Dutch Oven Rubbed Roast

Last sunday, as I was contemplating what to cook, I got really tempted by a beef roast we had in the freezer. I wondered how to do it, and my wife suggested that I do the traditional onion soup mix braise. That got me thinking! I looked up the ingredients of the mix, and thought of my own ideas and came up with what would be my roast rub!

It turned out, sadly, that I was way low on veggies, so I ended up only adding in carrots, but it was still delicious and tender!

Dutch Oven Rubbed Roast

12” Dutch oven

20-24 coals below for browning/searing

12 coals below for roasting
12-14 coals above

4-6 lb beef roast

Rub (I don’t include amounts here, because I just sprinkled and scattered the ingredients over the top of the roast, then flipped it and did the same to the bottom)

Dried onion chips
Dried green and red pepper
garlic powder
salt
pepper
chili powder
parsley
olive oil


Extra veggies in the pot (all optional)

1 cup baby carrots or 2 peeled and sliced carrots
2 - 3 celery stalks, chopped
2-3 medium yellow onions, quartered or sliced
2-3 medium potatoes, cubed


Gravy

1 heaping Tbsp flour
1/2 cup hot water
lemon juice

The first thing to remember is to start with a fully thawed roast. A couple of days in the fridge, or a few hours under cool water will do the trick. Once it was thawed, I put it on a plate, and sprinkled, grated, and/or tossed the rub ingredients onto it. I was pretty liberal with the garlic powder, the dried onions and peppers, and cautious with the chili powder (it’s homemade, and it’s got a big, bad kick). I drizzled on the olive oil, and rubbed it into the surface of the meat. Then, I flipped it over and did the same to the other side.

I let that sit, covered with plastic, on the counter while I got the coals and the Dutch oven ready. That allowed the seasonings to absorb more fully into the meat, especially the salt (which also tenderizes).

While that was getting more and more flavorful, I got some coals lit, and then put a lot of coals under my 12” with a bit of olive oil in the bottom. I let that sit and heat up.  A lot.

Finally, I could tell that it was really hot, and I put the meat on the bottom of the open Dutch oven. Immediately, it started sizzling, showing me that my waiting was worth it!

After a few minutes, I turned it over and I could see the sear on the meat and the blackening of the spice rub. The smell was wonderful!  By the way, searing the meat does not “seal in the juices”. It triggers what’s called “The Maillard Reaction”, browning the surface of the meat and giving it that sweet-ish tangy tones that we love so much!

Once the second side was seared, I re-arranged the coals for roasting (I also replenished a bit, since they were starting to diminish). Every 20-25 minutes or so, I would take coals from my chimney and replenish them under my Dutch oven and on the lid. Then, I’d add more fresh ones to the chimney to start. I think, in the end, I cooked it about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. When I was about an hour away from serving, I started getting the veggies ready. In this case, that just involved checking the fridge to see what was available, and opening up a bag of baby carrots into the Dutch oven. If I’d had potatoes, onions, or anything else, I would have cut them up and added them to the Dutch oven, around the meat.

Finally, it was done. I brought it in and removed the meat and veggies to a serving plate. Then, I took the gravy ingredients and the Dutch oven back out to the coals. First, I dribbled in some lemon juice (maybe 2 Tbsp, maybe more), and used that acid with the heat to scrape up all of that yummy brown fond that the meat had left on the bottom. Then, I whisked together the water and the flour (so there are no clumps), and slowly whisked that into the liquid in the Dutch oven. It heated and boiled, and became a wonderful gravy.

The meat was tender and flavorful, the veggies were perfect, and the gravy livened them all up and tied them all together. It was a delicious meal.

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Absolutely Amazing Dutch Oven Burgers

Yesterday, I was browsin’ the webs when I came across this recipe for black bean burgers. I was intrigued, because, even though I’m not usually interested when a vegetable pretends to be meat, this recipe actually looked pretty good. I’ll probably try it sometime soon.

However.

Yesterday, I decided that I wanted to do it with meat, anyway, because, really, it looked amazing.

I had decided that it would be an excellent chance for me to practice grilling under my wonderful new gazebo, but after prepping all the meat and the fixin’s, I discovered that someone had forgotten to close the valve on the propane cylinder last time, and we were outa gas. Seriously, I don’t know who could have done such a thing. I find it unconscionable and almost unforgivable. But, we must move on.

At that point, I decided to go ahead and cook them Dutch oven style, and fired up some coals anyway.

Dutch Oven Burgers

12” Shallow Dutch oven
22+ coals underneath

The lid of a 12” Dutch oven
22+ coals underneath

The burger meat:

2+ lbs of ground beef
1 onion (grated)
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
cumin
chili powder
paprika
a handful of fresh parsley

Kaiser rolls
butter

Sliced cheese (I used sharp cheddar)

Toppings (all optional)
Lettuce
tomatoes
onions
pickles
cooked bacon
mayo
ketchup
mustard

The first step was to mix up the meat. This was quite simple, I mixed the ingredients in the first block all together. I actually chose the spices based on my own whims, rather than on the recipe I found. Each one was about a teaspoon, except for the chili powder, which was only a few sprinkles. My homemade chili powder is actually pretty strong. You can adjust yours to your own powders and tastes.

I also sliced the topping onions, the tomatoes, and the cheese

I put the Dutch oven on the coals and let it pre-heat for quite a while. I really wanted it to be pretty hot at first. I made my patties fairly large, partly because I knew they’d have to fit on a kaiser roll, and also because I knew that they’d shrink. By the way, I chose the kaiser rolls because they are a bit firmer than typical store-bought hamburger buns. Those things are pathetic. I also made larger patties ‘cause I’m a guy and I like to have lots of meat on my burgers. I know it’s not healthy, but once in a while ya just gotta live large.

I put the patties in the Dutch oven, and used it essentially as a griddle. Because it was so hot to start with, it got a pretty good sear on the first side.

While the first round of patties were cooking, I got more coals under an inverted Dutch oven lid (on a trivet-stand) and let that heat up. After turning the burgers, I brushed butter on the inside of the kaiser rolls and put them on the heated lid to toast, butter side down. After the meat turns once, and cooks a bit, it’s also a good time to put on the cheese so it can melt yummily.

I was careful not to overcook the burgers. I did cook them all the way through, but not dry. It’s tricky to get to that, I think. But, it worked last night. I think the Dutch oven is not as hot as most gas grills, which helped me to not dry them out. I also think it’s very important for burgers to be topped and served the instant they come off the heat. The longer you wait, the drier and crustier they get. Not good. If you’re serving family, have them gather and pray not too long after you do the first flip or they’ll be too late.

Finally, I pulled the buns off the lid/griddle, put the burger, sizzling, onto the bun, and let the family top it as they pleased. For my money, I love lots of extra stuff on my burgers, so I tend to layer it pretty high. Others might not. That’s OK. Even with the additional flavors, the spices and the flavor of the meat came through. It was possibly the best burgers I’ve ever made.



Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Long Roasted Beef Brisket

This is a dish I’ve been wanting to try for possibly as much as a year.  As I would shop, I’d go past the meat counter and see these huge slabs of brisket meat, in plastic, and I’d think, “That would be so much fun to cook up.”  I had this idea of doing one and inviting the whole neighborhood over for a pot luck.

Well, this last weekend, I had the chance!  We were at a campground up at Bear Lake with a group of families with children with special medical needs.  The group is called “Hope Kids” and we’ve got many wonderful friends in it.

So, for dinner saturday night, I cooked this brisket.  It was about 11+ pounds, and at a rate of about a half hour per pound, that meant a good 6-hour cook time.  So, I started at about noon.

Dutch Oven Long Roasted Beef Brisket

1x 14” Deep Dutch oven

14-16 coals below
16-20 coals above


1 Beef Brisket, anywhere from 8-12 lbs (figure about 1/2 lb per person)


Mark’s Meat Rub

1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp crushed coriander
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp coarse ground black pepper
1 Tbsp thyme
2 Tbsp paprika
2 Tbsp salt
1 tsp oregano
...and I added some chili powder this time


The Sauce

1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
Brown sugar (or regular sugar and molasses)
Mustard
Salt
Pepper
Some kind of hot spice (Cayenne Pepper or Chili powder)

I started out by opening up the brisket and sprinkling it with the meat rub (which I had mixed up the night before) on both sides.  I rubbed it in a bit.  The rub (and the sauce) come from this recipe.  I let it sit for a while, and lit up about 35 coals or so.

I lightly oiled the inside of my 14” deep Dutch oven, and for a while, I contemplated using an overturned metal pie plate as a trivet to raise the meat up out of the juices that would drip out.  Usually, when I do a roast, I’ll put in a layer of quartered onions and potato chunks for that purpose, but with a 6-hr cook time, they would be pretty much mush by the end of it..  In the end, I decided that the brisket would fit better if I just put it on the bottom and draped it up the sides.

With the meat in place, I put it on the coals as above.  I stuck in a thermometer, mostly just to monitor progress.  It will cook waaay past “done”.

This is the kind of cooking that I especially like.  I can just sit back and relax with a soda and watch the coals burn.  About every 20-30 minutes, I’d pull a few coals out of the chimney and replenish them on the oven.  I’d usually put about four around the bottom and six or so on top.  Then, I’d add more fresh coals to the pile to light up.  While I was doing this, friends and families that were camping with us would come by and chat.  I got to meet a few people who are Dutch oven chefs, and a few who’d actually bought my books.

About 2 1/2 hours it, the meat was at about a medium done-ness, and it hit “well done” at probably an hour and a half later.  I just kept on cooking and rotating the coals.  At about 4:00, I started to work on another 14” pot of au gratin potatoes, a smaller version of which can be found here.

Finally, about an hour before serving time, I mixed up the BBQ sauce.  When I mix this up, I make it like a good jazz tune, with lots of improvisation.  I start with a core of the tomato, the mustard, and the sugar (or in this case, the molasses), and then I keep adding flavors and things one at a time until it all balances.  Too sweet?  Too tomato-y?  Add more mustard.  Too tangy?  More sugar and molasses.  Not enough edge?  More black pepper and chili powder...  And always just enough salt to make it come alive.  I basted that over the visible surface of the brisket and let it bake on.  I did this two or three times, and the remaining sauce, I reserved for drizzling at service.

When it was all done, and time to eat, I cut the brisket in half and put half on my cutting board.  I cut thin slices against the meat’s grain, and served that with a drizzle of additional BBQ sauce.  It was so juicy and tender and delicious.  The sauce and the rub really added to the overall flavor. I was really proud of it.  I want to do this again and again!


Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch oven Carne Asada

I’ve always loved the taste of carne asada, and I’ve wanted to do it for a long time.  When I finally decided to do it, I kept thinking of more and more things to add to the meal.  In the end, I did quite an elaborate Mexican-inspired meal, but the carne asada was just a part of it all.  It was interesting juggling the various pots to make all of the elements of the meal, as well as timing them all to be done right.  Today, I’ll just post the recipe for the Carne.


Dutch oven Carne Asada

12” Dutch oven

25+ coals below


The Meat

2-3 lbs very thin sliced beef steaks
juice of three limes
salt
pepper
paprika
cumin
4-6 cloves garlic

The Salsa

3-4 tomatoes
3 medium onions
2 green peppers
1-2 jalapenos
juice of 2 limes
salt
paprika
olive oil
fresh cilantro

Serving

flour or corn tortillas
sour  cream
guacamole
cheese


I started in the morning, putting all of the first set of ingredients into a zip-top bag and shaking, to evenly coat the steaks with the marinade.  I put that into the fridge and went to church.

Later that afternoon, I lit up some coals, and while they were heating up, I prepared the veggies in the salsa.  I cut the tomatoes and the onions into wedges, like in sixths or eighths.  The peppers I simply sliced into long sticks, like a big julienne.

I put a lot (about 25+) of fresh coals under my 12”, and drizzled some olive oil in the bottom to heat up.  Once that was heated, I started with the veggies.  I started with just the tomatoes, because everything has different cooking times.  I put the wedges in, skin down.  Immediately, it started sizzling.  I didn’t stir it.  The idea is to get a good sear going on and carmelize it.  Originally, I put the lid on, with a spacer to allow for moisture to escape, but I don’t think I’ll do that next time.  It’s OK to soften up the tomato flesh a bit, too.

Once the tomatoes are all seared, I pulled them out and set them aside, and let the heat build back up.  Then, I did the same thing with the peppers, onions and jalapenos.  The onions, I laid on their sides, instead of the back of the wedge.

Once they’re all seared and cooked (but not sauteed), I put them all on my chopping block and just went at them with my chef’s knife, using a mince cut to chop them into coarse chunks.  The tomatoes, of course, sort of fell apart, and provided a lot of liquid to the party.  When they were all cut up, I tipped them all into a bowl, and added the lime juice, the cilantro, and the seasonings.

This ended up with a really delicious charred/smoky sort of flavor.  The onions got a bit sweet, too, and it just had a richness that I hadn’t found in normal pico de gallo.  It was delicious!

Then, I got some fresh coals under the Dutch oven again and got it heated up.  I wanted it good and hot, so I used new coals, not the half-burned ones that were left.  I spread out two pieces of the meat and let it sear and sizzle.  Only a few minutes on each side, so that it’s still got a thin sliver of pink in the middle.  When each one was done, I brought them in.  I cut them into long, thin slices and we served them up with the salsa in tortillas, with guac and sour cream.  I also made rice and refried beans (from scratch) for side dishes.  All in all, it was a delicious Mexican meal!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Beef and Brussels in the Dutch Oven

One thing I’ve enjoyed a lot lately in my cooking is to challenge myself to take an ingredient or a dish that I hated as a kid and see if I can do it well enough to say, “I like it!”  This week, it’s brussels sprouts!

Like all the others (asparagus, broccoli, etc...) I didn’t dive in without some research. I got a lot of ideas.  This would be a momentous occasion.  I didn’t want it to just have it be a simple side dish.  I thought about various meats that would help make it a main dish, and In the end, I thought that the bitter tones of the sprouts would go best paired up with beef.  Many of the recipes I checked out included bacon as well, and I liked that combination.  So, I stuck with that as well.  Portobello mushrooms are very beefy, too, so that was an obvious one, too.

There was a lot of various ways of cooking them, too.  Most of my friends and my research warned against overcooking them.  In the end, I decided to do it like a stir fry.

Beef and Brussels in the Dutch Oven

12” Dutch oven
24-28 coals underneath


1/2 lb bacon, chopped

1 lb fresh brussels sprouts
1 lb of beef, in steak or cubed/sliced as stir fry
1 medium onion
1 green pepper
1 large portobello mushroom
2-3 cloves garlic
salt
pepper
paprika
oregano

Gorgonzola cheese

This was actually a pretty easy one to do.  I started by lighting up the coals.  When they were hot, I put about 22 underneath the Dutch oven, and put the bacon pieces into it.

While that was cooking, I prepared the meat and the veggies.  I sliced the meat up first, and sprinkled it with salt, pepper, and paprika.  I let that sit while I sliced, chopped and minced everything else.  Finally, it all went into the same bowl, with a few shakes.

I let that bacon cook pretty crisp, then pulled it out.  I amped up the coals and let the drippings get really, really hot. I tossed in the meat and veggies.  I gave it a stir right away, and then would alternate stirring with letting the beef and the veggies sear.  I cooked it all until the meat was medium and the veggies were just a little soft.  Then, I pulled it off the coals.

I served it all served up with some sprinkles of the gorgonzola on top, alongside some roasted potato chunks I’d done in a 10”.  Wow.  It was all delicious!  Another childhood terror conquered!

Next?  Probably squash...



Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Mark’s Dutch Oven Rolled Steak Roast

This was an experiment I tried a few weeks ago.  I’d seen things like it in pictures, magazines, and I’d seen something pre-prepared in my grocer’s meat section.  I’d thought about how to do it myself, and wasn’t quite sure if I could pull it off.

The idea is to get some very thin steaks, and to roll some delicious veggie things inside it, almost like a beef sushi.  Except, of course, that you cook it.  And that the green stuff is on the inside.  OK, it’s really nothing like a sushi.  Fine.

I think it ended up quite tasty, and quite elegant as well.

12” shallow Dutch oven
10-12 coals below
12-14 coals above

2 lbs of steak, cut to ¼ inch thickness or less.
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Cayenne
Thyme
Sage
Parsley

Garlic
Fresh baby spinach
Asparagus
Provolone Cheese

5-6 Potatoes, cubed
2 onions, quartered


I started out by lighting up a bunch of coals and letting them start to get white.

While that was going on, I seasoned both sides of the steaks by shaking on the herbs and spices you see listed.  I don’t list amounts because I just went with what I grabbed first, and estimated what might be good.  You may end up with totally different spices when you go to your cabinet.  Balance them with a bit of care, however.  Be gentle with the cayenne, for example.  You want it to have some kick, but not burn.  Once the meat was seasoned, I set it aside for a while.

In the meantime, I minced up the garlic and cut the stems off the baby spinach.  I also snapped the ends off the asparagus and cut up the potatoes and onions.

After about this time, the coals were ready.  I spread some oil around the inside, then put a tablespoon or two of olive oil in the bottom.  I set this on and under the coals to preheat.  This will also set some of the oil and help to build up your patina.

Then, to rolling the meat.

I laid out the strips of meat side-by-side, so the edges were overlapping a little bit, with the seasoned face down.  I scattered the minced garlic over the upside, and then laid out the spinach leaves in a pattern to cover, about 2-3 leaves thick.  On top of that, I spread a layer of thinly sliced provolone.  Finally, across the bottom, I took the asparagus sprigs and laid them, alternating.  By that, I mean that I wanted to get the heads of the stalks in different places along the meat, so that when I sliced it, I would get it evenly distributed.  Does that make any sense?

Finally, I rolled it all up, pretty tightly.

I tied it up with some string.  It’s tricky to describe how I tied it.  I slid the string underneath at one end and tied a knot.  Then I slid more string, starting from the other end, until it was a few inches from the first knot.  I looped it under itself, and tightened it.  I kept repeating that, until the entire roll was secure.  I drizzled on a little more olive oil.

Cooking it was a little tricky.  I poured the potatoes and onions into the now-heated Dutch oven and spread them out.  I tossed over a little bit of salt and pepper, just for good measure.  I laid the steak roll over the potatoes, and stuck in a short-stemmed thermometer before closing off the lid.

You have to be careful how long you cook it, and since the steak is thin, and the thermometer is essentially sticking into the veggies, it’s a good gauge, but not fully accurate to the steak’s done-ness.  It’s really easy to overcook the steak.  Still, I cooked it to 145, and it turned out pretty good.  It gets there pretty quick, in a preheated Dutch oven, so watch it closely.

When it’s done, pull it off the coals, but let it rest while you set the table.  Then, slice it into medallions or sushi slices or whatever you want to call them, and serve them on their side with the potatoes and onions, and whatever other side dishes you have also made.  It’s really quite an elegant presentation!




Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Mole-Style Roast

It all started because I wanted to do something DIFFERENT...


...but I didn’t know what.

That’s nothing new, really.  I find myself in that position a lot.  I want to cook, but I don’t know what I have ingredients for, and I don’t know what I’m up against, etc... I do like to push myself, though.  That’s one reason why I love to do the challenges with Andy over at http://backporchgourmet.com.

I even considered asking him if he was up for a challenge.  In the end, I thought about chocolate.  I wanted to try using chocolate in a savory dish.  I’ve done chocolate brownies, chocolate cakes, chocolate cookies, etc...  But never have I done a savory chocolate meal.

My mind went instantly to mole.  There are two nationalities who really know how to do chocolate.  One is the Mexicans and one is the Dutch.  Oh, and the Swiss, too.  I loves me my Toblerone!

As I looked at various mole recipes online, I found a lot of things in common, and, as I expected, a lot of things different. There really IS a lot of things you can do and still call it a mole.  And really, I wasn’t so much wanting a TRUE and TRADITIONAL mole. For example, almost all of the meats I’d seen in mole recipes were chicken or pork.  I could have done that, sure, but I had this small beef roast that I wanted to try.  I didn’t see any beef mole recipes.  Maybe they’re out there, maybe not.  I didn’t see any.

So, I don’t know if I’m supposed to be able to do beef or not, but I did.

I also thought it would be cool to do the roast medium rare.  I’m not sure why I wanted it that way. Maybe it just sounded fancier.  In the end, it ended up rare, because of a bad calibration on my thermometer. It truly tasted GREAT, though.

Mark’s Dutch Oven Mole-styled Roast

12” Dutch oven

20 + coals below, then
14 coals above and 12 coals below

8” Dutch oven

6-7 coals below

• 1 2-3 lb beef roast
• salt
• pepper
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil

• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• ½ cup beef broth (you might want more)
• 2 1 oz cubes semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons raisins or dried cranberries, finely chopped
• 3 oz (1/2 6 oz can) tomato paste

It started off by lighting up some coals.  As they were getting white, I seasoned both sides of the well-thawed roast with plenty of salt and pepper.  This was set aside to soak into the meat.

When the coals were hot, I dusted the inside of the 12” Dutch oven with a bit of oil and set it on top of the coals to preheat, and to season a bit.  After a while, I added some olive oil to it and let that heat to shimmery. I laid the roast in and seared it for a few minutes on each side, to get some good carmelization going.  Once that was in place, I adjusted the coals for the roasting and relaxed.

After about forty-five minutes, It was time to make the mole sauce.  I also made some veggies as a side dish at this point, but that’ll be a subject for a different blog, on a different day.

The mole sauce was simply a matter of mixing the ingredients in the 8”and putting it on the coals.  I let it simmer slowly, melting the chocolate and combining the flavors.  While the roast is still cooking, spread a coating of the sauce on.

Carefully watch the temperature of the roast.  When the internal temperature gets to 140, take it off the coals, but leave it in the Dutch oven to rest. The residual heat of the Dutch oven will bring the temperature up to about 145 or 150 degrees, which is a nice, comfortable medium doneness.  (Like I said earlier, I had problems with my thermometer, so it did turn out quite rare. Still, it was delicious.

I served it with the veggies on the side, and a drizzle of more sauce on top, to the rave reviews of my children.  I know it’s good when they give me the thumbs up!




Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Parmesan Garlic Beef Chunks (Brazilian Style)

This recipe and story is from my Dutch oven cookbook, "Around the World in a Dutch Oven"

My wife and I went to this Brazilian BBQ house a couple of weeks ago.  I always love the exotic meats they make, and I love how they bring them by your table.  Delicious stuff, and I want to learn how to make each one!

This time, one stood out for me.  It was a delicious combination of garlic and Parmesan cheese.  I had never tasted that on a chunk of steak before.  I was enthralled.  I wanted to figure it out, so every time the waiter brought it by I got, like, three chunks.  I felt like a pig, but I had to get the tastes.

Then I had to adapt it to the Dutch oven, because it’s not being turned on a spit.  I wasn’t quite sure how to do that.  At what point should I add the Parmesan and the garlic?  As a sort of sauce at the end, or should I cook the steaks with it on?

These are the things that keep me up at night.  Most definitely a first world problem...

Dutch Oven Parmesan Garlic Beef Chunks

The Meat

12” Dutch Oven
20-22 coals below

• 2 ½ lbs beef steak or roast
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• ½ tbsp paprika

The Parmesan Garlic Drizzle

8” Dutch oven
10-12 coals below

• ¼ cup butter
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• Several very liberal shakes of Parmesan cheese

The Potato & Veggie Side Dish

10” Dutch Oven
16-18 coals below

• 2-3 Medium Potatoes
• 1 medium onion
• 2 sweet peppers (of different colors
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Parsley

Since you’re going to have three Dutch ovens going to make this meal, you’ll want to start a lot of coals.

I started with a nice roast and cut it into squares about an inch to an inch and a half square.  Think about a good shish-kabob size.  I seasoned the chunks by putting them in a zip-top baggie with the seasonings, and shaking them up.  I let them sit to absorb the flavors.

In the meantime, I started slicing up the veggies and potatoes for the side dish.  Somewhere in all of this, I also spritzed the inside of the 10 and 12 inch Dutch ovens with a thin layer of oil, and set them out on the coals to preheat.

I took out the veggies and meat.  Then I added a drizzle of olive oil to each Dutch oven, and let that heat to shimmering.  I tossed the meat into the 12” and the veggies into the 10”, and gave both a stir to coat the food with the oil.  I put a lid on the 10”, and divided the coals evenly above and below, to bake the potatoes.

At that point, I had to pay close attention to the meat.  I wanted to sear it, and also to cook it to about a medium or medium-rare done-ness.  Unfortunately, I found that my thermometers didn’t work so well in such small pieces of meat.  So, I just had to stir and guess.  It didn’t take long.  I pulled them off the coals, and put them on a plate under some aluminum foil to rest and settle.

In between all of that, I had minced up the garlic  I and added it, the butter, and the Parmesan cheese to the 8” Dutch oven.  I put that on the coals, not so much to cook, but to melt and blend.

Soon the potatoes were done and it was time to assemble it all and serve it up.  I put a few chunks of meat on each plate, brushed on the butter sauce (being very liberal with the cheese and the garlic chunks), and plated the veggies along side.

It was amazing, and I dare say that I nailed the flavor match to the restaurant!  I was amazed at both how elegant and exotic it looked, and, at the same time, how simple the recipe was.


There are more great easy recipes for dutch ovens and Dutch oven recipes: Chicken.



Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

A Big Dutch Oven Steak and Crab Feast

I wanted to do something really, amazingly, phenomenally over-the-top special for our anniversary this year.  It marked 24 years that she hasn’t kicked my sorry butt out on the curb.  That’s cause for celebrations.

I’d seen some videos on how to pan fry steak, and I was really interested in that.  I started to form an idea in my mind about doing the pan fry on steaks with a spice rub.  I figured I would steam some corn on cob, too.  Then, I started thinking, and I figured I could do some of those garlic sliced, sesame seed baked potatoes.  To top it all off, we had some crab’s legs in the freezer, so that would make it great, too!

My wife loves T-bone steaks, so I shopped around, looking for some good, thick, porterhouses.  I did find some, but they weren’t really as thick as I like.

The challenge for me was to cook it all in a limited time frame.  I would be coming home from work by about five, and I would want to have it done when it was still light out.  That only gave me a 2-3 hour window to cook an serve the whole meal.

In my planning, I started out by figuring out how the ovens would work.  I would do the corn and the crab together in the 12” deep dutch oven, and the potatoes and the steaks each in their own 12” shallow dutch oven.  When planning the time, I started from the end, and went through the steps of each dish in my mind, to see when I’d have to start each one.

Dutch Oven Pan-Fry T-Bone Steaks

12” dutch oven
26-30 coals below (pack ‘em in!)

• 1 Tbsp cumin
• 1 Tbsp crushed coriander
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp coarse ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp thyme
• 2 Tbsp paprika
• 2 Tbsp salt
• 1 tsp oregano

• 2-3 T-bone steaks
• 2-3 cloves minced garlic
• A little olive oil

• 1 Cup Cranberry/grape juice (100% juice) at room temperature
• 1-2 tablespoons flour dissolved in water.

The Potatoes

12” Dutch oven

8-10 coals below
16-18 coals above

• 4-5 medium to large potatoes
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• Kosher salt
• sesame seeds

Steamed Crab and Corn on the Cob

12” deep dutch oven

~20 coals below

• 3-4 cobs of corn, chucked, broken in half
• 2-3 racks of crab’s legs
• 3-4 cups Water
• ½ cup lemon juice

Butter Dip/spread for the Crab/Corn

8” dutch oven

10-12 coals below

• 2 cubes butter
• extra spice rub

I started out with the thawed steaks.  Actually, I never froze them.  I brought them home a day or so before and put them straight into the fridge.  I mixed up the spices in a zip-top baggie, and then added each steak, one at a time.  I shook the spices all over the steak, and then shook off the excess when I pulled it out.  I did the same with the other two steaks.  By the way, this is the same spice mix that I used for my blackened salmon many years ago.

I set the steaks aside in the fridge, covered in plastic.  It would be about another hour before they’d be cooked.  That gave the flavorings plenty of time to set into the meat.

Then, I started on the potatoes.  Step one was to peel the garlic and slice it into thin slivers.  Then I took the potatoes, and I washed and rinsed them  I cut them almost all the way through in narrow strips, so that it could fan open a little bit.  Then, in every other slice or so, I inserted a sliver of garlic,  I alternated between the middle and the right and left sides, so that it would separate in different and unique ways.  Really, it’s tough to describe this process.  It’s better to look at the picture.  As each potato was sliced and garlic’ed, I put it in the dutch oven.

Once all the potatoes were prepped, I drizzled each one with a bit of olive oil, then sprinkled over them with kosher salt and sesame seeds.  It really makes for an impressive display.  I put that on the coals to bake.

Next to go was the corn and the crab.  I chucked, cleaned, and broke the cobs, and put them on one of those butterfly-ing steamers in the 12” deep dutch oven.  I added the crab on top.  I poured in enough water to reach the bottom of the steamer, and poured in the lemon juice.  I put the lid on, and put it on the coals.

The last step was the steaks.

I began by putting the 12” dutch oven, with just a little oil, on a lot of coals.  I wanted this thing to be seriously hot.  Have lots of coals on the side handy, too, because keeping it hot with the steaks on will also be a challenge.

After heating the dutch oven pan up for a while, I put the steaks on.  The aroma and the sizzle was almost unbearably good.  At first, I kept the lid off.  In retrospect, I would keep the lid on, however, because it took a long time to get the meat up to temperature.  After 6-7 minutes, I flipped the steaks over, and at that point, stuck in the thermometer.  Like I said, it took a while to get them up to even rare, so I ended up putting the lid on, without coals.

When it read just a little under 140, I pulled them off, and put them on a plate, tented under aluminum foil.  Always let meat rest before serving.  By the time we were dining, it came up to a nice medium done-ness.

In the meantime, I poured the cranberry juice into the same dutch oven that the steaks had been in.  While it sizzled, I used a wooden flipper to scrape up all the fond, the bits of cooked steak and carmelized stuff on the bottom.  I had pulled the juice from the fridge, so I think it took a little longer to boil and to start reducing.  I added the flour/water mix a little bit at a time to thicken it up.

While I was doing that, I put the butter and some of the remaining spice mix into the 8” dutch oven over coals to melt and blend.

Finally, it was all done.  We brought it all in, and served it up.  The pan sauce, of course, spread on the steak. It gave sweetness and tang, and blended well with the seasonings and the flavor of the meat. The seasoned butter was spread on the corn as well as used to dip the crab meat.  It was a major, four-star feast!




Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

My Strange Dutch Oven Weekend

I did a lot of dutch ovening this weekend, and it was all under kind of unusual circumstances.  The best laid plans of mice and men, etc...  Everything changed up.

On Saturday, our church men’s group (the Elder’s Quorum, for those of you who understand Mo’ Speak) hosted a dutch oven cookout activity in the park.  I was in charge of planning it and pulling it off.  The idea was to have us all gather in the early afternoon, and do some cooking.  I’d be there to show how to do it, if the members were feeling unsure.  Then, at about 5 or 6, we’d all eat what we’d all cooked.

The turnout was terrible.  There were quite a few guys who had told me they were going to show up and cook along with us, but only one came (
That's Richard, in the picture).  Later on, my wife joined us, as did one other guy and his kids.

I was pretty bummed, but I still had a good time cooking.  I did a spicy turkey (a small one) and some no-knead bread.  I added basil, oregano, and cilantro to the dough, and it made for a delicious flavor.  The other Elder that came over and cooked made a chocolate and marshmallow pudding.  Really, great food.  Too bad so few were there to sample it.

Then, on Sunday, I had planned on cooking dinner for my father-in-law.  I’d pretty much decided on doing a dinner-in-a-pumpkin, but he injured his back and was immobile, so he couldn’t come over.  I decided to do it anyway, and it turned out great. 

I’ve been working on an overall outline for a cookbook on yeast breads in a dutch oven, and I’m very excited about it.  I’ve started writing some of the parts, and I’ll be posting them here as they come.  Stay tuned for that!






Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Mark's Other Blog Posts: Working on The Third Time, A Big LDS Game, Free Speech?

Bread and Beef, Revisited

Yesterday, I had a great dutch oven day.  A triumph, even.  Two dishes, both of which have been, in the past, difficult, came out perfectly.  And, not only were the delicious, but I was able to learn what I did right this time, and why they failed last time!

The first to be finished was a loaf of bread.  It was, quite possibly, the best loaf of bread I’ve ever baked.  A delicious, rich-tasting crumb, with a soft, browned crust.  I was very pleased. I plan to write about it, especially since my friend, Andy, asked about breads.  That one will be put on the Black Pot as a separate article, coming soon.

Today, I’ll talk about the other dish, a roast beef. 

A long time ago, I figured out that there are two ways to cook roast beef so that you don’t have to chew it forever to be able to swallow it.  One way is to cook it medium to medium rare, so that it’s still a bit pink and juicy.  I like my steaks that way, so it would stand to reason that I also like my roasts that way.  I’ve been able to pull off this kind of roast before.

The other way to cook it is to roast it “low and slow” (meaning at a low temperature, for a long time), and to overcook it.  You keep it on the heat until the meat becomes so tender that it falls apart under your fork, and you hardly need a knife to eat it.  I’ve tried this before, but until today, I’ve not been able to succeed.

So, this time it worked.  I essentially followed the instructions and the recipe spelled out in that blog entry.  The only real difference in the recipe was that I didn’t use the bacon.  It tasted fine without it.  I also used a little less black pepper in the glaze.  Well, that, and the veggies were different.  I just used what I had on hand, which was pretty much the same.

There were some differences in my process, however.

First of all, I made sure that the meat was completely thawed from the beginning. That meant the time spent cooking was spent cooking and not melting the meat. I also made sure that I let the beef sit with the salt and pepper for a bit longer.

I made sure that I kept the coals to a minimum.  I kept it hot, but not too hot.  There was a pretty steady breeze out, so I had to replace them often.  The coal counts of 8-10 below and 10-12 on top were pretty accurate to what I was trying to maintain.  I cooked it a total of about 5 to 5 1/2 hours.  It reached an internal temperature of “well-done” after about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Toward the end I started testing it by seeing how easily I could pry apart the meat fibers with a pair of forks.

I didn’t add any veggies or herbs until about the third hour.  I just poured them around the meat.  I left the meat on the metal bottom of the oven.  I don’t know if that made any difference at all, considering the relatively low heat.

I mixed up the glaze (like I said, a little lighter on the pepper, and also a little heavier on the honey), and, about an hour out to “done”, I started basting it on the top of the meat every 15 minutes or so.  It really added a sweet and sharp depth to the flavor of the meat.

About 15 minutes out to my projected “done” time, I started ladling off the liquid stock at the bottom of the pot to make a gravy.  There really wasn’t much liquid to use.  In retrospect, I don’t really think the meat needed the extra moisture nor flavor of a gravy.  Still, I made some, and it didn’t taste bad.

When I pulled it off the coals, I set it on the table, and we spent a good 15 to 20 minutes gathering and setting the table.  That allowed the meat to rest and the juices to re-distribute.  The residual heat also cooked it just a little bit more.

Finally, when we were all gathered, and the prayer said, I went to serve it and it just fell apart under the fork.  I had brought out a knife to cut it and serve it, but I didn’t use it.  My kids raved about it.  Really, the glaze and the long, slow cook made all the difference.







Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.
Mark's Other Blog Posts: Long, Long Time, The Seekers (LDS Scripture Mastery Game),

The Newest Dutch Oven Challenge

A few weeks ago, I posted up a new Dutch Oven challenge for Andy, and anyone else that wanted to join in.  The ingredients for this one were:

• Meat: Beef
• Veggie/fruit: Leeks/scallions/green onions
• Spice: Cinnamon

So, last weekend, I undertook the challenge.  The process confused me, and in many ways, until I actually did it, I wasn't sure what I was going to do.  In my mind, I was going to make the beef and the onions, and then do a dairy-based sauce with nutmeg and cinnamon.  My main confusion was in how to handle the roux for the sauce.  In the end, the process I chose worked, but I might do it differently if I ever do this one again.

By the way, if any of you out there can come up with a good name for this dish, let me know, 'cause I'm stumped.  For now, it's...

That One Dish that Mark Made for the Dutch Oven Challenge

12" Dutch Oven

A lot of coals under (for the first steps)
10 coals below
16 coals above (for the final steps)

• 2-3 tbsp oil
• 2-3 tbsp flour

• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 1 med onion, diced
• 3 scallions/green onions, chopped
• salt

• 1 lb ground beef
• pepper

• 2 large potatoes, quartered and sliced
• 1 sweet pepper, diced

• ~2 cups milk
• nutmeg
• cinnamon
• more flour, if necessary, to thicken

I started out by making the roux out of equal parts of oil and flour in the open dutch oven, on bottom heat only.  For some reason, my coals were very slow lighting that day, and so it took quite a while to make even the blondest of a blonde roux.  It was also pretty runny. 

Once that had cooked a bit, and browned just a little, I added the second set of ingredients, to sautee.  I wasn't sure how well it would sautee with the roux still in the pot, but Alton did it once, and it seemed to work, so I guess it was OK.  This was a large part of my aforementioned confusion.

Once the onions were translucent, I added the ground beef and let that brown.

When the beef was pretty much cooked through, and all stirred up, I added the potatoes and sweet peppers.  At this point, I covered the dutch oven and set up the coals for baking/roasting, with top and bottom heat, as listed above.  I let the potatoes cook a bit, stirring things up occasionally.

When I could see that the potatoes were starting to cook, but not done (maybe just a bit firmer than "al dente"), I poured in the milk.  I didn't measure it, but rather just guestimated.  I poured it in until it came up to "halfway" covering the meat and potatoes.  In other words, there was enough milk that I could see it rising as I poured, but the level of the milk was nowhere near the top of the food.  I stirred in the nutmeg and the cinnamon, and let that cook and simmer some more, covered, until the potatoes were done.

I did add just a little more flour for a bit of thickening, but it didn't need much.  In retrospect, I'd probably do more roux at the beginning.

I Served it up on two slices of the artisan bread I'd made the day before, following this Dutch Oven bread recipe.  The tangy bread and the meat made a magnificent combination.

The taste was delicious, and my son pronounced it "Amazing".  I'd say this challenge was a success.  Any other takers?!






Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.



Mark's Other Blog Posts: A Performance for LDS Youth!

Dutch Oven Roast Beef with Balsamic Glaze

So, I made this roast yesterday, and it tasted great, but what I was trying to accomplish didn't quite turn out.  I guess as long as it was good, right? I was shooting for a low heat, long roast, trying to get to that point where the meat just falls apart.  I didn't quite get there, but, as I said, it still tasted good.

The honey and balsamic glaze added a sweet tang to the meat, too.  It was really delicious.  I served it up with that bread that I baked the day before.  All in all, it made for a yummy feast.

Slow Dutch Oven Roast

12" deep dutch oven
8-10 coals below
10-12 coals above

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• Kosher salt
• Coarse ground pepper
• 3-5 lb beef roast

• 3-4 large potatoes
• 3-4 medium onions
• 1-2 carrots, sliced
• 2-3 stalks celery, sliced

• 1/2 lb bacon

• 1 Tbsp coarse ground pepper
• 1 Tbsp Kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup honey, maybe a little more

• 2-3 Tbsp flour
• ~1/4 cup of water

I started out thawing the roast.  It had been thawing in the fridge for a day or two, and I put it in the sink with some cool water.  A hint I learned:  Next time, I'll take it out of the package and off of the styrofoam tray, then put it in a ziplock before putting it in the water.  The tray insulated the meat and it was still frozen on the bottom for quite a while.

Meanwhile, I lit up some coals and pre-heated the dutch oven with the oil in it.  I tossed in the garlic and let that sautee a little bit.  Meanwhile, I coated the meat with kosher salt and coarse-ground pepper.  I let it sit for a little bit, then put the roast in the dutch oven and browned it on each side. 

While that was browning, I cut up the vegetables.  The potatoes and onions I cut into large quarters.  My idea was to have those on the bottom and to rest the meat on top, that way the juices would run down under the meat.

Once the meat was browned, I lifted it out of the Dutch oven, and put in the onions and potatoes.  I scattered in the celery and the carrots to fill in the gaps.  I laid the meat down on top of the bed of veggies and set on the coals.  I also laid strips of bacon across the top of the roast.

Since I was kinda learning how to do this, I also set a thermometer into it.  I closed up the lid and put the proper coals on.  My idea was to cook it at 200-250 degrees for about 4-5 hours.  It took a while, but it eventually got up to 200.  From then on, it was just a matter of keeping the heat steady with fresh coals.

About an hour before serving time, I made the glaze.  I mixed all of the ingredients together and dabbed it over the meat.  The recipe reflects not so much the actual ingredients I used, but the ones I would recommend.  The one I did ended up too peppery.  You probably won't use all of the glaze at once, but after another fifteen to twenty minutes, you can add more to the roast.

At about the same time, I got my basting syringe and sucked up most of the juices from the bottom of the dutch oven, and put them into my 8" dutch oven.  I set that on top of about 8-10 coals to heat up and begin boiling.  While that was getting boiling, I stirred up the flour and the water.  I stirred it up pretty vigorously.  The idea is to get out all the clumps, so it can pour into the juices and make gravy.  So, add flour or water as needed to make the right consistency.

Once the broth was boiling, I added the flour/water mix, a bit at a time.  I stirred it in and let it boil for 5-10 minutes before adding any more.  I've had problems making gravy where I ended up adding too much flour too fast and it got too thick.

In the end, the meat was done, it tasted great, if only a little too peppery.  I wonder if I simply should have cooked it longer to get to that "fall apart" state.  I cooked it for about four hours, but maybe I should have done 6 or even 8.  Anyone's advice?  I'll be trying it again, obviously...





Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Meatballs with Potatoes

This one is some yummy comfort food at our house.  It's a dish I've made before, and one that my wife used to make a lot (using the indoor oven).  It's a simple dish, a one-pot two-step.  Easy, yes; healthy, not so much...!

• 1 medium to large onion, sliced
• 3 cloves, garlic, chopped
• 4-5 green onions, chopped
• 2-3 Sweet peppers, chopped

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 3 slices bread, chopped
• 2 eggs
• salt
• pepper
• very liberal shakes of parsley
• 1/2 package cream cheese
  

• 4-5 medium potatoes
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• Juice of 1 lemon

• A layer of grated cheddar

I started off by heating a tablespoon or two of oil in the dutch oven with about 15-20 hot coals below it.  I wanted to get the oil nice and hot to sautee all of the ingredients in the first set.

While that was cooking, I made the meatballs.  I mixed everything and blended it up nicely.  Then I made a meat patty about the size of my palm, sliced off a piece of cream cheese, and closed the meat around it.  The final meatball was just a little larger than a golf ball.  I also sliced up the potatoes and opened up the cans of soup.

Back out at the dutch oven, I arranged the meatballs on top of the now carmelized veggies, with a little space between each.  I scattered in the potato slices inbetween the meatballs, then spooned the soup concentrate from the cans onto the top.  I spritzed on the lemon juice, and closed the lid.  I set it with 10-12 coals on the bottom and 16-18 on top, and let it bake for about an hour, or until the potatoes were nice and soft.

Then, I brought it in.  I put a layer of grated cheese on top and put the lid back on, letting the cheese melt.

It's yummy, gooey, and oh, so comforting.  Love it!





Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.



Mark's Other Blog Posts: name post, name post,

Mark's Black Pot Goulash

When you're looking for something to cook with some ground beef or some stew meat, and you're not sure what, you really can't go wrong with Goulash.  It's easy and tasty.  In this case, I happened to have a pound of stew meat wrapped up and frozen, and I thought I'd use it.  I just did a few 'net searches to get an idea of what to put in, and this is what I came up with.

 

Mark's Dutch Oven Goulash

12" Dutch Oven
15-20 coals below

• oil
• 2 med onions
• 2 stalks celery
• 4 cloves garlic
• salt

• 1 lb stew beef (or ground beef)

• 1-2 cups chicken stock
• 1 can corn, drained
• 2 small cans tomato sauce
• oregano
• basil
• salt 
• pepper

• 1 lb bag of egg noodles

More optional ingredients to consider in the third step:

• Paprika (the stronger stuff)
• Crushed red peppers
• A bit of milk or cream (like a quarter or half cup)
  

I just started off with a lot of coals underneath my 12" dutch oven, with a little oil in the bottom (maybe a tablespoon's worth, or a capful).  While that was getting good and hot, I sliced up the onions, the celery, and minced the garlic.  Once the dutch oven was hot, I dropped the first set of ingredients in, and sauteed them.

Here's a hint, by the way, about onions.  Don't store them outside, or, like I did, in your garage in the winter.  They partly froze, and so they didn't sautee and carmelize very well.  They still tasted OK, just not as good as they would've if I'd known.  But now you know!

Once the onions were as done as they were gonna get, I moved them aside, and put the meat in to brown.

Step three was to add almost everything else (except the noodles).  At that point, it was all pretty runny, more like a soup.  I was a bit nervous, actually.  I considered adding some kind of flour or other thickener, but decided to wait and see what would happen after the noodles cooked.  That turned out to be a wise choice.  By the time the noodles were "al dente", they had absorbed much of the liquid and it was a nice, thick goulash.  The family loved it!


Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.



Mark's Other Blog Posts: Optimizing an eCommerce Website, Mark's LDS Rock Music Downloads,

Dinner in a Pumpkin in a Dutch Oven

This dish is traditional for us this time of year. Typically, when there's a Halloween party for our group of parents of special needs kids, or a church party, my wife will make this meal. It's really cool, because the presentation is so seasonal.

The basic idea is that you hollow out the pumpkin, and fill it with a hamburger, rice, veggie, and sauce mix, then bake the whole thing. When you serve it up, the pumpkin itself becomes the serving bowl. You spoon out the meal mix, and as you do, you scrape in some of the baked pumpkin. The flavors all blend. It's delicious!

And I'm NOT a big fan of gourds and squash!

Dinner in a Pumpkin in a Dutch Oven

12" Dutch oven (browning and sauteeing)
8" Dutch oven (rice)
14" Deep dutch oven (baking the meal)

22 coals above, 12 coals below (maybe a few more because it was a bit cold and windy)

• 1 Cup rice
• 2 Cups water

• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
  
• 2 Medium onions, chopped or sliced
• 3-4 Stalks celery, chopped
• 2-3 Cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
  
• 1 lb Ground beef
• 1 Can cream of something soup
• salt
• Pepper
• Parsley
  

• 1 pumpkin, smaller and kinda flat
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
  

I started out by heating up some coals. I got the rice and water cooking in the small 8", and started sauteeing the onions, celery, mushrooms and garlic in the 12". When I cook rice, I just watch it until steam starts venting, then take it off about ten minutes after that. It usually works. When you're sauteeing veggies, you want the oven to be pretty hot, enough that the oil in the bottom looks "shimmery" and the veggies simmer the moment they hit the pan.

Once the veggies were looking a bit carmelized, I added the ground beef and browned it.

While that was cooking, I prepared the pumpkin. I have to say it was a challenge to pick the right pumpkin. I had to get out my tape measure and measure the inside of the 14" dutch oven, and then measure all of the pumpkins at the store. I must've looked pretty funny walking around measuring each pumpkin. I felt a little like Linus from Peanuts, making sure that his pumpkin patch was sincere enough for the Great Pumpkin.

I found one that was kinda flat when laid on its side, and yet I realized that there was still no way it would fit into the oven. It was still to high. So, I just decided to cut it into a bowl shape and move on.

What I did was to place the pumpkin in the dutch oven, and, using a knife, mark the "lid level" all the way around the pumpkin. Then I too it out and cut the top off using that knife mark as a guide. Finally, I hollowed out the seeds, and scraped off the fibrous parts.

Then, I got out the chili powder, and the cinnamon and sprinkled those around the inside. I tried to get all up the sides as well. I spread the the brown sugar around as well, and rubbed it all in.

Then, I brought all the other dutch ovens in and mixed their contents together with the can of soup and the seasonings. This glop I poured into the pumpkin and placed it into the 14" deep dutch oven. The lid fit nicely!

I put that oven out on the coals for almost two hours. I kept sticking the pumpkin rind with thin bamboo skewers, and when I felt little resistance, I knew it was soft and ready to serve.

My kids kept saying that they wouldn't eat the pumpkin, but they both did. A good way to get kids to eat squash, right? It was a real treat, and it's fun to see the food coming right out of the dutch oven.

The next time I do this, I'm going to try it with the dutch oven upside down. That is, I'll put the lid on the bottom, on a lid stand over the coals, and put the body of the dutch oven on top, with coals around the legs. That way, when I serve, the lid will look like a tray, and it won't be hidden down in the oven...

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Mark's Other Blog Posts: Revelations, Mixing Martyrs,

An Amazing Dutch Oven Roast Beef Recipe

I've learned a couple of things about roast beef recipes, since the last few that I've done. Today's turned out really yummy because of it.

Like with a lot of the bread recipes I've done, I know that a lot of you reading this will already know these two tips. That's OK. There'll still be two or three out there that don't, right? There was a point where I didn't know them, either...

The first trick was to brown the meat on all sides first. The second is figuring out when to pull it off.

Anyway. This one isn't so much of a recipe as it is a process. But I'll still write it up as a recipe.
A Delicious Dutch Oven Roast Beef Recipe

12" Dutch Oven (or whatever fits your roast)

12-14 coals below
12-14 coals above

• A roast (get it as big as you want to feed your family a fit into the pot)
• Your favorite seasonings (I used Mrs Dash)
• Salt
• Pepper
• A little olive oil
• Bacon (optional)
  

• Chopped potatoes
• Chopped celery
• Chopped onions
• Chopped carrots (I actually forgot to add these this time)
• Balsamic vinegar
• More salt and pepper for the veggies
  
• Any additional seasonings, veggies, flavorings you like.
  

The first step was to get some coals lit, and get the oven on with some of the olive oil, preheating (about 20+ coals underneath). The roast had been thawing all afternoon, so I sprinkled all sides pretty generously with the Mrs Dash, and rubbed it all in. By then, the oil was hot, so I dropped in the roast, and was immediately rewarded by hearing the meat sizzle in the dutch oven. Mmmmm...

A few minutes later, I turned it over, and did the other side. The first side was nicely browned, and the Mrs Dash was crusted into the meat. Mmmmm...

This particular roast was thick, but pretty flat, so browning the sides would have been tricky. I settled for just the top and the bottom.

At that point, I pulled some of the coals out from the bottom and put them on top, and closed up the dutch oven with the lid. Now, sometimes when I do a roast, at this point, I'll layer the roast with strips of bacon across the top. I came inside and started chopping up all the veggies. Those got packed into the oven around the roast.

From then on, I simply kept good heat on it. I kept it on the low side of the temperature curve, rather than the hot side. The idea is to simply cook it slower, longer, and let it get really juicy.

About an hour in, I stuck it with a thermometer. From then on, I just lifted the lid every 20 minutes or so and checked it. I kept replenishing the coals from my side chimney (no small task to keep up with, seeing as how it was a pretty brisk breeze the whole time). Soon it was at 140°, or just a little higher. According to the thermometer gauge, it's rare. I pulled it off the heat at that point, but kept the lid on.

As we were setting the table, I let the meat rest, and come up to full temperature. I was shooting for 150°, which is a sort of medium done-ness.

Then, I just carved it up and served the veggies on the side. I loved it. Jodi wanted a gravy, so I did make one, but I, honestly didn't try it, because the meat was plenty juicy and tender. As dutch oven recipes go, this one is not difficult and really amazing!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Mark's Other Blog Posts: "Today and Yesterday" Click to listen!, Epiphany in the Temple,

Dutch Oven Beef Ribs

My wife and I just recently joined a local food co-op. It's a kind of interesting way to get food, especially stuff grown and produced locally. We got our first share last saturday, and come sunday, I was looking it all over and trying to figure out what I could do with it. One of the meat things that came in our share was two racks of beef ribs, with four bones each. I was surprised just how big beef ribs are, compared to pork ribs (which is what most people barbecue).

Anyway, I dug in and did some research, looking for a good recipe, and a good process. There were all kinds of methods: grilling, braising, baking, roasting. Some were a combination of two or three methods. One thing seemed consistent. The longer it takes to cook them, the more tender and delicious. So, today's ribs have been brought to you by "Low and Slow" cooking.

Finally, after looking at all the options, my wife said, "Grandma Bev used to make the most delicious ribs with this Barbecue sauce based on brown sugar, catsup, and mustard. Why don't you try that?"

In the interests of both nostalgia and simplicity, I decided to give it a try. What I came up with isn't much of a recipe in the traditional sense of the word. It's more of a set of instructions. You can make it work with the things you have on hand.

Dutch Oven Beef Ribs

12" Dutch Oven

6-7 Coals below
14-16 Coals above


The Meat

• 2-3 racks (4 bones each) of beef ribs

The Veggies

• Some sliced onions
• Some sliced Green onions
• Some minced garlic
• Some halved cherry tomatoes
• Some sliced celery
• And anything else you care to add in. Mushrooms would have tasted good, too, if I'd had any.

The Sauce

• About a generous cup of brown sugar
• Catsup
• Mustard
• Salt
• Pepper
• Some kind of hot spice (Cayenne Pepper or Chili powder)

I started out prepping the veggies, slicing them up, etc. I got some coals burning and poured a bunch out on my little Dutch Oven table. I put the dutch oven on the coals, with some olive oil (a couple of tablespoons) to heat up for sauteeing.

Once the oil was hot and the veggies sliced, I put the two kinds of onions and the garlic in to sautee. I'd stir it from moment to moment, but at that point, I turned my attention to the sauce.

I started with a bowl and put in about a cup of brown sugar. From that point on, I went simply by taste. I added some catsup and some mustard (about even amounts of each) and started tasting. It was weird tasting these condiments cold with nothing to put them on, but I was working out the proportions. In the end, I added more and more mustard. But then, I'm a big mustard fan. Salt brought out the other flavors, and pepper is just great to add to anything, in my opinion. The hot spice I added to just give it an edge. I just went along, adding and tasting, adding and tasting, until I got it to where I wanted it.

And in between that, I was stirring the veggies.

Once the sauce was mixed right, I poured about half of it into a ziplock baggie. I cut the ribs apart, and added the meat to the baggie. I shook it all up to coat the ribs.

Back out on the dutch oven, I added the rest of the vegetables and then layered the meat on top.

I adjusted the coals as above. These coals listed above are arranged in a baking configuration. You could probably also do a more roasting sort of arrangement by putting 10-11 coals on the bottom and the same amount on top. Remember that in this case, you'll be cooking with less heat for a longer time, so if you're going to make a mistake, make it on the lower side of the scale.

From that point on, cooking was simply a matter of making sure that there were a constant supply of fresh coals to add on. I cooked the ribs for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours, in total. Wow, they tasted amazingly, fall-off-the-bone good.



Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.



Mark's Other Blog Posts: The Zeezrom Syndrome, Keyword Analysis Research,