Cowboy (er..girl)  Campfire Cooking

  First thing you need is a set of  Lodge  cast iron, dutch oven cookware.
This is the official cookware of the Boyscouts!!.....and cowboys.

I acquired these ovens from the sporting/camping section of Walmart,  AND a nice Merchantile shop in Virginia.  Check out Red  Hill General Store for their list of Dutch ovens.

Here, on the left, I use 3 ovens (with legs)  for cooking with  hardwood coals or  charcoal briquettes (Kingsford is best)
I have two  12  inch  8 qt  camp Dutch ovens w/rimmed  lids,  and one 8 inch 2 qt oven.  The rim is to keep the coals  on top to bake and brown!

I use the 12 inch ovens for large baking like pies and casseroles, the  8 inch is for cornbread, cobblers and yeast rolls!

On the right is the traditional standard 10 inch 6 qt Dutch oven  (no legs), for  braising meats and stewing.
I cook the collards in this.  It is also great for beans, soups  and chili hanging over the fire!

And  HOW  do  I hang this over the fire, you ask!!!!?!!!

Back in 2003,  I was watching RFD-TV and saw the show Campfire Cafe.
They had a good looking camp cooking setup with hooks and accessories,  so I bought one!     The hooks allow you to hang your  ovens low for high heat, or high (on the shorter hooks) for simmering.

I thought  the swing grill they offered was a tad expensive,  so  I bought  a similar one from Campmor.   An outdoor catalog for campers and hikers.   It swings out of   the way,  if you don't need it.  Pretty cool huh!!?!     It comes in VERY handy to grill chicken,  hamburgers, franks, a set  of baby back ribs, or roasting homegrown peppers and squash.

  As you can see,  I grow my own maters, beans, squash and peppers.  Currently, I have 5 different kinds of peppers which I use all year.  Hot bananas,  Cayenne (which I dry and grind up for powder),  Jalapenos,  Poblanos and Giant Marconi.  The Giant Marconi pepper  is an Italian sweet pepper that can get 8 inches long and 4 inches wide.  Once it turns red, pick it and roast over the fire.  It turns so sweet,  you won't believe it!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cooking with Camp Dutch ovens is not that much different than using  a kitchen stove and oven.  You have to be more aware of the temperature  of your fire and coals, though.  To cook meats,  using a braising  method,  is easy.  You need to take your dutch oven and place  a 8 inch meat trivet in the bottom.(The  trivet will keep the meat from burning and sticking  to the  bottom  of the oven.)  Then add your meat to the oven,  with an  inch or two of  braising liquid in the bottom.  This  liquid  can be water, but water doesn't add flavor to the meat.  Choose  a favorite soda or juice to add.  Even some wine would be nice.  Let this oven cook over the flames, hanging on a long hook to get the meat  up to temperature quickly.  When it starts to boil,  move  the oven to a shorter hook, that is further from the flame and let simmer  for  2-4 hours,  depending on how big the  meat is.
 
 
 
 
 
 

To bake in an oven,  is not very hard, but does take practice.  Use the oven with the legs.   With this, you can hang the oven  over a slow fire, as you did with the braising of meat,  but you also  have to add coals or briquettes to the top,  to brown.  With  casseroles,  I line the oven with aluminum foil for easy cleanup,  and then add whatever ingredients needed for you specific casserole and  bake.  I believe the Boyscouts use the Kingsford Briquettes and figure  1 briquette on the lid converts to 20° of temp.  10 briquettes = 200°F,   20 briquettes = 400°F.   If  not baking over the fire,  place a few hot coals or 5 briquettes on  the  ground and place the dutch oven on top.  The legs keep the  oven from  crushing the coals/briquettes.  Then add your briquettes  to the top  for browning.   I do the same for breads, but  use a butter spray  on the inside, instead of using aluminum foil,  to prevent sticking. 

When baking pies,  I use the trivet again so as to not burn the  bottom crust.  Then I add a folded lengthwise piece of heavy duty  aluminum foil on top of the trivet to make a lifting device to remove the  baked pie from the oven.  Bake the pie as you did the cassarole with  the coals/briquettes.
Note:  Every 10 minutes,  turn the  oven  90 degrees  to the right and the lid 90 degrees to the left,  to keep the pie  away from hotter  spots and thus prevent burning!!
This  is important!!