makeshift pizza oven for use over coals

This is a Camp Chef Deluxe 14 inch camp oven.

Deluxe camp ovens are different from regular camp ovens, in that their lids are deeper and have legs.

This enables them to double as a skillet to use over coals, without the use of a lid stand.

Regular camp oven lids can double as griddles, with the use of a lid stand.

I found an article from someone who uses two 14 inch deluxe lids, as a makeshift pizza oven.

To do this, you need a special pizza ring adapter in order to create a good seal.

I don't think Camp Chef sells their deluxe lids separately; You may have to buy two camp ovens.

Then again, when I made pizza on the stovetop, the one in the deep skillet turned out better than in the regular skillet.

I attributed that to better heat circulation in the deep skillet, although I could be wrong.

I wonder if you could just flip the deluxe oven over*, and use the bottom part as a dome lid?

*From what I'm told, yes, but you need welding gloves to take the pot off; the lid lifter won't work.

That way, you wouldn't need the special adapter because the pot already has a good seal.

I don't have a deluxe dutch oven in order to check that out, and no current plans to get one.

You can certainly make pizza in a camp oven, and eventually I plan to try it.

But, I can see how the shallow pan would be easier to use, as far as cutting and serving.

Someone reported to me that he uses his regular camp oven, upside down, on a lid stand.

Maybe I'll try that, maybe I won't.

Whether you plan to cook with coals or not

Since I've started teaching myself how to cook over coals, I've been researching camp oven recipes.

I'm quickly realizing that while the actual skill of using coals takes practice, the recipes are ridiculous easy.

That's because they're intended for cooking out in the middle of nowhere.

Someone just learning how to cook, would greatly benefit from trying out camp oven recipes in their own kitchen.

Just ignore the part about the coals, and put the pot in the oven or on the stove.

Another pork chop recipe

Season pork chops with black pepper and italian seasoning.

Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet, brown the pork chops, remove.

In the same skillet, cook chopped celery, onions, mushrooms, minced garlic. Add more italian seasoning.

Add coconut milk and bring to a boil*. Then reduce heat and return pork chops to skillet.

*The coconut milk is optional. If you don't want it, just return pork chops to skillet.

Cook until chops are done.

Zucchini would be good, in place of the celery.

BBQ peach pork ribs

In a blender, mix canned peaches, BBQ sauce and worcestershire sauce.

Put some pork ribs in a ziploc bag, along with some of the mixed sauce. Marinate.

Grill outside, or inside on a cast iron grill pan.

If you're using the grill pan, finish off in the oven at 300 so they'll cook all the way without charring.

Brush the remaining sauce on the ribs. It's wonderful.

italian sausage with white beans

Just another recipe for beans, slow cooked in a cast iron pot.

The beans should be already cooked, or you can use canned. Brown the sausage first.

great northern beans, sliced italian sausage, canned tomatoes, chopped onions, 1/2 cup beef broth, 1/2 cup red wine, crumbled bacon bits*, italian seasoning, minced garlic, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder.

*I use hormel real bacon bits for any recipe that calls for cooked bacon. It's less fatty and messy.

You can slow cook it on the stove, or in the oven. Or in a camp oven over coals.

Serve with rice. You can cook the rice with the liquid from this recipe.

I actually prefer my recipe for beans and rice, but, it's easy and it's something to eat.


I might have liked it better if I had used less liquid to make it thicker.

I ended up giving most of it to the guy who cuts my grass. He was thrilled.

Practical use of the bacon and egg skillet

I decided to finally try using my bacon and egg skillet for its intended purpose: bacon and eggs.

It fits two eggs of course, and only two slices of bacon, but I squeezed in three.

I didn't think it would be feasible to flip the eggs, but I used a serving spatula.

It was only a little awkward to flip. Sunny side up eggs are much easier in this pan.

Since it takes longer to cook bacon than eggs, and some bacon grease will spill over into the egg part anyway, you can let the bacon cook a few minutes before adding the eggs.

This is enough to cook breakfast for one person, on the same skillet.

The round breakfast skillet cooks a slightly bigger breakfast.

By the way, this skillet also cooks ham and eggs. Try fried ham with minced garlic.

Cooking over coals - "flank steak" and onion sauce

This was my second experience with using coals. This time I actually cooked, not just reheated.

My camera phone doesn't have a flash, so it's dark. On the right is an el cheapo portable charcoal grill for lighting the coals, and on the left is the lid stand.

This recipe is from the cookbook "Let's Cook Dutch", flank steak with onion sauce.

Flank steak was over $8 a pound, so I got chuck roast instead.

This recipe did not specify a temperature, which would have helped determine the amount of coals to use. I took a wild guess, and went with 350.

According to the coal chart, for a 10 inch camp oven, that's 14 on top, 6 on bottom.

I hit another snag with using a chain to secure coals: One of the chain links caught under the lid, and I had to creatively maneuver to get it loose.

Not easy, with hot coals* on the lid. I will be getting a real camp oven soon.

*Looks can be deceiving; Grey ash covered coals don't LOOK hot, but they ARE.

Since the first step was to brown the meat, I had to increase the number of coals on bottom at first, to get the pot hot enough.

I put about 11 coals under the pot, poured in some vegetable oil*, and let it heat up.

*Next time I'll melt down some butter.

Prepare the chuck roast (or flank steak) by trimming the fat and adding salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder.

Add the chuck roast and brown on all sides. Cover, transfer coals to the top until only six are left on bottom, and put the rest of the coals on top.

So to recap, about the coals: For a 350 degree temperature using a 10 inch oven, you need 14 coals on top, 6 on bottom. But some extra coals go on the bottom at first, in order to brown the meat; Those coals are transferred to the top once the meat is browned, and the pot is covered.

While the meat is covered, mix a can of cream of onion soup with 1 cup of milk. Pour over the meat. Add a can of new potatoes, drained.

Let it cook. Every 15 minutes, rotate the pot 1/4 turn clockwise, and the lid 1/4 turn counterclockwise.

The recipe doesn't specify how long to cook, but check for doneness every half hour.

Right now the sauce is refrigerating until it forms a fat cap, which I will remove, and then reheat. If I were camping, I wouldn't have that option.

This recipe can just as easily be done on the stove, in the oven, or even a crock pot.

That's basically what a camp oven is-- a slow cooker that uses coals instead of electricity.

Since it was warm and not windy, I didn't need to make another batch of coals. But if it was cold or windy, I would have burned some extra coals, to replace as needed.

If I were to make this dish again, I would use butter instead of oil, and cook down chopped onions and minced garlic before browning the meat.

I would also use fresh potatoes; You could cook them along with the meat, or boil separately.

Three old rare cast iron pieces

These are three old rare cast iron pieces that I could find almost no information on.

So instead of writing three separate articles, I decided to combine them into one.

The one on the left is a pancake griddle, shaped like a clover leaf.

I assume for making clover shaped pancakes for St Patrick's day.

The one on the right is a Lodge bacon and egg griddle.

Very similar to the common square bacon and egg skillet, but it's shaped differently.

The one in the middle is the Griswold utility skillet, which is 9 1/2 inches square.

Griswold made an identical pan called the square fry skillet; The one labeled "utility skillet" is much harder to find.

Some prefer the handle on the corner because it stays out of the way when the pan is sitting square on the stove.

I rather like handles within my reach, personally-- it gives me more control over the pan.

The closest thing available today, to the utility skillet, is a square skillet; One comes with the Lodge cornbread kit.

I would definitely call that a utility skillet-- it can be used for a lot more than cornbread!

The cast iron oyster roaster

Unfortunately I could not find a picture of a cast iron oyster roaster. That's how rare they are.

I'm told they resemble a waffle iron; two star shaped, hinged pieces that come together, with spaces to hold six oysters.

Roasted oysters are traditionally a delicacy in Low Country (South Carolina coast).

You place fresh, unshelled oysters in the roaster and hold it over heat until they open.

Then you serve them on the half shell.

Only fresh, unshelled oysters will work. Don't roast too long because they'll dry out.

If you can't get an oyster roaster, it can be done on a rack over an open fire.

Or on the BBQ grill, even though that's technically grilling.

And if I ever find a picture, I'll post it here.

The cast iron long pan

This is a cast iron long pan. It's called a long pan because it's, well, long.

They were sometimes called "dry fry griddles." I'm not sure why.

They ranged from 18 to 22 inches; There were deep long pans, and shallow long pans.

Some had a spout in the corner, for pouring off excess fat.

They could be used for cooking, OR for heating clothes irons on the stove, but not both.

Coal and wood stoves used to come with "stove furniture" such as the above pan, or a grill pan.

You could remove plates from the stovetop and replace them with these pans.

Cast iron long griddles and grill pans are still sold today, but they are used on the burners, not as replacements for the burners.

My first fried fish

I had not made fried fish before. Only baked or poached.

First I mixed corn flour, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and seasoned salt*.

*That's basically what Zatarain's Fish Fri is. Chick Fri is the above, with added paprika.

Put that mixture on a plate, then scrambled an egg in a bowl and added milk.

Took catfish nuggets, coated them in the egg / milk mixture, and dredged in the corn flour mixture.

Heat up canola oil in a cast iron skillet. Put two chopsticks in the oil; if it bubbles around the chopsticks, the oil is ready.

Pan fry the fish, a minute or two on each side.

I had no clue how to make hush puppies, so I took a completely wild guess at making them:

Mix 1 cup corn flour, 1 egg, and enough milk to form a thick batter.

Heat up canola oil in a 2 quart cast iron pot (these are deep fried, not pan fried).

When oil is ready, drop batter by the spoonful and let it deep fry until golden brown.

I tried the first one and realized I had the right idea, but I wanted them sweeter. So I added sugar to the remaining batter.

They tasted like beignets, as a result.

Next time, I'll use Jiffy cornbread mix, and make cornbread batter for hush puppies.

The corn flour wasn't bad, but I don't think that's what is normally used. Hush puppies normally have a consistency that is more like corn meal.

It was suggested to me, to add chopped onions and green onions to the batter.

I finally conquered flounder

When I first made flounder, I seasoned it with lemon pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.

It was OK, but not great. I was determined to find a better way.

Here's how I made it last night:

Season with italian seasonings, McCormick garlic bread sprinkle, and dried minced garlic.

Into the oven at 350. Top with parmesan cheese before serving (optional).

This was MUCH better.

I've also made it successfully with just rosemary and garlic, as well as tarragon and garlic.

Can Coca Cola clean rust off cast iron?

A friend sent me this pan she found in her attic. She called it a tamale pan, but it's a breadstick pan.

You could make tamales on it, but tamales are usually made by the dozen, and breadstick pans only have 11 molds. Why don't they have twelve?

And then some breadstick pans had 5 molds. Why not six? You know, half dozen?

It had some minor rust, so I decided to try cleaning it with Coca Cola.

Pictured above is before, and after.

First I tried scrubbing it with the coke, which didn't help much.

Then I poured it in the molds and let it soak for 5 minutes. Scrubbed, washed off with water, dried.

How long you soak depends on how bad the rust is, but never more than an hour.

If the rust is really bad, then you put the whole thing into a vat of coke, checking every 15 mins.

The after picture is on the right. As you can see, it helped.

I could do another round to get the remaining rust completely off, but this is good enough for me.

I tried the fried pasta recipe

Since I had some angel hair pasta left over, I decided to try that fried pasta recipe.

Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Fry the pasta along with minced garlic.

Use a serving spatula to scrape off the crust that forms at the bottom of the skillet.

When it's golden brown, add pesto, ricotta cheese, and parmesan cheese.

Finish off in the oven at 350.

It makes a good lunch!

My first loaf of french bread

Since I finally found a french bread pan, I decided to make french bread. That was kind of the point.

I mixed the dough in the bread machine, using the recipe that came with it:

1/2 cup + 3 tbsp warm water

1 tbsp butter, quartered

2 cups bread flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp active dry yeast

Then into the oven at 400* until golden brown.

*I should have done it at 450, for a lighter, fluffier bread.

It was quite good bread; It was more dense than I'm used to. I'd like a recipe for fluffier bread*.

*A couple of tips I found: Add gluten, let it rise an extra 30 minutes, higher oven temp.

This recipe was for one loaf of bread; The pan can hold two loaves.

I figure once I've made 40 loaves, this pan will have paid for itself.

I would use this same recipe for breadsticks or dinner rolls.

fried pasta?

I reheated last night's pasta in the oven today, and discovered something.

I left it in the oven longer than I had planned, and the noodles became crisp.

They had "fried" in their own olive oil. And it was pretty good!

And I wondered if there was such a thing as "fried pasta", like there is fried rice.

Indeed it exists. Here's a good looking recipe, great for using up leftover pasta.

I wonder how many great recipes have come about by accident? Oops-- hey, this is pretty good!

Kind of like my recycled breakfast lasagna.

sort of a philly cheesesteak but not authentic

I've never had a real philly cheesesteak, but on a whim, I made sort of one.

It's supposed to be made with provolone cheese, or white american; I used swiss and mozzarella.

Many recipes I find call for cheez whiz, the processed cheese in a jar. Um, no.

Velveeta would work, but I prefer white cheeses.

It's supposed to be made with sliced ribeye, but I had good old sliced roast beef.

It's supposed to be made with peppers; I don't do peppers. I used tomatoes.

Sometimes they include mushrooms, but I didn't have any.

Cook down a few onion slices in a cast iron skillet (and mushrooms if you have them).

If you're using sliced ribeye, you might have to cook it first. You can cook it with the onions.

On a griddle, put your bottom french bread, cooked onions, tomatoes, and cheese.

On another griddle, your top french bread, roast beef, balsamic vinegar, black pepper, more cheese.

Under the broiler until the cheese is melted. Watch so it doesn't burn.

In some cases, the meat, veggies and cheese are all cooked together in a skillet, then put on bread.

What is the Lodge L series?

This is a Lodge L series pot. What is the Lodge L series?

Lodge has two lines of enameled cookware: The Lodge Color series, and the Lodge L series.

I wondered what the difference was, besides that the L series is more fancy and expensive?

The Color series is the lower end line, and more basic looking.

It includes dutch ovens, skillets, grill pans, roasters, and covered casserole dishes, in 4 different colors.

The L series is the higher end line, and more decorative. It includes dutch ovens, oval casserole dishes, and apple pots, in 3 different colors.

The L series colors are not red, green and blue; They are Patriot red, Apple green and Liberty blue.

The L series has 4 coats of enamel; The Color series has two coats.

Consumers report that they have found pinholes in the enamel of the L series cookware, which can cause rust, that are not found in the Color series.

The general consensus is, although the Color series is cheaper, it has better quality control.

The Lodge enameled cookware is made in China; The regular cookware is still made in the USA.

Can a camp oven be used indoors?

So far, I've maintained that camp ovens, due to their legs, are designed to be used over coals, and are not suitable for use indoors.

Then I read a dutch oven cookbook, suggesting "in case of rain", to use your camp oven indoors.

OK, I could see using it in the oven; You just have to be more careful because of the legs.

And maybe even over a gas burner*. But what about electric stoves?

*I have since moved into a house with a gas stove, and indeed you can use it on the stovetop as long as you remove the grate.

So I decided to try it, using my trivet. The pot did indeed get hot.

You need a higher heat setting, since the pot is over the burner*, and not directly on it.

*For electric stoves. For gas stoves, once you remove the grate, it's the same.

Possible, yes. Not quite as practical, since you have to use more heat and more fuel (on electric stoves, that is).

And I definitely would not BAKE on the stovetop, since baking requires more heat on top than on bottom; if you're baking, use the oven.

This was important to me because I'm eventually going to get a camp oven.

But I also want a 6 quart pot, and have not been able to find one suitable for indoor use.

Sure the enameled pot is 6 quarts, but enamel chips, and is expensive.

If I can get a 12 inch camp oven, which is 6 quarts, then I'll have my 6 quart pot.

It will only be practical for oven or outdoor use, but then again, so are two of my skillets.

modified chicken breast over fettuccine

This recipe was modified from "Cast Iron Cuisine: From Breakfast to Dessert."

I've been trying a lot of recipes from that cookbook; I haven't yet tried one I didn't like.

It's unique. It's got recipes not found anywhere else, mostly created by the authors themselves, who have decades of cooking experience.

The store didn't have fettuccine; I could have used linguine, but I used angel hair pasta.

Cut up chicken breast into cubes; Dry with paper towels.

Heat canola oil until almost smoking. Saute chicken cubes in the oil for 1 minute.

Turn heat to low, pour off excess fat, return pan to stove, add 1/4 cup white wine.

Cover and simmer 5 mins, turn heat off and leave it covered for another few minutes.

Meanwhile, boil your pasta, and then put it in a mixing bowl.

Pour the chicken and wine over pasta, then toss in olive oil, parmesan cheese, black pepper.

Since I had some basil pesto, and since I love basil pesto, I added to the pasta.

I tried it both with and without the pesto. It was good without, but I preferred it with the pesto.

I'm really not a fan of chicken breast; I would have preferred this with shrimp, actually.

Many recipes that call for chicken, I substitute shrimp. But I had chicken that I needed to use up.

Alfredo sauce or asiago sauce

I wanted to see if I could make an alfredo sauce that was a little less bad for me.

So I made two, and compared them side by side.

The first was regular: 1/4 cup heavy cream, 2 tbsp butter, minced garlic, shredded parmesan cheese, and black pepper. Some add egg yolks, but I didn't.

And the second substituted half and half for the cream, and light butter for the butter.

There was a very slight difference, but not enough to be that noticeable.

I later learned that if you use asiago cheese instead of parmesan cheese, it becomes asiago sauce.

cast iron vienna bread pan

This is a cast iron vienna roll pan. It's smaller than a french bread pan, larger than a breadstick pan.

A vienna roll is an Italian yeast raised roll with a crispy crust.

They're either shaped like torpedoes, or crescents. This article shows how to shape them.

You can certainly make regular dinner rolls in it.

I've made pillsbury crescent rolls in a vienna bread pan before, except they turn out straight instead of curved.

Here is a recipe from an 1895 cookbook. I didn't write this, but I did shorten it:

Have in a bowl a table-spoon of butter or lard, made soft by warming, and stirring with a spoon.

Add to one quart of unsifted flour, two heaping tsp baking powder; mix and sift, in bowl with butter.

Take more or less sweet milk as may be necessary to form a dough (about 3/4 pint), add 1/2 tsp of salt, stir into the flour with a spoon, forming the dough.

Put the dough on a board and knead sufficiently to make smooth.

Roll out half an inch thick, cut with a large round cutter; fold each one over to form a half round.

Place on buttered pans, so as not to touch, wash over on top with milk to give them a gloss, and bake immediately in a hot oven about 20 mins.

I haven't actually done this, but I did try to make it as easy to understand as I could.

I wonder if the "sweet milk" meant sweetened condensed milk? I'll have to research that.

I'm assuming "hot" means 400 to 450, since that's the temperature you bake pizza.

wonderful cornbread dressing

This is the Lodge 5 quart chicken fryer. I've actually never used it to fry chicken.

It's a 12 inch deep skillet with a lid. It can be used as a 5 quart dutch oven, but it's wider and shorter than the Lodge 5 quart dutch oven.

This is the pan I use to make wonderful cornbread dressing; Since it's cast iron, you don't need two separate pans for the cornbread and the dressing!

You don't use the lid when making this dressing, but if frying chicken, you definitely use the lid.

You need a turkey to make this dressing. It goes with roasted turkey.

As you're prepping the turkey, put the giblets, tail, and wing tips in a pot.

Roast the neck in the oven along with the turkey. You'll be using the neck meat for the dressing.

Finely chop onions and celery; Add to the pot, along with chicken broth.

Mix chicken granules, seasoned salt, sage*, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper in a bowl. After you rub the turkey with this, throw the rest in the pot, and add more.

*sage, or poultry seasoning

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer. Skim whatever junk comes to the top as it simmers.

Take 3 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix; Follow the box directions, pour into the above pan, and bake.

It's got to be Jiffy; Scratch cornbread, if it does not contain flour and sugar, will NOT be good.

When the cornbread is done, break it up in the pan with a spoon.

When the stock has simmered for a couple of hours and everything is skimmed off the top, remove the wing tips and tail, and discard.

Remove the giblets and cut them up. Add to the crumbled cornbread.

Remove the chopped veggies; Add to the cornbread and mix them in.

Take the meat off the oven roasted neck, and add.

Slowly pour the liquid into the mixture, and stir. You probably won't use all of it.

Pour until it's a moist consistency, but not soupy. Use the remaining liquid for something else.

Into the oven at 350 uncovered, until the top is brown.

I usually have this "out of the bird", but last year I stuffed some in the bird before baking.

It tastes awesome in the bird, due to being saturated with turkey juices. But it is more work, and takes more time.

There are many wonderful uses for the above pan; So far, all I've used it for, is this dressing.

I finally conquered giblet gravy

Here's a little background for you: My family never made giblet gravy. Yes, it's true.

That's because we used the giblets for something more important: Wonderful cornbread dressing. Other dressings taste gross in comparison.

So until this past Thanksgiving, I had never even tried giblet gravy, let alone made it.

And nobody believed me. Surely everyone knows what giblet gravy is, and how to make it. I was expected to already know, but alas, I really did not.

I wanted to learn, though, so I did my best to observe from the edge of the kitchen.

It was wonderful, and I came home determined to learn how to make giblet gravy on my own. It took a couple of tries, before I finally got it right.

Since I'm unwilling to give up my turkey giblets in the dressing, I use chicken gizzards for the gravy. You can't tell the difference, when it's in gravy.

I had tried chicken livers, but they disintegrate and the gravy becomes grainy. Use gizzards.

You need to cook down the giblets with chopped onions* in a skillet for a while, then remove.

*Add salt and pepper if you want.

Deglaze the skillet and save the liquid in a cup.

Then start your normal gravy base: Heat 2 tbsp butter or turkey drippings in a pan.

Whisk in 2 tbsp flour*. I like thick gravy, so I end up adding more, after adding the liquid.

*Or 1 tbsp cornstarch. Some like to mix the flour/cornstarch in liquid first, then pour in.

Add the deglazed liquid, and then enough stock / milk* to equal 2 cups total. If it's too thin, whisk in more flour.

*Stock, or milk, or a combination of both.

When the gravy is the consistency that you want, then add the giblets / onions and cook some more.

Add seasoned salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder.

Better than bouillon chicken base is optional.

Now there's another secret ingredient to add, or you could save it for the dressing.

The NECK!  Take the meat off the neck.

My family always boiled this part in with the stock to use for the dressing, and then discarded.

But I recently discovered you can indeed take the meat off, and use it for dressing or gravy.

It's even better if you roast this part along with the turkey; It's much more flavorful that way.