Preheat the Dutch oven. Brown the ground beef. When done remove the beef to a large mixing bowl.  Add the spaghetti sauce to the beef and mix well. In another bowl, add the cottage or ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese (reserve a few ounces for later), eggs, and oregano, and mix well. Place the layers in the oven in the following order: Break up four lasagna noodles into the bottom of the oven. Spread about 1/3 of the meat mixture over the noodles. Spread 1/2 of the cheese mixture over the meat mixture. Break up five noodles and place over the top of the preceding mixtures. Spread 1/2 of the remaining meat mixture over the noodles. Spread the remaining cheese mixture over the meat mixture. Break up the remaining noodles and place over the cheese mixture. Spread the remaining meat mixture over the noodles. Pour the hot water all around the edges of the oven. Place the lid on the oven and bake one hour or until done. Check frequently.

This recipe works well with charcoal (12 briquettes on bottom and 12 on top). Cooking time can be
reduced by pre-cooking and draining the lasagna noodles.

Pre-heat the Dutch oven (about 12 coals on the bottom). Brown the sausage and then drain fat, saving 2 TBS. Stir in onion, garlic, pepper, and sauté with sausage. Add eggs and sausage fat and cook together until eggs are scrambled. Spoon into pita pockets and top with salsa.

To save time, you can brown the sausage and sauté garlic onions and peppers in advance, and then refrigerate or freeze in Ziplock bags.   Add 2 TBS of Olive Oil when cooking in camp in lieu of sausage fat. This will save time and reduce the sausage fat that you have to get rid of.

Line a Dutch oven with heavy-duty foil. Lightly grease the foil with butter. Break up bread into the oven.  Crumble cooked sausage meat over bread and cover with cheese. In a separate bowl, mix eggs
(lightly beaten), milk, dry mustard, and 1 tsp. salt (to taste). Pour the egg mixture over the layered
bread/sausage/cheese in the oven, cover, and bake for 35 - 40 minutes, checking occasionally. The
cheese rises to the top, melting into a golden brown crust over a fluffy layer of eggs.

Brown the hamburger, with onion, and bacon together in bottom of Dutch oven.  When done, drain the grease, and add al the rest of the ingredients, cover, and place hot coals under and on top of the Dutch oven.  Bake for an hour to an hour and a half, stirring occasionally.

Slice two large tomatoes in half.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Combine 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, and 1 tablespoon margarine or butter in a bowl and then sprinkle over the tomatoes.  Sprinkle parsely or other herbs (use your imagination).  Place them tomatoes on a 18×18 inch piece of heavy-duty foil.  Fold in the sides and seal. 

Grill the tomato packats, seam-side up, over medium-hot heat for about 20 minutes.  Serve immediately. 

That’s all there is to it!

Take 8-10 green, yellow, red sweet peppers and quarter them.  Remove the seeds and membranes.  Brush the skins with olive oil and them grill them, skin side down over medium low coals or heat.  They should take about 15 minutes, or until them are just crispy tender or charred.  They make a great side dish for almost any meat that you are grilling.

Peel onions and cut them into large wedges from top to bottom. Cut the tops from the bell peppers, remove the core, and cut in these into large pieces also (from top to bottom).  Trim the ends from the squash and cut diagonally, into round shapes, about 1/2″ thick.  Toss all the vegetables in a large bowl with olive oil and seasoning.  It will help season the onions if you open up the onion wedges so the seasoning can get into the wedge.  Cook the vegetables on a very hot grill, turning occasionally, until the peppers are slightly charred and vegetables are tender.  This won’t take long, about 5 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Mix all the spices together. Coat each of the fillets with the spice mixture.  Melt the margarine (or butter, if you prefer) in an iron skillet over a hot cooking fire. Sear the fish for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until they smoke and appear “blackened”.

Remove the skillet from the fire and cover. The heat in the pan will complete the cooking in about 10 minutes.

To make it easier, you can mix the seasonings at home and store in an air-tight container to bring with you.

Mix all ingredients together and store in an air tight container.

Put the beef roast, salt, thyme, clove, peppercorns, bay leaf and garlic in Dutch oven.  Add the water.  Heat until it is boiling, then reduce heat and simmer covered for 2 1/2 hours.  Now add remaining ingredients. Cover the Dutch oven and simmer until beef and vegetables are tender.  This should take about 30 minutes.  Remove beef and vegetables. Cut beef into 1/4″ slices. Strain broth and serve with beef and vegetables.

• Easy Dutch Oven Baked Beans
• Dutch Oven Cinnamon Bread
• Easy Dutch Oven Mountain Man Hash
• Three Easy Dutch Oven Desserts
• Dutch Oven Cowboy Stew
• Dutch Oven Pot Roast
• Dutch Oven Au Gratin Potatoes

I hope you enjoy these.  They should be easy enough for any beginner to do.  You’ll find that you can do fairly sophisticated meals with Dutch ovens, but best to start with some easy Dutch oven recipes.

Brown the meat in a dutch oven. Add the onions and saute them.  Add the berries and stock enough to cover the meat. Stir in honey. Bring to boil and cover. Simmer 1 hour. Salt to taste and serve.

photo credit: danorth1

Combine first 5 ingredients in large self closing plastic bag or shallow glass dish. Add steak and toss to coat it with the marinade.  Refrigerate 3 or more hours. Spear with veggies on metal skewers. Grill or broil 12-15 minutes, turning frequently.

Scrub the potatoes but do not peel them. Cut each in three or four slice, lengthwise. Blend the butter and soup mix and spread on slices. Reassemble the potatoes. Wrap each potato in square of foil, overlapping ends. Bake until tender, turning once. Takes 45 to 60 minutes.

Thaw the frozen bread dough overnight. Butter the bottom of an 8” Dutch oven well. Mix the heavy whipping cream and ½ cup of brown sugar and pour into the greased Dutch oven. Place brown sugar and the cinnamon/brown sugar mix in a shallow bowl and roll each chunk of bread dough into the mix. Place the bread dough in the Dutch oven layering.  Make sure to not layer the bread dough too high as it will rise a lot in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes with 11 coals on the top and 5 coals on the bottom.

First make the meat sauce mixture:  Brown hamburger meat in skill and drain. Add the spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce to meat mixture.

Now make the cheese mixture: mix the eggs, and all the cheeses together in a mixing bowl.

In a large Dutch oven layer as follows: ½ sauce mixture, layer of noodles, ½ cheese mixture, repeat. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour in a 12” oven with 17 coals on top and 8 coals on the bottom.

photo credit: (nutmeg)

1. Mix 1/2 tsp of salt into 2 tbps water for each lbs of meat you will be using. Add pepper according to your taste. Mix the seasoned water with the meat. This is similar to how seasoned sausage is made. The water helps distribute the seasoning while giving the meat extra moisture. Now crush up 2 ice cubes and gently work the crushed iced cubes into the meat. Make 1/4 lb patties (four of them) and grill.
2. When you grill hamburgers, sear both sides on high heat, then move the burgers to the top rack to complete cooking to the level that you like. Searing the meat helps keep the juices inside.
3. Add finely minced or grated onion to the meat before grilling. The onions will release their juices as you grill, while the onion adds flavor.
4. CookbookNut.com uses beef base to make juicy burgers. Add enough beef base with other seasonings that you like to the meat until the meat is really juicy. Then grill. The added moisture will give you really juicy burgers.
5. Add vegetable juice (like V8), or Heinz 57 or Worcestershire sauce to the hamburger meat before you make the patties.
6. Make sure you use fresh meat and that it has a fat content of at least 18%. Ground chuck works great.
7. Use a digital instant read meat thermometer to cook the burgers to the desired temperature (around 140 degrees) but no more.
8. Don’t overwork the meat as you make the burgers. Keeping the patties looser will make them not as tough.
9. Some say to flip early and flip often. If you wait to flip until the juices are pooling on top of the burger (as you have probably seen them do), you just end up dumping all those juices into your grill. Flip them early and often and the juices stay in the meat.
10. When making the burger patty, add a pat of butter to the middle of the patty.
11. Poke a hole in the middle of the patty. This will help the burger cook more evenly and you won’t be tempted to overcook it. The hole will close as it cooks.
12. Don’t mash the burger down with your spatula as it cooks. This just squeezes the juice out. If you use the “poke a hole in the middle trick” they won’t be so thin on outside and thick in the middle and you won’t be tempted to mash them down.

How about you? What are your tricks for making the juiciest burgers around?

Dutch Oven Dessert - Cherry Cobbler

First of all, to help with clean up, line your Dutch oven with heavy duty foil. Now pour the cherry pie filling into the Dutch oven and spread it over the bottom. In a bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, oatmeal, and pecans. Add your vanilla. Cut the butter into pieces that are about 1 tbsp in size. Mix into the sugar/flour/oatmeal mixture. You might need to use your hands or a pastry cutter. Spread this topping over the cherries.

Put the lid on the Dutch oven and bake the cobbler, using about 10 briquets on the bottom and 16 on the top. Bake for about 45 minutes. Check and see if the crust is brown and the cherries bubbly. If so, then it is done! Serve this with whipped cream or ice cream. How’s that for an easy Dutch oven dessert?

Dutch Oven Dessert - Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Start by preheating your Dutch oven. Use about 10 coals underneath and 16 on top.

In a bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, oil, water, and pineapple juice from the can of pineapple. Stir until all the lumps are gone. Now melt the butter in the Dutch oven (which should be preheated by now). Add the brown sugar and stir until it is all dissolved. Put the pineapple rings evenly in the bottom of the Dutch oven and put a cherry in the middle of each. Pour the cake batter over all the rings. Put the lid back on and bake for about 30 minutes or until the cake is done in the center (use a toothpick or thin stick to poke in middle and see if it is clean when you pull it back out. If it has batter stuck to it, it needs to cook some more). Don’t be surprised if the cake shrinks a little when it is done. This will help you get it out upside down (which will be right side up!) . When done, remove the lid, and turn the Dutch oven over onto a serving dish or place.

Pineapple Upside-down cake is one of the classic, favorite easy Dutch oven desserts

Dutch Oven Dessert - Chocolate Turtle Cake

Line your Dutch oven with heavy foil. Mix all of the ingredients, except the caramels, together in a bowl and then pour the mixture in the Dutch oven. Unwrap the caramels and distribute evenly over the top of the chocolate cake mixture. Cook with about 6 coals underneath and 9 on the top. That’s it! A delicious, easy dutch oven dessert, and it’s chocolate dutch oven dessert as an added bonus!

These are some great dutch oven recipes. Give them a try!

cooking, dutch oven, recipes

First of all, get a large pot of water boiling on the stove. Make sure that you have one quart size freezer zip-lock bag for each person. Don’t use the thin kind, make sure you use the thicker freezer variety.

Start with a couple of eggs for each person. Crack the eggs into the zip lock bag. Seal it (squeezing out the air), and then squish the bag and squeeze it and shake it to get the egg mixed up. Then add whatever other omelet ingredients you like:

• green onions
• onions
• ham
• green peppers
• cheese
• red peppers
• mushrooms
• bean sprouts
• salt and pepper
• whatever else you might like

Now get the air out, zip the bag shut tight and shake and squeeze the mixture again.

Place the zip-lock omelet bag in the pot boiling water and boil for about 12-14 minutes. When done, remove from the water, open the bag and the omelet will roll right out onto your plate.

This is a great idea for camping. It allows everyone to help make their own meal, is really easy to do, saves cleaning the pots and pans, and makes for a lot of fun.

1. Look for a brisket that has a good fat cap. This is a layer of fat that should be about an 1/2 inch thick and evenly distributed over the top of the of the brisket. The fat cap is important because it helps keep the brisket moist as it smokes. If the fat cap is uneven, it is best to trim it so it is approximately even across the brisket.
2. Look for a brisket that is the right size. The ideal brisket should be about 6-10 lbs in weight. If it is much less, it will dry out more easily. If it is much more, it will take longer to cook and the meat may become tougher and stringier. 8-10 lbs is about right.
3. Look for a brisket that has good marbeling. Make sure that the meat is a deep red color and has fat throughout the meat and not just in one place. This combination of red meat and fat is the marbeling. Brisket is a thick cut of meat and the fat that is located throughtout the meat helps keep it moist while it cooks.
4. Look for a brisket that is unfrozen. An unfrozen brisket will be much more moist after smoking than one that has been frozen. If it has been frozen, the meat won’t be as red and the fat cap won’t be as white. Lift the brisket in the middle. If it is as stiff s a board, it has probably been frozen. If it bends down on both sides of your hand, it is probably fresh. In addition, the more it bends, the less amount of connective tissue it has and therefore the moister it will be.

If you can talk to the butcher (and make sure you are talking to the actual butcher, not just the counter help), he should be able to help you find the best brisket for smoking.

All over the country there are barbecue competitions where the best barbecuers compete. They know the secrets for cooking competition style barbecue. You don’t want your ribs to be tough, your chicken to be rubbery, and your brisket to be barely edible. To make the best, it takes years of trial and error to find the right combinations that will make your barbecue stand out.

If you want to know:

• The detailed and exact way to cook championship level ribs, chicken, brisket, and butts
• About different types of smokers and how to use them
• How to choose the right wood for your barbecue
• How to use marinades, brines, injections, and rubs
• How to use finishing sauces and glazes

then checkout Competition BBQ Secrets. It will give you all this and a whole lot more.

Mix ingredients in a bowl. Store in a tightly sealed jar in a cool dark place.

Mix together and sprinkle on meat before cooking.

Combine the ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Generously coat the meat with the rub before cooking. 

Mix ingredients together and apply to meat. 

There are many variations in ingredients and techniques with rubs.  There is no one best method, so try the various methods mentioned here and see what you like the best.  Rubs can be simple (crushed black pepper) or elaborate (many spices).  The general purpose of purpose is to add flavor to a meat without adding extra moisture. 

Use the freshest ingredients possible–you’ll do much better by buying spices in whole form where possible and grinding them yourselves than by using spices that you’ve had in the cupboard for a couple of years.  As you experiment, however, use what you have. 

You can grind your spices with a spice mill, coffee grinder, mortar and pestle.  Don’t grind too finely.  You want to do just enought to release the essential oils in the spices.   Just grind enough to use immediately.  Rubs do not store well, but, if necessary, may be stored in a small, air tight jar in cool, dry place, or in the freezer.

After creating your rub, spread the rub thickly over the meat and rub or massage it into the surface.  A shaker can make the rub easy to apply.  Allow the rub to soak into the meat surface.  As the rub soaks in, add more, forming a crust.  Lightly cover the meat for a period of time (give it at least a couple of hours, if possible, to as long as all day) before cooking. 

A different technique can be used if you are smoking the meat.  It may be useful to use a moderate covering of rub initially to allow the smoke to penetrate the meat, instead of just the seasoning.  Once it has smoked to your taste, remove the meat and cover it with a thick layer of rub and then return to finish (you may want to lightly wrap in aluminum foil or finish in a non-smoking oven).

Common rub ingredients include salt, sugar, paprika, black pepper, ground chile, and garlic powder.  Other ingredients to consider include cumin, onion powder, cayenne pepper, oregano, sage or any favorite or yours.

Salt and sugar have need special consideration.  Some feel that salt draw moisture from the meat and results in a dryer meat, but others feel that this helps build a crust on the exterior of the meat. 

Sugar starts burning at 265 degrees F, so if you use sugar, you will need to cook at a lower temperature.  It can stand a higher temperature for short periods of time, so you may be able to increase your grill temperature late in the cooking for a brief period.  Other ingredients that are mixed with the sugar, including moisture from the meat, will also affect the rate at which sugar burns.

Some say to use salt if you are searing or deep fat frying the meat and more sugar if you are using meat cuts that won’t dry out that easily.  Chicken, pork, and fish cook best at lower temperatures, so a rub with sugar will do well.  One suggested technique is to baste with a fruit juice and then sprinkle enough rub to cover the meat (some would call this a paste).  It will melt as it mixes with the juice, forming a nice glaze.

You’ll have to experiment to find out what you like to use.  Anything goes, as long as the final product tastes good!

Pie makers come in both aluminum and cast iron varieties.  Cast iron pie makers need to be seasoned just like a cast iron skillet, or Dutch oven is seasoned.  Aluminum pie makers do not need that type of seasoning.   Most prefer cast iron pie irons since they hold heat better and are much more durable.  They are quite a bit heaver than the aluminum pie makers

Here are several ideas for using your pudge pie to cook over a campfire:</

• Place thinly slice potatoes and onions in a well-oiled pie maker.  Season with garlic salt and pepper.  Cook until done.
• Place two slices of buttered bread in the pie maker, one on each side.  Place a filling (pie filling, eggs/cheese/bacon, sliced banana/peanut butter/brown sugar, sloppy joe mix, etc.) one one of the slices.  Close the pie maker and hold over coals until the bread is toasted.
• Instead of bread, use two pieces of puff pastry and your favorite pie filling.
• Use English muffins, sausage, eggs, and cheese to make a sausage and egg muffin.
• Use crescent rolls, ground beef with taco seasoning, grated cheese, and other taco toppings to make a taco
• Place thinly sliced zucchini, peppers (red, yellow, green, hot), and tomatoes on one side. Add 1 tbsp. Italian dressing, close and cook over coals until veggies are cooked but slightly crisp.
• Put cooked beef, potato slices, and onions in between two pieces of pie dough and cook over coals.

There are many items that can be prepared in a pie iron.  Here are some ideas:

• reuben sandwiches
• pizza pies
• calzones
• scrambled eggs
• tuna melts
• omelets
• meat loaf
• burgers
• bratwurst
• french toast
• steak
• rolls
• cornbread
• empanadas
• s’mores
• grilled cheese
• sourdough bread burgers
• fish sticks
• cheese sticks
• pizza rolls
• meats
• vegetables
• hot dogs
• corn dogs
• waffles
• desserts

You are only limited by your imagination!