Category: Camp

Primus Firehole 100 Camp Stove Review – Camp Cook Week Day 2

UPDATED MARCH 2018

Welcome to Camp Cooking Week! We’ll be cooking outdoors all week long so come back tomorrow for more outdoor cooking tips and tricks. Today I’m reviewing our Primus Firehole 100 camp stove.

Primus Firehole 100 Camp Stove Continue reading “Primus Firehole 100 Camp Stove Review – Camp Cook Week Day 2”

Dutch Oven Cooking for Beginners – Camp Cook Week Day 1

UPDATED APRIL 2018 Dutch Oven cooking can be the most delicious way to prepare food outdoors…if you know these beginner tips.

Welcome to Camp Cooking Week! We’ll be cooking outdoors all week long so come back tomorrow for more outdoor cooking tips and tricks.Dutch oven cooking tips

Dutch Oven Cooking for Beginners

Dutch Oven Cooking makes some tasty outdoor food. I mean real good. Setting a cast iron pot directly in the coals is a great way to get some delicious dinner (or breakfast or lunch) and once you know the basics it’s a fairly straightforward process.

  1. Heat the coals.
  2. Prepare the food and place it in the dutch oven.
  3. Place the coals and let the food cook.
  4. Enjoy!

Heat the Coals

Before we get to the food, we’ve got to talk heat. Dutch ovens are great at staying warm for a long time, but getting them warm takes a while.

We start our charcoal briquettes in a charcoal chimney, a nifty metal tube with space at the bottom for a small fire. This heats the coals quicker – in 15 to 20 minutes – just enough time to get your ingredients together.

Heating coals in a charcoal chimney

Anything you can bake in an oven or cook on a stove top you can make in a Dutch Oven as long as you heat things up right.  But just how many coals do you need when dutch oven cooking?
A quick guide I’ve heard for how many coals you need – take your diameter and multiply by two. One third go on bottom, two thirds on top. The fact that more coals go on the dutch oven lid when baking throws a lot of people.
Psst…I talk all about Dutch Oven cooking and other kinds of outdoor cooking on this episode of the Hungry Squared podcast. Give it a listen!
The most common dutch oven size is a 12 inch diameter. That’s the size we have so we need 24 coals total, 16 on top, 8 on bottom. Here’s a convenient chart from Dutch Oven Mania that gets more precise.

Photo from www.dutchovenmania.com

Let it Cook

You put down some hot coals, put your dutch oven on then add more coals to the top. How long until you can eat that mouthwatering meal? Dutch oven cooking is for the patient.

Most recipes require at least 45 minutes of cooking time, rotating the oven and lid every 10-15 minutes for even heating. Rotating the oven and lid often during cooking prevents burn spots and gives more even heat for your food. Don’t forget to stir too!

Dutch Oven Meal

I like to line up the lid handle with the pot handle when I begin cooking. When a ten minute timer goes off I rotate the lid a quarter turn in one direction and rotate the oven body a quarter turn in the other direction.

You may not want to wait 45 minutes or more for dinner, but there’s a benefit for having your food cooked this way – it stays warm for hours. The cast iron in a Dutch Oven holds its heat well so going back for seconds is never a problem.

Dutch Oven Features

You’ve waited patiently but now your ready to eat! How do you get those coals off without getting ash in your food? Trust me, it’s happened. Dutch Oven Cooking works best if you have the right tools.
The most important gear item you need for dutch oven cooking is of course a dutch oven. It should be cast iron, rust free (although you can clean and reseason it if you need to), have a holder handle on the pot, legs on the bottom and a flat top to hold coals.
Coals on dutch oven
They make Cast Iron Dutch Ovens for regular kitchen use that may not have those features. Those still make tasty meals, but if you’re using the dutch oven outdoors the legs on the bottom, holder handle and flat top lid are essential.

More Dutch Oven Cooking Tools

After the Dutch Oven itself, the most important tool we use is a lid lifter. When the dutch oven gets hot and the lid handle is surrounded by coals it is near impossible to move it without burning yourself. Hence the lid lifter.
We also wear fireproof gloves and use barbeque tongs to help place coals and of course we have a charcoal chimney to help heat the coals. Having the right tools makes dutch oven cooking a burn-free, ash-free process, plus it’s the only way to not burn yourself.
CampMaid Dutch Oven Cooking System
Some of the coolest Dutch Oven gear that I tried out for my 30 Outdoor Meals in 30 Days Challenge was from CampMaid. I really like that all of the items fold down to fit inside the dutch oven for storage.
You can see all the outdoor gear our family uses and loves on our gear page.

Dutch Oven Cooking Pros and Cons

Dutch Oven Cooking is a great way to eat outdoors because the food is so delicious, but it takes a while and those ovens can be heavy.

Pros

  • Baking – not many outdoor cooking options can do this easily.
  • Food stays warm a long time.
  • Delicious food. Really, really good.

Cons

  • Heavy – you’ll be getting a work out.
  • Clean up can be messy especially when camping. A food scraper (we use an old library card or national park pass) or aluminum dutch oven liners or parchment dutch oven liners help.
  • Time. Dutch ovens are the original slow cookers.
Now you’re ready to try for yourself! Sign up for my camp cooking challenge in the box above for even more outdoor cooking tips then try our quick Dutch Oven Potatoes recipe below.
We make these potatoes in our home fire pit several times every summer.

Dutch Oven Potatoes

Ingredients:
1 onion, sliced
1 lb bacon
4-6 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 T butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 c shredded cheese
Cut onion and bacon. Fry in uncovered dutch oven* until onions are translucent and bacon crisp. Remove bacon and grease. Add sliced potatoes, butter, salt and pepper. Stir. Cover and place coals. Cook for 40-50 minutes, rotating frequently until potatoes are tender. Crumble reserved bacon over potatoes, add cheese and serve.
*Sometimes I cook the bacon and onions in a frying pan on my stove if I’m trying to speed things up.

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Camp Cooking Week and Summer Snapshots Photo Essay

Next week is big around here with two big promotions on Mountain Mom and Tots. Here’s what we have planned!

1. Camp Cooking week – Just in time for your outdoor meals on Labor Day! Mountain Mom and Tots will be trying as many outdoor cooking techniques as we can and posting recipes and tips each day from September 1 through September 7, 2015.

Have you ever wanted to try dutch oven cooking, roasting over a fire, or solar cooking? We’ll be checking them out for you so you’ll have all the info you need. Plus we’re working on a giveaway for one lucky reader at the end of the week. Stay tuned.

2. Summer Snapshots Photo Essay. This year Mountain Mom and Tots is participating in an multi-blogger photo essay and we need your help. Do you have a family photo that embodies the theme Seeking Adventure? What was your best summer adventure? 

Join Play Outside Guide, Kid Project, AdventureTykes, and Hiking Along in this end of summer photo celebration.

Share your photo on instagram or twitter and be sure to tag @mountainmomtots and add #seekingadventure.

Don’t have instagram or twitter accounts? No problem, just email me at mountainmomandtots@gmail.com to be included. Photos must be submitted by September 7th and will be posted September 9, 2015.

 

The Worst Campout Ever

Last weekend Mountain Dad and I were excited to get outdoors on the first campout of the season. That excitement blinded us to the fact that camping with a two month old, three year old and six year old in the rain may be a tougher task than we were able to handle. We so wanted to get out! So what that the forecast called for rain all weekend. Surely it wouldn’t actually rain all weekend?

Thus began the worst campout ever. It started with rain while packing up, a registration mistake requiring a trip to the DMV and indecision on the destination. Our camping confidence was artificially inflated and instead of taking the downpour and DMV as omens of a terrible weekend we plowed on, thinking of the promises made to the preschooler and kindergartener.

We had decided to go to Fruita, Colorado because of its off road and mountain bike trails. Then the weather made us consider a destination in Southern Utah, but we ended up in Fruita after trusting too much on our phone’s up to the minute satellite weather report and taking a detour into a blizzard. Well, not quite but pretty cold and slushy.

We arrived late and hungry, set up camp and had a fire. I spent most of my time taking care of Mountain Baby leaving Mountain Dad and his brother to start a fire, set up tents, prepare dinner, cook, wash dishes and entertain Big E, little g and their cousin Eden.

Over the next few days the problems continued. We got lost. Little g refused to use the pit toilet. Rain kept us in the tent. One morning Big E puked. Mountain Baby needed to be held, fed and changed at the most inconvenient times. Kids fought. Parents were exhausted. We packed up in the rain. And on the drive back I had a minor accident, bending the metal on the trailer’s wheel well, just to add a rancid cherry on top of an already putrid cake.

Never before have I had such a hard time camping. Our family enjoys camping. We’re normally good at it. We have good gear. We eat good food. We all have fun. But sometimes it’s just not worth the extra work. Now I know. There is a point where getting outdoors just isn’t worth the extra effort.

I’m counting this trip as a learning experience. It would’ve been better to disappoint the kids and stay home on this one, but we couldn’t have known that when we started out. Now I’m implementing a three strikes policy. If three unforeseen problems arise on our next camping adventure it’s a sign that it’s not meant to be.