From Carolyn Mackay

It has been a few years since the Provo Canyon Ward had a summer party with Dutch Oven cooking. I was thinking about that this summer and remembered many of the good food we enjoyed eating. Since we are right in the middle of summer, if you or your family have not enjoyed a Dutch Oven meal I thought I would encourage you to do so. It is a great family activity, ---all can be involved in the preparation and cooking of the meal. Not only is it good cooking, but also good practice for times when you may not have that electric or gas stove/oven to cook on.


Some Dutch oven tips: (Thanks to the booklet: 3 Steps to Family and Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness.)

1. New Dutch Ovens must be seasoned for the first time. This helps keep them from rusting and food sticking. Usually information comes with your new Dutch oven to do this, but just in case, here is a reminder. Wash in mild soapy water and scrub well to get factory residue off. Dry off, and then grease it using a thin coating of solid vegetable shortening (Crisco) or vegetable oil. Cover both the inside and outside of the Dutch oven. (A paper towel works great for this.) Then put in your home oven upside down and bake at 300-350 degrees for 1 hour. When the hour is up, turn off heat and let the Dutch oven cool on the oven rack. When cool, remove and wipe out excess oil.

2. Avoid cooking foods with a heavy water content or high in acid content, such as tomato based foods, the first few times. Whenever you cook a cobbler line your oven with aluminum foil.

3. Cleanup after cooking is simply wiping out the oven and washing with water. If soap is use, re-seasoning will be needed. Some people recommend reapplying a thin coating of shortening or oil before you store it.

5. Store in a dry place with the lid ajar and it is recommended you put a piece of wadded up newspaper inside to absorb any moisture.

Temperature in cooking is regulated by the number charcoal briquets you use for the size of the Dutch oven. The size of your Dutch oven is usually stamped on the lid. Although most recipes tell you how many to use a general rule of thumb is: Size number x 2. (12” Dutch oven x 2 = 24 briquets) The Briquets are placed underneath the oven and on top depending on what you are cooking.
Size of Dutch oven + 4 briquets on the top lid
Size of Dutch oven – 4 briquets underneath the oven.

Temperature chart:
325 Degrees = Size number x 2
350 degrees = Size number x 2 + 2 briquets
375 degrees = Size number x 2 + 4 briquets
400 degrees = Size number x 2 + 6 briquets.

Briquets need to be started and burning hot before you begin cooking.

Now some famous Provo Canyon Ward Dutch Oven Cookout Recipes!

Pot Roast and Stuff
3-4 pounds Pot roast or Round steak 5 carrots
Flour, salt, pepper 2 Onions
2 Tbsp Oil 1 pkg Lipton Onion soup mix
10 lbs potatoes 2 cups beef broth or Beef boullion

Flour, salt and pepper the meat. Put in a heated 12 inch Dutch Oven that has 12 coals on the bottom, add oil and brown the meat in the oil. Add the potatoes, carrots, onions on top of the meat. Sprinkle with the Onion Soup mix. Pour 2 cups of broth over the top and bake for 1 ½ to 2 hours with 12 coals on top.

Dutch Oven Chicken
2 chicken fryers, skinned, washed, and cut up Shortening, when melted makes ½ “ in bottom
Flour, salt and pepper mixture Warm water, to make ¼ “ in bottom

Coat the chicken pieces in the mixture. Melt the shortening in the bottom of a 12 “ Dutch Oven with 10 coals on the bottom. Completely brown the chicken and then remove excess grease. Add water and cover with lid and 10 coals on the top. Steam for 1 hours until tender.

Cherry Cobbler
3 large cans (30 oz. each) of Cherry Pie filling 1 Cube butter
1 tsp Almond Extract 1 Cup chopped Nuts
1 yellow or white cake mix 1 can 7-Up or Sprite

Line 12 “ Dutch Oven with foil. Pour pie filling into Dutch oven and carefully stir in Almond extract. IN a gallon zip-lock bag or a bowl combine cake mix and butter until well mixed in. Add nuts and mix together. Sprinkle contents of bag or bowl evenly over pie filling. Then pour the can of soda pop over this. DO NOT STIR!!! Bake in Dutch Oven for 30-45 minutes with 8 coals on the bottom and 18 coals on the top. IF stacking ovens, do 13 on top and 13 on bottom. Check often.

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Carolyn's Provident Living Column - March 2009

Planning and preparing your family for unexpected events that may happen, such as illness, loss of employment, economic downturns, or manmade and natural disasters requires planning, commitment, and effort. Being prepared requires an individual and family commitment. It just doesn’t happen with good intentions. I would challenge all ward members to actively prepare themselves, and make this a regular part of family planning and activities. Small steady steps eventually accomplish any goal, but it has to start with the first step. So make it a goal to start this month.
Start with an assessment of your family needs. Is it to do an inventory of your storage room, assess your food storage needs, update a first aid kit, buy some water storage containers, or prepare a budget plan that helps you? Each family will have different needs. The important words are “just do it!” There are multiple sources of information available, and a good place to start is the website of lds.org. Being prepared starts with you!
Pat Conrad was kind enough to pass on some valuable information:
Mountain Valley Seeds in Salt Lake City has non-hybird seeds available in a sealed #10 can for your food storage. I Googled that name and found their catalogue information, address and phone number. For those without Internet: 1438 So. 700 West , Salt Lake City. Phone number 801-486-0480. (Remember after March 1st we all need to dial the area code on all our calls.) Cost is $43.23, but decreases with bulk orders.
Next: A “to-die-for” homemade yogurt recipe, originally from Becky Nyman and now from Serena Warner. What is great about this, it gives us all a way to use and rotate our food storage powdered milk.
Yield: 5 quarts
1 gal 2 % milk
1 Cup sugar or honey
3 Cups powered milk, (it needs to be fairly fresh for best results)
1 Cup Vanilla yogurt (organic—need fresh yogurt culture as a starter)
1 tsp. vanilla
Pour half gallon of the milk in a large pot and half gallon in a large bowl. To the milk in the pot add 1 Cup sugar or honey. Bring to boil and then turn off heat and set aside.
To the milk in the large bowl add 3 cups powdered milk, 1 Cup vanilla yogurt, 1 tsp vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
Mix two milk mixtures together in the large pot, stir to blend. Then divide into 5-- Quart bottles. Will be full --- Makes exactly 5 quarts.
Put the lids on.
For winter months or homes with air conditioning in the summer, heat oven to 200 degrees and then turn it off. Put the quart bottles in a pan with towel wrapped around bottles. Leave in oven overnight. Next day, put in refrigerator to thicken. Enjoy!
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