Dutch Oven Cooking

andy_b

Questions:

1) Do you leave the oven on the grill or do you place it right on top of the charcoal?

2) Do you always keep it covered? I was hoping to get some flavor from the egg into the cooking but was also afraid of the liquid evaporating if I cook with the cover askew (or off entirely).

Rusty Rooster

Whatever works for you is right. That said, I set mine on the grill, direct heat, no lids.

Rusty Rooster

Sorry, forgot to add. No problem adding more fluid during a cook if too much evaporates. But remember, fluid retention in food is one of your eggs advantages.

fishlessman

i mostly use a camp style dutch with legs sitting on a pizza stone, but direct works as well, just dont boil, you just want a very light simmer so things dont burn

egret

Don't put it on the charcoal.....that charcoal temp. gets up to around 1300 degrees. I do mine a little different than RR. I use plate setter, legs up, and pan on plate setter. If this is getting too hot you can put spacers between pan and plate setter, such as the ceramic feet or rolled up aluminum foil. This can also be done with the PS, legs down.....it won't get quite as hot that way. By all means do it with the top off...

Gunnar

Would you say dome max at 250? DO at gasket level.

Cookn&Climbn

kinda depends on what you intend to cook:

boil water or brown some ground beef - oven on the grid (direct)

bake a casserole or pasta or jambalaya - oven on platesetter (indirect).

platesetter legs up or down - really depends on what size egg/oven you have (fit issues) and whether or not you want the heat right under the oven.

leaving the lid on/off is a personal preference depending on recipe, your palate, time, etc.

andy_b

Thank you to everyone for your answers. I had always assumed that I would be doing direct heat and not using the plate setter for things like stews and chilis.

But I can see the advantage to using the plate setter for something like chicken cacciatore which is suppose to bake.

Thank you. I can't wait to try this!

Cookn&Climbn

while you're at it try this recipe sometime. it's unbelievably good.

http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_recipes&Itemid=71&func=detail&id=297

fishlessman

with a pizza stone in there, my dome is reading above 300 but dont go by that, watch the simmer and adjust for that. there is to many things going on with the setup and the steam etc to worry about gage readings. go by how its simmering and make your adjustment. i stabilize about 300 and then make adjustments after the pots been in there 45 min to an hour

andy_b

I was looking at earlier threads and noticed someone cooked a beef stew using the plate setter.

What are some of the advantages to cooking chilis and stews using indirect heat?

I would assume if I was use use the indirect method that I would need to brown the meat or saute the onions/garlic on the stove top before moving to the egg?

Ross in Ventura

Green Chili Stew

Ox-tails
I use the platesetter for My DO.
Ross

Rascal

I do all my slow-cooking in a counter-top crock pot (electric) or by using the stove top or oven (in an appropriate vessel). When you consider the time & energy spent for a BGE cook, along with the associated clean up, vs. the indoor method (with the exception of a little smoke) what's the difference? Hey, perhaps it's just a way for some to chill out!! 8 - )

Grandpas Grub

Very good advice...

GG

fishlessman

i use the crock pot and the simmer plate on my range too, but chilis, or getting a good crunchy crust on a potroast, the egg is hard to beat.

Grandpas Grub

Andy,

Dutch Oven cooking is great. Add the egg and it is even that much better. A fantastic combination.

IMHO, if you use the lid on DO's the egg adds no advantage. One may as well buy a 'Volcano' for the DO and cook with bricketts.

There are some great suggestions on using and not using platesetters. Personally I don't think it makes much difference. I have use the DO right on the grid. The feet on the DO sometimes bind between the spacing in the grid so I ended up cutting off all the camp feet from my DO's.

The best accessory I have used with the DO is TJV's spider. I use it regular to sear and then inverted to do the cook. Some of my DO's are smaller and won't sit directly on the spider so I use my drip pan, a wallmart ss deep pizza dish to rest the do on.

The heavy cast iron in the do is designed to distribute the heat to the food so I am not too concerned about direct or indirect cook.

Fishlessman's tip on how to determine temp if a really advice. I am usually about 300° at the DO level, but most always just at a simmer.

Hopefully the pictures below will give you some ideas...







enjoy gg

JLOCKHART29

I always place mine on top of the platesetter with three small rocks between the platesetter and dutch oven to create air space for even cooking. I remove the lid at the begining and end of the cook with lots of smoke wood. The longer you leave the lid off with wood smoking the more intense the flavor.









On my smaller Le Cresuits I set on grate.

Rascal

Thanks!! Gotta give it a try!! 8 - 0~~~

fishlessman

it wont look like this coming out of a crock pot either, this one was about 7 hours in, 3 pounder looked too small for the dutch so i used a pan, worked fine

Grandpas Grub

JL,

I think I am going to make that stew picture my workspace background. Gosh that looks so good. Better every time I see it.

Kent

ewillie

That is indeed some good looking grub. I need to expand my horizons.

Buxwheat

GG: Is that cioppino in that last pic? How about a recipe. Love that stuff.

BigDaddy - OCT

Grandpas Grub,

Any chance of a recipe for your pot roast and gravy?? That looks just like what my grandma used to make and it's been an awefully long time since I've had it. The seafood dish looks incredible as well if you happen to be in a sharing mood!

Bruce

Grandpas Grub

The pot roast is excellent - melts in your mouth.

The recipe seems long but in reality this is a very simple cook. Prep time is pretty quick cook time is from 4 to 6 hours, depending on how tender you want the meat to be.

We cook this 3 to 4 times a month, usually Sunday Dinner. We make mashed potatoes to go along with it. Gravy is also wonderful.

This is fantastic when done in the egg. I don't think it has to be done in the DO probably a aluminum serving try might work. I will have to give that method a try.

Here is the link to the recipe.

http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=473938&catid=1

Hope you enjoy it. Kent

Grandpas Grub

Here ya go my friend...

http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=55&func=view&catid=1&id=516213&fontstyle=f-larger

Enjoy,
Kent

Mickey

would you please pass on the info on the ox tails.... wow they look good

BigDaddy - OCT

Thank you very much for the recipe...can't wait to give it a shot!

Bruce