New cast iron looking for recipes

[Michael Cochran]

I just got myself a new cast iron Dutch oven yesterday that was on clearance at Tractor Supply (I went looking for something else and didn't find it but my trip wasn't wasted ). I looked through the Vulcans Grill section here and found a couple recipes I might try in my new oven but wanted some suggestions from those more experienced cast iron cookers we have on here. If you have a good Dutch oven recipe please share it. My plan is to make myself a campfire cooking set and cook something good over a fire next weekend if the weather will allow. 

I also am curious about the factory seasoning. Do most people actually use the factory seasoning or strip it and reseason the cast iron before they cook with it?

[Michael Cochran]

I just realized I should probably mention that the Dutch oven I got is a 10" and has a 4 quart capacity. If I enjoy it as much as I think I will I plan to go back and buy a larger one.

[Jim Coke]

Greetings Michael,

          Lots of good info and. Recipes out there. Before you make a campfire set up do some research on the ovens. I prefer cooking on a steel plate just using coals on the top and bottom. Get the free app on the app  store ( Dutch oven helper) its cool and shows a lot of info on temperatures. I have two cooking stations . Lots of fun 

Jim

[Michael Cochran]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll get the app and see what I can learn from it. I've found several recipes online this morning and will be deciding on a meal in the next couple days. Of course I might decide on a different one last minute.

I like that kitchen you have setup there. Is that an old rivet forge or part of an old drum you have holding the fire in that first picture?

[Jim Coke]

Michael,

       Just an old drum and recycled stuff.. You can get a good start on a 3/8 or so plate placed on the ground. Have fun!

Forge on and make some great grub.

Jim

 

 

 

[Michael Cochran]

Thanks, Jim, I'll share pictures if it's worth showing off. My cooking usually is nothing to get too excited about lol.

[Frosty]

Do NOT try cooking over the FIRE! I used to cook with a camp fire regularly when I was a field guy. When was the last time you saw a gas range with a 2' flame under the pan? I used to find 3 small rocks the pan would sit level on then rake out 2-3 coals out of the fire and that was about all I EVER needed, even under the Dutch oven. 

It's only in movies people can eat food actually buried in the coals or comes out of a Dutch oven that has a shovelful of coals on the lid. Think of TV camp cooking like you would Movie blacksmiths. One of two walnut sized coals on the lid will brown bread or biscuits nicely.

Alton Brown had some excellent cast iron cooking episodes. "Good Eats," I think.

For  most Dutch oven cooking I made a "bean hole" in the fire ring. It's like a little cove that keeps the cooking OUT OF THE FIRE but close enough to do the job. I arranged the rocks in the ring with another little ring a LITTLE larger than the cookware next to the main ring with a small gap in the ring so heat can get on the cookware. You adjust the cooking temp by closing or opening the gap. Remember to rotate the pot every so often!

Frosty The Lucky.

[Michael Cochran]

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

Do NOT try cooking over the FIRE!

I wasn't planning on a large fire but you're right that 'fire' is the wrong word. I should've said using the coals. I appreciate the advice and will look up Alton Brown and his recipes you mention.  

[Glenn]

When you get recipes that work and taste good, send them in or post them so we can add them to the vulcans grill.

[Michael Cochran]

You got it, Glenn. My wife actually suggested looking there first, I decided to ask because I know we'd have several cast iron cooking aficionados lol.

[ThomasPowers]

I always clean and reseason my cast iron---but I don't think I have ever bought any new; garage sale, scrapyard, fleamarket.  I like to know what's the seasoning was.

Make a set of campfire cooking tools and a tripod or cross bar; there is a lot of cooking that is done differently!  But I agree the main fire is generally used to produce coals that get transported to the cooking area.

[Michael Cochran]

 

On 7/23/2017 at 9:17 PM, ThomasPowers said:

I always clean and reseason my cast iron

Well I might be stripping the factory seasoning after all. I was already thinking about it but after you comment I'm thinking it's a better idea. The book that came with it mentions using a specific "conditioner" after every use which makes me a little unsure of what they used to begin with. 

[Frosty]

Thomas I forget, what do you use to strip out rancid seasoning?

We have a hammer in camp out coming up and doing a little chuck wagon style cooking would be fun. I haven't checked the campgrounds out but there probably aren't open fire pits. Still, beans and biscuits or chili and cornbread always taste better around a fire. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

Thomas I forget, what do you use to strip out rancid seasoning?

If it's rancid, it's not seasoning; it's just leftover oils. Scrub vigorously with hot water and a little detergent to get the unpolymerized gunk out.

If you want to remove the seasoning, oven cleaner (such as Easy-Off) is good, especially if you seal the pan up wet in a plastic bag after spraying and let it sit for 24 hours. Sandblasting also works well. I know people who've put their cast iron in the oven and run a cleaning cycle, but there's some small risk of warping. 

Whatever you do, I always recommend sanding down the bottom of the pan. The smoother the surface, the easier it is to season and the slicker the seasoning layer will be.

 

[ThomasPowers]

I use a plain old red devil lye soak---with proper precautions.  Doesn't hurt the cast iron and I have not run into anything so crusty that a good long soak won't remove.  Got the detailed instructions off the web.  Little elbow grease needed. I generally soak from one weekend to the next as I am lazy and time pressed.

[Frosty]

Thanks Thomas. Deb doesn't like cast iron for some reason so these have been on a shelf for a long time. I don't know what folks season cast iron with that won't go rancid in a few years unused. I use Wesson or if we're on the trail I pop corn with bacon grease and wipe it clean afterwards.

It's well beyond soapy water scrub, maybe a long hard boil with soapy water or orange degreaser but. I've run into this before, Dad's grub box and his cast iron took a long burn and slow cool to rid of the smell and taste.

I'll sic the Red Devil on it, thanks again.

Frosty The Lucky.

[bengriswold]

Frosty - the basic idea to prevent this is you want to polymerize or burn off all the oil on the surface and in the pores of the cast iron prior to storage.  JHCC basically said the same thing

If you put a cast iron away with that has a visible layer of oil on it that's the reason for the rancidity.  It's hard to describe w/o a picture but prior to putting it in storage you want to to have it a dull black color with just barely any shine or none at all is fine actually but usually there will be various bits of shine on different parts of the pan (rim, edges inside corners etc). On a evenly seasoned pan You can achieve this in the oven  and hold it around 350 for 20 or 30 mins and then raise up the temp till your smoking slightly. Rub down with a dry paper towel if oil seeps out of pores as the heat builds and  basically just look for that dull black but try not to overdo it.  375 to 400 seem to be about the right temp for most oils to smoke.   This is basically burning off the unpolymerized oil that is sitting on the surface or in the cracks.   This can be achieved on the stovetop as well and in less time but it doesn't heat the sides as well. so it really depends on how nicely machined the and smoothed the sides are and how much trouble you want to go to.  Bacon grease is fine in cast iron but it will never polymerize and you will want to burn that out real good (or just cook something else that will soak it up) before longer term storage and then heat the pan in whichever method you choose to get a dull black surface. Use a good thin springy S.S.metal spatula (the dexter brand is great) to scrape as much as you can prior to any of this as this will reduce the smoking of unburnt food during the process. I find veg oil or shortening are great oils to use right before going through the "dry heating" process. Don't oil after this until you are ready to cook again.   

[Frosty]

If it's seasoned at all it will go rancid in time unless you use a mineral oil seasoning.

I used and cared for cast iron pretty constantly for decades till I met Deb and had to give it up.

The ONLY way to keep cast iron from eventually going rancid is to completely wash the seasoning out of it. Of course rust is a LOT easier to clean out than a rancid season. Do you remember the screaming that went on when you discover someone did you a "favor" and WASHED your cast iron?

Fortunately with the elimination of phosphates in soaps even Dawn isn't a good enough detergent to cut grease so maybe cast iron is safe from nice folk's favors.

Frosty The Lucky.

[bengriswold]

9 hours ago, Frosty said:

If it's seasoned at all it will go rancid in time unless you use a mineral oil seasoning say motor oil.

Frosty, not that anyone comes to IFI to learn about the science of seasoning cast iron.. =) but with science stuff like this I think your statement sounds like a fact. While it may be your experience it is certainly not a fact. I have personal experience that contradicts this as do many others on nerdy cast iron forums and cooking science websites. http://www.castironcollector.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3234   http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2337724/cooking-with-cast-iron user danab_z9_la is a chemist who gives the most complete accurate picture of how to care for/cook with a cast iron that i've ever read so just read what he says and apply it.   A properly seasoned cast iron is a matrix of polymerized and carbonized oils when done properly forms a hard durable carbonized polymer matrix.   If you have developed a proper seasoning layer, scraped your pan clean, cleaned with soap and heated to 450 for as many minutes as it takes to stop smoking and there is a dull black not shiny finish (which will be the case if the seasoning layer is a good one) you will not have a rancid smell even after years of storage.   

9 hours ago, Frosty said:

The ONLY way to keep cast iron from eventually going rancid is to completely wash the seasoning out of it. Of course rust is a LOT easier to clean out than a rancid season. Do you remember the screaming that went on when you discover someone did you a "favor" and WASHED your cast iron?

a properly seasoned pan cannot have the seasoning washed out of it.  That would require heat around 550 to 600 to flake it off slowly and abrasives a lye bucket are the common methods.  Your seasoning layer is not good if it can wash out.

By the way your one of my favorite people on here and I've got a lot of respect for you.  

[Michael Cochran]

So I have an uneventful update. I found a recipe that looked great and I was planning on trying tonight but it isn't going to happen. Between the length of cook time (and the late start due to helping my grandfather cut and weedeat his yard) and a stumbling block I'll have to put it off at least until tomorrow. The stumbling block is a simple thing I'm sure someone here can help me with. My Dutch oven has long legs cast into it that prevents me from using it on the stove (part of the recipient requires some stovetop cooking before going to the oven). I know a simple way to fix this problem is to cut them down shorter but I don't want to do that unless I absolutely have to. The legs are about an inch and a half long, much too long for the electric eye to heat the bottom of it. If I had some plate steel that was sized appropriately I could just make a spacer to go under it. If I had a gas stove I'd simply not worry about it and turn the burner up a little higher. I haven't had the time to setup for camp style cooking yet and it's in the 80s today so that's out of the question. Any suggestions as to a work around that I'm not seeing would be awesome.

[ThomasPowers]

Do you have a propane forge?  Can you turn it way low?  Can you set it so the door is up?

I'd be looking for one of the old natural gas rings they used to use in boarding houses and apartments. I had one and had the orifice soldered over and redrilled for propane and used it camping for many years.

Stovetop cooking---why not over briquettes?

 

[Frosty]

22 hours ago, bengriswold said:

Frosty, not that anyone comes to IFI to learn about the science of seasoning cast iron.. =) but with science stuff like this I think your statement sounds like a fact. While it may be your experience it is certainly not a fact. I have personal experience that contradicts this as do many others on nerdy cast iron forums and cooking science websites. http://www.castironcollector.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3234   http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2337724/cooking-with-cast-iron user danab_z9_la is a chemist who gives the most complete accurate picture of how to care for/cook with a cast iron that i've ever read so just read what he says and apply it.   A properly seasoned cast iron is a matrix of polymerized and carbonized oils when done properly forms a hard durable carbonized polymer matrix.   If you have developed a proper seasoning layer, scraped your pan clean, cleaned with soap and heated to 450 for as many minutes as it takes to stop smoking and there is a dull black not shiny finish (which will be the case if the seasoning layer is a good one) you will not have a rancid smell even after years of storage.   

a properly seasoned pan cannot have the seasoning washed out of it.  That would require heat around 550 to 600 to flake it off slowly and abrasives a lye bucket are the common methods.  Your seasoning layer is not good if it can wash out.

By the way your one of my favorite people on here and I've got a lot of respect for you.  

I'll give the method a try. Just because it's how my grandmother, mother and I've been doing it for who knows how long doesn't make it right. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Michael Cochran]

2 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Do you have a propane forge?  Can you turn it way low?  Can you set it so the door is up?

I'd be looking for one of the old natural gas rings they used to use in boarding houses and apartments. I had one and had the orifice soldered over and redrilled for propane and used it camping for many years.

Stovetop cooking---why not over briquettes?

 

I have a NC tool antique. I wouldn't feel comfortable using it too cook as the insulation has starting failing lately and is a health concern (afaik). I debated looking for a single gas burner just in case for a while just never got around to actually getting one. As far as briquettes go, I don't keep those things around. When I grill it's either gas or lump charcoal and wouldn't you know I don't have any lump right now. I'm looking at some of my smaller pieces of firewood thinking that's an option for tomorrow. 

Are all Dutch ovens equipped with such ridiculous legs or did I just buy the wrong brand?

[Glenn]

Outside the box:

Just drill holes into the stove top so the Dutch oven legs fit into the holes. Pot now rests on the burner or stove top. Why over complicate the simple solution?

[Michael Cochran]

I'll be sure to tell my wife you said it was ok to do that.  If I had an extra cooktop I'd be fine with that idea.