Dutch Treat You Can Move Beyond Beans-And-Weenies Campout Cooking With A Dutch Oven

Camping season is upon us once again, meaning camp cooking season has also arrived.

Another summer of burnt weenies and soggy s’mores? Not necessarily, if you learn how to use an outdoor Dutch oven.

By arranging lighted charcoal briquettes underneath and on top of the lidded, cast-iron or aluminum pots, experienced Dutch-oven cooks can turn out everything from jambalaya to lasagna to Key lime pie.

“We’re so conditioned to eating poorly outdoors that when you start eating well outdoors, it’s very, very addictive,” says Mike Aho, outdoor recreation coordinator for the Spokane Parks & Recreation Department.

“Everybody sits down expecting to eat standard camp fare. You put that pot on the table, pull off the lid, the smell comes out and people go crazy.”

Aho, who grew up in Sumner, Wash., has been dishing up Dutch oven delicacies since his “cannibal patrol” days as a Boy Scout.

“At age 12 or 13, we were doing Cornish game hens,” he recalls. “All the camp staff would come over to our tent to eat.”

Today, Aho and his staff serve alfresco smorgasbords to participants in Parks Department trips, and sometimes even cater outdoor weddings.

His recipes are named for the first place where they were successfully served: Winthrop Gumbo, Little Spokane Carrot Muffins, Centennial Trail Chicken Teriyaki.

Dutch ovens are the cookware of choice for horse packers and river rafters. Rafting patrons of River Odysseys West in Coeur d’Alene find themselves treated to omelets and muffins for breakfast, and such gourmet goodies as chicken baked with fresh tarragon, or Hawaiian-style in a mango sauce, for dinner.

But the real showstoppers are the cakes, says Nancy Mertz, a veteran River Odysseys West guide.

“We do a cake every night,” she says. “We take along Betty Crocker cake mix, eggs and oil, and mix them all up in the Dutch oven, like a mixing bowl.

“You preheat the lid, put on the coals and, boom, you have a cake 45 minutes later. Every single trip, people’s eyes just open wide: ‘You baked a cake?”’

And with the tight-fitting lids, Mertz says, “I find that cakes turn out more moist in a Dutch oven than if I baked them at home.”

Because of their need to travel light, rafters often use aluminum Dutch ovens. But when weight isn’t an issue, Mertz and Aho agree, cast iron is the way to go.

While aluminum heats more quickly, cast iron heats more evenly and holds the heat longer. Besides, Aho says, “Cast iron gives a little personality to food. Aluminum doesn’t do that.”

Whatever they’re made of, there are two crucial characteristics of outdoor Dutch ovens, compared to the indoor variety: legs, to allow room for a fire underneath, and a flat, lipped lid, to hold the coals placed on top. (Look for a loop handle on the lid, which makes it easier to pick up.) A 12-inch Dutch oven, available for about $40 at outdoors shops, serves a handful of hungry campers comfortably.

Like any pots, Dutch ovens can be heated from underneath, over a stove or fire, for stews, fried foods and the like. But where they really shine is in baking, with the heat coming from both bottom and top.

“It’s really hard to bake outdoors,” Aho says. “Keeping a regulated, controlled heat is the second-hardest thing to do.”

To keep a 12-inch Dutch oven at around 350 degrees, Aho puts eight to 10 lighted briquettes underneath, and 14 or 15 on top. “There’s a much larger space between the top and what’s inside, than the bottom,” he explains.

Preheating the lid over a burner or fire makes for more efficient baking, Mertz adds. And for extra browning, Aho sometimes leaves the coals on the lid for a while after taking the oven off the fire.

To fine-tune the cooking temperature, Aho keeps an array of replacement briquettes - newer and hotter, older and cooler, and some in between - burning in an old metal oil pan or a cheap portable barbecue with the legs removed. Another one serves as the cooking pan, propped up on bricks so the heat doesn’t all go into the ground.

Top-quality charcoal is a must; Mertz and Aho both recommend Kingsford. While you could use coals from a campfire, he says, “It’s a lot trickier, a lot more work. And you’re burning a lot more resources.”

The coal count required for proper cooking varies with the weather - the air temperature, and particularly wind. “We have baked a lot on Mount Spokane in the winter,” Aho says. “It just takes a few more coals.”

Pretty much any recipe can be made in a Dutch oven, says Aho, although doing some steps ahead - such as browning meat in advance - helps reduce the risk of error.

The more moisture in a recipe, the less chance there is of overcooking or burning the food. Aho likes to start beginners out with such dishes as lasagna, or pineapple upside-down cake. “The saucier the dish, the easier it is to learn to cook, until you get your skills up,” he says.

So how do you tell if you’re charring the chicken kiev?

“You really learn to tell what’s happening by the smell,” Aho says. “If there’s no smell at all, it’s still cooking. But when you start to smell that hint of burning, you have to move fast.”

You can peek, if you must, as long as you keep it quick. “They tell you not to lift the lid during cooking,” Aho says. “I followed that religiously for years. But five or six years ago, I started popping them up, and I haven’t noticed any difference at all.”

Not that lifting the lid is particularly easy. “You’ve got something that’s 300 or 400 degrees, and it weighs 10 or 15 pounds with coals, and you’re going to pick it up,” Aho says.

While special lid-lifting tools are available, Aho and his crew use heavy, fire-resistant gloves and channel-lock pliers.

Once the food is done, you don’t have to scarf it down immediately, like you would oatmeal out of a mess kit, because the cast iron retains heat.

“If you take a pot of lasagna off the fire, it will keep plenty warm,” Aho says. “An hour and a half before serving, put a couple of coals underneath, four or five on top, and it comes out like new.”

Mertz and her fellow rafting guides keep their Dutch ovens well-seasoned, coating them with oil after every cleaning.

“We treat them like our kids,” she says. “They do well by us, and we do well by them.”

It’s a love affair that dates to the early days of America, when Dutch settlers brought along their customary cooking utensils. Dutch ovens helped fuel the nation’s westward expansion, from Lewis and Clark’s expedition to cowboy cattle drives.

“A lot of people, when they migrated West, would leave behind their furniture, but not their ovens,” says Aho, whose personal collection includes a Dutch oven that belonged to his great-great-grandfather. “They were a very valuable commodity.”

For roaming chefs like Mertz and Aho, they still are. Along with the satisfied stomachs, Aho says, savory smells coming from a Dutch oven can be a great conversation starter.

“It’s a real social thing,” he says. “Not too many people come by and ask what you’re doing when you’re frying a hot dog on a stick.”

Here are a few Dutch oven recipes from the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department files. All are designed to bake at around 350 degrees (which, for a 12-inch oven, means a steady fire of about eight to 10 briquettes underneath, and 14 or 15 on top).

Salt Spring Chops

Named after Salt Spring Island in the Canadian Gulf Juans.

5 pork chops

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1-1/2 cups soft bread crumbs

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup barbecue sauce

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

In heated Dutch oven, saute onions and garlic in oil. Add pork chops and brown, or brown separately.

Remove pork chops and add bread crumbs, parsley and egg to onions and garlic. Combine barbecue sauce and tomato sauce and add 1 cup to crumb mixture; stir to combine. Remove crumb mixture from oven.

Pour remaining barbecue/tomato sauce mixture into oven, add pork chops and top with crumb mixture. Cover and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Yield: 5 servings.

Dishman Oatmeal Rhubarb Crumble

Filling:

3 cups rhubarb

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoons water

Topping:

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup melted butter

Combine filling ingredients and pour into a 10- or 12-inch Dutch oven. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over top. Bake for 45 minutes.

Yield: 6-8 servings.

Montague Baked Salmon

From Montague Harbor on Galiano Island, British Columbia. Aho added potatoes to this recipe to help soak up the sauce.

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup honey

3/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon thyme

Fresh garlic and onion, to taste

3-4 pounds salmon

1-2 pounds diced red potatoes

In Dutch oven, combine all ingredients except salmon and potatoes; heat and let simmer 10 minutes. Remove from fire, add salmon, cover and let sit for 30 minutes. Return to fire and bake for 40 minutes, adding potatoes after 10-15 minutes.

Yield: 6-8 servings.

Banana Loaf

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or cinnamon

1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (1 medium)

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup oil

1 egg, slightly beaten

In 10- or 12-inch Dutch oven, combine first six ingredients (through nutmeg or cinnamon). Stir in remaining ingredients until dry ingredients are moistened. Bake for about 20 minutes.

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: More info For more information about Dutch oven cooking, look for the following cookbooks at outdoor shops and bookstores: “Dutch Oven Cooking,” by John G. Ragsdale. “Let’s Cook Dutch,” by Robert L. Ririe. “Dutch Oven Cookin’,” by Dick Stucki (to order, write to: Bonneville Publishing Co., P.O. Box 65552, Salt Lake City, UT 84165-0552). The International Dutch Oven Society also has a World Wide Web page (www.idos.com) with lots of information, history and recipes. Annual dues are $15, including a quarterly newsletter; write to IDOS, 41 East 400 North No. 210, Logan, UT 84321, or e-mail to idos@idos.com.