Dutch oven on a Camp Chef - Discuss Cooking

Packerfannate · 07-31-2009, 08:39 AM

I have been cooking with dutch ovens for several years now. Recently I purchased a Camp Chef thinking this would make dutch oven cooking easier. Unfortunately this has not been the case. I can't seem to get the temperatures low enough and even enough from top to bottom to cook food consistently all the way through without burning the bottom.

Does anyone know of any techniques that would make this easier? Or perhaps some recipes that would work well with this setup? I have found that roasts, chicken, and various soups and stews work just fine. Breads for example are a nightmare.

Please help!

Arky · 07-31-2009, 08:54 AM

My limited experience with camp-style Dutch ovens has been all pleasurable. My style has been to dig out a depression about 1 foot deep and add about half a bag of charcoal. I let that burn down (about half an hour), rake away the center of the coals in the pit, leaving just a few, and then place in the Dutch oven loaded with whatever I was baking (rolls, cobbler, etc.) and then placed about a dozen or fifteen new but burning coals on the lid (that's the reason for the legs and the lip on the lid), and rake back a few coals against the side. Depending on the altitude, things such as rolls are usually ready after about 40-50 minutes or so.

I don't know if this is any help, but just my experience whenever I cooked while my family and I camped out at 1830 Rendezvous Green River reenactments.

Chile Chef · 07-31-2009, 02:40 PM

I mainly use my DO on the stove top on warm setting "My oven has warm, low, medium, medium-high, high and I noticed that my dutch oven loves The warm setting and I don't burn the bottom of the oven!

I hope that helps you in any way!

Dutchess · 08-01-2009, 05:52 PM

I have a Camp Chef Explorer Stove. Whenever I use my Dutch ovens on it, I like to use their Flame Tamer to help diffuse the heat on the bottom. You might also check out their Dutch Oven Dome, I've started using it so that I can bake on the stove without having to hassle with charcoal, and it works really well.