I have learned two things. One is that you do not just set the oven on the big bed of coals in the campfire ring. You work off to the side, perhaps even on a handy steel table (if you have one). In general you put twice as many coals on top of the oven as you put underneath.
Especially when there is wind, it is important to lift and rotate the oven periodically. Some rotate the oven one way, the lift an rotate the lid back the other way.
My adventures so far involve biscuits. Forget the pre-made biscuits in a roll. It is easy to make them from scratch and they are much much better. I was surprised to learn that it is easier and even recommended to make them from oil rather than solid shortening (butter). This allows you just to stir the ingredients together and yields an excellent result.
A plain old claw hammer will do as a lid lifter in a pinch. A shovel with holes lets you shake ash off of coals that you move. He sells a trivet with interchangeable 3 or 5 inch legs to lift the oven. He likes to use hardwood or hardwood lump charcoal. He does not like briquets, they don't burn as hot or as long!
Don't rush getting your coals ready. He says he hardly ever puts coals under the oven. They go in a ring around it, and the close, the hotter the oven. Don't be afraid to load the lid up, you can pull those coals off easily. If you can hold your hand a hand width away for 5 seconds, it isn't hot enough.
In windy conditions, rotate 180 every 4 or 5 minutes. Cakes or brownies with moisture are "advanced" cooking and need to cook slowly. Watch for when they shrink and pull away from the sides of the oven -- that is a clue that they are nearly done. Pull it off the heat. Practice on cornbread.
Start with casseroles where you can stir and see what is going on at the bottom.
Consider using an aluminum cake pan inside your dutch oven.
12 inch dutch oven 2 pounds 80/20 ground chuck One big yellow onion One can cream of mushroom soup. can of cream corn. 8 oz Sour cream shredded cheddar cheeseBrown the beef. Add some chopped onion. Get rid of the grease. Remove about half of the meat. Add the mushroom soup to the meat left in the pan, mixing it up.
The cream corn can benefit from a little flour to thicken it up. Or you can substitute regular corn (drained), or beans, or almost any vegetable (peas?). Half of the corn gets mixed in with the beef and soup already in the oven.
Level this out, and put a layer of half the sour cream on top.
Put a layer of shredded cheese on that.
Then put the half of beef/onion you pulled out on that.
Then spread the other half of the sour cream on that.
The other half of the cream corn goes on that.
Another layer of shredded cheese on that.
The video shows him using a can of "whack'em" biscuits, but he says if he has more time he uses sourdough or buttermilk biscuits. He uses 2 cans. He says you can make this at home in a 9x13 casserole or 12 inch cast iron skillet. Use a 350 degree oven.
As many biscuits as you can fit in, sprinkle some garlic powder on top as well as some black pepper.
He cooks on a medium "trivet" up higher that the oven feet would lift it, with low heat underneath (coals only around the edges) and most of the coals on top. Keep your eye on the top of the biscuits and perhaps remove some coals from the lid to avoid burning the biscuits, especially with a shallow oven.
He says there was always coffee and always biscuits -- and of course beans. They ate a big morning meal and then typically a big late night meal. They cooked Pintos, Anasazi, and also kidney beans. He uses 1 pound of dried beans to feed 10 people. He uses a mix of pinto and kidney in the video.
He adds jalapeno, onion, garlic, and cilanto. Other interesting chilis can be used, as available. He soaks beans overnight only when he is at high altitude (7000 feet or more) and he soaks them in cold water in an ice chest so they don't go sour. Sometimes he simmers from 6 in the morning to 6 at night.
He likes cooking up on a stove or table rather than cooking bent over and getting dust and dirt in the food.
In the video, he tosses in a ham hock (or try bacon) and some guajillo chilis. His guajillos are dry and he crushes them in a metate. No doubt the old time cook only had dried chilis, but who knows if he had a metate (mortar and pestle) on his cook wagon. Get a hash knife to chop up your garlic and/or onion. He uses 2 onions, and says to not chop them up so fine you can't find them later. He is working with 4 pounds of beans. He adds 2 jalapenos, leaving the seeds in because "he likes his food to bite back!" He uses dried cilantro because fresh cilantro tastes like soap, using maybe 1/4 cup for 2 pounds of beans.
Save the seasoning until near the end of the cooking or else you will just cook all the flavor away! Keep a pot of boiling water handy to make sure the beans stay submerged.
1 lb pinto beans 1 lb kidney beans 1 ham hock 2 dried guajillo chles 2 garlic cloves 2 whole white onions 2 jalapeno peppers 1/4 cup dried cilantro 1.5 tb chili powder 2.0 tb smoked paprika 1.0 tb cumin 1.5 tb "mesquite" seasoning (or substitute ancho chili) 1.0 tb Kents original seasoning (substitute salt and pepper)Cook about 3 hours or until beans are tender. When you pull a bean up to check and the skin cracks, you are getting pretty close.
He says his coffee has made him thousands upon thousands of friends.
Tom's Dutch Oven Info / tom@mmto.org