yes i have seasoned it but only once i will get it out and repeat a couple more times before i go, never thought about using it at home will have to experiment.
and i am up for the hot roast pork and crackling,
just hope its not raining will be gutted if we can't have a fire.
maria
we were a bit worried it would rain all week
thankfully it didn't except for a few spots one night
gazebo wasn't really an option either as the smoke traps underneath
(the smoke can get in your eyes sometimes, if you wear contact lenses they're brilliant! or take some swimming goggles..lol )
Does anybody in Sussex want to buy one of my 8 litre Dutch ovens - brand new, still packed?
What happened is this.....I submitted a "best offer" on ebay for a Dutch oven, forgot I'd submitted a best offer, and did a "buy it now" for one from another seller. Then, horror of horrors, my best offer got accepted, and I've ended up with 2! The 8 litre ones are normally £34.99 + £7.99 postage, I paid £31.00 + £7.99 postage, but if anyone local wants it then I'd be happy with £35.00 all in. Like I said, it's brand spanking new, the large 8 litre one, which is great for doing a big meal! It fits in a normal oven as well, and I also used mine on the gas hob.
If interested, then you can either leave a message here, or drop me an email at
p(blob)millis(env)sussex.ac.uk in place of (blob) put a ".", and in place of (env) put an " at ". I'm in Woodingdean (5 minutes south of the A27 at Falmer), but could also deliver within a few miles.
That's fab, thanks for the link Jackdaw and thanks to the T&TTT guys for putting the book together.
It brings me to a question. We've been experimenting with dutch oven/fire cooking now we've got the Ozpig. I know it's not quite an open fire on the grass but I'm trying to preserve some of the garden!
When just using wood for the fire we tend to get through quite a lot of wood and it is tricky to get the correct point between a yellow smoking fire and fire that is at the right sort of temp to cook. A bit like waiting to make sure you are cooking on the white hot coals on the BBQ rather than the flames.
We had mused about putting charcoal on the fire as well so that the charcoal held the heat as we think it might hold the heat better? I now see that the T&TTT guys refer to brickets and charcoal coals...
It would appear that charcoal brickets are the way to get more consistent results.... Wood can vary so much ....type of wood and how dry it is , is going to affect the temperature it will produce....
At the bottom of the page there's a chart that tells you about the number of coals to use to achieve the required temperature...
Most of the Teardrop gatherings over the pond have 'pot luck dinners' , where everyone make something in a dutch oven, and they put all the cast pots on the table for everyone to share. Lucky dip.... A great idea....if we had more campsites that allowed open fires...
As said, type of wood is very important in using a cast iron oven such as the Ozpig. Try and use only hard wood like oak or a softer Birch. Never use the soft wooded, sap holding trees like pine as it will burn furiously hot and fast but will give the food a taste of burned sap. The smoke alone can cause instant damage to respiratory system, too. Also, make sure the wood is good and dead. It may be a bit damp but it should be at least half a year off of the tree for it to burn well.
Make a fire for the cause, i.e. you don't need to fill the Ozpig to the brim to be able to cook on it. Why not fill it with a few small twigs first and when that burns hot enough, build up the fire with bigger and bigger twigs and finally, small logs, but never completely fill the fire chamber. Better to have a small hot fire that hardly smokes than a big fire that smokes a lot and doesn't really give heat. You'd have to add wood every so often but that will keep the fire going at a same temperature.
Birch is a very good burner and will give a lot of heat for a relative small period of time. Oak lasts longer but doesn't burn that hot. Still, thy're great for the Ozpig.
Remember that cooking with D.O.'s is Slow Cooking so take the time you need. We sometimes put a roast in the pot just after breakfast to enjoy the roast in the afternoon after it has been stewing in the pot for more than four hours.
Enjoy your Ozpig! I saw one on a website the other day and fell in love with it right away and now want one, too...
Thanks Jackdaw and Freebird, that's really useful. I guess collecting wood is an important skill rather than just scavenging around what we can find in the garden!
We're hoping for sunshine tomorrow to have another go!
Remember: Low & Slow cooking is the keyword. Low in temp and slow in time. Starting with a bit of pork belly, onions and beans is a good way to see what goes on in the pot and it won't burn that easily, either.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: cooking with a dutch oven
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how brilliant that is ,well done love it
