Customer Reviews

Cooking the Dutch oven way

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm prejudiced -- my father wrote this book. He designed a cast aluminum dutch oven for a piece of cookware that the Boy Scouts could pack in their backpacks. Everyone wanted to know, "what can you cook in it"? His answer was always, "anything you can cook in the oven in your kitchen you can cook in the dutch oven". These recipes are fast and easy and can be used whether you are eating in our camping out. I hope you will buy and try these recipes as a testament to a man who dedicated 60 of his 75 years to Boy Scouting! He passed away in 1990 but left behind a bunch of full stomachs. Thanks!

Overall this book is just fine for someone interested in cooking with a DO. The mix of recipes is fine, but they just seemed to be missing something. They were all more or less of the "huck a good sized hen into the pot and cook for a while until done" variety. All of the recipes look tasty, though I would have liked to have seen a few more meat dishes, especially some more creative ones. Let's be honest, when you pay for a book you'd like to see more than "...put a 5 lb beef roast into a preheated Dutch oven, salt and pepper to taste, cook until done." Give me a little something to work with here! Inspire me! I can already cook a roast like this in the oven. Having said all of that, I would still reccommend this book. The vegetable dishes and desserts look fantastic and I can't wait to try some of them. As an aside, this is the only Dutch oven book I've seen with heart-healthy recipes as well as more traditional fare. Given that the average DO book requires the use of a metric ton of lard, this will probably appeal to a wider range of cooks.

I love camping and eating by the fire and was looking for a good book on dutch oven cooking. This book is not it.
The back cover states "Woodruff perfected these recipes ... for more than 60 years as a scoutmaster ..."
That period is 1929 to 1989, the publishing date.
By today's standards, these recipes are dated. My son is a scout, and I have been on a number of scout camping trips - and believe me scouts mostly need simple meals to prepare. But Woody is too much into canned veggies, soups, and packaged mixes. You have to look long and hard to find a recipe in this book that uses fresh ingredients.
I suspect that if Woody were alive today, given his obvious commitment to Scouting, he would update most of his recipes to reflect more of today's thinking about healthy eating and fresh food.

I just ordered this book and found it to be perfect for just starting out with the dutch oven. The recipes and instructions are simple. Although I like more gourmet meals in the kitchen, I'm still learning at the dutch oven. This book filled with tons of recipes that offer room for experimenting and encourage the cook to be creative. I'm glad I purchased this book for learning how to start dutch oven cooking.

Great Book... My son is in Boy Scouts and he loves this book. He uses this book to fix us dinner and do the Scout thing. Wonderful book.. Good Eating...

I found this book to have simple but interesting recipes. I passed it on to my husband who is off on his own for three months. He tells me that he has successfully made a couple of recipes without a problem and he is a blatant novice at cooking!

I teach a Dutch Oven class and this is my favorite book. I often purchase it to give as a door prize to someone. You can tell the recipes are tested and true. Its a great book, great for a beginner or someone well learned in the 'Dutch Oven Way'who is looking for new recipes.

I have been cooking with Dutch Oven for around 12 years now. I started off small, with a Lodge 10" and the book that comes with it. As I progressed thru the years I have purchased many Dutch Oven cookbooks. My wife keeps asking why do I need all these books on the same thing, but I find something in each of the books that others don't have. I cook regularly for friends, family and scouts. I have cook for as many as 100 people all in Dutch Oven. Of all the books I have I tend to grab the same couple ones to pick recipes from. Cooking the Dutch Oven Way is always one that I grab recipes from. The recipes range from novice to the expert, give great detail on what is needed and how to prepare it. I recommend everyone that owns a black pot also own this book.

This cookbook appears to be a collection of basic camping recipes, all simplistic. If you are looking for recipes to help you learn how to use your new dutch oven at home, this is NOT the book. One reviewer said that it listed oven temperatures. That is true, but they are all 325 or 350. Any experienced cook should know that these are standard temperatures for standard oven cooking. The value of a using a dutch oven at home is SLOW cooking, not standard cooking. That would typically be a 250 oven, not 325 or 350. You do not need a dutch oven to cook at normal home cooking temperatures. None of the recipes are for slow cooking.

Husband received it for a birthday gift. He can't wait to try his dutch oven out now that he has recipes.