Dutch oven cooking on the kettle?


 

ChadVKealey

TVWBB Pro
For an upcoming campout, I'd like to make steel cut oats for breakfast. At home, I usually make them in the crockpot overnight on low, but we're "real" camping (no electricity), so the crockpot is out. I'm wondering if I could get the same effect with a dutch oven in my 22" kettle using the snake method to get a long (8 hours or so), low temp (250-ish) burn. I'd be using a small (3 quart, covered) Lodge cooker in the middle of the grate with 2 or 3 rows of briquettes going around the perimeter.
 
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Sounds like a working plan Chad. I've cooked in my 5qt DO on my 22 a couple times with much success
 
Just for camping purposes only, wouldn't using instant steel cut oats from Trader Joe's and boiling a coffee pot or pan of water work much easier?
 
Steel cut oats when your camping is just way too healthy. Make donuts with some oil in the bottom half of your dutch oven on the grill.
A package of Grands, punch the hole out, into the oil and roll in some sugar. Your camping day will be much happier that way. And you can
say you made donuts on the grill.
 
Chad - I think your plan will work fine. You may have to add some time to the cook because the CI dutch will take a while to reach the ambient temp inside the grill but other than that I think you have a viable camping crock pot in the works. Please let us know how it worked.

Regards,

John
 
Steel cut oats when your camping is just way too healthy. Make donuts with some oil in the bottom half of your dutch oven on the grill.
A package of Grands, punch the hole out, into the oil and roll in some sugar. Your camping day will be much happier that way. And you can
say you made donuts on the grill.

This is for a scout group...about 25 kids and 35-40 parents. We have plenty of "junk" food planned, but not for breakfast. We've always had the usual stuff (eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc.), but as a big fan of oatmeal myself, I always get a hankering for it when outdoors.

Chad - I think your plan will work fine. You may have to add some time to the cook because the CI dutch will take a while to reach the ambient temp inside the grill but other than that I think you have a viable camping crock pot in the works. Please let us know how it worked.

I plan to jump start the cooking by boiling the water in the pot, toasting the oats in a separate pan (actually, the lid for the pot), then add them and just stir to combine. So the charcoal will just need to maintain the pot at a warm enough temp (225-250 roughly equates to "low" on my crockpot) to allow the oats to finish cooking. And they will probably only need about 6-7 hours, so I can start them about midnight Friday. Even if the coal runs out before breakfast at 7, there should be enough residual heat to keep them warm until eatin' time.
 
Shouldn't be a problem at all! I've done many of stew and dutch oven cooks in the kettle. Make your life easy and just set up a refuel around the 4hr mark. it's easy to get steady temps for 4hrs. 8hrs is a stretch and will cause you to start popping the lid open to check fuel. Use the camp fire to your advantage. Boil water and toast oats over the fire.(chicks dig it!) This will also help you learn and gauge temps over an open pit. Good luck and post pics of process.
 
Shouldn't be a problem at all! I've done many of stew and dutch oven cooks in the kettle. Make your life easy and just set up a refuel around the 4hr mark. it's easy to get steady temps for 4hrs. 8hrs is a stretch and will cause you to start popping the lid open to check fuel. Use the camp fire to your advantage. Boil water and toast oats over the fire.(chicks dig it!) This will also help you learn and gauge temps over an open pit. Good luck and post pics of process.

Thanks for the info. Weather permitting, I'm going to do a test run this weekend. I found some folks on different forums claiming to get 6-8 hours out of a snake going almost completely around the charcoal grate. I'm actually thinking of doing more of a spiral, which will place some of the burning coals directly under the DO, but it won't be many of them at a given time. I'm also considering using some firebricks to support the DO rather than putting it on the grate. If refueling is needed, that would make the job much easier.
 
You might be camping without electricity but you you aren't really roughing it. The Lodge and similar DOs were made to cook over campfires. I'm not suggesting that you leave the kettle at home, but you should be able to make oatmeal and biscuits in a CI Dutch right in the campfire.
 
You might be camping without electricity but you you aren't really roughing it. The Lodge and similar DOs were made to cook over campfires. I'm not suggesting that you leave the kettle at home, but you should be able to make oatmeal and biscuits in a CI Dutch right in the campfire.

Maybe on a Boy Scout outing this would work. With a couple dozen Cub Scouts, we have a hard enough time keeping them from playing with the campfire. :eek:
 
OK, I did a test run today just to gauge time & temp. I arranged two rows of 20 briquettes, which went about halfway around the perimeter, and then another row of 20 on top. I started a dozen briqs in an upside-down chimney and placed them at the start of the snake. Bottom and top vents were wide open. I clipped the pit probe of a Maverick ET-732 in the center of the grill grate.

I took the first temp reading 15 minutes in: 288. After a half-hour, it hit 313. For the next 3 hours, without touching either of the vents, the temps hovered between 325 and 350. After 3 hours, I popped the lid to assess what was left and found that there were only a few briqs that weren't entirely spent.

Overall, the temps were a bit higher than what I wanted, and it burned a bit quicker than I wanted. Based on what I've read on the snake method, temperature is more about the number of lit briquettes than the airflow, so I think fewer lit coals at a time are what I need. To that end, I'm going to do another test tomorrow with two rows, one right along the edge of the grate and the next above that along the side of the bowl. I'm hoping that the length of the burn is directly proportional to the length of the snake, so doubling it to go the equivalent of the full circumference of the charcoal grate should give me the 6 hour burn I'm looking for.
 
you could also try keeping the bottom vents closed about half way to see how that does.

good luck, i'm wanting to do the same thing here so i'm pulling for you!
 
you could also try keeping the bottom vents closed about half way to see how that does.

good luck, i'm wanting to do the same thing here so i'm pulling for you!

Well, the second attempt today didn't happen...some family stuff came up. So, it looks like the next attempt will be the real deal next weekend. I'll take notes and pics and share the results when I get back.
 
you could also try keeping the bottom vents closed about half way to see how that does.

^^^ This. I can keep a 3x2 snake wrapped 3/4 around running for about 9 hours with the vents 1/4 to 1/2 open and the top open wide. Steady temps at 225. Started about 8 briquettes in the chimney & dumped them on the snake when they were all ashed over.
 
Well, I didn't get any pictures, but this worked out pretty well. I made oatmeal both nights, and both nights the snake broke halfway through, so I didn't get a complete burn and needed to put the DO on a burner to heat it up in the morning.

Using a Lodge 3 quart combo cooker (the lid doubles as a frying pan), I melted a tablespoon of butter in the "lid" and toasted 2 cups of steel cut oats until golden brown (probably about 10 minutes at medium heat - I didn't want them to burn). While they were toasting, I put 2 quarts of water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt into the DO section and brought that up to just shy of boiling point. Once the oats were toasty, I turned off both burners and slowly poured them into the water, gave a quick stir and slapped the lid on. Then, the whole shebang went into the kettle. It was set up on an inverted grill wok (to keep it about 2" above the charcoal grate) and the charcoal was lined up around the perimeter of the bowl. I placed 6 lit coals on top of the first 6 unlit in the snake. The first night, all vents were wide open; the second night I had the bottom only opened halfway.

When I checked on them in the morning, the consistency was nearly perfect. A little time over a low flame to bring it back to eating temperature and a little buttermilk thrown in (brown sugar served on the side), and it was probably the best oatmeal I've ever eaten, let alone made. I was surprised how many people ate it. I only made 2 quarts because I didn't want to be throwing out a bunch if nobody touched 'em, but every last oat got eaten Saturday. There was a bit left over Sunday morning since we only have about 2/3 the number of people eating.
 
Well, I didn't get any pictures, but this worked out pretty well. I made oatmeal both nights, and both nights the snake broke halfway through, so I didn't get a complete burn and needed to put the DO on a burner to heat it up in the morning.

Using a Lodge 3 quart combo cooker (the lid doubles as a frying pan), I melted a tablespoon of butter in the "lid" and toasted 2 cups of steel cut oats until golden brown (probably about 10 minutes at medium heat - I didn't want them to burn). While they were toasting, I put 2 quarts of water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt into the DO section and brought that up to just shy of boiling point. Once the oats were toasty, I turned off both burners and slowly poured them into the water, gave a quick stir and slapped the lid on. Then, the whole shebang went into the kettle. It was set up on an inverted grill wok (to keep it about 2" above the charcoal grate) and the charcoal was lined up around the perimeter of the bowl. I placed 6 lit coals on top of the first 6 unlit in the snake. The first night, all vents were wide open; the second night I had the bottom only opened halfway.

When I checked on them in the morning, the consistency was nearly perfect. A little time over a low flame to bring it back to eating temperature and a little buttermilk thrown in (brown sugar served on the side), and it was probably the best oatmeal I've ever eaten, let alone made. I was surprised how many people ate it. I only made 2 quarts because I didn't want to be throwing out a bunch if nobody touched 'em, but every last oat got eaten Saturday. There was a bit left over Sunday morning since we only have about 2/3 the number of people eating.

This makes the Quaker peaches and cream instant oats I had a couple hours ago seem VERY sad. I love campsite cooking and it sounds like you had a great time.
 
This makes the Quaker peaches and cream instant oats I had a couple hours ago seem VERY sad. I love campsite cooking and it sounds like you had a great time.

Yes, we did. If scout camping was like this when I was a kid, I would have stayed in longer. Most folks claim they eat better on our trips than they do at home. The real star this weekend, though, was the pulled pork. I cooked 4 of 'em on my WSM for about 16 hours and then rested them for 3. It was amazingly tender.

As for the oatmeal, I'm going to try to perfect the overnight kettle cook at home and maybe try some variations like adding apples & cinnamon or trail mix.
 

 

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