The brand of DO is not as important as the way you use it to do the cooking. IMO you need a DO with legs and a Lid that is dished so charcoal can be put on top as well as under the DO. A heat formula I have use is taking the size of the DO (10" or 12" etc.) and start 20 charcoal for a 10" or 24 for a 12" DO. After they are well started, place them on and under the DO as follows. By placing 3 charcoal less then the size under the DO and 3 more than the size on the lid (a 10" would have 7 coals below the DO and 13 on the lid) this will give you approximately 350 degrees in the DO. After ou have your food in the oven go take a hike or sleep after all that hard work. The DO will stay at this tempreture for about 1 hour per my experience. When you get back from resting or hiking, enjoy the food!!
Mrs. Mik wrote: Lodge Dutch ovens are nice, but as said, they are very expensive. Unfortunately, most folks in this area cannot afford $100 or more for one Dutch oven. Camp Chef are much more reasonably priced, their quality is excellent and folks around here can actually afford them.
I'd much rather have folks enjoying a great time cooking in a Dutch oven they can actually afford, than to put one on a charge card and worry about trying to pay it off, or worse yet, not buying one in the first place.
This is small town America at it's finest, and folks are worried about putting gas in their cars. Many of them just cannot afford Lodge, and I don't see a difference between Lodge and Camp Chef to justify the higher cost.
Julie
Very, very true. Its not just the $20, $40 or whatever the price difference for the DO may be, but ALL those 20 dollar bills adding up. Some on these forums (particularly those with young children) actually use tents rather than 40 foot diesel pushers or "5vers" pulled by over-the-road tractors. There are all different income levels and interests represented on these forums. Lodge is great if you can afford it. But the less expensive stuff works just as well.
As higher fuel costs ripple through the economy many more here may just find themselves needing to cut expenses.
I can't recall seeing an example of the Camp Chef brand, but there are high quality imports on the market. I prefer to check the yard sales I drive past for good deals on real "pre-seasoned" cast iron pieces.
kimette wrote: I have never used a dutch oven when camping and this site has given me lots of good reasons to try it. I looked on line and found the brand that others suggested, "lodge", walmart has a 7 qt one for less than 40 bucks, it is also listed near an enamel one that looks just like my "le Crueset" one. Can that be a substitute so I dont have to purchase a new one? Is the enamel going to be a problem? BTW i checked out the website for Byrons dutch oven recipes--great site!
I wouldn't use the enamel of porcelain coated DO's for camping. I've never tried it but I have had little pieces of the coating on blue speckeled metal cups pop off the inside when put at the edge of the fire.
I have used other (steel and aluminum) home or "bean pot" types while camping. You don't really need "feet" but if you want them, 3 short pieces of 3/4 - 1 inch pipe laid on their sides in an appropriately sized circle works just fine. A flat lid is more important. But an old springform pan without the bottom will work to hold the coals on a domed lid. This doesn't work as well if you're a "peeker" though. It will let try DO cooking on the cheap and let you see if you want to invest in a "camping" style DO.
I know I had a picture of an old household type aluminum DO being used for camping... somewhere. Maybe I'll have to take another...
Oooo, your post reminded me. I have made a desert in a DO. I used a coated one as a deep fryer for Berliner Krapfen. Its a jelly donut made with a yeast dough.
I do two types of camping, canoe treking and trailer. The Dutch oven is so important that my friends insist that we take it on our canoe trips. One year when I was tiered of lugging it around the guys all got together and demanded they be allowed to carry it in their canoes just so I would keep cooking with it. One year because of water conditions and time we had to camp next to a small group of college kids. It was fun watching them scarf down their freeze dried whatever while we were cracking the pot open with buttermilk biscuits and a little latter blackberry cobbler. We did invite them over for cobbler.
Things will come out juicier because the lid is holding in steam and it just can't be beat in most cases.
Have fun. Food is a process not an event.
Dad,Mom,3 kids (son 14, daughters 12,10)and a very old golden retriever. Add one very little Golden. Gulf Stream StreamLite 29QBH. '08 Tundra, 5.7L CrewMax, Equa-L-izer hitch, Prodigy brake controller.
colefamily wrote: I do two types of camping, canoe treking and trailer.
We also use them on the river. We use aluminum on the river, our 10", which is legless, fits inside the 12". On trips down some western rivers 8-10 people would make up the group and pairs would feed all the members a meal. DO's were the weapon of choice.
I don't believe all DO's are the same, the fit of the lid and the ability to attain a good seasoning can make all the difference.
2002 Ford F350 Crew, LB, DRW, 7.3L
Jayco Designer 34RLQS
I couldn't find the pictures of houshold DO's being used outsde but...
This is just a regular aluminum pot with the handle removed and a 9" springform pan on top. I picked this up to use for the NY Times "No Knead" bread. Perfect size but the handle decided to smoke a little during the 450 degre pre-heat. I haven't had a chance to try this one anywhere but a regular oven. My November/ December trip was a little too cold for any bread dough to rise! LOL!
This is a 12" aluminum DO. I have a larger pan that fits further down the sloped sides of the top. The springform pan in the pictures is from my kitchen, not my camping stuff. The eye bolts are a new idea from a poster on the KitchenAid forum. She uses them on clay bread "pans" crafted from azelia (sp?) pots.
Here is how I found the best prices on my dutch ovens:
1. Go to Amazon.com
2. Create an account
3. Put any dutch oven (or anything else you are interested in) in your shopping cart. Pay attention to choose items with free shipping over $25.
4. Now just wait, and check your shopping cart often. Amazon will alert you on the shopping cart page when the items in your box have price changes ... up or down. When the price is good, make your move. Don't wait too long, it will change again.
I've used ours a couple of times as a DO and it works well, although not as handy as a regular oven.
The lid is flat so coals can be put on without anything to retain them, but if you have to peek you might lose some.
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rather than 40 foot diesel pushers or "5vers" pulled by over-the-road tractors. There are all different income levels and interests represented on these forums. Lodge is great if you can afford it. But the less expensive stuff works just as well. 
It will let try DO cooking on the cheap and let you see if you want to invest in a "camping" style DO.
