cooking for camping
Cookbook author Vernon Winterton cooked in Dutch overs for over 40 years before he wrote 101 Things to Do with a Dutch Oven. He had even competed in competitions, and qualified three times for the world championships. He is a big fan of the versatility and accessibility of a Dutch oven, and he includes recommendations for which one may be right for you.
A Dutch oven is made of cast iron and comes with a lid. It is durable if treated properly, and Winterton includes tips for seasoning your Dutch oven and how to know when it’s time to reseason it as well as washing and storage tips. And while all of these recipes an be done at home in the oven, they’re also written to be used over a campfire. In fact, Winterton did so much research with these recipes over a campfire that each recipe tells just how many coals to use under the pot and over it to get it to the right temperature.
Obviously, there are 101 recipes (see the title of the book), but they are spread out over breakfast; bread and rolls; main dishes; side dishes; sauces, soups and stews; and dessert. They range from Cinnamon Rolls and Breakfast Pizza to Sloppy Joes, White Chili, and Cherry Pie. There is a Simple French Bread, Shepherd’s Pie, Cheesy Potatoes, or Chunky Chicken Soup. There are simple recipes, like the Peachy Dump Cake and more complicated recipes like the Stuffed Flank Steak or Apricot and Raspberry-Glazed Cornish Game Hens.
That being said, even the more complicated recipes are simple, and often use shortcuts that would be perfect for a camping trip, where you have to travel with limited space. Ingredients such as dry onion soup packets, cans of condensed soup, bouillon cubes, and cake mixes. But this sort of planning would also be useful for those who live in a food dessert or just doesn’t have much time to shop for fresh ingredients and needs to rely on pantry staples for their everyday meals.
101 Things to Do with a Dutch Oven was originally published in 2006, so this is a much needed repackaging. I do wish that they had also updated some of the recipes. For those wanting to eat less meat, or no meat, there are not a lot of options, and a lot of these recipes use so few ingredients I think that just omitting the meat would make a big difference in the flavor. That being said, there are a lot of interesting ideas here, and this would be a great small cookbook for meat-loving campers or parents looking for quick evening meals that only need one pot.
Egalleys for the new edition of 101 Things to Do with a Dutch Oven were provided by Gibbs Smith through Edelweiss, with many thanks.
