If you are heading out into the wilderness, then you will need to sift through the dutch oven pots so that you can pick out a top notch one to cook in.

Dutch ovens are as close to cooking as they did in colonial times as you will get today.

Very popular during the 1800’s and 1900’s when outdoor camping was the normal cooking method.   

The dutch oven is also the official state cooking pot of Texas, Utah and Arkansas.

Dutch oven often had three legs, a wire bail handle, and a slightly concave, rimmed lid so that coals from the cooking fire can be placed on top as well as below.  

This provides more uniform internal heat and lets the inside act as an oven.  

Adapting most any recipe for use in the Dutch oven is simple except for maybe grilling.

Dutch ovens are perfect for cooking all your meals, and they are helpful in the home kitchen as well.

These ovens are typically made of bare cast iron, although some are aluminum.

A Dutch oven is a thick-walled cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid.  

Dutch ovens are usually made of seasoned cast iron, however some Dutch ovens are instead made of cast aluminium, or are ceramic.  

Some metal varieties are enameled rather than being seasoned.

Dutch ovens have been used as cooking vessels for hundreds of years. 

They are called casserole dishes in English speaking countries other than the United States (“casserole” means “pot” in French), 

and cocottes in French.  

They are similar to both the Japanese tetsunabe and the Sac, a traditional Balkan cast-iron oven, 

and are related to the South African Potjie and the Australian Bedouin oven.

Take a look at the pots available below.

How Choose Best Dutch Oven Pot For Camping

If you are going to go camping for the first time, you might feel a little bit confused about what to bring. There are many things that you need to bring with you.

One of the most important thing is the Dutch oven. If you do not have a Dutch oven, then it is impossible for you to enjoy a delicious meal out in the wild.

A Dutch oven will keep your food warm and add flavor to it. It is also very easy to use a Dutch oven.

Anybody can use it because it is not complicated at all. Here are some tips that can help you choose a good Dutch oven.

There are many types of Dutch ovens in the market. Not all of them are suitable for your camping needs.

What do you prefer to cook?

If you like to cook with a lot of ingredients, then you need a Dutch oven that is big enough to accommodate all the ingredients you want to cook.

For example, if you plan to bake bread, you will need a Dutch oven that is big enough for the dough to rise inside it.

If you want to boil soup, then you need a Dutch oven that is big enough to hold the soup ingredients and water.

What material do you prefer?

Dutch ovens are made from different materials. The most common materials are cast-iron and steel. These two materials have different characteristics.

Cast-iron Dutch ovens are heavier than steel Dutch ovens. If you are going to carry your Dutch oven to the campsite, then you need to consider the weight of the Dutch oven.

Steel Dutch ovens are easier to clean than cast-iron Dutch ovens. 3.

What is your budget?

The price of a Dutch oven varies depending on the material and size of the Dutch oven.

How many pieces do you need?

A Dutch oven can be either a single piece or a set of pieces that include pots, lids and accessories such as handles, racks and trivets. If you only need one Dutch oven, then it is better to buy one piece instead of a set of pieces.

What is your cooking style?

Dutch ovens are used for different purposes. If you like to cook in the outdoors, then it is better to buy a Dutch oven that has legs or other accessories that can help you to place the Dutch oven on the ground.

What Kind of Dutch Oven Available?

• Camping Dutch Oven Pots
• Dutch Ovens for the Home

All the Dutch Oven Pots for Sale…

Which one will you choose?

There are quite a few to pick from so do read through the features of each one to see which is more convenient.

They are pretty similar, but they vary in sizes from 2 quarts up to 8 quarts.

Whether you are backpacking on a family vacation or having some camping fun, you can always take your handy Dutch oven along to cook your meals with ease.

Wake up from your tent to a tasty breakfast you can make yourself!

Universal Housewares Camping Dutch Oven

Get ready to go camping!

It has been built with the trademark feet on the bottom especially for camping.

You will find that it comes with a hand lid that is also reversible for your ease of use and a useful wire handle with a stay cool capability. You can use it to hang this pot over the fire and cook your meals easily.

This is a traditional piece of cast iron cookware that is already pre-seasoned for you!

The Camp Chef Dutch Oven

Thermometer feature…

When you hear the name Camp Chef, you know that you are dealing with an experienced company in the game.

One of the best Dutch ovens that you can get is the Camp Chef DO-14 Pre-Seasoned Dutch oven. The product exhibits top quality features that allow it to rank amongst the best.

Some of the features include having a quality oven lid, has a built-in thermometer notch, you can use its lead as a skillet/griddle and has a true seasoned finish cast iron.

This is The Camp Chef Lewis & Clark Dutch oven for camping.

It will hold up to 12 quarts and is made of seasoned cast iron.

There is a handy deep dish lid that can also double as a skillet or serve trivet. The lid is also constructed to help increase air flow for thorough cooking.

A great feature with this item is that it comes with a beneficial thermometer channel which allows you to check the internal temperature without lifting the lid!

This is Dutch oven offers one of the best durability rates aside from the fact that it has additional features such as a built-in thermometer.

Lodge Logic Dutch Oven

2-quart oven

This is a smaller sized Dutch oven that holds up to 2 quarts. It is equipped with an iron lid for even cooking and temp.

Control and is handy for slow cooking meals. It has already been pre-seasoned with vegetable oil and is ready for use. The iron lid can conveniently be inverted to be used as a skillet/griddle, perfect for flapjacks!

It measures 8 inches in diameter and is approximately 3 inches deep.

Lodge Logic Camp Dutch Oven

4 quarts

The Lodge Logic Dutch oven is just right for camp side and campfire cooking. It has been built from a durable cast iron to make sure your heat stays in and to ensure proper distribution.

It comes with a convenient thin wire handle to easily remove the pot from the fire or heat. It has 3 legs so you can sit it among coals in your fire. You can also use the lid as a skillet which will make it easy to cook other items besides stews.

This pot has also been pre-seasoned to make your cooking less likely to stick, but it is recommended to spray with oil for the best results lightly.

Old Mountain Pre Seasoned 10115

8 Quart Pot

Here is a larger sized pot called the Old Mountain Pre Seasoned.  

This Dutch oven will hold up to 8 quarts which are great if you have more people in your party to cook for.

It comes with a convenient and sturdy flanged lid for even cooking over a campfire.

This pot has already been pre-seasoned for easy use and no stick cooking.

It will heat slowly and evenly. It also is equipped with a spiral ball handle to lift quickly.

But with a smack great and a bit of ingenuity, this too can be accomplished.

This is the best way to get away from the fatty foods we have come to rely on in our diets.

These ovens were a way to make the most of the limited supplies that our ancestors had on hand.

A goo
d hearty stew could feed a large family with only a little meat.

Get A Real Dutch Oven

The thing is that not too many of these are around today. Sure you will find plenty of items that are being labeled “Dutch Ovens” but to do justice to your meal you need the real deal.

It has to be made of cast iron for one thing. It has superior heat retention and an even surface temperature.

Grandma used a cast iron skillet for the best-fried chicken in town and cornbread that was to die for.

When you cook in an authentic Dutch Oven, you begin to understand that there may be more technologically advanced metals but they can’t stand up to the consistency of the cast iron Dutch Oven.

The real McCoy has three stubby legs and a hanging handle. Now they are heavy, but they are also a very brittle iron. Dropping it could be a disaster for you. If you are on a camping excursion, it could leave you with no way to eat.

Properly treated cast iron is one of the best non-stick surfaces ever. With the development of Teflon, a lot of today’s cooks have been cheated.

They have been forced to cook on what we feel are inferior surfaces. Thank goodness there are a few artisans around that still make a quality Dutch oven.

When you buy one, you have to clean it thoroughly with a good detergent to remove any of the anti-rusting chemical residues.

Next, you have to season or sweeten the cooking surface. This is simply coating the surface with oil and baking it to 300 degrees or more.

It takes about 4-5 hours to get a good season on the surface. Did you ever wonder why the best hamburgers were made at the greasy spoon or truck stop diners?

Most of them had grills with cast iron surfaces. These like the Dutch oven retain a portion of the flavorings of things cooked before and each new dish is enhanced by the amalgamation of flavors.

Set A Fire For Camp Dutch Oven Cooking

When camping outdoors designing the fire to use is the main concern. You have to make sure the fire will produce a slow and even heat.

Hot spots will burn the contents of the Dutch oven in some places and undercook others.

You have to preheat the oven long enough for to reach a good cooking temperature.

Some people have found that placing coals on the lid of the oven will help it to cook more evenly.

The best way to use a Dutch oven is to keep it from direct contact with the coals.

The original design has the legs for just this purpose.

Some recipes are even better served by making a small tripod and suspending the oven over the coals.

Dutch Oven Pit Baking Techniques

Pit baking is an art, and the Dutch oven readily lends itself to this form of baking. One of the best ways to do this is by digging a pit that will hold the oven and a lining of rocks.

Line the hole with the rocks and get a good fire going inside it let the stones become red hot.

After the fire has burned out place the oven inside cover with rocks then build a nice sized fire over top of the pit.

The rocks will conduct the heat down to the oven and bake the contents inside.

As you can see Camp Dutch oven cooking can be fun and versatile. It is one thing to be the camp cook it is another to do it with style and flair.

If you are the type, who likes the authentic rustic experience of true camping you can find no better way to accomplish this than cooking your meals in a Dutch oven.

Seasoning and Cleaning:

After use Dutch ovens are typically cleaned like other cast-iron cookware:  

with boiling water and a plastic brush or plastic mess, pad and no soap.  

After the oven has been dried, it should be given a thin coating of cooking oil to prevent rusting.  

Whether that should be a vegetable fat or an animal fat (such as lard) Saturated fats are more stable than polyunsaturated fats, which tend to go rancid more quickly.

Can make a scrubbing paste with kosher salt and warm water.  

Don’t use any metal tools to clean, can cause damage to your cast iron dutch ovens.

If the oven is used regularly, this poses no issue.  Mustard oil provides the highest temperature resistance, which would be conducive to cooking.

Where possible, a cleaned and freshly oiled Dutch oven should be stored in a clean,

dry location with the lid a jar or off to promote air circulation and to avoid the smell and taste of rancid oil.  

If the Dutch oven must be stored with the lid on, a paper towel or piece of newspaper should be placed inside the oven to absorb any moisture.

With care, after much use the surfaces of the Dutch oven will become dark black,

very smooth, shiny and non-stick.  With proper care, a Dutch oven will provide long service.

A trick to make clean up easier, is to use some aluminum foil in the bottom, putting food in the inner lining of foil.  

Another way would to put pebbles in the bottom of the dutch oven, and placing a aluminum pie tin on the pebble and food in the pie tin.

Seasoning is the process of treating the surface of a saucepan, 

wok, crepe griddle or other cooking vessel with a stick-resistant coating formed from polymerized fat and oil on the surface.  

Prevents rust and corrosion and creates a non-stick cooking surface for easier clean up.

Enameled Dutch ovens, do not need to be seasoned before use.  

Though they don’t have the advantage of the cast iron dutch ovens.  

Such as deep frying can’t be done in enameled ovens.  

They can’t handle the heat, and is best used for sauces, soups, stews.

Cleaning Enameled Dutch Ovens:

Filling enameled dutch oven halfway with water and boiling water and using a plastic spatula, scraping residue and food.  

Then using hot water and dish soap to clean, rinsing with hot water.

Removing Staining in Enameled Dutch Ovens:

Dutch ovens are still popular in homes and on camping, hiking trips.   

And are available almost everywhere such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, JcPenny’s and so many more places.   

Sold in different types and colors of dutch ovens.

Some benefits of using a dutch oven today frying meat, can evenly heat oil, allowing you to control the temperature.  

You can also bake bread, which was used to make biscuits on the range.

Casseroles are also cooked in dutch ovens, cooking meat and sauces can sauteed.   

And then assembled and baked in the same pot.