Open fire cooking doesn’t mean you must do without baking or roasting. It is possible that your favorite recipes are given an enhanced flavor when using this method. When cooking over an open fire, use a Dutch oven with a lipped lid and three feet on the bottom.
DON’T USE METAL UTENSILS
Metal spoons shouldn’t be used on the inside of a seasoned cast iron pot. Metal will damage the seasoned coating, so use wood instead.
FUEL FOR A COOKING FIRE
Build a hot fire using hard wood at least an hour prior to the time you wish to begin cooking. Stay away from using soft wood or retailed charcoal for your fuel. Pine is an example of resinous, cool-burning, soft wood that produces a quantity of black soot when burned. Not only is this residue bad for humans, it leaves a flammable coating on chimneys, and coats your cookware with soot. I don’t use charcoal briquettes for my cook fire because of the chemical additives and binders used to manufacture the product. Learning how to build a hardwood fire will keep you from dealing with either of these difficulties. A bed of red hot coals is your goal. Use a sturdy piece of curved iron as a lid lifter and have a thick cloth or potholder available to protect your hands from the heat.
HOW TO PREHEAT
Use a clean cloth or paper towel to coat the inside of your pot and lid with olive oil. Place the covered Dutch oven near the fire to warm while you prepare the ingredients. This is similar to pre-heating your standard oven. A warmed pot will cook more evenly and allows the oil to penetrate the iron. Ash is kept out of the pot by the well-seated lid. If your recipe calls for peppers, onions, or carrots, I add them to the oven at this point to simmer a bit and to provide a cushion between the bottom of the pot and the rest of my ingredients.
ADDING THE FOOD
Assemble the ingredients for your recipe. Seasonings are important; don’t forget them. Move your heated Dutch oven a comfortable distance from your fire. A curved metal rod is useful as a tool to carefully remove the hot lid.
Add layers of your other ingredients. If you are cooking rice, this is when you would add your water/broth and the rice. Vegetables are next to be added. Place any meat on top of grains or vegetables so that it will flavor them during cooking. Take care that the pot is not overfilled so that the food touches the underside of the lid. If cooking a bread or desert, layer the ingredients in the same way you would if using a conventional oven. Place the lid back onto the pot.
SETTING THE OVEN IN THE COALS
Using a shovel, scoop some hot coals to the edge of the fire and make a small mound. This is safer than trying to arrange the oven directly over or in the fire. Rest the Dutch oven on this small pile and then shovel more hot coals onto the lid. Once you’ve evenly covered the lid with hot coals, and made sure there is a good bed beneath, shovel a bit of ash over the live coals. This procedure is known as banking the fire. By covering the coals, they are ‘banked’ or shielded from oxygen, allowing them to burn slowly and steadily.
Allow your food to cook about the same time as you would in a conventional oven (assuming you have a good bed of coals), possibly 10 minutes more. Use a shovel to scoop the live coals off of the lid of your Dutch oven when cooking is complete. A whisk broom can remove any ash dust. Using a pad, lift the pot by the handle, protecting your hand from the heat. Move the vessel off of the live coals and set it away from the fire. Use a piece of curved iron to lift the lid and set it aside. Examine your food for doneness. If done, serve with a wooden serving spoon. If not, replace the lid, return the pot to the small bed of coals it sat on previously, replacing more coals onto the lid. When a few more minutes have passed, you can repeat the process, checking for doneness.
A little scorching of your first try isn’t a bad thing. You will soon get the hang of it. A few burnt edges will quickly be overlooked by those that have been enjoying the aroma of your food during cooking. Leftovers seldom remain. You should have some eager diners.
CLEANING AND STORING
Wipe the interior of your pot clean with a wash cloth, soft sided scrub pad or wooden spoon. As your pot becomes better seasoned, you’ll find that a paper towel will likely be enough to remove any bits of food. Reheating your pot by sitting it next to the fire will help remove any stubborn bits of glued on food. Dutch ovens should not be run through dishwashers or submerged in dishwater. Heating the metal in hot water and detergents will strip it of its protective seasoning. Re-apply a protective coating of oil to your oven after each use. You should be able to see your reflection in the bottom of your Dutch oven. Replace the lid for storage.
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