… or second … or third …
I just got a five-quart enamel-coated Dutch oven and want to break it in tomorrow afternoon (I’ll be shopping in the morning, and will have the rest of the day to set it in the oven).
I’ve never had one before (nor have I ever had a Crock-Pot, which I think does slightly similar things). Knowing how essential my cast iron pans are to things like steak or cornbread, I figure there’s something out there that to be done “right”, really needs to be cooked in a traditional Dutch oven.
Any ideas for something that can only be cooked in one? Anything that will make Mrs. Dvl say “so that’s why you wanted one?!” will be much obliged.
I’d initially thought of a stew of some sort, but Mrs. Dvl just made winter borscht, so it may be too similar. Should I try my hand at pulled pork? Slow cooked ribs? Thoughts?
Deliciously yours,
You could try making Itallian beef. There are different recipies out there, but the one I use goes something like this:
You cook a bottom round roast in your dutch oven and when it’s done you put it in the freezer so that it will chill and become easy to slice thinly. Meanwhile, you deglaze the dutch oven with stock and add garlic, thyme, organo, marjoram, bayleaves, worsterchestershire sauce and some tobasco. You let that simmer while you slice the beef as thinly as you can manage. Then you put the beef in the aujus you’ve just made in the dutch oven. Ideally you will have made enough to cover the beef completely. Put the whole thing in the refridgerator and let it soak up that flavor overnight. Then, heat it up and serve it on Itallian rolls or other chewy bread. Don’t be afraid to let the bread get soggy with aujus. I think it goes great with plain potato chips. Traditionally, you would eat this while reading Mike Royko’s column, but I suppose since he’s dead Cecil Adams will have to do.
We snagged a Le Creuset 7-qt on sale as our Christmas present last month, and inaugurated it with a large batch of chili that very night, followed up with a wondrously good short rib ragu on New Year’s Eve. Next on the docket are lamb shanks or perhaps a Morroccan tagine sort of dish to take advantage of how well the pot handles low-temp slow braises.
I think The Boy is a little bit jealous of how often I profess my love for it, actually.
A dutch oven is the key to the best homemade bread ever. Google “no-knead bread” for all sorts of information.
I’ve been using this technique (with some refinements) for almost a year, and it consistently produces outstanding bread - with a crust far ahead of anything that normally emerges from a home oven.
It’s probably just my imagination but I’d deep fry something. Maybe some tempura or something. I SAID IT’S PROBABLY MY IMAGINATION. But, filling it with oil and deep frying something seems to do… something, which makes the insides smoother and sorta kinda “seasoned.”
Warm the oil slowly though. That’s the thing with baked enamel. Sloooow, and gentle.
That’s exactly the reason I bought mine originally, but not I use it for almost every slow-cooking application I could think of because of its phenomenal and even heat retention.
Yeah, braised short ribs sound like a perfect first meal from a Dutch oven.
Damn, beat to the punch, so I’ll second this one. If you like SF style real sourdough, you can make something pretty close using no knead sourdough version and a dutch oven. Awesome!
I’ve been baking bread for 40 years and I have to say this no-knead technique is the best bread ever. We’re addicted to it at our house, scarfing down the loaf so fast it doesn’t get a chance to cool off. “Let it cool for 2 hours” the recipe says. As if.
Le Creuset pots are wonderful pots for many things. One of the best aspects is that you can brown things in it, then carry on cooking the soup or pot roast, whatever, in the same pot.
I’ve got dozens of these pots. I bought almost all of them second hand at thrift shops or garage sales, though. They are ferociously expensive new ( although worth every penny) and I am always thrilled to find one cheap. They come in an astonishing variety of sizes, shapes, and colours, from small skillets or gratin pans to very large Dutch oven types. If there are no cracks or chips in them, I buy them. The stained interiors can sometimes be bleached or scoured, but usually I don’t bother. Another good brand is Cousance, from Belgium.
There are a lot of inexpensive enameled cast iron pots on the market now. Please be wary of any made in China, they develop hot spots very quickly and are simply not worth buying.
I believe Cook’s Illustrated this month sexed up the recipe a bit by adding some beer, and changing a couple other things about the process. I’m not sure if it’s available online or not, but I suspect someone must have typed it out.
