Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

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erehweslefox

Sous Chef
Joined
May 20, 2016
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578
Location
Hatfield, PA
Beloved Wife bought me a 5 quart lodge cast iron dutch oven for my B-day!

I'm already getting excited planning some epic stews and soups, plus I have a chicken the the freezer that is just crying for some dutch oven time.

Quite excited, any favorite recipes out there for the dutch?


TBS
 
My one cast iron pan that I received as a gift, sits on top of the fridge. Way to heavy for me to lift, specially when food is added to the weight. So I go to my large SS Cuisinart one. :angel:
 
I've used mine primarily for no-knead bread. No-Knead Bread Recipe - NYT Cooking

There are lots of variations. Have fun!

No-knead bread always seems like such a cheat to me, I mean how am I going to work off my aggression after a hard day of work, without kneading a ball of dough for fifteen minutes? Beloved Wife even knows, when she smells bread in the oven, 'oh, tough day honey?'

Plus I have a family history of arthritis, so anything I can do to keep my forearms worked, and my wrists and fingers supple is great.

:chef:

I just use a loaf pan for bread, though I usually leave a bowl of water in the oven to keep things moist. Not because I don't trust the dutch oven with the bread (well and I didn't have a cast iron one until yesterday, Used a Paula Dean casserole dish, enameled.), but because I am fond of square loafs as they can be used for sandwiches.

TBS
 
April Fool's -- Good for any occasion. Like Addie, DxW decided her DO was too heavy, packed it up for Goodwill. I retrieved and brought it home. Some time later she goes, gee I wish I would have kept my DO. I said I have an extra I can "loan" you -- Didn't want her throwing it out again. :angel:

I use my DO for split pease soup, chili, chix soup because it's a good size and smaller than my soup pot.

Best cooking pan for pot roast. Also we use our DO's for stroganoff.

Here's one of my favorite DC Recipe's for Pork Roast plus it makes its own gravy.

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f49/melt-in-your-mouth-pork-loin-39428.html

Things I do different. Only use 1/2 pkg onion soup , less salty.
Add rosemary &/or thyme. Sub a glub-glub wine for some of that water, I'd hate to see a good roast drown in a DO bathtub.
Reduce Oven temp after starting at 375 ! I once made a 5 lb roast which cooked in 2 hours at 375, internal temp was 196. So I guess your DO is good to make Pulled Pork too.

Enjoy your birthday present!
 
I use my DO for split pease soup!

Now there is something I haven't made in a while. I don't think I've ever made one without ham, so goodness I haven't made split pea soup since before I was married (Jewish wife, no ham). So given we are coming up on our three year anniversary, It must be three years or more.

I suspect chicken would work, anyone have a no ham split pea soup recipe handy?

Cheers,

TBS
 
Any recipe for a slow cooker can be done in the DO.
Chowders,
mussels (although now I prefer to do mussels in a very large frying pan),
another favourite of mine is Osso Bocco,
how about Coq au Vin - using either white or red wine.
Beef Bourgin (bah, don't know how to spell it!)
Cooks Illust. has a wonderful French Chicken recipe, delish!

I have recipes for all of the above if you're interested.
 
I love my CI dutch oven! I cook a lot of stuff in it.

Last week, I cooked paella. Browned the rice beautifully.

I've cooked chili, fried rice (I don't like my wok), brick chicken, etc... I'll add to the list as I think of them.

Another thing it's great for is frying! Heats the oil beautifully and keeps it hot. It's big enough so it doesn't splatter. I love deep-frying chicken wings in them.
 
April Fool's -- Good for any occasion. Like Addie, DxW decided her DO was too heavy, packed it up for Goodwill. I retrieved and brought it home. Some time later she goes, gee I wish I would have kept my DO. I said I have an extra I can "loan" you -- Didn't want her throwing it out again. :angel:

I use my DO for split pease soup, chili, chix soup because it's a good size and smaller than my soup pot.

Best cooking pan for pot roast. Also we use our DO's for stroganoff.

Here's one of my favorite DC Recipe's for Pork Roast plus it makes its own gravy.

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f49/melt-in-your-mouth-pork-loin-39428.html

Things I do different. Only use 1/2 pkg onion soup , less salty.
Add rosemary &/or thyme. Sub a glub-glub wine for some of that water, I'd hate to see a good roast drown in a DO bathtub.
Reduce Oven temp after starting at 375 ! I once made a 5 lb roast which cooked in 2 hours at 375, internal temp was 196. So I guess your DO is good to make Pulled Pork too.

Enjoy your birthday present!

I only have two fingers that I can now use on a regular basis on my right hand. Three on the other. I have the option of cortisone injections into my knuckles or having some of the knuckles replaced entirely. I am opting for the injections. So I may as well give my very large cast iron pan that has been sitting on top of the fridge, to my daughter. I hate to give it up though. It is just too dang heavy. :angel:
 
You're going to love your Dutch oven. I have 2 and use them often, the smaller one more often since it's just the two of us.

Cast iron is one of my favorite cooking materials and I have all sorts of different sizes of skillets and other assorted pieces.

On one of our trips to Georgia to see family, we stopped a the Lodge outlet which was RIGHT IN OUR PATH. Really it was. Plus, the little town it was in was charming. Just like a postcard.

I was like a child in Toys R Us with an unlimited budget. I wanted everything I saw and touched. Then things really ramped up when the clerk suggested I look at what they had to offer in their "seconds" warehouse. Okay, now, I've died and gone to heaven..

The "seconds" were merely deemed so because of blemishes on them. No functionality compromised, so I did 99.9% of my shopping in that area. Needless to say, the car was heavier and our wallets were lighter, but what bargains.
 
+3 for a Smoked Turkey Leg in split pease soup. You'll both enjoy it.

I like plain pea soup too. I use frozen ( do they even make fresh peas still in the pod anywhere? ) No meat. Maybe some fine diced taters or carrots. Onion, herbs, broth and enough more broth t0 give the consistency you want after giving it a whirl in the food processor/ blender.

I forgot to say I like to slice a big onion and make a pile under any roast I make. It acts like a trivet for a roast to cook on. The onion caramelizes and then it almost dissolves on itself. Maybe give it a few twists with a potato masher. Good gravy.
 
The "seconds" were merely deemed so because of blemishes on them. No functionality compromised, so I did 99.9% of my shopping in that area. Needless to say, the car was heavier and our wallets were lighter, but what bargains.


Oh that does sound really great. I have a Lodge Skillet, which I adore. I am excited to add the dutch oven to 'cookware I adore' list.

If you show me a muffin pan or loaf pan in cast iron I might just faint entire away...

If you follow my posts, Katie, we camp a bit. And places where Camping Is Good, are often times Not Where People Live, and Involve a Drive.

This is all part of Awesome Adventures, which my wife and I try to have once a month. Things like visiting the lodge factory are high up there, and I got all excited when you said the magic words, 'factory seconds'.

Very tempted to make an excuse to go down to Georgia.

I never have made a split pea soup with turkey, but I have a dutch oven, and I have a stovetop smoker to smoke a turkey leg. This might be a recipe for the larger kitchen, after my move on 10/1 but it is definately in the consideration.


TBS
 
fox, there are also outlet stores in Tennessee. You might want to use a camping trip to the Great Smoky Mountains as a location from which you can "stumble upon" one of those stores. ;) ;)

...On one of our trips to Georgia to see family, we stopped a the Lodge outlet which was RIGHT IN OUR PATH...

We spent a week in Asheville, NC, a few years ago. Went over to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge just because we were "in the neighborhood". Himself had seen a tourist info card about a Lodge factory store around there, drove us over, and pulled up to the storefront. Sadly, they were closed for the day. :( I think that Himself was secretly happy it was that way, because I, too, could have acted like an only grandchild on a Toys R Us shopping spree with Grandma and Grandpa. :LOL:
 
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