Bake with your Dutch oven.
You can cook bread, pizzas, cakes, and other desserts in your Dutch oven by placing hot coals on top of the lid and underneath the Dutch oven full of food. To bake, you should place more coals on top of the lid than underneath the Dutch oven. This will . To figure how many charcoal briquette coals to put on top, add 3 to the diameter. To determine the bottom number, subtract 3. For example, if you have a 12-inch Dutch oven, you’d need 15 coals on top and 9 on the bottom.
Boil water or food in your Dutch oven.
Since you’re trying to heat water or a liquid-like stew, you should place all of the hot coals underneath your Dutch oven. This will quickly concentrate the heat near the bottom of the pot. You should also place all the coals underneath the Dutch oven if you’d like to use it for frying food.
- While you can use the lid when bringing your food or water to a boil, you shouldn’t put coals on top of the lid. Having hot coals on the lid of a Dutch oven full of boiling liquid could be dangerous and difficult to remove.
Use the lid as a griddle or skillet.
If you want to quickly fry up breakfast, turn the lid upside down and place it directly on hot coals. Watch the food to make sure it cooks completely and doesn’t burn. You might want to use this method for frying bacon, eggs, pancakes, or sausages.
- Most Dutch oven lids are slightly shallow with a dip in the middle so they can hold runny ingredients.
Try bean hole cooking.
Dig a hole about 3 feet deep and line it with rocks. You should be able to build a fire in it. The heat from the wood fire should heat the stones so that you can lower your Dutch oven into the hole and cook the food. Cover the lid of the Dutch oven with coals and shovel dirt over the hole. This will trap the heat. You’ll need to leave the Dutch oven to cook, usually overnight.food network dutch oven
- Keep in mind that it will take several hours to get the rocks in the hole hot enough before you can lower the bean pot down.
It’s a good idea to par boil your dry beans for an hour and then soak them in water overnight before you even begin using the bean hole to cook them.
Consider stacking your Dutch ovens.
If you need to cook a large meal for a crowd or just want some variety in the meal you’re cooking outside, stack several ovens. You’ll need at least three Dutch ovens. Fill your Dutch ovens with food and place hot coals underneath the largest one. Place hot coals on its lid and then stack another Dutch oven directly on top. Place coals over this oven’s lid and stack another Dutch oven. Finish by placing coals on the topmost Dutch oven’s lid and let the food cook.
- You can use Dutch ovens of the same size or you can tier them. For example, use a 14-inch Dutch oven on the bottom, a 12 inch in the middle, and a 10 inch on top.
