[weazletoe]

 And not the fart kind, either. Going on my first mountain camping trip next weekend. I scored a dutch oven at a garage sale for 2$. I was hoping someone could give me som great ideas for making breakfast in this thing. (bacon not mandatory, but encouraged  )
 
   Thanks!!

[Hokerer]

My personal favorite...

http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/dutch-oven-recipe-mtnmanomelet.htm

[capozzoli]

The price was a good deal that is for sure. is there a name on it? Does it have the cleats on the inside of the lid?

I think a new one is about $100 and some of the old German ones (if you can find them) sell for a couple of hundred bucks.  

Get a bone in shoulder of pork. Put it in the pot with a couiple of whole heads of garlic, a couple of carrots, potatoes etc. a bay leaf or two, fresh rosemary (or dried) salt pepper about a half inch of wine.

Put in the oven on broil for 10 mins then turn down to 350 for a couple of hours. Till the meat becomes roasted and tender and the vege are all carmalizedalicious.

For the camp, cover the pot in red coals,  making sure it doesnt get too hot. Then reduce the amount of coals on and around the pot till you get a good rasting temp. Just make sure it doesnt get to hot and burn. Maybe take a meat thermometer and cook to 160 degrees internal temp and then some if the meat isnt tender yet..

[nicneufeld]

You could satisfy your inner Boer with potjiekos:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potjiekos

I think of dutch ovens as more for cooking dinner type dishes (stews, etc) than breakfast dishes, for which a frying pan seems more requisite.  But the recipe above sounds quite nice!

[beerocd]

Get a bone in shoulder of pork. Put it in the pot with a couiple of whole heads of garlic, a couple of carrots, potatoes etc. a bay leaf or two, fresh rosemary (or dried) salt pepper about a half inch of wine.
 Maybe take a meat thermometer and ...

Yeah, just like in the old days.... 

[weithman5]

both my sons (eagle scouts)  used those often.  they would just make what they called train wrecks.  filled with eggs, chopped potatoes, peppers,onions, sausage, bacon etc.  set it on the coals and put coals on the lid.  make sure you have some salsa or preferably frank's red hot

[weazletoe]

Well now I'm just hungry. Got a great recipe for a stout stew. Gonna do that for sure. As far as heating this thing, do I just sit it in the coals? Is there some trick to getting the right temps, or is it pretty foolproof? And, do I need to cook the sausage and bacon before I put it in with the eggs? Thanks again!

[nicneufeld]

Is there some trick to getting the right temps, or is it pretty foolproof?

I'm having visions of your rib experiment gone awry here....lol!

[weithman5]

pretty foolproof.  just set it on the coals and put coals around the top of the lid
soap the whole exterior with ivory bar soap and it will clean easier
i always just throw stuff in, but probably be less greasy to have pre cooked bacon and sausage
stop by the library, or local outfitters, they should have a book on dutch oven recipes, i have one somewhere
what part of ohio did you live in, i grew up in galion.

[bluesman]

Hungarian Goulash is also a great one.

If you have a tripod stand...that would work the best, but if not....lay some hot coals on the lid to heat from the top too.

[weazletoe]

what part of ohio did you live in, i grew up in galion.

I'm from Warren, right next to Youngstown. So, you were a lot farther south than me.

[deepsouth]

cook a chuck roast in it with bacon at the bottom and top of the pan.  rub the roast down real good with a rub and cook it to 215 internal then take it out and pull the beef and integrate some of the bacon and all the juices and add in a little bbq sauce and then cook uncovered for about another hour.

[nicneufeld]

For a sweeter dish, I've cooked diced apples with smoked sausage over a fire in a hanging pot, dotted with butter and sprinkled liberally with cinnamon, some other spices and brown sugar.  Again, its half dessert, half savory, but its good in its way.

[deepsouth]

cook a chuck roast in it with bacon at the bottom and top of the pan.  rub the roast down real good with a rub and cook it to 215 internal then take it out and pull the beef and integrate some of the bacon and all the juices and add in a little bbq sauce and then cook uncovered for about another hour.

oh yeah, 1/3 cup maple syrup and 2/3 cup water.

[Hokerer]

Well now I'm just hungry. Got a great recipe for a stout stew. Gonna do that for sure. As far as heating this thing, do I just sit it in the coals? Is there some trick to getting the right temps, or is it pretty foolproof? And, do I need to cook the sausage and bacon before I put it in with the eggs? Thanks again!

The rest of the site pointed at for the breakfast recipe above has lots of good info on the processes and procedures for camp dutch oven cooking.  As for heating, when you're using the oven for frying/browning/etc, you want all the coals under the oven and the lid off.  This is how you'd do the sausage and bacon in the previous recipe.  Then you want to change over to "oven" mode for the rest of the recipe.  In general, you place two-thirds of your coals on top of the oven and leave one-third underneath.

As for the temps, there are rules of thumb for when you're using briquettes - something like "so many degrees per briquette" (exact figures probably somewhere on that website).  I find they tend to be a little low.  Also they don't do much for regular firewood coals.  You just sorta have to play it by ear and keep an eye on things.

But you gotta balance "keeping an eye on things" with one of the other cardinal rules of dutch oven cooking and that is, keep the number of times you lift the lid to an absolute minimum.  Every time you remove the lid, it's like opening the door to your oven at home (only worse) and, once you put it back on, it takes a while for things to get back to where they were.

Once you get the hang of things, camp dutch oven cooking becomes an incredible pleasure.