How To Cook In A Cast Iron Dutch Oven
By villageanne
@villageanne (8553)
United States
April 29, 2007 12:16am CST
Tips For Cooking With Cast Iron Dutch Oven: For easy cleanup, line the bottom and the sides of the Dutch Oven with aluminum foil. Use a wooden spoon to stir, and always cook with the lid on. Unless you like ashes in your food, don't tilt the lid when you
remove it. When you do remove the lid or handle any part of the hot oven,use cooking gloves or hot-pot tongs. A Dutch oven seems indestructible, but it will shatter if dropped on hard cement or it will crack if cold water is poured into a very hot Dutch oven. NEVER, REPEAT, NEVER! pour very cold water into an empty hot pot or you may cause permanent damage to the oven by cracking it.
Heat control is the hardest thing to master when learning to cook with a Dutch Oven. Remember to start with moderate temperatures. You can always add more heat if desired or necessary. Be cautious, as most of your guests won't enjoy burned food!
I have published a discussion on How to season your cast iron at this link
http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/1038184.aspx
1 person likes this
5 responses
@Modestah (11177)
• United States
1 May 07
I have never heard about lining it with aluminum foil - it seems kind of curious to me as one of the benefits of cooking with cast iron is introducing iron into your system by cooking on the iron. hmmm. thank you also for the advice on how to handle the hot pot. very good.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
1 May 07
Yes, you are correct. But when you cook outdoors, you usually do not have all the water that you do when you cook indoors. We did not have running water. So we learned to use the aluminm foil on the bottom to make it easier to clean up. Today water is more available and you may or may not wnat to use the aluminum foil
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
1 May 07
I am a country gal with the country ways. We tend to go tent camping alot just along the river somewhere and all the sanitary water we have comes from our container that we take with us. WE do not camp in camp grounds. LOL Sorta like being a pioneer only we are fortunate enough to have a tent and they did not.
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
1 May 07
Also, don't ever put one into the dishwasher. It will take the seasoning off. Just ask my daughter.
LOL
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
1 May 07
You are so right and it will take it off in just one washing. My husband put mine in once and I had to reseason it immediately. LOL He was just tring to help though so I went easy on him. LOL
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
30 Apr 07
Hubby is one that cooks everything on high heat. Drives me crazy! Wish he could learn to turn the stove down without my having to do it for him.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
1 May 07
We used to make alot of apple butter in fall. We would all get toghter and peel the apples and spend two days making all the applebutter. The men....well ...what did the men do??? Oh yeah, they stood around and talked. LOL Anyway, we cooked the meals outside in the open fire so we did not have to go in teh hot house. My Aunt decided to use coal in the fire instead of wood. then she put wood over the coal. Well coal head hotter than wood and when Grandma put her dutch ove in it after a while the pot broke right in half and the food went everywhere, You could hear the fire zapping and my Grandma, got so mad at my Aunt. They would not speak to each other for days. LOL
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
30 Apr 07
I never knew that a cast iron Dutch oven could break. Good tip on this one. I didn't know that it would break like a glass dish. I will let our roomie in on this one. He has a Dutch Oven and plans to use it much and often this summer.
@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
1 May 07
Reading about the castiron cookware reminds me so much of my grandmother! She had several castiron griddles and a cast iron dutch oven too. There are so many advantages of cooking in cast iron. It holds its heat so well that one can afford to cook on a lower setting thus saving electricity. One gets iron in the food that is prepared in the cast iron cookware. And of course, one gets a free workout!!! No need to pay for CURVES or any other exercise program!!! Ha!
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
1 May 07
LOL Yep, the workout is part of the benefits. LOL Do you use your Grandmothers cast iron? There is no better way to make great tasting cornbread than usig cast iron skillet. YUMMY
