Page 191 - The Lost Ways

patience, you will be so happy with your Dutch oven dinners that you won’t even miss the
modern convenience kitchens at all.

Choosing a Dutch oven can be confusing. There are a lot of pots out there that call
themselves Dutch ovens, but they won’t do for what you need. So let’s get some specifics
down. Your Dutch oven must be cast iron. It needs a tight-fitting lid that is either concave
or at least flattish with a lip. A Dutch oven with feet is best, but one without will do too,
and the size only matters in the context of how many you are feeding and what you are
making. I have a big family, so I have three: small, medium, and large. With these, I can
cook a feast.

Care of your Dutch oven is the same as the care of the rest of your cast iron cookery. The
same dos and don’ts apply.

The Right Temperature

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Most guides and recipes that you will find online today talk about Dutch oven heat in
terms of how many coals it takes—so many coals on top and so many on the bottom. Let’s
face it—most of us preppers are not going to keep a store of charcoal on hand just to cook
in our Dutch ovens. That’s ridiculous.

People used Dutch ovens to cook with long before they could get standardized charcoal
briquettes to barbecue with.

54 "DSC_2275", by: Virginia State Parks, (CC BY 2.0)

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