Dutch Oven 101
The image of Dutch ovens that used to come to mind was my mother’s enormous crimson Le Creuset pot, which she always used on the stove to cook homemade chili or potato soup. But after spending time with the participants of the National Dutch Oven Gathering (NDOG) in Hutchinson, Kansas, I realized my mistake. A true Dutch oven actually looks much different.
Dennis Slane and Barry Trimmell — experienced Dutch oven cooks, members of the Ozark Dutch Oven Group, and teachers of NDOG’s “Dutch Oven 101” class — refer to the flat-bottomed Dutch ovens we use on kitchen stovetops as “bean pots.” To them and many others, a true (or “camp”) Dutch oven is a castiron or aluminum pot that sits on three short legs and has a flat, handled lid with a rim around the edge. These Dutch ovens are meant for outdoor cooking. The legs allow coals to be set beneath the pot, and the rim on the lid keeps coals from rolling off the top.
Cookware Options
Slane and Trimmell are both collectors of Dutch ovens — everything from small 8-inch and popular 12-inch models of different depths to discontinued 6-inch and 16-inch Dutch ovens. Despite their love of unusual Dutch ovens, if you only have one pot to buy, they wholeheartedly recommend the 12-inch option. Slane says, “The 12 regular, which
