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David Sikes David Sikes, Caller-Times outdoors writer specializes in hunting and fishing. David's columns are published Thursdays and Sundays. David also compiles a fishing report on Saturdays. He can be reached at sikesd@caller.com. Sunday, February 11, 2001 Lessons in Black Pot MagicDivert disaster with Dutch-oven dining
Tenderfoots and Eagles alike feared clean-up details that followed a campfire meal with biscuits or - please no! - peach cobbler. Consuming either of these dishes, if we were able to eat them at all, involved scraping off the edible, often half-baked, top layer and leaving charred remains stuck to cast iron for the unlucky soul assigned to do the dishes. Long into darkness, both hapless scout and Dutch oven remained blackened and sticky. Perhaps this was meant to be an exercise in character building. But to me, it was an evil right of passage I will never forget. It doesn't have to be this way. There's a statewide organization dedicated to making sure our Dutch oven experiences are carefree and tasty. I'm talking outdoor cooking at its best here. Wizards of the black pot The group calls itself the Lone Star Dutch Oven Society. And its members are devoted to fun, food, fellowship and family. But if you ask me, the group is more about showing off what seven years of Scouting couldn't teach me: cooking anything in a Dutch oven without burning it. I've tasted their wares and results don't lie. These people are wizards of the black pot.
So if you're tired of boring camp menus, or if you've got a rusty Dutch oven hanging in your garage, read on. I promise your black pot cooking will never be the same, adding spice and variety to your outdoors experience. And with proper care and technique, even cleaning up will be short duty. The statewide organization has been around for nine years. But the South Texas chapter, Pioneers of the Gulf Coast, was formed about a year ago. Twenty-four families from Pleasanton to McAllen, who collectively own more than 100 black pots (which Dutch ovens sometimes are called), elected Butch Dohmann as their leader. Actually, his title is advisor. The oven maestro
I'm not sure what qualifies Dohmann for this position, except maybe that he owns the most ovens. As far as I could tell, his only official duty is clanging the mealtime alert. He does that well, though. I'm no expert, but if effectiveness is the measure of a quality ringer of dinner bells, he's a maestro. No one disobeyed him. From the moment I approached my first DOG ("Dutch oven gathering," where cooks trade recipes, offer cooking tips, swap lies and eat more than they should), I noticed where we had gone wrong as scouts. Actually, we had disobeyed nearly all the rules. But it was most obvious, twentysomething years later, that we had used way too many coals. Imagine that. All that blackened food was the result of too much fire. Dutch wisdom
Jim McCain of Corpus Christi, who is one of group's most vocal champions, explained the formula for consistent oven temperatures and even cooking. He ought to know. McCain began his Dutch oven cooking lessons more than half a century ago at his grandfather's deer camp near Laredo. His memories have flavor and aroma, so vivid that he laughs and licks his lips when recalling a plateful of pan de campo, carne guisada and baked beans. "Everything just tasted better at the ranch," McCain said. I wish he had been my Scoutmaster. McCain said the cooking mistakes of my youth are common and easily remedied. Most rookies use too many coals, lack patience, fail to cure the pot, don't preheat the oven and forget that cast iron continues to cook long after the coals are removed. To maintain 325 degrees inside a 10-inch Dutch oven, you should place 13 briquette-size coals on top and seven on the bottom. Add or remove a briquette or two to adjust the temperature up or down. Heck, I remember burying our ovens in red-hot coals and continuing to pile them on throughout the cooking process. We were hungry. Who knew this would result in less edible food? I guess we used our Dutch oven instructions as tinder to start the fire. School of thought Meeting the chefs and then humbly sampling about 40 dishes at Heritage Park during my one and only DOG yielded more than recipes and cooking tips for me. I also met Karen Howden, who introduced me to the Texas Outdoor Education Association. Howden is one of the better black pot practitioners. And she's one of a handful of local schoolteachers dedicated to bringing outdoor lessons into the classroom. I will not debate here whether we should or shouldn't teach outdoor lessons in public schools. But it would be difficult to argue with this part of the association's mission statement: "We believe in a natural environment that should be used and enjoyed but respected, protected and used wisely. We strive to encourage individuals of all ages to engage in a variety of outdoor activities." That's pretty much what I try to do in this column from time to time. If you'd like to learn more about the organization, visit its Web site at www.toea.org, or call Howden at 986-1268. Her e-mail address is JHowdenCC@aol.com. Perhaps if the Texas Outdoor Education Association had existed when I was a boy, I could have eaten the other half of nearly every dish we tried to bake. I probably wouldn't get anxiety attacks at the sight of Brillo Pads, either. NONA'S CARNE GUISADA Eight to 10 pounds of ½-inch cubed pork ½-cup Wesson Oil One 5-ounce jar Fiesta Carne Guisada Seasoning One medium onion (chopped) Two garlic cloves Two large potatoes, cut into ½-inch cubes Water as needed 1. Heat oil in 14-inch Dutch oven. 2. Coat pork cubes with seasoning and brown in oil with diced onions and garlic. 3. Add enough water to cover ingredients and simmer uncovered on low heat for about an hour. 4. Add water as needed, so meat doesn't burn or dry out. 5. Add cubed potatoes and cook for another 30-45 minutes, or until tender. Add water to achieve desired gravy consistency. KAREN'S CORNBREAD Stir together: One 17-ounce can of cream-style corn ¾-cup whole milk ½-cup cooking oil Two eggs ¼-cup chopped onion chopped jalepeno peppers to taste (optional) Blend: 1¼-cups corn meal ¾-cup flour One teaspoon salt One teaspoon baking powder ½-teaspoon baking soda One teaspoon sugar 1. Stir together all ingredients and add two cups grated cheddar cheese. 2. Pour into a 10-inch Dutch oven, cover and bake at about 350 degrees for 20 minutes, with coals on top and bottom. Remove oven from bottom coals and continue baking with top coals for about 10-15 minutes. BUTTERMILK SPICE COFFEE CAKE 1½-cups flour One teaspoon baking powder ¼-teaspoon salt [-teaspoon allspice One beaten egg ½-cut sugar ½-teaspoon baking soda ¼-teaspoon ginger One cup buttermilk ½-teaspoon vanilla ½-cup brown sugar ½-teaspoon cinnamon ¼-teaspoon nutmeg ½-cup melted butter 1. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg and allspice, then set aside. 2. Combine buttermilk, melted butter, egg, vanilla, then add to this mixture the above dry ingredients. 3. Stir or mix until smooth. 4. Pour batter into a greased Dutch oven. 5. Bake about 30 minutes at about 350 degrees. Glaze recipe: 1. In a small saucepan, combine ¼-cup brown sugar, two tablespoons butter, two tablespoons honey and two tablespoons milk. 2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for five minutes. 3. Remove from heat and stir in ¼-cup of chopped nuts. 4. Pour glaze over cake and bake another five minutes. PUT IN A POT LASAGNA Two pounds ground beef Five links of mild Italian sausage Two medium onions One stalk celery One jar on Newman's garlic and peppers sauce One jar of Five Brother's Five Cheeses Marinara Sauce Additional Italian seasonings to taste One package lasagna pasta 1. Brown hamburger meat with chopped onions and chopped celery. Drain fat. 2. Cook sausage, chop it up and add to beef. 3. Add the remaining above ingredients (excluding pasta) and cook on low heat. Sauce should be runny. Ricotta cheese layer: Two cups ricotta cheese One cup shredded mozzarella cheese (buy a two-pound bag of mozzarella, you'll need it later) ½-cup parmesan cheese Two eggs Chopped parsley One teaspoon salt ½-teaspoon pepper 1. Mix these ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. 2. Pour a thin layer of sauce in the oven and place a layer of pasta on top. 3. Cover the pasta with more sauce and sprinkle some mozzarella on top. 4. Layer some of the ricotta cheese mixture on top. 5. Repeat these procedures until you run out of ingredients. 6. Save some mozzarella to layer on top. 7. Cook for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes before serving. WILD RICE AND VENISON One pound ground venison 1½-cups raw rice One can cream of mushroom soup One can cream of chicken soup One cup chopped celery One cup sliced mushrooms One cup water One chopped onion Three tablespoons soy sauce 1. Brown venison in Dutch oven. 2. Add remainder of ingredients, mix and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. - Contributed by Mike Delchambre BLACKBERRY-PEAR COBBLER Two cups blackberries Two cups peeled and diced pear 1½-cups sugar water Several thinly sliced lime pieces One cup flour One teaspoon baking powder One cup sugar ¾-cup milk One stick butter or margarine 1. Mix together fruit (use any combination of fruit you desire), sugar water and lime, then set aside. The mixture should be sweet, not sour. If it's not, add more sugar. 2. Melt butter in Dutch oven. 3. Combine in a large mixing bowl flour, sugar, baking powder and milk. Stir until well blended. Batter should be runny. 4. Pour dough into Dutch oven on top of melted butter. 5. Add fruit mixture on top of batter. 6. Sprinkle with granulated sugar if desired. 7. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until crust has risen and browned. - Contributed by Mary and Gale Merriwether Outdoors writer David Sikes' column appears Thursdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 886-3616 or by e-mail at sikesd@caller.com 
© 2000 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved. |
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