Dutch Ovens

[oldsparkey]

OK..... HELP.....

I need some impute or help on this problem.

The upcoming Dec trip on the Blackwater River I am thinking of some meals that can be cooked up for everyone , only problem is they require a Dutch Oven and all I have are the old fashion ones out of cast iron. As you know they weight a ton , especially the larger ones and they are all I have and use to.

My problem is I have a short canoe ( 14 feet) that weighs 30 pounds and putting an pot in there that weighs close to what it does not make 2x2=4 as far as I can figure things. :lol: Then there is the rest of my camping gear that has to go along. :roll:

So here is may question............
Has anyone used an Aluminum one ( After it was seasoned if that is a requirement for them ) and if so how was it ??????

"O" Let me add this , it would be suspended over the fire and will not require the lid on it as a person would do using it as a oven. More like a suspended , open pot , for fixing supper. This way the heat ( fire) can be adjusted.

Chuck.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Frankly, if you're going to hang it over a fire, and leave off the lid, you no longer need a Dutch oven. A 10 quart pail will do just as well. Get any large pot with a bail, and use it.

When I started working with the local Boy Scout Troop years ago, I threw away several aluminum (pansy imitations of) dutch ovens. I would do the same thing again, unless I didn't have a raw rabbit skin to cook in. Aluminum is to dutch ovens as it is to canoes - a plague to be avoided at all costs.

 

[bearridge]

I dont have no alumininumunum Dutch oven, but on my last Buffalo trip I come upon a group camped down next ta a big bluff. They made a tripod frum some limbs 'n hung a pot frum a chain....'er rope? I seen that trick before, but they also rigged up some shelves on the limbs.....give 'em a spot ta put spoons, seasonings, cold beer, dago red, knives, pot holders, paper towels, etc. It wuz a nice lookin' set up 'n they give me a big wave when I went by....but it wuz no time ta go check it out. I dont know what kinda wacky ideas been bangin' round in yer noggin', but remember that contraption Van came up with? Well, mebbe a tripod with shelves wont be that hard ta come up with? If I wuz campin' frum a pickup, I'd take a chain, but frum a canoe, a rope mite do. The pot will be hangin' tween the rope 'n the fire, so there aint no real need fer a chain, rite?

regards
bearridge
southern test facility

Character, or the lack thereof, is revealed in how someone with power treats someone without power, and without the capacity to retaliate. Mark Shields

 

[oldsparkey]

I enjoyed your responses ( As colorful as they are ) and what is dancing in my head it a lot of nothing right now , later it will be some meals out camping that I have dreamed up for the Dec Trip unless someone wants to eat sardines and stale crackers for the whole trip. Cheer up we would never cook Rabbit skins , just the Rabbit. Personally I think what I have dreamed up would be a whole lot better but it has to be cooked in a container that would cook all of the chow for a few campers.

I'm thinking a lot of campers use the light weight cooking gear , so why would it not work for us. It is either that or one of the 20 gallon frying pans that Cabelas has for groups camping.

Remember Mac will be along and he does like his chow , especially if someone :wink: cooks it for him. :lol:

 

[Steve]

Chuck, you could take yer regular pot and stuff and still do whaqt yer thinking about. . . Jack may know this old Scout trick. . . folding aluminum reflector with a rack to hold the pot and pans. . . can even be used to bake up some mighty fine biscuits. . . I have one in a box back in Texas I'm planning to have sent up to me for my camping trips here. . . I use 'em alot. . .

 

[Kayak Jack]

Steve's talking about a reflector oven. Given a bright fire, or a helluva good set of coals, they do well.

Actually, I don't think that the weight difference of cast iron will be all that much. Use a Hennessy and leave behind some of those other contraptions you diddle around with for shelter, and you will still have the same gross weight.

 

[TheOtherHank]

Hi -

If you'll excuse input from someone whose Aluminum Dutch Oven experience comes from using one on whitewater trips...

We used one (the kind with three legs on the bottom and a rim around the edge of the lid) for several years to bake cakes, lasagna, quesadilla pie, etc. It worked great. Like any dutch oven you have to make sure any coals underneath it don't touch the metal. And it's easier to scorch from underneath if you have too many coals under it.

- Hank

 

[redhawk]

Chuck, haul the Cast iron Dutch Oven.

The best thing about cast iron is that it distributes heat e-v-e-n-l-y. Plus it makes you look cool, like you really know what you're doing!! 8)

Not looking to slip in a cheap plug here, but I use Cast iron Dutch Ovens on the stovetop to cook my HawK VittleS.

We have a guy up here in the Adirondacks, Pete Hickey that backpacks a cast iron tortilla press up mountains while doing trail work. :shock:

(Really)

Hawk

 

[oldsparkey]

From what I can gather the Aluminum ones cool down as fast as they heat up. There goes the slow simmer that keeps cooking after the fire goes out and before you can get it going again or just use a really little fire or coals to cook with.

Checking the prices of the Aluminum ones .... OUCH.... I have several of the iron ones that were my grandparents , then the folks and now mine , including some stove top ones. I do like the iron for stove top cooking. I can't prove it but they say that when a meal is cooked in them , some iron ( really small % ) does get in the meal and that is one Mineral we need in our diet which might be one thing that helps the flavor.

I like the idea of the anodized aluminum ones , 66% weight reduction for them over the iron ones but that cost to do a couple of meals in each year when out camping with a crew. Something I will have to kick around :? I do know what the iron ones will do since I have used them out on a lot of camping/hunting trips and they did not cost me anything. Won't cost the daughters anything after I check out and then they get them.

The wife can't boil water in them without burning it , guess that is why I have done all the cooking for the last 44 years. :roll: I was thinking of getting modernized and saving some weight like Hank does when kayaking , in my case canoeing. I'm thinking it is knowing the utensil you are using at that time for the cooking.

That leads me to a question.... Cast iron heats evenly all the way around , does aluminum do the same , as in a hanging oven and the wind is blowing the flame every which way except for right under it. It will not be used for doing bread or anything a reflector oven could do , it is for something that oven can't do...Unless you lay it on it's side :lol: ... cook soups and meals that have liquid in them.

Bread , buns , corn bread , muffins and the rest I have a way of doing them.

 

[TheOtherHank]

When I've used an aluminum dutch oven, it felt like it could develop hot spot right over where the individual coals were. But it wasn't an issue if you were careful. The rapid cool-down of the pot after removing it from the heat is a big difference.

- Hank

 

[islandpiper]

chuck, leave Grandma's dutch oven at home. Call Harbor Freight and order one of the new ones. I have one that is about 12" Dia. Great tool, does everything. The lid has the rim, the bottom has legs. The lid is dished to let you fry in it . Stick it up in the bow to counteract all the weight in the stern

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisear ... &Submit=Go

Piper

 

[bearridge]

The Lodge 6 qt. lists fer $90, but I seen some on the web fer $35-$40. Iz all cast iron the same? Any reason ta spend another $15-20 on a Lodge? I got one that dont have feet 'er a flat lid fer coals. It sets on the gas stove, but haz a wire handle so it kin hang over a fire 'er set down amongst the coals...mebbe on some logs, bricks, abandoned tin cans, etc.?

 

[Kayak Jack]

Let's face it, the french voyageurs carried and cooked in cast iron. If the french can cook in it, Chuck ought to be able to hack up something. I carry a cook kit of anodized aluminum. But I would never, in god's world, ever think or say that it is anywhere near cast iron for cooking. Cast iron is so forgiving and so nurturing of the food, that even I can cook damned good when using it.

BTW, Piper San did fairly well in the cypress swamps cooking in his cast iron. And, as long as he had that .22 rifle pointed at me, I complimented him. (If you wanna know the REAL story, send $5 and I'll email it to you. It's sad... OOHHhhhh ..... it's sad.) :roll:

 

[oldsparkey]

The Lodge 6 qt. lists fer $90, but I seen some on the web fer $35-$40. Iz all cast iron the same? Any reason ta spend another $15-20 on a Lodge? I got one that dont have feet 'er a flat lid fer coals. It sets on the gas stove, but haz a wire handle so it kin hang over a fire 'er set down amongst the coals...mebbe on some logs, bricks, abandoned tin cans, etc.?

Bear ....

Ya math is off , $90.00 for a Lodge so you have that name on it and $20.00 for this one ... Thats a $70.00 savings and Cast iron is Cast Iron or it can't be called Cast iron. :roll:

If'n that $20.00 one takes a dip to the bottom of a river , who cares :?: Not me , I would hate to lose one that is in the 3rd generation with me.

 

[bearridge]

$90 iz the Lodge mfg price....like the sticker on a GM (Guviment Motors) car. That iz $90 fer the Lodge 6 qt. The same cast iron pot (Lodge 6 qt.) iz fer sale on the web fer $35-$40. So ya kin buy a Lodge 6 qt fer $15-$20 more'n that one frum Harbor Freight. But if cast iron iz cast iron, no reason ta buy a Lodge. I jest dont know if that iz true....'n I wuz askin'.

regards
bearridge
bodine college of ekonomics

McMurphy: The Chief voted. Now will you please turn on the television set?
Nurse Ratched: Mr. McMurphy. The meeting was adjourned and the vote was closed.
McMurphy: But the vote was 10 to 8. The Chief, he's got his hand up! Look!
Nurse Ratched: No, Mr. McMurphy. When the meeting was adjourned, the vote was 9 to 9.
McMurphy: Aw come on, you're not gonna say that now. You're not gonna say that now. You're gonna pull that hen-house shit now when the vote... the Chief just voted - it was 10 to 9. Now I want that television set turned on, "right now"!

 

[Kayak Jack]

Not saying that the $20 model isn't OK, but don't fall into the trap of thinking that all cast iron is the same. That's about as true as saying that all women are the same. Some women, like some cast iron, are denser and others withstand more heat and abuse before they crack. Some cast iron, like some plywood, is cheap, has voids, and thin spots. But, that $20 model may be OK?

 

[oldsparkey]

Not saying that the $20 model isn't OK, but don't fall into the trap of thinking that all cast iron is the same. That's about as true as saying that all women are the same. Some women, like some cast iron, are denser and others withstand more heat and abuse before they crack. Some cast iron, like some plywood, is cheap, has voids, and thin spots. But, that $20 model may be OK?

The thin ,cheap, thin spotted ( what ever that is , none of mine has spots in it :lol: ) wood with the voids in it lets me make some fine boats that are still being used 9 years later.

As far as women , got one and been with her for 44 years so I'm no expert on them since there is nothing to judge her by , just in for the life time duration like I told the minster I would at the wedding.

Will make the judgment on the $20.00 oven after it is used. Fer 20 bucks , even with postage , not much of a gamble on that part. :roll:

Chuck.

 

[redhawk]

I once had a girl friend who decided to wash my cast iron chili pot (8 years of seasoning and chili, all I evedr did was wipe it out with a paper towel) with some steel wool and cleanser.

It was the end of that relationship.

I LOVE Cast iron.

Hawk

 

[Kayak Jack]

Too bad we can't season our gals as easy - and as effective - as we can our cast iron. Lord god would THAT save a lot of problems!

I agree, Chuck - for $20 if it doesn't work well for cooking, it can always be an attractive flower pot or curious anchor. HINT: send it to Yakus Ferrousicus for keeping dago red. He'll figure out some use for it.

 

[grandpa paddler]

Leavin' Friday for a 3 day river trip and takin' 2 cast iron dutch ovens.