A good alternative way of cooking begins with knowing what-is-a-dutch-oven

A Dutch Oven is a thick-walled iron (usually cast iron) cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid.

The most common application of the name is to a Camping, cowboy, or chuck-wagon cast iron pot or kettle with a flat bottom having three legs to hold the oven above the coals, flat sides and a flat, flanged lid for holding coal on top. As you can see by the picture above.

In the past, Dutch Ovens were typically made of bare cast iron but today there is an aluminum Dutch Oven available. The seasoning your cast iron dutch oven is important to learn is so versatile and durable that it can be used to boil water, bake, stew, fry, roast, and just about any other cooking use.


There are other important questions besides what-is-a-dutch-oven. One would be, "how does the dutch 0ven work".

The Dutch Oven is designed to spread the heat evenly from the top to the bottom, and from bottom to top, as well as from both sides. This provides more uniform internal heat and allows the inside to act as an oven as it cooks your recipes. Hence, the name Dutch Oven.

As you can see from the picture on the right, coals from a fire are spread evenly on both top and bottom of the Dutch Oven. This provides the heat to cook the Dutch oven recipies.

The amount of coals needed to cook the food depend on the cooking time of the dish that is being prepared.


Charcoal briquettes are another way to heat up the Dutch Oven for cooking.

The number of briquettes used on the top and bottom of the Dutch Oven, is based on the cooking time of the meal that is being prepared.

As you can see from the above photo there are many different ways to prepared food in a Dutch Oven.

Now you understand what a dutch oven is as well as how it works, this knowledge is just the beginning.

If Dutch Oven cooking is something that interests you and you want to know what supplies you need or recipe ideas then check out the links below.

A good alternative way of cooking begins with what-is-a-dutch-oven top of page



The Dutch oven cooking basics can be learned easily

Yummy Dutch oven recipies that are easy

Seasoning your cast iron dutch oven is important to learn