Friday 10 May 2013

New toy - Dutch Oven

I enjoy cooking out doors, so to compliment spit roast, smoking and Bar BQ, we invested in a Dutch oven. Its nothing more complicated than a cast iron pot with a cast iron lid. This means it can be used on most heat sources apart from induction hob (what ever that is). Once the new black art is sussed, I will be using it on wood and home made charcoal, but the learning process is with commercial briquettes which burn consistently, 24 of them will give me approx 350deg F.

The first attempt was rosemary chicken and veg. A natural trivet of onion and some veg were put on the base, marinated chicken put on top and rest of veg around. Spuds went in last and a little marinade poured over. A little water added to keep everything moist.

The charcoal fired up and divided.

Dutch Oven placed over top and the other half of the coals placed on top.

The Dutch Oven is 1/4 turned every 15 mins or so to ensure even heat distribution. The lid turned the same but in the opposite direction.

About half way through the cook more coals were fired up for the top to brown off, turned out to be unnecessary as the original coals had sufficient heat to take from the bottom and put on the top.
The finished product

The taste test was not bad. The chicken (plastic one from the supermarket) wasn't the best, but was palatable. The veg was good but a little less liquid would of made them better. All in all a pleasant meal from a new method (aided by sat in the barn with a good book, glass of whiskey and Jethro Tull in concert playing in the background) With more practice, it should turn out some superb food.

Cheers
Diz

1 comment:

  1. I was wandering where my coldron went lol!!!! looks very nice!!:)

    ReplyDelete