If you’ve got to be away from camp for a while and would like to find a hot meal waiting for you when you return, the first thing you need to do is grab a shovel. Next, dig a pit in the ground and line the bottom and the sides with rocks. The lined pit should be four to six inches wider than the dutch oven and deep enough so that the oven can be buried and covered with four to six inches of dirt.
Build a fire in the pit and let it burn down to a bed of hot coals. This will heat the pit and the rocks and leave hot coals for cooking. Prepare the roast, vegetables, stew, bread, or whatever you want to come home to, and put it in the oven. Remove some of the hot coals from the pit and place the dutch oven, with its lid on, in the pit. Put hot coals around the outside of the oven, and then bury it under four to six inches of dirt. It can be left unattended throughout the day, and the food will be cooked and hot when you return. If properly planned, a whole meal can be prepared this way, and it’s delicious!
Caution: Unless you like fireworks, don’t use limestone, sandstone, or other porous rocks that may contain moisture. When rocks with moisture in them are heated, the moisture expands into steam, and the rocks explode!
Remember—you can cook anything in a dutch oven that you can cook with the most expensive kitchen range ever made, and the dutch oven delicacy will probably taste better, especially considering that you get to eat it out-of-doors. Dutch oven cooking is an art, however, and like all arts, it takes time and experience to perfect your skills. But if you want to eat like a king while living in a tent, it’s more than worth the effort.
An outdoor dutch oven has legs and a lid with a rim, while an indoor dutch oven has a flat bottom and a rounded lid
Mark the spot where you put your dutch oven. Sometimes when you return all the dirt looks the same!!
Placing coals on the lid of an outdoor dutch oven enables you to bake all the fancy cakes and breads you can create at home
When you dig up your dutch oven make sure you clean off all the dirt from the lid before you open it. Yes that means the side too. A broom works well. If you do not you will get what I call Scout Pepper in your food.
Once you have that all done you are ready to serve and eat.