A cast iron Dutch oven was a staple of cowboys and pioneers. Dutch ovens allow you to cook biscuits, roasts and even pies, even if there's not a conventional oven around for miles. Cooking in the ground keeps low, even heat around the Dutch oven for hours, converting the it into the slow cooker of the open range. For this kind of cooking, you need a cast iron Dutch oven with a flat, rimmed lid and three or four stubby legs.
Instructions
1. Start a fire and let it burn until you have both glowing coals and ashes. You can build a wood fire or use charcoal briquettes. The briquettes will give you coal faster.
2. Dig a hole large enough to hold your Dutch oven and six inches deeper than your oven is tall. Try to keep the sides of the hole straight and make the bottom as even as possible. Set aside the soil you remove.
3. Line the bottom of the hole with a layer of ashes, then a layer of coals. A good rule of thumb is to subtract three from the diameter of your oven and use that many coals on the bottom. If you have a 10-inch diameter oven, you need seven coals on the bottom. Arrange the coals in a ring around the bottom of the oven.
4. Top the Dutch oven with another layer of coals and more ashes. To determine the number of coals needed for the top, add three to the diameter of the oven. A 10-inch Dutch oven needs thirteen coals on top.
5. Shovel dirt back into the hole. Don't pack the dirt. Keep it loose so some air still reaches the coals.
6. Allow your meal to cook in the ground six to eight hours. Remove the dirt, ashes and coals, and carefully lift out the Dutch oven. Be careful, as it should still be warm or even hot. Brush any remaining ashes or dirt from the lid, and remove the lid.
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