Cast Iron Cooking
Several years ago, on a whim, I bought a 14" Lodge dutch oven at Sams Club. Back then, they were $50. I seasoned it and cooked a few things. Then life got hectic and I stuck it in it's box and stuffed it in a closet. I took it out last year, determined to start using it. A friend had gotten me a dutch oven cookbook for Christmas and I wanted to try out some recipes. I retrieved my oven, only to find it rancid and gross. I stripped it and re-seasoned it. I used it a couple of times last summer. But, I must not have let it dry before re-seasoning, because this year when I took it out, I found the seasoning bubbled and pitted.
I stripped it to discover lots of rust under the seasoning. I scrubbed it really good, dried it on the grill and re-seasoned it.
Here is a link to an excellent site on dutch ovens. It includes directions for seasoning and restoring. It also has recipes (I made the garlic potatoes on the page - delicious !!). There is also a chart for figuring out how to achieve different temps with different ovens - you just enter what oven you have, what temp you need and if you are baking, frying, etc, and it will tell you how many coals on top and how many on bottom.
Dutch Oven Dude
So, last weekend we went camping. I brought my dutch oven, my cast iron griddle and my hobo pie iron. I had re-seasoned my griddle and pie iron the previous week.
Here is an excellent link for pie irons:
Pie Irons
And here is one for some great pie iron recipes:
Great Camps hobo pie iron recipes
Here is a link to Lodge Manufacturing's page. Lots of cool stuff !!
Lodge
Lastly, here is a site that has a lot of good information about cast iron cookware, how to care for it, season it and use it:
What's Cooking America
Cast iron needs to be cared for, but in return you have lifetime of cooking from it. If you want to start small, get a cast iron frying pan and start there. There are many things you can do with one of these. If you do decide to jump right in and buy a dutch oven, be sure to get one that has legs and a lid with a lip - this allows you to put coals under and on top of the iron for proper cooking. If you already have one that doesn't (I have one that has no legs or lip) - don't worry - it is still a great, useful pot. You can either put it on a rack over a fire or coals or hang it from a tripod. You can't bake in it, but you can cook all kinds of delicious soups, stews, and more.
Now, for the recipes and instructions !!
On our camping trip, I made cherry coffee cake:
1 large can of fruit pie filling (I used cherry)
4 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon for topping
1 stick butter cut into small pieces
At home, I mixed the sugar and Bisquick in a gallon freezer zip lock and wrote the instructions on the outside of the bag with a sharpie. In a small sandwich bag, I mixed the topping. In an empty water bottle, I mixed the water, milk and egg and stuck in the cooler. I also cut up the butter and stuck that in the cooler as well.
At the campsite, I preheated the aluminum foil lined dutch oven with 11 coals on bottom and 17 top. While it was heating, I dumped the water/milk/egg into the zip lock with the dry ingredients and kneaded it until well mixed. When oven was warm, I dumped the can of pie filling in. I snipped the corner of the bag of the batter and pushed it out of the bag all over the top of the pie filling. Next, I opened the topping bag and sprinkled that on top. Lastly, I dotted the butter all over the top and recovered the oven. I let it bake until the cake was done. I think it was about 45 minutes. I did replace some of the coals during that time. I had also stuck a container of cool whip in the cooler to serve with it. This cake is delicious when it is still warm out of the oven. If I were making it at home, I would serve with ice cream.
I also made beef Philly steak hobo pies. While the pie iron was heating on the fire, I made up the sandwiches. I had sauteed onions and green peppers at home and stuck them in the cooler. You just put some deli roast beef on white bread, add some onions and green peppers. Top with a slice of provolone cheese. Butter the outsides of the bread. Cook in a warm pie iron, flipping after a few minutes. Delicious !!
I cooked a hearty breakfast one day on the griddle. First, heat the griddle over some good wood fire coals. I cooked the bacon first, then while that was sitting cooling on some paper towels, I dumped a can of Mary Kitchen corn beef hash on the hot griddle and cooked till browned and crispy. Lastly, I cooked some onion and pepper (prepped at home) till tender, then cracked some farm fresh eggs over it and cooked till done, scrambling as they cooked. This was a breakfast that lasted all day - no need for lunch that day !!
Cory also cooked some fresh breaded walleye on the griddle. Out of this world !!
I hope my blog inspires you to do some cast iron cooking !! It is fun and while you can splurge like I did while camping and cook some real treats, you can cook very low fat in well seasoned cast iron, since food doesn't stick to it and you don't need oil.
So, last weekend we went camping. I brought my dutch oven, my cast iron griddle and my hobo pie iron. I had re-seasoned my griddle and pie iron the previous week.
Here is an excellent link for pie irons:
Pie Irons
And here is one for some great pie iron recipes:
Great Camps hobo pie iron recipes
Here is a link to Lodge Manufacturing's page. Lots of cool stuff !!
Lodge
Lastly, here is a site that has a lot of good information about cast iron cookware, how to care for it, season it and use it:
What's Cooking America
Cast iron needs to be cared for, but in return you have lifetime of cooking from it. If you want to start small, get a cast iron frying pan and start there. There are many things you can do with one of these. If you do decide to jump right in and buy a dutch oven, be sure to get one that has legs and a lid with a lip - this allows you to put coals under and on top of the iron for proper cooking. If you already have one that doesn't (I have one that has no legs or lip) - don't worry - it is still a great, useful pot. You can either put it on a rack over a fire or coals or hang it from a tripod. You can't bake in it, but you can cook all kinds of delicious soups, stews, and more.
Now, for the recipes and instructions !!
On our camping trip, I made cherry coffee cake:
1 large can of fruit pie filling (I used cherry)
4 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon for topping
1 stick butter cut into small pieces
At home, I mixed the sugar and Bisquick in a gallon freezer zip lock and wrote the instructions on the outside of the bag with a sharpie. In a small sandwich bag, I mixed the topping. In an empty water bottle, I mixed the water, milk and egg and stuck in the cooler. I also cut up the butter and stuck that in the cooler as well.
At the campsite, I preheated the aluminum foil lined dutch oven with 11 coals on bottom and 17 top. While it was heating, I dumped the water/milk/egg into the zip lock with the dry ingredients and kneaded it until well mixed. When oven was warm, I dumped the can of pie filling in. I snipped the corner of the bag of the batter and pushed it out of the bag all over the top of the pie filling. Next, I opened the topping bag and sprinkled that on top. Lastly, I dotted the butter all over the top and recovered the oven. I let it bake until the cake was done. I think it was about 45 minutes. I did replace some of the coals during that time. I had also stuck a container of cool whip in the cooler to serve with it. This cake is delicious when it is still warm out of the oven. If I were making it at home, I would serve with ice cream.
I also made beef Philly steak hobo pies. While the pie iron was heating on the fire, I made up the sandwiches. I had sauteed onions and green peppers at home and stuck them in the cooler. You just put some deli roast beef on white bread, add some onions and green peppers. Top with a slice of provolone cheese. Butter the outsides of the bread. Cook in a warm pie iron, flipping after a few minutes. Delicious !!
I cooked a hearty breakfast one day on the griddle. First, heat the griddle over some good wood fire coals. I cooked the bacon first, then while that was sitting cooling on some paper towels, I dumped a can of Mary Kitchen corn beef hash on the hot griddle and cooked till browned and crispy. Lastly, I cooked some onion and pepper (prepped at home) till tender, then cracked some farm fresh eggs over it and cooked till done, scrambling as they cooked. This was a breakfast that lasted all day - no need for lunch that day !!
Cory also cooked some fresh breaded walleye on the griddle. Out of this world !!
I hope my blog inspires you to do some cast iron cooking !! It is fun and while you can splurge like I did while camping and cook some real treats, you can cook very low fat in well seasoned cast iron, since food doesn't stick to it and you don't need oil.
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