Dutch Oven Cooking

Yesterday I decided to try out some Dutch Oven Cooking. I've watched people do it plenty of times & eaten it many times, but never actually done it on my own. While I was teaching Foods classes, I had a lady who was a great Dutch Oven cook come in & demonstrate to my classes a few recipes. I loved the things she made so I decided to make those for our big Sunday Dinner bash (it was a HUGE one this week about 30 people). The food was a hit & was nearly all cleaned out. Here are the Dutch Oven recipes we made & maybe later I'll post a few of the other tasty recipes. I was shocked by how few leftovers we had this week.

Sour Cream Potatoes

2 pkgs hash brown potatoes
2 diced onions
2-3 c. shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
1 small carton of sour cream
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 c. milk

Line the dutch Oven with foil for easy clean-up. Mix all ingredients in the Dutch Oven. Season with salt & pepper if desired. Cover with lid & line top & bottom of dutch oven with charcoal briquettes. Cook for about an hour.

This is the same as any basic "funeral potato" recipe out there, but for some reason in the Dutch oven it tastes LOTS better.


Dutch Oven Parmesan Chicken

1/2 c. melted butter
1 c. parmesan cheese
1/4 c. fresh oregano leaves, chopped (or you can use dried)
3 cloves crushed garlic
salt & pepper to taste
8-10 large chicken breasts

Mix cheese & seasonings. Dip chicken in butter then roll in cheese & seasonings. Can line oven with foil for easier cleaning, if desired. Layer chicken in dutch oven. Cover with lid & line with briquettes. Cook about 1 hour.


If you have never done Dutch Oven Cooking here are a few basic instructions:

You'll need a charcoal chimney to start the coals on fire & some lighter fluid. We didn't have any lighter fluid so we put our chimney in our fire pit to start them on fire. It worked well.

After you have your food ready & your charcoal is all lit & burning well you can start cooking. You'll want to put some charcoal underneath the dutch oven as well as on top. We stacked our 2 dutch ovens on top of each other.

Here's a good ratio for how much charcoal you want to use:
Qty. of charcoal = 2 x the Diameter of the Oven = 325º
Each additional charcoal adds 10-15º to Cooking Temperature

Some other tools you'll need are a hook for opening the lid, some good heavy leather gloves, & tongs for moving charcoal.

I found a helpful website to help me out called Byron's Dutch Oven Cooking.

Summer is almost over, so give it a try while the weather is still warm!