I’m buying a dutch oven for my gf. She wants to be able to cook over a fire or coals, and I’m assuming she wants the versatility to be able to cook a wide range of meals with it. My searches have turned up a couple styles, from the standard issue ones I used in the boy scouts, to an African potjie style, to a chinese wok style.
If I had to choose based on looks, I’d get the #6 8qt African Potjie. But are there downsides to this style? Are the standard issue ovens the best for general use and versitility?
Well, the first thing to look for is wicked witch remnants. Especially if you’re buying it from a couple fat kids who live in a candy house.
Well, what would she like to cook in it? If she’s just doing stews or other heat-on-the-bottom only dishes, I bet that African pot would be great. But if she’s also cooking things that are baked, and she wants the heat on top too (to keep it even), I’d guess she’d want one of the more traditional American versions, with a flat lid with a rim around it. She can pile coals on top that way. And feet are important too, for campfire cooking. You can throw a footless one in the oven just fine, but surfaces aren’t that smooth or even over a fire.
And throw in a lid lifter! I don’t have one, but I wish I did.
If you do decide to go with the “standard issue” American style, go for the kind with legs if she really does plan to cook over a fire/coals.
Damn hamsters! Cowgirl Jules has it dead right. Go with the tradional Lodge type. Here’s a link but they don’t have to be Lodge exactly.
Also, the Dutch oven will need to be cured. A good one should come with curing and maintenance instructions. Here’s an even better link. The gloves on this site can be very handy, in addition to the required pot lifter.
Here, Elvez, I have one like this. I’ve done nice cornbread in it camping - in fact, now that you reminded me, I think I’ll take it on my next trip. It’s pretty big and I tend to forget it in the garage.
And this book has a lot of good basic instructions.
If you are planning to buy on line, look for a store that charges shipping based on the $ of the order, not the weight. Cabelas charges by amount of the order not the weight. This could save you a TON.
I second the one that rackensack recommended. You want one with legs on the bottom so that you can get coals under it without actually setting it ON the coals. You also want one with a top that has a lip around the edge so that you can pile coals on top. This makes it great for baking bread-type products as well as other more traditional dutch oven dishes.
Hell, just some leftover peach cobbler would be nice.
I like the Le Creuset ovens myself 
You want to give your girlfriend a Dutch Oven? snicker 
Sorry, couldn’t resist. Around here, a ‘Dutch oven’ is someone who farts in bed then throws the covers over their spouse/SO/victim.
We have both the kind with and without legs. The one with legs we take camping with us, so it’s really only used a handful of times a year. The one without legs (nearly identical to the standard issue one you linked to, Elvez, sits on our stove, and is used at the very least once a week. So to answer your question, yes, I think a standard dutch oven, sans legs, would be better for general use and versatility.
tee-hee.
Also known as “The Covered Wagon”.
Wouldn’t it make sense to have a stand with legs that the dutch oven could set in while over a campfire, then use without for stovetop use? Maybe there’s something like that out there.
StG