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Speaking of camping

post #1 of 13
11/30/08 at 10:50am
Thread Starter 
A long time ago I was out hiking the Muir trail and befriended a fellow hiker. We walked for a bit and shared a campsite for a coupla nights. One morning he made this amazing breakfast in a single pan. It was peaches on the bottom of a biscuit crust which he turned around and covered with maple syrup. Boy was it delicious. Is this just plain old peach cobbler and how do you do it in a pan over a fire?
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post #2 of 13
11/30/08 at 12:20pm
This used to be called peach or apple pan dowdie >It probably started with the cowboys chuckwagon type trail meals. Slightly grease pan, dont get it to hot, put in fruit some spices then you can use a waffle mix with a little sugar and vanilla added, again not to hot as you want it evenly browned and cooked within and not burned. They can also be saved and reheated later with vanilla ice cream and caramel. Loads of calories though. Mange :talk:
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post #3 of 13
11/30/08 at 4:00pm
Thread Starter 
Cover it I assume?
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post #4 of 13
11/30/08 at 5:52pm
It's sometimes amazing what you can do on a live fire.

More years back than I care to think about I earned my Cooking merit badge on the strength of a pineapple upside down cake I made in foil, on the hot coals of the dinner fire.

Jump forward many years. We're on a multi-day wagon train ride on the Oregon trail. Friend Wife makes her signature Colonial Apple Cake in a Dutch oven. Wagon master offers me nine ponies for that woman. But I was used to her, so declined the offer.
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post #5 of 13
11/30/08 at 8:10pm
9 ponies huh.....
rotfl....too funny.

dutch ovens make great cobblers/fruit cakes etc....

last years' big treat at mushroom events were the spicy mexican marshmallows I brought....dk chocolate with cinnamon and chipotle, toasted over the fire....decadent adult dessert....overkill would have been somores with good chocolate, the mallows, homemade grahams....
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post #6 of 13
11/30/08 at 9:45pm
Yes Kuan, I would cover it. Also when "baking" over an open fire oftentimes it helps to add a few coals to the top of the dutch oven. Many dutch ovens have a lip on the lid. This helps to keep the coals in place while baking.
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post #7 of 13
12/1/08 at 4:25am
Thread Starter 
That totally makes sense. Guess I gotta wait until spring to try the coals on top.
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post #8 of 13
12/1/08 at 5:45am
I cover it with foil, and yes I sometimes put some coals on top of foil. Since majority of heat from coals rise I found it does not burn the top.. Try useing a can of apple pie filling as it is easier to pack then apples and already has all the spices.:lips:
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post #9 of 13
12/1/08 at 10:48am
>Many dutch ovens have a lip on the lid.<

Technically, Pete, all Dutch ovens have recessed lids. What we refer to, today, as a Dutch oven is actually a lidded, flat-bottomed kettle.

A true Dutch oven has three legs and a recessed lid. In use, hot coals are swept under it, and additional coals laid in the lid. This creates the same surrounded-by-dry-heat environment as found in an oven, thus letting you bake in one.

Dutch ovens, as with all legged cookware, is designed to be used on the hearth, rather than in the firebox itself.

With the advent of "portable" cast iron stoves, ca 1820, neither the legs nor the recessed lid was needed anymore. So they were mostly replaced by flat- and round-bottomed kettles with domed lids, that could fit on, or in, the hob.

For camp cooking, a Dutch oven is the most versatile piece of cookware you can carry. Virtually any cooking technique, from baking to deep fat frying, can be accomplished in one.

I've got an article about Dutch oven cookery at my website. If anyone's interested, here's the link: Dutch Ovens Cooking. Cooking in the great outdoors.
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post #10 of 13
12/1/08 at 11:02am
Thanks for making that point. Most people think any heavy cast iron, lidded pot is a dutch oven. I love my Lodge dutch oven (a true dutch oven) and know the difference, but was just being too lazy the other day and didnt point that out. It is a great point though-unless it has legs and a recessed lid, it's not a dutch oven!

Ed, I have found that "baked" items will do perfectly well without the top coals usually, but it usually leaves the top rather pale looking. I add the top coals more often for an esthetics (forgive my spelling) reason than for additional heat, though sometimes that top heat is needed also.
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post #11 of 13
12/1/08 at 4:06pm
>I add the top coals more often for an esthetics (forgive my spelling) reason than for additional heat, though sometimes that top heat is needed also. <

One rarely spoken of reason for the top coals is that a cast-iron container acts is a heat sink. Indeed, on many a frosty night we've built fires inside Dutch ovens and covered kettle, let them burn down to coals, and brought them inside the tents as radiant heaters.

If you only use bottom coals, heat is wicked-away through the lid, making the temperature gradient between the bottom and the top rather steep. With coals on top, however, most of the heat is retained, for more even cooking and baking.
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post #12 of 13
12/1/08 at 4:38pm
For a lot of baked goods in a dutch oven you should take them off the bottom heat for the last bit of cooking so the bottom doesn't overcook or darken too much.
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post #13 of 13
12/1/08 at 6:28pm
You can avoid that too, Phil, by using a trivet or otherwise elevating your baking dish so it doesn't sit directly on the bottom of the oven.
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