Introduction

Dutch oven cooking is currently enjoying a renaissance around the world particularly in the UK, Australia, South Africa and the United States. This book is the first in a series of ours to introduce people to the joys of using Dutch ovens, and to show their amazing versatility whether used on the stove at home or outside on a barbeque or camp fire.

We have selected and adapted a mixture of delicious recipes from around the world to inspire and enthuse. As you can see from the pictures we have cooked many of the recipes on a campfire with fairly limited facilities which means you should have little problem recreating them at home, on a barbeque or when camping.

Dutch oven cooking is a social thing and is all about the joys of group dining. Therefore most of the recipes in the book are to serve 8 to 10 people using a large 6L or 8L Dutch oven, simply scale things down when cooking for less.

All the main courses and indeed a majority of the “soups, snacks, starters and side dishes” need no accompaniment as they are all self contained meals in their own right, that’s not to say they won’t benefit by being eaten alongside some delicious bread, made using the recipes in this book.

Dutch oven cooking is all about having fun and experimenting with food. Although we have listed quantities for all the recipes please regard these more as guidelines than hard and fast amounts. Varying the quantities of some ingredients or even omitting some all together will seldom cause a problem. Also we have not listed temperatures for the recipes to cook at. Occasionally it may say over a gentle or medium heat for example, but campfire cooking is never an exact science, let your senses be the judge. About Dutch Ovens

It is thought that cast iron was first used in Europe only as recently as 1100 AD. Prior to that, furnaces for iron production couldn’t reach the high temperatures required for iron to melt to a liquid and subsequently allow itself to flow into casts. Prior to this copper and ceramic pots would have been used for cooking. The original cast iron pots were probably without made without lids but with legs to stand them directly in the embers of the fire.

Lids were added later as was a wire bail arm so that the pot could be suspended over a fire. The legs, no longer needed, were often not featured.

In the 1600’s the cast iron pots produced in Holland were of superior quality owing to the technique of casting into sand molds which created a pot with a much smoother surface.

In 1707 Abraham Darby patented his method of sand casting pots in England after having seen the technique used in Holland. The term Dutch oven is thought to be either derived from Darby’s “Dutch” method of production or from the fact that Dutch traders sold pots produced in Holland door to door, either way the name stuck.

From Europe the cast iron pots spread into the European colonies. They were loved by the early colonists because of their amazing versatility. In America they gradually evolved over time generally becoming squatter, a flange was added to the lid to retain the coals and legs also began to appear again. They became an integral part of the colonization of North America, being used on the wagon trains as they spread west, by the pioneers and mountain men, and the cowboys on their cattle drives. George Washington used Dutch Ovens to feed his troops during the American Civil War.

The early European settlers also transported the Dutch oven to Australia where they have become known as Camp Ovens, here they were used in cattle stations by the drovers and stockmen. In Western Queensland a mild steel version was developed which was lighter and less brittle and therefore more able to survive being transported by pack horse. It was called the Bedourie Oven named after the Bedourie Cattle Station where it was developed and these can still be bought today.

Early Dutch settlers in South Africa also took their Dutch ovens with them. Known as Potjie (pronounced poikie) which literally translates as small pot in Afrikaans, they were soon distributed throughout the country by the Voortrekkers, immigrants who in the mid 1800s left the Cape Colony to explore and colonize the interior of the country.

Their distinctive pot-bellied, cauldron like pots were soon adopted by the indigenous tribes, calling them Phutu pots in some dialects and nowadays are an important part of the South African culture.

Today, the versatility of Dutch oven cooking is as important as ever and combined with the popular appeal of the great outdoors and everything associated with it, Dutch ovens in all their various guises are making a big comeback from the Bushveld to the Outback and from Texas to Taunton.

Harira

150g Dried Chickpeas soaked overnight and drained or 1 can chickpeas 3 onions finely chopped 800g of lean stewing lamb diced into fine cubes 150g red lentils 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped 11/2 tsp turmeric 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp paprika 3L Chicken stock 2 tsp ground white pepper 2 tsp salt 700g tomatoes, skinned, seeded and finely chopped 3 tbsp tomato puree 2 tsp ground white pepper 2 tsp salt 1 tsp ground cumin 5 stalks celery washed and finely diced A large bunch of flat leaf parsley finely chopped A large bunch of coriander finely chopped 100g long grained rice 1 heaped tbsp plain flour 300ml cold water The juice of 1 lemon

Put chickpeas, lamb, onions, garlic, lentils, turmeric, cinnamon, paprika and chicken stock into a large Dutch oven and add the salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 11/2 hours. Then add the tomatoes, tomato puree, cumin, celery, herbs and rice and cook for another 20 minutes or until the rice is cooked. Meanwhile stir the 300 ml of cold water slowly into the flour to make a smooth cream then stir this gently into the soup to thicken. Add the lemon juice and serve.

Serves 8-10