Food Storage Dutch Oven Chili

Exciting news!

I’ve been offered a contract for a fifth book, tentatively titled something like “Dutch Oven Preparedness”!  It will be all about using food storage ingredients in your Dutch oven.  The idea is that if you find yourself in an emergency situation without any electricity, you’ll still be able to cook and eat well!

Here’s one of the first ideas, that I tried out last week. It was unique for me, because I was faced with the challenge of cooking something delicious without using any fresh ingredients. That was hard for me, because I’ve always emphasized the value of freshness. But in the end, it came off great!

Food Storage Dutch Oven Chili with Beef Jerky

12” shallow Dutch Oven

20+ coals below


12-16 oz  lbs beef jerky, any flavor you like.
4 cups water

3/4 - 1 cup dehydrated onions
3/4 - 1 cup dehydrated green peppers
3/4 - 1 cup dehydrated celery

1 15 oz can pinto beans
1 15 oz can red kidney beans
1 15 oz can black beans
(or 1 1/2-2 lbs dried, bagged beans, soaked overnight in water)
2 14 oz cans minced or crushed tomatoes
1-2 cups additional water, as needed

Chili Powder and/or cayenne
garlic powder
salt
pepper
Cumin
dried lemon zest
cilantro
Molasses

1-2 Tbsp corn flour


I started this out a little different than a traditional fresh-ingredient chili.  Usually, I’ll begin by sauteing the aromatics.  In this case, I want to start by rehydrating some of the ingredients and extracting some of the rich flavors, creating the broth first.  I lit up some coals and when they were whitening, I put about 20 or more under my 12” Dutch oven.

Then, I put in 2 cups of the water and let that get heated up.  I did this with the lid on, because it simmers faster.  While that was heating up, I chopped up the jerky into chunks with my chef’s knife.  I didn’t want the chunks to be too small.  Bite-sized, really.  I put those into the simmering water, and stirred occasionally.  After about a half hour, the water was quite dark with the liquids and seasonings of the meat. I added two more cups of water, and tossed in the dehydrated  veggies.  I let it simmer some more.

After another 15-20 minutes of continuous simmering, all the dried stuff was puffing up and the smells were getting rich. Much of the water had been absorbed, but there was still a lot of liquid. I added the beans and other canned ingredients.  Usually, when I make chili, I like to add different beans because it makes for more visual variety.  I’ve heard that combining bean varieties is more healthy, too, but I don’t know that for sure.  I’ll usually drain all but one can, and use the liquid from that last can as part of the liquid of the broth.  If I use dry bagged beans, I’ll usually drain off any of the leftover soaking liquid before adding them. The tomato cans I add in completely, with the liquid.  If you need more liquid, you can add more at this point, or not drain the cans.

All along this time, I was adding more coals from the side fire, replenishing as necessary to keep a steady simmer (not a rolling boil) going.

When that has been simmering for a while, I began adding in the flavorings.  When I start adding heat, I’ll sprinkle some in, let it simmer, then taste it.  You can always add more hot pepper flakes or cayenne, but you can’t remove it if you put in too much.  I didn’t put any amounts on these flavorings, because you’ll really just do it to taste.  I find, for example, that the dried lemon zest flavor gets lost easily, so I like at add a lot.

Finally, the corn flour can be added a bit at a time to thicken it up if necessary.  As thickeners go, I like it for chili because it adds a certain southwest tone to the whole pot.

Finally, serve it up!  A great bowl of chili from food entirely stored on your shelf.

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 Tamales, Redux

This last weekend I made tamales in my dutch oven again.  The last time I did this, they turned out great.  This time, in the end, they also turned out well, but it was a kind of rocky road to get there.

This time I did it in two days.  The night before, I made the pork, then on Sunday morning I made the filling and rolled the tamales.  Sunday night I set them in my dutch oven and steamed them up!  These were different from the last time I did them, both in process and in the recipe.  The last one was a bit more "green" and these were more "red".  I don't know if that makes any sense at all, but there it is, anyway...


Dutch Oven Tamales
Makes about 20-25 tamales, approx 200 Cal each.

12" deep Dutch Oven, with a veggie steamer

Lots of coals underneath

The Pork

• 2-2.5 lbs pork roast
• 1 head garlic, cut into just a few bigger chunks
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 8 cups water
• 4-6 large bay leaves
• 1 tsp salt

The Filling

• 6 oz dried red chilis (pick your picante)
• 2 tbsp cilantro
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 2 cups pork stock, also from the previous step.
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2-4 tbsp flour
• 2 lbs pork, from the previous step
• 1 tsp salt

The Masa

• 4 cups Masa powder
• 4 cups pork stock, from the first step
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cups shortening

So, starting off with the pork.  It's really pretty simple, I just added all of the ingredients in the middle of my dutch oven and roasted it.  In this case, I put on about 26 coals, 13 on the bottom and 13 on the top, and roasted it to the right temperature, 160 F.  Cooking it longer makes it come off the bone and come apart easier.

Once it's all done, I pulled the meat out of the dutch oven.  Then, using forks, I pulled it off the bone and pulled it apart into shreds.

What's left in the dutch oven is very important stuff.  Don't throw it away.  Instead, I strained out all of the meat and spice particles and set aside the pork stock for the next day.  I found there wasn't much fat to skim off, but if there had been I would have skimmed it.

All of that stuff went into the fridge.

The next day, I got started pretty early.  I crushed up the chilis (anchos, I think) and soaked them for about 20 minutes to a half hour in some hot water.  Once they were soft, I strained them off, and added them, with the cilantro and the garlic, to the stock.  I put all of that into a blender and whirred it all up.

Once that was all pureed, I strained it through a paper towel filter, so I just had the mash, and most of the runny liquid was drained.

At this point, I cheated for those that may be purist dutch oven chefs.  I did a little work on my stovetop inside.  In my defense, however, I did use a cast iron skillet!  I made a roux out of the oil and flour, and when that started to get a little bit past just tan, I added in the strained mush chile mix.  I cooked that for just a little bit, until it really started smelling rich, and then mixed it up with the pulled pork from the previous day.  I also poured some of the chile water that I had drained off back over the pork, and stirred it all up. That made the filling, and it went back into the fridge.

Then, I turned my attention to the masa, the corn meal.  This was pretty easy to make.  I simply added all of the ingredients to a bowl and stirred it up using a pastry cutter.  Done.  You can adjust how moist it is by adding more corn meal or stock.

Now came the rolling phase.  I did this pretty much the same way as I did last time I made tamales. Here, you'll find the details of tamale rolling.  A disclaimer, by the way:  I'm not a mexican grandmother, and I've never seen one roll tamales, so I don't know if my method is "traditional" or "authentic".  It worked, though. 

I put the veggie steamer into the 12" deep dutch oven, and unfolded it.  I added water up to the level of the steamer, and stacked the rolled tamales on the steamer.  Then, it was out on the coals.  I kept it to bottom heat, maybe 20 or so coals on the bottom.  You're boiling it, so you'll want it to come to boil fairly quickly, then you can reduce the coals just to keep it simmering. 

You may need to add water from time to time, since the total cook time for me was almost two hours.  I didn't really pay attention to that, and they ended up drying out.  Not good.  They still tasted good, though.







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

Mark and Brendon Make Chili in Dutch Ovens!

And we have the video to prove it!

Remember when I said that cooking is less of a recipe and more of a process?  That it's more than just a list of ingredients?  True that.  And, at the same time, not so much.  I will elaborate in a minute.  Bear with me.

Last night was our ward (A Mormon church congregation) annual chili cookoff.  About fifteen or twenty or so of us all presented our best chilis.  There were judges, and many others that just came to have some great food and fun with friends.  It's been one of our best attended ward activities, almost as much as the Christmas party.

So, like I said, I made the white chili.  I was very meticulous about the process.  I stepped through things one bit at a time, and did everything just right.  And, honestly, I think it was the best chili I'd ever made.

Brendon, on the other hand, pretty much ignored process.  He soaked his beans a while, and he browned the meat before hand, but other than that, he just pretty much added his ingredients as soon as he had them ready.  And his chili tasted great, too!  In fact, his won a very enviable prize that night:  "Best 'what's-your-secret-ingredient' Chili".  Brendon had a great time telling people afterward that it was cilantro. 

Mine won the "Best 'puts-hair-on-your-chest' Chili".  I'm not sure what that means, but I'll take the prize, anyway!

I pretty much followed the ingredients from the other time that I did the white chili, with a few exceptions.

Dutch Oven White Chili

12" dutch oven
16-20 coals below

• 1 lb dry black eyed peas

• 1 lb bacon
  
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 lb ground turkey

• 1-2 cups chicken stock
  
• 4 cups water
  
• 2 sweet peppers, diced (I like to use different colors, like yellow, orange, and red)
  
• 1/2 to 1 jalapeňo, diced, with seeds
• Salt and pepper to taste

• 4-5 green onion, chopped
  
• fresh cilantro, chopped
  
• More salt and pepper, if needed
  
• Juice of 1-2 limes, to taste
  

• ~1/4 cup corn masa
  

I started out the night before putting the black-eyed peas into a bowl with a lot of water to soak.  It's important that there be a lot of water, because I've soaked beans before and had them completely absorb the water.  So, flood 'em out!

In the afternoon, when it was time to start cooking, I fired up some coals and put the dutch oven on.  The first step was to cook up the bacon.  I cut it into one inch chunks and dropped it all in.  It took a while, but once it was done, it hadn't rendered out that much grease, not like normal.  So, I just added the sliced onions and the minced garlic to sautee.

Once those were good and carmelized, I moved that all to the sides and put the ground turkey in the middle to brown.  When that was done, I stirred it all together.

This whole process probably took about 45 minutes, so I had to replenish the coals along the way. 

Then, I drained off the murky water the beans had soaked in, and added the stock and the fresh water.  I went ahead and measured the water as well, so that it was more accurate.  I don't know that it mattered much, but I did.

At that point, I let it cook for quite a while.  A couple of hours, really.  I kept replenishing the coals, looking more for a steady simmer than a rolling boil.  Once the beans were cooked soft, you can pretty much consider your chili "done", but I kept going.  Partly because the chili cookoff was still an hour or so away, but also to get more simmering in on the flavors.

A word on the heat:  I would recommend putting a half-jalapeno in the chili to start with, and then, after about 10-15 minutes of simmering, checking the taste.  If it still needs more heat, then you can add it.  That way, you can give it as much oomph as you like.

The final step was the last bits of flavoring and thickening.  I like the corn meal is a great thickener in chili.  It blends well with the southwest kinda feel of the meal.

One of the great things about chili is that it can be anything. That's one of the things this chili cookoff shows me each year.  All these dishes, and they're all so unique and so different, and yet, they're all chili.  What is it that makes them all "chili"?  Some have meat, some don't.  Some have beans, and some don't.  Some are hot and some are sweet.  Really, what is it that defines "chili"?

The cool thing about that is that you can really do almost anything.  There's no reason not to jump in and try it, because you really can't screw it up!





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: "Alleluia" Needs More Work, Hope for 2010,

Dutch Oven Chile Verde

OK, so I'm trying to figure out how to use chiles in my outdoor cooking. It seems to me that you can never fully tell just how hot something's going to be just by how many jalapeňos you add, right? I mean, the actual hotness varies, it seems. I put in one chile one day, and wow! It's way too hot, another day I put in three and it barely tickles. What's up with that?

OK, I'm exaggerating. A little. Still, I'm struggling, here. He'p me out!

I do know that cutting out the seeds and the veins that are inside of a chile pepper will make it much less hot. John over at Mormon Foodie, wrote a cool post about dried chilis. Good stuff.

The reason I bring all this up, is because I revisited an old favorite recipe the other day, one that I pulled from my outdoor cooking archive. Dutch Oven Chile Verde. I had eaten a smothered burrito at a small mom-n-pop Mexican place a few weeks back that was hotter than that one hot place that good Mormon boys aren't supposed to say. I swear this burrito bit me back. Man, it was good!

I kinda wanted to duplicate that sensation. But I failed miserably. I think it had a lot to do with the knowledge that my kids don't handle hot very well, and I knew that if it was a "3-alarmer", they wouldn't even touch it. So, I did back off a bit. But it also turned out that I backed off too much. It was pretty weak. Still, the family liked it, so I guess that's OK, right?

I also did some black beans in my 10", and some rice in my 8" dutch ovens.

Dutch Oven Chile Verde

12” dutch oven
Lots of coals below

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 green onions, sliced (into the greens)
  

• 3 lbs lean pork, cubed

• 8 large tomatillo, husk peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 cup chicken stock

• 2-3 mild anaheim chilis, sliced
  
• 1-3 jalapenos, sliced

• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 2 teaspoons ground sage
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• Juice of 1-2 lemons
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

• sprinkles of flour for thickening
  

The whole process started the night before, when I took out a half pound of black beans and set them in a bowl to soak.

The next day, when cookin' time came, I started up some coals and got the onions and garlic chopped while they were getting ready. I put the oil in the dutch oven, and got it good and hot. I've learned that's the secret to sauteeing. It's gotta be hot first.

While the onions were carmelizing, I cubed up the pork, from a roast we had in the freezer (thawed, of course), and added that to brown. Since the dutch oven was quite hot, it was easy to get a good brown singe on the pork. Yummmm....

I don't remember exactly how or when, but somewhere in all that, I changed the water on the beans, put them in my 10" dutch oven and put that on a lot of coals as well. I put the lid on and let that simmer and cook, adding coals all the while to keep it hot.

While that was going on, I got the tomatillos chopped and added them as well, with the chicken stock (which was stock that I made myself in my own dutch oven!). Once the tomatillos and the chicken stock was in, I put on the lid, and the rest of the time it cooked lid on, with only bottom heat.

Here's where what I actually did diverges from what I'm telling you I would do next time. Next time, I'd start by slicing up the anaheims and just adding them in, without de-seeding them. Then, I'd probably add one jalapeňo, also sliced, also without seeding, and I'd let that cook for about a half hour. While that was going on, I'd add all the herbs and spices in the next ingredient group. Much of the spices and herbs are being added, not so much by measure, but more by taste, by the way.

Then, after about a half hour, I'd taste it and see if it were hot enough. If so, great, just let it keep cookin'. If not, I'd add another jalapeňo, and let it cook for another half hour. I'd keep going like that until it was just as hot as I'd like it.

Then, once it's hot enough, I'd let it simmer for about another half hour or so. At that point, I'm back to where I was on Sunday. I set up my little 8" with a cup of rice and 2 cups of water, and put that on some coals to boil. This was also done with the lid on, and only bottom heat. I kept checking on the beans, and they were done right (with a bit of salt) and ready to go.

Dinner was served!

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

Mark's Other Blog Posts: Family and Priesthood, Writing Great Content, Singing a New Song

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,

Dutch Oven Hot Chicken Wings

I made a new friend today.

I was sitting next to this guy in Sunday School, at church. I'd seen him a time or two, but hadn't introduced myself yet. So, today, I did. We chatted briefly, but not much. He mentioned that he was looking for work (who isn't these days). I asked him what kind of work he was looking for, he said he'd recently applied at a new restaurant that was opening up here in a few weeks near our town.

We got to talking about that, and he told me about going to culinary school and getting his baker's cerification, and all sorts of things like that.

Of course, that had my attention. So we sat there talking right up until the lesson started. Then we talked more afterward. Then I invited him over while I cooked tonight's dinner. He came over, and brought some incredible cookies that I'm going to have to share here sometime. He also promised to have me over the next time he and his family made tamales.

Mmmmmm... Tamales....

Anyway, so, we hung out and cooked. It was sooo fun just to have someone to chat with while cooking. He also helped move some furniture with me, but that's another story.

I had planned on doing hot wings, so I carried on with that intention. I had researched a lot of different recipes for the sauce, and in the end, like I usually do, I created a hybrid. I also took a twist on the technique, too.

Dutch Oven Hot Chicken Wings

12" Dutch Oven, 8" Dutch oven

See below for coals

• about 2 dozen chicken wings, thawed.
• Oil, for frying
  

• 1 cup vinegar
• 2-4 tablespoons pureed chipotle chiles in adobo
• 2-4 tablespoons chile powder
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2-4 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup unsalted butter, quartered
• Juice of one lime
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• chopped fresh cilantro

• 1-2 tbsp flour

I started the whole adventure today by lighting up some coals. Quite a few, actually. While those were going, I went inside and cut up the chicken. The wing tips, of course, I threw away, and the other wing parts I separated and put into a bowl.

By the time that was done, the coals were getting ready, so I put one 12" on, and poured in about a quarter inch of oil. I let that heat up on about 20 or so coals.

While that was heating up, I pureed the chipotle chilis, and added everything else (except the flour) to my 8" dutch oven. I put that on about 8 coals. I added about half of the chicken wings to the oil, and started them frying. I fried them with the lid on, but no heat on the lid. I fried them until the chicken looked done. I could have let them go longer, just to crisp up more, but in the end they crisped up just fine. More on that in a minute.

I turned them once, and when they were done I pulled them out into a bowl, and put in the other half. I wondered what it would have been like had I dredged the wing pieces in flour before frying them. Hmmmm... Another thing to try!

Meanwhile, the sauce was simmering nicely. The butter'd melted, but it was looking really thin, and it wasn't blending up nice. I added the flour a sprinkle at a time, and that thickened it, and it also allowed the liquids to bond together better. In retrospect, the next time I do this, I'm going to melt the butter first and make a roux with the flour, then add the other ingredients.

I wasn't sure how it was going to taste, so I kinda went easy on the chilis. I think next time, I won't be so afraid. It didn't turn out hot at all, even though it was a good spicy flavor.

Anyway. I'm getting ahead of myself.

While the chicken and the sauce were cooking, I also made sure that I had a big supply of fresh coals ready, because that was going to be necessary for my next step.

Once all the chicken was done, I put them all into a bowl and poured the sauce over the pieces. I stirred it up and made sure they were all coated.

Now, for the final step. It would have been pretty easy to pour off the oil in the first dutch oven, but I had another 12" handy, so I just used it. It seemed quicker at the time. I put that on a lot of coals. There were still quite a few left burning from the frying, which I arranged in a circle, and then I added a good 5-10 more from the fresh coals. Then I put the chicken, coated, into the dutch oven, and then put the metal grill on top. Finally I added the lid on top of the grill, with about 20 more coals or so on top. I was all set for my dry roasting technique.

The idea was that I had all these great chicken wings coated with this sloppy sauce, and I wanted to bake that on like a glaze. If I'd just put the lid on, it would have trapped the moisture, and it wouldn't have glazed right. So, I up the heat, and put that metal grill to lift the lid slightly. That lets the moisture escape!

In about 10 mintues, I went to check on them. I turned the pieces, and with my brush, basted them in more sauce. In about another 10 - 15 minutes, they were nice and crisp and the glaze was baked on.

We served them up with blue cheese dressing. And they were goooood. Again, like I said, I shoulda upped the chili powder a bit. It all comes to knowing just how hot your chilis and your chili powders are. And I don't know that yet.

So, here's to new friends and new recipes!

Chili on the Horizon

So, a couple of sundays ago, our Bishop announced in Sacrament meeting that our ward is having a Chili cookoff for an activity! I'm pretty stoked. Half of me wants to try something completely new, another part of me wants to do my chili boats again.

Hmmm...

Do you guys know of any good chili secrets?

Dutch Oven Venison Stew (Elk)

My brother-in-law, about a month ago, gave us some elk steaks. I wasn't sure just how to cook it, but I was really excited to try. I did a lot of research and reading to find out just how to cook it, and two things stuck with me. These were things that I read as consistent threads throughout my research. One was that game meats are much leaner than typical beef, so they tend to dry out as you cook it. It's good then, to cook it with veggies and things that add moisture to it.

Another was that a bit of vinegar can help counteract that "gamey" taste. You can overdo it, it's true, but a touch would help mellow that out.

So, here it is!

Dutch Oven Venison Stew

12" shallow dutch oven

• 2-3 medium onions, sliced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1-2 lbs red game meat (like I mentioned, I used elk)
• 1 can (about a cup and a half) beef broth
• 4-5 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 large potatoes, quartered and sliced
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1 cup of carrots (baby or sliced)
• lots of chopped fresh parsley
• About a quarter cup of vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 3-5 Tablespoons flour

Some other things you could add, if you wanna:

• Chopped green onions
• a can of diced tomatoes

Making it was pretty easy. In fact, the hardest part was getting the coals lit in the cold wind. Especially since I was out of lighter fluid. I was forced to use - ummm - stronger stuff. Don't tell my kids that I used some drizzles from our lawn mower canister...

Anyway, it got lit (quite spectacularly, I might add), and I scattered some coals below. I put some olive oil in the dutch oven and put it on the coals to heat up. I added the onions and the garlic to brown. Then, I added the meat to brown. Then, I added everything else, except the flour. That was added and stirred in later.

From there, I just cooked it with about 15 or so coals below, and the same number above. I just let it boil and simmer for about 2-3 hours. The potatoes and the carrots were soft, the flavors were all the way through the broth and the meat. Then I added the flour to thicken it up.

It was great!

"Throw it all in the Dutch Oven" Chili

Today, Jodi had a Christmas party with her work. She helps other parents of special needs children. So, we were serving soup in a bread bowl. I made some dutch oven chili. Chili, I've discovered, is a very easy dish to make, and I've learned a few tricks.

One trick is to add cinnamon. Yummy spice, that adds some good kick, but a different kind of kick. One that you don't expect.

Another cool trick is, toward the end of the cooking, to add about a half cup of corn masa or crushed corn chips. It thickens up the broth with a rich flavor and aroma.

Other than that, it's pretty much the same as any other chili. There are a few key ingredients, and the rest of it is just what every you have on hand. Chili is one of those things that you can make with a pretty wide variety of ingredients. So, I just threw some things in.

Dutch Oven Combo Chili

12" dutch oven
20+ coals underneath

The essential ingredients

1lb ground beef or other beef
2-3 medium onions
3 cans beans with liquid
2 cans tomatoes with liquid
1/2 cup corn masa harina or crushed tortilla chips

The other things I added today (you can add whatever you like to it)

2 tbsp garlic
1-2 jalapeno peppers, cored and seeded, chopped
2-3 bell peppers
Liberal amounts of
Parsley
Cilantro
Salt
Pepper
cumin
cinnamon

Other things you could add

Celery
Crushed red peppers
lemon juice
Brown sugar
Barbecue sauce

This is a great dump meal, basic dutching. But you can also do it in a couple of steps. The first step would be to brown the meat and sautee the onions and garlic, and then add the other ingredients. I added it and let it simmer for about an hour and a half. Then we took it to the party and it was wonderful. Great fun.

Dutch Oven Chicken Enchilada Soup

So much stuff to write about! Good news and bad news.

First the bad news. As is my tradition, I tried to make sweet rolls for conference. They bombed. Badly. I could NOT get them to rise, and they ended up baking up as inedible bricks. Bleah. I double-checked my recipe, and I’d followed it right. I also checked it against some other recipes in books and it seemed reasonable to work. So, I have no idea why it flopped.

:-(

But, later that day, I made a chicken enchilada soup, sort of in the style of chili’s restaurant. THAT turned out GREAT!

Here’s the recipe:

Dutch Oven Chicken Enchilada Soup

12” Dutch Oven
20+ coals underneath

½ c vegetable oil
1 chicken bullion cube
2 medium onions, diced
2 t minced garlic
1-3 lbs boneles chicken, cubed or cut into small chunks
2 t ground cumin
2 t chili powder
½ t cayenne pepper
1 jalapeno, sliced thin
Liberal pour lemon juice

2 C Masa harina
1 quart water

2-3 more quarts water
2-3 chopped tomatoes
½ lb processed American cheese, cubed

I started out by putting my 12” dutch oven on a lot of coals, about 20 or so. I put in some oil and let it heat a little while I gathered all the ingredients in the first list. Once assembled, I dumped them in and started them sautéing in the oil.

The next step is to prep the masa. This is corn masa, the same stuff used to make tamales and things. I mixed the two cups with a quart of water, and stirred out all the lumps. Actually, I got out my pastry cutter and used that for a while, too. Once the lumps were out, I added that to the pot. I’m keeping the pot covered this whole time, opening it up only to stir, because it’s cold out, and I’ve found I can keep it hotter inside if I do it that way.

Once that was bubbling, I added more water. I don’t really know how much, I just added enough to fill the dutch oven. Not to the brim, but close. I also wanted it to have the texture of a really thick soup, not a paste.

Finally, I added the tomatoes and the plastic cheese. I really don’t like using velveeta. I shudder even to type that. My wife insisted that it was the only way it would melt smoothly. Later, a friend of mine said that there was probably enough masa to keep the cheese smooth. I don’t know. I just have this aversion to “pasteurized process American cheese food substitute”. I mean, how far from “cheese” can you get?

But in the end, the result was what I was looking for. It tasted great!

As it was simmering, I put another 15-20 coals under an upturned dutch oven lid, and I heated up a stack of flour tortillas. The way I love eating this soup is to scoop it up in a torn tortilla and eat them both.

Now, this recipe makes a LOT of soup. And, it’s also VERY filling, so unless you’re feeding an army, there will be lots left over for lunches. I’ve found that when I reheat it, I need to mix in some more water to get it back to the consistency of a soup, and not so much of a gel.

Oh! And I promised another bit of good news…

Brendon, my budding chef, made fruit smoothies tonight. Ice, milk, grapes, sugar, all like he likes it, but he couldn’t find the cinnamon to spice it up. So, on a whim, he tries ground dried mint leaves. I was blown away. I couldn’t believe the taste! It had a delicious, and almost indescribable aftertaste. A bit minty, yes, but with the grapes very different! It has made me start to rethink all of my rules regarding “sweet” herbs and spices.

He’s good, that one…

Dutch Oven Chili Boats

Cooking this week really challenged my patience and my skills. It’s not easy to cook in the rain, and a cold winter rain, at that. Of course, it didn’t start raining until I’d already set out the coals, so I was in for a fight. I was cooking, as usual, on my back porch, which has no roof nor guard. All I had to keep the coals dry was this big metal dutch oven hood/cap thing my mother-in-law had bought me. The problem with using that is that it’s not very well ventilated, and so every time I’ve tried to cook with it, it ends up slowing the burning, or even putting out the coals.

But my idea was to bake some bread, in kinda small loaves, more like big rolls, and then slice them open and hollow them out and pour chili into them, like boats, then top it with some fresh veggies, sour cream and cheese.

In the end, I won the battle with the elements, and the food turned out great. The first batch of bread even cooked as I fought to figure out how to keep it dry and hot on the back porch. The second batch of bread was cooked on the nice, covered, dry front porch. That’s where I also finished cooking the chili.

Still, it did my heart good to see how the back porch bread turned out, because I was so dejected and convinced it was going to flop. But it was nice and done all the way through, with a beautiful golden, slightly-crispy crust. This particular bread recipe uses honey, too, so it’s a bit sweet.

The bread recipe is really the big experiment of the day, not so much the chili. The chili was the same stuff I did last July (except I used stew meat instead of venison this time). The night before, I soaked the beans, and I put those on the coals to cook first. They actually cooked quite a while before the rain started.

After a bit, I got started on the bread. Here’s the recipe:

Dutch Oven Honey Bread (so named because it uses honey, and because it’s my honey’s recipe)

2x 12” Dutch Ovens

17 coals above, 8 below for 350 degrees (in normal weather)

• 2 cups warm water
• 2 Tbsp yeast
• 1 cup honey

• 2 eggs
• 1 heaping tsp salt
• 2 cups milk (mixed from powder)
• ¼ cup oil

• 10-12 cups flour

I started by mixing everything in the first set of ingredients, and letting it sit for 5 mintues or so for the yeast to foam up.

Then, I mixed in everything in the second set, and stirred it up. Finally, I added the flour, a few cups at a time, stirring and blending as I went. Once I got close to 9 cups or so, I started adding them one at a time. You’re trying to get a nice smooth moldable consistency where it’s not runny and sticky, but not hard to mold in your fingers. I think this time I ended up using 11 cups, not counting the stuff I sprinkled on the table top for kneading.

Then, as it got mixed up, I dumped it out of the bowl and onto the floured tabletop to knead. About 10 minutes. I don’t know why, but I have this thing about doing it all by hand instead of using a mixer. It makes it more fun, I think.

Finally, all kneaded, I set it back in the greased bowl and let it rise.

While it was rising, I got worked some more on the chili. I chopped up all the veggie ingredients and combined all the spices.

After an hour or so the bread had risen, so I punched it down and divided it into eighths. These I shaped into elongated rolls, kinda the shape of hoagie buns. I set them into the two 12” shallow dutch ovens and set them aside to let them proof (raise again). In about a half hour, they were ready.

Now, ordinarily, I would have just put them out back with their own coals, and cooked all three dutch ovens at the same time. But, in this case, the rain had started, and I only had one hood. So, I had to set some bricks on either side of the 12” deep dutch oven (with the chili in it), and stack one of the bread dutch ovens on top of it, and then cap it all with the hood. The second batch of bread would have to wait.

Then came the fussing and fretting and the trying to keep it hot and dry. But eventually, it all worked out, and I could see that it was done. I’m always very nervous about pulling bread off the coals. I’m always afraid that it’ll be doughy raw in the center. This time, I got out a knife and checked before I brought it in, and I left it on the coals an extra five minutes just to be sure.

It turned out great. One thing you MUST do when baking bread is rotate the oven every 10 to 15 minutes, and rotate the lid as well. That’ll prevent hot spots and burns. The chili? Not so much. While this first batch of bread was baking, I saw that the beans were cooked, and I added the veggies and the spices. Mmmm, I love the smell of cinnamon in with the chili powder!

It was about that time that I decided that the fight was over, and moved everything to the front porch. I didn’t try to move the coals, by the way. I had some already lit in a chimney, and so I just carried that around front, and set it up all over again with fresh coals. As a result the second dutch oven of bread cooked quite a bit faster.

While that was baking and the chili was simmering, I came back inside and chopped up some fresh veggies:

• sweet peppers (I like the look of multi-colors),
• an onion,
• some green onions,
• Some fresh parseley
• and a jalapeno.

I mixed all that together and splashed on some lemon juice, as well as salt and black pepper. Toward the end of the chili being done, I sprinkled in a few tablespoons full of flour, just to thicken it up a little. I like my chili thick, especially if I'm eating it with bread.

When everything was done, I sliced open the bread, hollowed a bit out and poured on the chili. Then I spooned some of the fresh veggie mix on top, and finally smothered it in shredded cheddar and sour cream. Wow! What a taste treat!

Dutch Oven Tamales

-Or-

As luck would have it…

Many years ago, when we lived in West Jordan, there was this Mexican family that lived down the street. I don’t recall their names, but one of the young boys was named Miguel. He’d come by and say Hi occasionally.

His Abuelita moved up from Aguaprieta, in the north of Mexico, if I recall correctly. She was a nice lady, and about once a quarter, she would take a couple of days and make pots and pots of tamales.

Now, I liked tamales, but this lady made tamales like there was no tamale! They were the most incredible I’d ever tasted. And she would send Miguel and his sisters door to door with these 5-gallon buckets full of these corn-wrapped delicacies, selling them for a buck apiece. We’d always get as many as we had cash for, sometimes up to twenty.

I was told you could freeze them, but they never lasted that long at our house.

Well, the family ended up moving. Some of them went downtown, I think, and the Abuela moved back to Mexico, again, if memory is serving me correctly. Ever since then, I’ve been on a quest to find the perfect tamale. No restaurant has ever equaled the magnificence of La Maestra De La Cocina.

Well, of course, I also had to try my hand at making tamales. At first, I wanted someone to show me how. That would be cool. But scheduling and everything is just too tough. But last week, while we were in San Diego, we had some Tamales in a restaurant that were almost, but not quite, half as good as the ones I remembered. It was then that I determined that Tamales would be my next dutch oven project.

Immediately, I began my research. I bought a steaming rack that would fit in the dutch oven. I bought the corn husk sheaves. And tonight, I made my first batch, of about 15-18 tamales. I didn’t count.

Oh, they were delicious. I’m biased, so I’m not sure I can claim if I got it close or not. And frankly, it was kind of a happy accident, because the instructions on the recipe I ended up choosing weren’t very clear, and I bungled the spices.

Tomorrow morning, I’m going to make a second batch, ostensibly to freeze. We’ll see if any survive that long.

Mark’s Dutch Oven Tamales

Several Dutch Ovens (I used my 12” shallow, my 12” deep, and my 8”, but I guess I didn’t really need the shallow 12)

Lots and lots of coals below, about 10 or so on top, depending on the stage of the project.

Filling

1. 3-4 lbs boneless chicken (I used frozen chicken tenderloins). You can use pork or beef, too.
2. Lots of water, maybe 6 cups or so
3. 1 medium onion, sliced and quartered.
4. 1 heaping teaspoon of chopped garlic
5. 4 bay leaves
6. 2 Tbsp salt
7. 32 whole black peppercorns (I don’t know what’s so magical about the number 32, I just followed the directions)
8. Liberal shaking of dried oregano (2-3 tsp)
9. 3 Tbsp ground cumin
10. 4-6 Tbsp flour (added later)

Masa (Dough)

1. 4 Cups Masa Harina Flour
2. 2 tsp baking powder
3. 2 ½ Cups broth from cooking the filling (see below)
4. 1 ½ Cups shortening
5. Dried Corn Husks to wrap the Masa and the filling.

Sauce

1. 3 Tbsp oil
2. 3 Tbsp flour
3. 2 ½ cups water
4. 2-3 Tbsp chili powder
5. Liberal shakes of garlic powder
6. Liberal shakes of salt

First of all, I made the filling. Now this recipe was one that I originally found on recipezaar.com, but since I bungled it, I rewrote it to reflect my “mistakes”, or as we like to say “enhancements” or “innovations”.

To start with, I put the frozen chicken into the dutch oven (I originally did it in my 12” shallow. I could have saved some cleaning and done it all in my 12” deep, but I didn’t), and added the other ingredients for the filling, except the flour. I put that pot on a lot of coals, probably around 20 or so, covered, and let it start boiling. After about 45 minutes or so, the chicken was boiled and it was smelling really good.

I brought it in, and used a straining spoon to lift the chicken and the onion out of the dutch oven. I shredded the chicken into a bowl with a couple of forks, then sprinkled some of the broth back onto it. Onto that, I sprinkled the flour and stirred it up. That gave it a bit of thickness, and also shredded the chicken up a little bit more. I also added a bit more of the cumin powder, oregano and a bit of ground black pepper. Not too much, just some sprinkles to replace what was settling in the bottom of the dutch oven.

Now if I were in more of a hurry, I’d have been soaking the corn husk hojas in hot water while I was cooking the meat. But, then again, if I were in a hurry, I wouldn’t have been making tamales in a dutch oven, now, would I? So, at this point, I put the hojas on to soak, and started to mix the masa.

The masa was easy to make, just put all the ingredients into a bowl. There really are only two special instructions. At the bottom of the dutch oven I used to cook the meat, the spices had settled to the bottom. When I dipped out the broth to mix in the masa, I tried not to disturb it so as to get a clearer broth. I did pick up some of the spices and powders, but not too much. The other thing I did was to get out a pastry cutter/mixer to blend it all. I guess you could just mix in the shortening by hand, but the pastry cutter worked really well.

Once the masa was mixed, and the hojas of corn husk were softened, I started making tamales. I have to confess that I’ve never watched it be done, I’ve only read about it, so my technique is not necessarily authentic. Nonetheless, it worked. I laid out a single hoja with the pointed end toward me. I spread a small ball of masa out so that it covered about a 2 ½” to 3” square toward the top of the hoja. Then, I spread out a 1” wide line of meat filling the top to the bottom of the masa. Then, I folded the right hand side of the hoja over the filling and pulled the corn husk back. I folded the left hand over and held the hoja there, and re-folded the right hand hoja back over, wrapping the masa and the filling up in corn husk hoja. Then, I folded the point up into a nice tamale envelope. These I stacked aside.

When I’d made all the tamales, I put the steamer rack into the 12” deep dutch oven, and put water in the bottom up to the level of the steamer. I started to stack the tamales in the oven, on the steamer, so that the open end of the tamales was up. This was kinda tricky, since they didn’t always want to stack. Still, I managed to get them all in. If I’d made more of them, I’d have been able to stack them all the way up against the walls of the dutch oven. As it stood, the recipe didn’t make enough to do that. There was plenty of meat, but I’d have had to make more masa. I decided to cook what I had and test it, rather than risk making a bigger disaster.

This dutch oven, now covered, went out on some fresh coals. Again, about 18-20 coals went underneath, packed in, well, like the tamales were. Another ten or so coals went on top, around the outer rim. Within about 15 minutes, I could start to see steam coming out of the edges of the lid, and that’s when I marked the timing to start. I steamed them for about an hour, refreshing the coals once. I only opened the lid once, and that was just to make sure that they were all still standing up, and that all was well.

Finally, after about an hour, I pulled one out, cooled it, and tasted it! Wow! It was great.

Also, in my 8”, I made a milder version of that enchilada sauce that I’d done a few months ago. The only real difference was not so much chili powder. It started out by heating the oil and the flour into a roux in the 8” dutch oven (I still had plenty of coals left over), and then adding the remaining ingredients once the roux was browned. Those I stirred and simmered for about another 20 minutes or so, until it cooked down and thickened.

Finally, you unpeel three or so tamales, spoon on some sauce, and enjoy. Wow!

Hot Chicken and Potatoes

Tonight was kind of a strange night. I came home, and picked up my boys from the babysitter. My wife was out of town. The boys had already eaten, so I was the only one hungry. I thought about cooking up one of my favorite chicken dishes on the stove, and then I thought how I could try it in the Dutch Oven.

So, I did. Here it is:

Hot Chicken and Potatoes

10” dutch oven

7-8 briquettes below
12-13 briquettes above

• 4-5 frozen chicken pieces, boneless (I used chicken tenderloin, but cut up breasts work just as well)
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 medium potato, sliced
• 1-2 stalks of sliced celery (would have been nice, if I’d had any)
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• lots of salt, black pepper, cumin powder
• about 1/3 cup water

• cayenne pepper wing sauce
• grated cheddar

I put the first set of ingredients in the dutch oven and set it on the heat. Interestingly enough, just as my coals were starting to get a little white, it started to sprinkle rain.

So, I covered the dutch oven with this big metal cylindrical hood my mother-in-law got me. It’s supposed to keep in heat, but every time I’ve used it, it also cuts back on the airflow, and ends up with the coals burning much slower and cooler. Sometimes, they even go out.

This time, I propped it up so there was plenty of airflow underneath, and it has holes on the top, so it was pretty well ventilated. After a while, the rain stopped, and it was never really that strong of a rain, anyway.

So, once the chicken and the potatoes were cooked (about 45 minutes), I pulled the pot off the coals, and put all of the lid coals on the ground, then replaced the dutch oven over those coals. I left the lid off, and let the rest of the liquid boil off. Sometimes, when I do this in the house, in a skillet, I let the chicken brown a bit, but in this case the potatoes were starting to disintegrate, so I didn’t.

Then, I shook in a lot of the wing sauce. I was really liberal with it, to the point that the chicken and the potatoes were coated in it, much like buffalo wings. I stirred it, and let it cook a bit, to get the wing sauce flavor more cooked in, and then I pulled it off and smothered it in shredded cheddar.

It could have easily served two, and with a side dish, three. But by then, I was starved and I ate it all with a glass or two of cold milk.