I love cast iron and it's large enough to cook in for family gatherings. Sure, I'll take it. Dutch Oven illiterate, I set it in the corner at the house to collect dust. Then, a few months ago a fellow driver whipped up some stewed whole chicken with veggies and potatoes and biscuits from Dutch Ovens. The cook started telling me about how he hosts cowboy cookouts with his ovens. I was hooked on the nostalgic and western feel... not to mention the charcoal cooked yummy food. I started researching it and learned it's quite a popular craft and fascination. I had no idea the lipped lid is to hold charcoal on the top for baking! Cool beans!
With our annual camping trip coming up, I ordered all the accessories to launch my Dutch Oven Chef hobby. I put "charcoal starter chimney" on my Wally World list and went to Amazon to order the rest... a lid lifter for, you guessed it, lifting the hot heavy lid.
And a stand, which is supposed to be for holding the lid when you need to set it aside while checking what's cooking and it's burning hot.
But my oven doesn't have legs, so I used it to set the oven on... which worked well for putting the charcoal underneath. So, I'll need another stand for what it's supposed to be for.I ordered a cookbook...
... but it didn't get to the P.O. Box before the trip. No biggie, the important stuff made it and I wanted something easy for my first attempt anyway. All the cobbler recipes I found online varied so much that I just jotted down the basics and decided I'd get assistance from the traditional-oven-baked-cobbler-pro that would be at the camp out.
After setting up camp, I didn't feel like cooking, so the first night of camping we went over to the Elks Lodge where I used to bartend for some burgers and the best onion rings around.
That's me and my old boss. Best one I've ever had and a great lady, I miss her!
And this is a regular couple who used to bring me homemade chocolate-covered strawberries and pear butter and such. Dee looks sad I didn't get to stay and spoil them with my good service. Haha. I miss them too!Turned out, a cousin had handmade a dutch oven from a box and aluminum foil and made peach cobbler for campfire girls. So with our little helpers...
... we dumped it all in (minus a few gooey test bites), put the charcoal on and let it cook.
I should've gotten another batch of charcoal going since I had no other option but to put the coals directly on the ground. On my list... an old metal pan or cookie sheet big enough to set the coals and oven in. The oven didn't get hot enough with the coals on the ground, so had to do another go-round of charcoal. But once it was finally done, yum yum. Cousin Owen announced, "it's official, peach cobbler is going to be an annual event!"
And also coming up, entree experimentation. Hmmm... where's a good place at the house to set up a Dutch Oven?
