Lodge Logic L10C03 4 Qt. Cast Iron Camping Dutch Oven

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight on Your Firepit or When You Camp

This Lodge 4 quart cast iron camping dutch oven is small enough to pack easily and large enough to feed a family or group. The flanged lid will hold hot coals  that facilitate cooking and  keep ashes out of the pot. The cast iron camp lid can be turned upside down for use as a griddle. You actually get two cast iron cookware products for the price of one. The dutch oven legs provide stability and safety for use over your campfire or fireplace. This camp dutch oven is a skillet, saute pan, casserole cooker and fry pan all in one. How’s that for a utility castiron pot? A lifetime investment you will be able to pass it on to your children or grandchildren.  In our family cast iron cookware is passed down from one generation to the next. The cast iron dutch oven was originated for outdoor cooking and for centuries has done it’s job.

Camping is Cool/ Cast Iron Cookware is Hot

CAST IRON COOKWARE ALLOWS YOU TO TASTE THE FOOD NOT THE COOKEWARE

The Old South Pot: A Symbol of Success

“In the old days, the hall mark of successful plantation life was the iron pot” according to Francois Mignon in”Plantation Memo: Plantation Life in Louisiana 1750-1970 and other matter”.

Oakland Plantation, Bermuda, Louisiana

When there was no silver on the dining room table, you could survive on pewter, earthenware, china or porcelain. You might even survive if your white-columned mansion went up in flames, but “life without an iron pot was rugged in the extreme“.

“In Louisiana all during the 1700’s (Great Pots Era), iron cooking utensils ranging from little three-legged pots nestling safely upright on the ashes in the hearth (today we call them camping Dutch ovens) to the big iron skillets, so masterfully handled by Negro cooks, were familiar equipment in town and plantation homes alike. It was early in the 1800’s however, that the day of the great pots dawned…sugar had come into its own and from year to year greater grew the demand for bigger and even bigger iron pots in which the cane juice could be started on its way to syrup and eventually to granulated sugar…”

Iron pots for making syrup and sugar, wash pots or clothes and iron pots for cooking food; they are all a part of what was life on a plantation. The iron pots from life on a plantation are today reminders of an almost forgotten yesterday. Some can still be seen on the Cane River Creole Plantations of Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Today’s cast iron cookware

Lodge Cast Iron Cookware

may be pre-seasoned, enameled and somewhat unlike its predecessor from the past, but is still indebted to pots from the past for a heritage of nostalgic appeal and excellent cooking. Old fashioned? A little heavy? Nevertheless, cast iron cookware has its place in today’s kitchen and in the camping gear of out door cooks.

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven

Lodge 12 Inch Skillet

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Cookware with Benefits for Everyday and Gourmet Cooking: Castiron Cookware

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Castiron Cookware combines the versatility of cooking for everyday and for gourmet.

Lodge Cast Iron Cookware

You can cook just about anything in cast iron. Of course castiron cookware is best known for its good old fashioned cooking but do not let this reputation fool you. Due to its even heating qualities (heat retention and distribution),and the fact it can be used in the oven and on the stove top, you can cook just about any food, including gourmet in it.

Cast iron cookware offers:

1. a large selection of pots, pans, and cookware shapes. You can choose from cast-iron griddles, grill pans, serving pots, Dutch ovens, pizza pans, roasters, casseroles, waffle makers, muffin pans, corn bread pans, camping cookware, bread bakers, dog’n brat, panini sandwich toasters, pie irons roasters and more.
   

   Cast Iron Cookware

2. multi-use pans A single pan covers a multitude of dishes. A single cast iron skillet can be used to bake a cake, make cornbread, sear a fillet, roast a chicken, fry potatoes, or stir-fry vegetables. You can get a cast iron casserole with a grill pan lid and have two pieces for the price of one.
   

   Kinetic Casserole Enamel Grill Pan

3. cast iron cookware does not particularly care where you use it. You can prepare a dish in enameled cast iron cookware and take it to the table and serve from it there. It is so attractive that it will enhance your table with a presentation appeal and it will keep your food warm throughout your dinner due to its heat retention. Cast iron camping cookware is at its best at your backyard fire pit cookout or at your camp site in the great outdoors.
4. cast iron cookware can cook almost anything (including gourmet dishes). “Cast-Iron Cooking for Dummies“  by Tracy Barr has great techniques for cooking and recipes as well.
   

   Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Cast Iron Dutch Oven: the Pot that Won the West

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Some say the cast iron dutch

Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

oven goes back hundreds of years. Others maintain the dutch oven originated with the Chinese 2,500 years ago. A great source for further investigation is “Dutch Ovens Chronicled, Their Use in the United States” by John G. Ragsdale, published by the University of Arkansas Press.

In 1704 Abraham Darby traveled from England to Holland to inspect the Dutch casing process which used brass vessels cast in sand molds. When he returned to England, Darby experimented with this process and eventually patented a casting process using a superior quality of molding sand as well as the process of baking the mold to improve casting smoothness. Soon Darby was casting and shipping pots to the new colonies as well as other parts of the world. Ragsdale suggests that the name “Dutch Oven” may have originated from the original Dutch process for the casting of these metal pots. Others believe that the name may have come from Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania who used similar cast iron pots or kettles.

Cast Iron Dutch Ovens can have:

• a  flat bottom having three legs to hold the oven above a bed of coals for a heat source from below the dutch oven
• flat sides and a flat, flanged lid for holding coals for a heat source from above the dutch oven therefore giving it an “oven” effect
• a steel bail handle attached to the “ears” on each side of the dutch oven near the top to enable carrying

This type of oven is a cast iron camping dutch oven.

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven

Cast Iron Dutch Ovens also come Enameled

Lodge Red Enamel Dutch Oven

in beautiful colors that are so attractive that you can  serve your guests at the table from your dutch oven. Your food will stay warm because cast iron is great for its heat retention.

When the West was opened and the United States was expanding and people were on the move, they were forced to leave their large, heavy cook stoves behind.  People learned to cook complete meals from stews to soups, bread to biscuits, in their Dutch Ovens.  This pioneering spirit is not a lost art. Wonderful and tasty meals are still being prepared today in cast iron cookware.The cast iron dutch oven was the “Queen of the Fleet” when the Prairie Schooners rolled westward. It still reigns.

TASTE THE FOOD NOT THE COOKWARE WITH CAST IRON COOKWARE

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Cast Iron Cookware Will Warm Your Food and Your Family

Posted by Doyle Bailey for The Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Where is the center of warmth in your home? In our home it would have to be the kitchen. My wife and I both enjoy cooking and I do not even mind the clean-up afterward. There is even a special stool where the younger grandchildren stand to help their “Nona” cook.There are rocking chairs in our kitchen for friends to rock and chat with us. There is a lot of warmth and it does not all come from the oven or cook top.

We have a large collection of cast iron cookware and I suppose these grandchildren will teach their children to cook using the same dutch ovens, roasters, skillets, cornbread pans and casseroles.

Our "Family" of Cast Iron Cookware

Sometimes we take the fun and warmth outside to a firepit where we roast hot dogs, marshmallows, S’mores.

Camp Cooking Is Fun!

Cast iron cookware travels well to the back yard or to your campsite with Waffle Makers, Panini Presses, Pie Irons, Bread Bakers and Dog ‘n Brat Makers.

Bask in the warmth of your kitchen, your backyard fire pit or at your campsite with cast iron cookware and cast iron cookware camping accessories.

Rome Panini Presses

Use cast iron cookware and cast iron camping cookware accessories to cook your food, keep it warm with cast iron’s great heat retention and help keep family relationships warm and cozy.

Rome Firepit Cookout Set

Warm up to family, food and cast iron cookware tonight. It will allow you

TO TASTE THE FOOD AND NOT THE COOKWARE.

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight or When You Camp

Cast Iron Cookware Shop Celebrates Flavor with a New Orleans Jambalaya

Cook In Cast Iron Tonight

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Cast Iron Cookware Shop celebrates the flavor of New Orleans by  offering you the opportunity to jazz up your menu with a popular and traditional New Orleans dish. No matter where you live, you can celebrate in an authentic New Orleans style flavor.

This spicy, flavorful dish is perfect for a party, and it really is “big easy.” The recipe can be easily doubled to serve 16 by using 2 packages of Jambalaya Mix, doubling all the other ingredients and cooking in a cast iron Dutch oven or cast iron  saucepot.

Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

The Big Easy Jambalaya

Makes 8 (1-cup) servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

1. Heat oil in large deep skillet

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet

or 5-quart Dutch oven

Enamel Dutch Oven

on medium heat. Add onion and bell peppers; cook and stir 7 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften.

2. Stir in tomatoes, water and Jambalaya Mix. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes.

3. Stir in shrimp and sausage. Cover and cook 10 minutes longer or just until shrimp turn pink and rice and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired.

CAST IRON COOKWARE  LETS YOU TASTE THE FOOD NOT THE COOKWARE

Cast Iron Cookware Shop Offers Camp Cookware and Accessories

Posted by Doyle Bailey for Cast Iron Cookware Shop

Cast Iron Cookware Shop offers great options to compliment your camp cooking gear.

Camp Cooking Is Fun!

Get ready for your camping and outdoor recreation activities with cast iron cookware products and accessories from Lodge and Rome.

Rome Firepit Cookout Set

A rugged Lodge tripod made of hot rolled half inch solid bar stock with 24 inch galvanized chain. The tripod legs measure 43 1/2 inches. Use with any cast iron product that has a bail handle. such as a Lodge Dutch Oven, camp dutch oven or cast iron kettle. Cook your food over the campfire and keep it at serving temperature in your castiron pot. This tripod travels well in car, truck or camper. (dutch oven not included)

The Rome Firepit Cookout Set includes a round cast iron pie iron, a square cast iron pie iron, a S´more Maker, and Hot Dog-Marshmallow Roasters.

Lodge 10 1/4 Inch Skillet/ Fry Pan

Supersize Your Wallet Not Your Body with Cast Iron Cookware

Good News for Dieters

How can you super-size your “assets” not your, er…body?

Research has shown that dieters who are offered a financial reward as an incentive to lose weight are five times more likely to meet their goal when compared to other dieters who have no potential monetary reward.

This has led to a number of incentive programs:

• companies have started offering everything from gift cards to cruises to employees who shed excess pounds in an effort to cut overall health care costs.
• Corporate Sponsors give cash prizes to obese participants who drop enough weight in a year.

What a healthy and well conceived idea! It is a win/win proposition for sponsor and participant.

This leads me to a question: Is there a pot

Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

that can help you get rid of or avoid acquiring a “pot” and save you money at the same time? Cast Iron Cookware Shop proposes the following for your consideration:

• cooking in cast iron cookware can be conducive to cooking healthy meals of veggies at home and avoiding the “bloat” that can go with “fast food“. Cast iron cooked meals are “slow food” and can lead to enhanced communication in the family.
• cooking in cast iron can save you money in the long run. Yes, you can find less expensive cookware but you will be replacing it relatively soon. Cast iron cookware is an investment and not just a purchase. You will still be enjoying the quality of your cookware long after you have forgotten what you paid for it and you can pass it on to your children and grandchildren.
• cooking in with cast iron cookware instead of eating out is cost effective and will save you money.
  

  Lodge Cast Iron Cookware

If you want to super size something in 2010, cast iron cookware offers you an incentive to use the cookware that will allow you to taste the food not the cookware.

Offers Incentives for Cooking

Food with a French Accent Cooked in Cast Iron Cookware

Out of the melting pot of French, Africans, Native Americans, Spanish, and others who settled in Louisiana, there has emerged a unique culture and cuisine and a way of life known as Cajun.

Gumbo with Rice

Cajun cooking has spread far and wide across the USA and even abroad. The swamps and the plantations of Louisiana are the birthplace of this unique cuisine.

The terms “Cajun” and “Creole“, in culinary terms, are often used interchangeable. However, there are differences in the ingredients and the style of cooking.

Judith Bluysen in “Cajun: A Culinary Tour of Louisiana” writes:

“Louisiana Creole cooking is the cuisine of cooks and chefs…Cajun cooking, while as labor-intensive and flavor rich, is a family project: a poor man’s cuisine based on abundant indigenous ingredients hunted, raised, or gathered”. I may assure you I have eaten both and they are both excellent.

In my home, my wife is from “Creole” origins but cooks primarily “Cajun”.

There are several givens for our family:

• a gift for cooking
• a love of eating and sharing food
• a need for a cast iron dutch oven and cast iron skillet.
  

  Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

  

  Lodge 12 Inch Skillet

For food lovers everywhere, get out a cast iron pot and try a Cajun Seafood Gumbo. C’est si bon.

SEAFOOD GUMBO

Ingredients:
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped bell peppers
1 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
5 bay leaves
8 cups water or shrimp stock
6 gumbo crabs, broken in half
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage
2 dozen oysters, shucked with their liquor
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped parsley
File powder to taste

Steps:
Combine the oil and flour in a large cast-iron pot over medium heat. Stirring slowly and constantly for 20 to 25 minutes, make a dark brown roux, the color of chocolate. Add the onions, bell peppers, celery, salt, cayenne and bay leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until very soft. Add the water or shrimp stock and stir to blend. Add the crabs and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours. Add the shrimp and crab meat and cook for 15 minutes. Add the oysters, green onions and parsley and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the edges of the oysters curl. Remove from heat. Remove the bay leaves. Serve with file powder passed at the table. Serves 6.

Cook Cajun in Cast Iron

Louisiana Cooks in Cast Iron Cookware

For as long as I can remember my Louisiana family has cooked in cast iron cookware.Every Friday my Dad would hang a huge cast iron dutch oven on a wire between two trees and fry prodigious amounts of cat fish and french fries for family, visiting relatives (many times vacationing with us) and friends. It was really a communal meal. Since we lived on Cross Lake, Shreveport, Louisiana, we caught the catfish and dressed them ourselves. I wonder what ever happened to that cast iron pot? As an adult, I would love to still have it and would treasure it like the “Holy Grail“!

My Dad would have loved to have had a tri-pod for the Friday night fish frys and when we went camping.

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven and 43 1/2 inch TriPod

Matt Pelton got it right in “The Cast Iron Chef”

“There are no words to describe the tastes of food prepared in this way (cast iron cookware); it is like a symphony of perfectly balanced flavors. There is something magical about Dutch-oven prepared food. It began as a necessity and has become a pleasurable pastime”

Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Dutch Oven cooking is not just a hobby, it is a staple in Louisiana kitchens today. Many dutch ovens are coming out of storage, out of attics, being dusted off, discovered anew and put into use. Cast iron cookware is not just big in the kitchen, it is enormously popular among camping and out door enthusiasts.

Lodge Camp Dutch Oven

Many people think of a Dutch Oven as only a type of “antique crock pot” or a slow-cooker. In Louisiana kitchens, including ours, there are four cooking methods that you can use with a cast iron dutch oven:

1. Roasting (all the heat is coming from the bottom of the Dutch Oven.
2. Broasting (most of the heat is coming from the bottom with a little heat on top)
   
3. Baking (equal heat on bottom and top)
   
4. Broiling (all of the heat is at the top. Usually used in the finishing stage or with dishes that require heavy caramelizing on the top)
   

   Lodge Red Enamel Dutch Oven

Louisiana cooks have found that their options are almost endless whether cooking in the kitchen, at their back yard fire pit, or in the great outdoors camping.

Discover or Re-discover cast iron Cookware and you will enjoy ease in cooking, great tasting food, non-stick cookware that cleans up easily and cookware that allows you to taste the food not the cookware.

For Kitchen or Camping