (can I get air bags for a pop-up?)
 

[reallygreen]

 AustinBoston
Great description!  I could almost smell the aromas.

[tlhdoc]

 AustinBoston
And you didn t invite us[&:].

[ShirleyT]

 AustinBoston
Think I would go for the dinner out. But then again I do NOT like to cook. [: (] But sounds like you guys do a wonderful job!

[birol]

 AustinBoston
AB ! I would like to meet you one day ! You are one **ll of a guy ! This is just great !

[AustinBoston]

 birol

ORIGINAL:  birol
 
 AB ! I would like to meet you one day ! You are one **ll of a guy ! This is just great !

 Please...I m much better at portraying myself than I am at being myself.  I m sure if we met you d be disappointed.  I m an ordinary guy with a few cool words now and then.
 
 

Think I would go for the dinner out. But then again I do NOT like to cook.  But sounds like you guys do a wonderful job!

 By the time all the relatives were gone, we did go out to eat at least five times.[]
 
 Austin