Submitted by ITA volunteer cook, Hugh Cooke.

• Kitchen dutch oven has rounded dome lid to capture liquids and flat bottom to rest on range. Camping coals will not stay on this lid with ease.
• Camp Dutch Oven has three legs to hold pot above a bed of heat/charcoals and a flat lid with a rim to hold charcoals on top.
• Dutch Oven are made from cast iron or aluminum. Cast iron is much heavier, heats slower but retains heat longer.
• The Lodge brand has been made in Tennessee for generations. Most common quality cast iron in America.
• Anything you can cook in your kitchen, you can cook in a Dutch Oven

• Baking rolls, cobblers, brownies and pies needs more top heat and less bottom heat (2/3 heat on top/1/3 on the bottom)
• Simmering stews, pot roasts, whole chicken, soups and chili needs about equal bottom heat and top heat (1/2 heat on top and bottom.)
• Heat for beginners is best and simplest using charcoal briquettes.
• Briquettes are started well in advance of cooking, ready to use when grey in color-don’t rush. Let the coals get hot.
• Cooking times longer than 45 minutes require refreshing with fresh coals.

Estimating heat and counting briquettes

• 8 x 8 baking pan = 8 or 10 inch dutch oven
• 11 x 7 baking pan = 10 inch dutch oven
• 9 x 13 baking pan = 12 inch dutch oven
• 10 x 15 baking pan = 14 inch dutch oven

This chart is a great place to start for estimating a good size of Dutch Oven to buy: