Cleaning a Dutch Oven in 10 Easy Steps

10 Steps to Cleaning a Dutch Oven

Step One

Before you cook, oil the Dutch oven with vegetable oil! All inside surfaces including the lid, this will help make clean up much quicker.

Step Two

After finishing your meal or dessert, scrape all food out with a plastic scraper or wooden spoon. Often you can wipe oven out with paper towels to an almost clean surface. It is best to do this while the oven is still warm.

Step Three

After scraping the food out, rinse it out with a bit of water.

Step Four

Using a apple cider vinegar solution (with 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water), scrub the interior of the Dutch oven with a sponge and/or clean plastic scrub brush. Reapply vinegar solution to areas that are particularly crusty and place lid on warm oven. Let stand for about 10 minutes.

Step Five

Repeat this step until all evidence of food is gone. Wipe oven out with paper towels.

Step Six

Warm Dutch oven by heat source.

Step Seven

Apply small amount of oil to all surfaces of the Dutch oven, including the lid.

Step Eight

Allow to cool.

Step Nine

Place a paper towel folded lengthwise several times between the Dutch oven and the lid.

Step Ten

It is now ready to be used for the next meal or to be stored away.

Never store a Dutch oven wet; it will rust overnight.

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Canyon Extravaganza and Dutch Oven Cooking

We were invited to attend a Canyon Extravaganza last weekend that included a Dutch oven dinner, entertainment and fabulous company. Of course we accepted the invitation. Being together with family and friends up Big Cottonwood Canyon on a Saturday evening, eating delicious food and singing around a real campfire and capping it off with some great s’mores. Honestly, life’s simple pleasures are really the best.

The head chef, Joe, together with his favorite sous chef, Marianne made some mighty fine main dishes in their 12 inch deep Dutch ovens. Joe pointed out to me that both the braised short ribs(which were absolutely fabulous) and the chicken bouillabaisse were recipes that were written for regular ovens. He simply cooked them in a Dutch oven.

Cooking in a Dutch oven doesn’t need to be scary. You just have to be thoughtful about timing your coals, where you put them on and below your oven and how long it takes to actually cook the specific dish you’ve chosen to serve. It's a math problem, and not a difficult one.

My assignment for the evening was bread. You haven’t lived until you’ve had Sheepherder’s Bread with honey butter from a Dutch oven. I got this recipe from a class I took several years ago at Thanksgiving Point from Lori Bennett.

I’ve found that with any cast iron cooking one of the most important things you can do to insure a positive experience with a Dutch oven is to have an easy and quick clean up. It might sound strange, but not if you’ve ever had to clean one up. I have 10 steps to cleaning a Dutch Oven on a separate post, it’s worth your time if you’re headed out to do some great outdoors cooking.

What is your favorite Dutch Oven dinner or memory?